Responding to Nielsen's Response Part Two: Voltair
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July 27, 2015, Issue 458 Part Two: Voltair And Beyond After Tuesday’s webinar challenged Voltair’s efficacy and touted PPM technology while also promising Voltair-like enhancements, Nielsen Audio remains at the center of a raging radio debate. For reaction and discussion following the webinar, see Responding To Nielsen’s Response (right). If you missed part one of this special report last week (CAW 7/20), click the link and catch up. This week, Country Aircheck looks at the issue’s impact on music, potential upside and a host of unanswered questions. On Keys & Voltair... While the greatest issue identified by Voltair seems to be encoding of talk, music is also said to be subject to PPM Save It For A Radio Day: Radio and encoding variances. How significant friends party at Kenny Chesney’s and those are is open for debate. “I Jason Aldean’s The Big Revival/Burn have seen it affect music, but not on It Down Tour stop at the Rose Bowl Country,” says one cluster programmer. Saturday (7/25). Pictured are (back, l-r) “The problem comes with the stopsets. Some voices don’t KKGO/Los Angeles’ Tonya Campos and encode well. And if a spot is dry, there’s nothing for the watermark friend Max Miller, Broken Bow’s Layna Bunt, KUZZ/ to hang onto. That’s where Country will see the greatest growth. It Bakersfield’s Tom Jordan and Brent Michaels and wife turns out people were listening to the breaks after all.” Julie, Brody Turnbeaugh, The Big Time’s Jackie Stevens, Max Media/Norfolk VP/GM Dave Paulus disagrees. “I don’t KWNR/Las Vegas’ Jo Jo Turnbeaugh, Valory’s Amy Staley think there’s any question certain songs encode better than others. and The Big Time’s Whitney Allen; front (l-r) Broken I’ve seen it in action.” Some even lay the death of the Smooth Jazz Bow’s Lee Adams, Tom Jordan’s wife Lori, and Barb and format at the feet of PPM, arguing its propensity for quiet sounds husband KFRG/Riverside’s Lee Douglas. Inset: Blue Chair/ and sparse arrangements weren’t ideal for encoding’s demands. Columbia’s Kenny Chesney (r) is surprised by legendary “Smooth Jazz was dying a long time before PPM,” one industry sportscaster Keith Jackson with the first-ever Rose Bowl observer close to the format argues. “Companies started bailing Stadium jersey backstage. out of that format in 2000.” Even if Country generally provides a solid musical bed for Responding To Nielsen’s Response the encoder’s watermarks, Country Aircheck has heard that at The long-awaited PPM Enhancements And Voltair Testing least one top artist’s song gets a poor grade from the Voltair. If Update found Nielsen Audio execs critical of the controversial there’s one, could there be others? And what of M Score? “When processor’s limitations, affirming their meter count goes down, in all likelihood that was just encoding belief in the ratings they issue and dropout,” researcher Richard Harker says. “Massive decisions promising updates to PPM technology are being made with M Score and it (continued on page 8) (CAT 7/21). Reaction has been mixed. ©2015 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] July 27, 2015 Page 4 One large market exec called it “a whole lot of to-do about nothing. I was kind of amused by the ambiguity of their position. PAGE THREE PIC They don’t support Voltair, but can’t validate it’s doing anything incorrectly. Non-support of the device is the same position they had before. Nothing changed. I also don’t buy that lab tests are a fair representation of what happens in the real world.” The real world of advertising may have been a consideration in such a measured response. “This could have a profound effect on buying decisions, from New York all the way down through the markets,” says the same GM. “Until Nielsen figures this out, I can see buyers deciding to slide more money to digital and television. That’s a scary proposition. And we’ve had a few folks on the client side asking about this. It’s impossible to ignore.” Another cluster manager noted the webinar’s promise that info would be released to clients immediately after the call. “Well, it’s Monday and nothing has been seen by anyone, to my knowledge. That doesn’t seem very immediate and is the kind of stuff that creates apprehension about the vague timetable for the ‘improvements.’” One of Voltair’s most vocal critics says the webinar could have gone farther in letting the air out of the ballooning controversy. Consultant Randy Kabrich taps deep ratings data to assert the processor’s ineffectiveness in swaying the final numbers. Based on sales of the device and the number of stations in PPM markets, he estimates more than 60% have Voltair units installed. “Are we growing?” he asks. “AQH rating from June 2014 – pre-Voltair – to June 2015 is basically a wash – plus 0.9. The tide is not rising and if it was, we should have at least seen it for the two-thirds of PPM stations using Voltair.” Sweet Comb Alabama: Then-WZZK/Birmingham Kabrich details his findings on his blog (here), regularly adding PD Justin Case (r) gets cozy with a long-haired to his case with overall and station or market specific findings. Blake Shelton at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre “No matter how I sort it, I can’t find any effect,” he says. “People in Pelham, AL in the mid-2000s. Send pics are going to see what they want to see. No matter how many facts from your mushiest days to pagethreepic@ you show them, they’ll come to their own conclusion.” countryaircheck.com. And with many observers seeing less than definitive answers on Tuesday, conclusions are still varied. “They did a very good job of what they normally do in a pressure filled situation,” Chart Chat says Max Media/Norfolk VP/GM Dave Paulus of Nielsen. Congrats to Brantley Gilbert, George “I was pleased to see they admitted there is an issue and a Briner and the Valory promotion crew on need for improvement, but I don’t know if they have any other scoring this week’s No. 1 with “One Hell Of An choice given the optics of the situation. There were some Amen.” The song is the second chart-topper quality comments and some that felt like a tap dance. It wasn’t from his Just As I Am album (“Bottoms Up”). terrible, but I don’t think anyone walks out thinking they got And kudos to Lesly Simon and the full resolution. Nielsen stated their case. Whether the industry Arista staff on landing 61 adds for Jerrod Brantley Gilbert decides to make this a bigger deal or lets it fade away, they’ll Niemann’s “Blue Bandana,” topping this have no one to blame but themselves.” –Chuck Aly week’s board. ©2015 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] July 27, 2015 Page 6 MY TUNES: MUSIC THAT SHAPED MY LIFE Blue, You’re My Boy: Jerrod Niemann, Zach Brown from Republic Nashville’s the Arista crew A Thousand Horses discusses his and Sony execs most influential music: celebrate his Add 1. The Rolling Stones: They play Board-topping all different styles. They play rock and “Blue Bandana.” roll, but they’ve got their country songs Pictured (l-r, front) like “Far Away Eyes” and “Honky Tonk are Lauren Thomas, Women.” They even had their disco Rusty Sherrill and phase. But it’s always the Stones and I Jenny Shearin; love them. (center) Andy Elliott, Zach Brown 2. Tim McGraw, A Place In The Lesly Simon, Christy Sun: It was the first country album I ever Barbinski and bought. I was in high school and I came late to country music, R.G. Jones; (back) Steve Hodges, because I grew up with all my parents’ classic rock records. But Randy Goodman, all the girls in school listened to country music, so I figured I Niemann, Ken should get in on that. After I heard that album, I was hooked. Robold and 3. Smashing Pumpkins, 1996 MTV Awards: They played John Sigler. “Tonight Tonight” and it was the first time I realized I wanted to be in a band. I wasn’t the same after that. I went to school the next day and said, “Man, I’m going to be in a band. I don’t need to worry about this homework stuff!” News & Notes 4. Weezer, Self-Titled (The Blue Album): One of my EMI Nashville’s Eric Church will headline Country Thunder neighbors introduced me to it. The melodies are crazy. It got 2016 in Twin Lakes, WI July 21-24. Early bird and four-day me thinking about songwriting. passes here. 5. Elvis/An American Trilogy: As a kid growing up in Music Health Alliance (MHA) Dir. Operations & Senior Care Georgia, we’d go to Stone Mountain and watch the laser show Shelia Shipley Biddy has been designated a Certified Senior – and that song was always in it. When I’m dying, I want that Advisor (CSA) to help music industry seniors and their families. song to be playing. I love it. More info here. • Highly regarded music you’ve never heard: Until recently, Singer-songwriters Elizabeth Elkins and Vanessa Olivarez I’d never really heard Paul Simon’s music.