December 12, 2011 Issue 272 PPM: See Spots Run Thanks to a study presented at last week’s Arbitron Client Conference, we can all stop obsessing about where stopsets are placed and how many spots they contain. Or can we? ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� impressive 93% of its lead-in audience (6+) during commercial breaks – a result which Jam Packed: Last week’s KILT/Houston 10 Man Jam artists visit with ies in the face of conventional wisdom station sta!ers backstage. Pictured (l-r) are KILT’s Erin Austin and Mark Adams; Clay Walker and Martina McBride; the station’s Brooke Meris; about spots driving away listeners. So, Stoney LaRue; Josh Abbott; The JaneDear girls’ Susie Brown and Danelle what’s changed, if anything? And what Leverett; and KILT’s Steve Rixx. does it mean, particularly for Country? First, the details: What Happens When ACAs Wrap: Fletcher Foster Last week’s American Country Awards on FOX-TV (12/5) saw the Spots Come On: 2011 Edition is a collaborative effort increased ratings, but the show was not without criticisms from between Coleman Insights, Arbitron and Media Monitors. some in the industry. Country Aircheck The data collection was massive, consisting of 17.8 million spoke with Fletcher Foster, one of the commercial breaks and 62 million minutes of spots across 866 shows producers, for his perspective: stations in all 48 PPM markets. CA: Ratings were up 33% over the show’s Drilling down from that topline 93% audience gure, theres ������������������. How gratifying are the numbers? better news for Country as individual age cells show that the FF: Its exciting because FOX is older the audience, the higher the delivery. For example, 18-34s now even more engaged in the show and in country music in come in at 89%, while Countrys 25-54 money demo has 92% general. [Exec. Producer] Bob Bain called and said the network and 35-64s equal the 6+ ndings of 93%. Its important to note is looking at focusing their New Years Eve show more on that the study isn’t about retention of the discrete audience that country. Maybe not this year since were so close, but they are exists at the start of a stopset. It compares the total audience pumped about country being on the network. at the start and end of a stopset, which invariably involves a Any sense of what worked particularly well, or what you certain amount of churn – both in and out. wish youd done differently? When broken out by format, Country ranks third-highest I havent seen the minute-by-minute yet, but Im really among music genres at 89% delivery, behind Spanish (95%) curious. This year was better balanced between awards and and Urban (93%). It should be noted that spoken-word performances. We did fewer awards last year, and FOX wanted stations outperformed music stations 99-88%. (continued on page 6) more focus on that. Even so, we had 11 performances in two ©2011 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] December 12, 2011 Country Aircheck Weekly Page 3 hours, which is huge. One thing they wanted was a countdown PAGE THREE PIC of sorts, so my Thanksgiving weekend was spent guring out how to do something credible and exciting and the Mediabase- based Artist of the Decade really worked. FOX programming exec Mike Darnell pushed for that, and it was a great idea in retrospect. Ratings grew 25% from the beginning of the show to the end, and Im sure some of that had to do with the anticipation of that countdown. You’ve said in the past that radio is an emphasis for this show, both from the Fletcher Foster nomination criteria side and in terms of marketing and yaways. How did that go this year? Hair Club For Them: Jo Dee Messina visits the pre-follicly challenged crew FOX did a lot of yaways this year and reached out a little bit at WWYZ/Hartford of (l) Jay McCarthy (jay.mccarthy@biggerpicturegroup. com) and Mike Moore ([email protected]) on the eve of Moore’s 2000 wider, but I still see this as being in the infancy stage. Its a challenging departure for WSIX/Nashville. Have images of a time when you still posed a time to do those sorts of things after the CMAs. Hopefully next year challenge to barbers? Send them to [email protected]. will be even bigger in the way we connect the nominations process with radio and the fans, who vote on the ultimate winners. We had a lot of comments from people that the script was a Youre aware of the criticisms the show has received, lot smoother this year than last. We kept the dialogue short and though at the risk of being an apologist, it seemed to run to-the-point to make more time for performances. more evenly than it did last year. How do you respond? Final thoughts? There’s always stuff in retrospect that you would do Im really pleased with the balance we have with Toby Keith differently. You commit to some things that don’t necessarily and Blake Shelton, Pistol Annies and Eli Young Band were pay out the way you thought. Plus, half this show wasnt booked showing the breadth of country music on various levels. Last until wed lived through the CMAs to see what stories were year’s show was really a test leading into X Factor. This year unnished or could be taken to the next level. we had the two heads of FOX entertainment programming at The show is two years old and its nding its way. It is the show and in the truck. One of Mike Darnells parents was challenging because we’re trying to create a new template. there and is a huge country fan. Im hopeful they walked away Whats out there is already being done. The CMAs are the thinking they have a franchise to build upon. Academy Awards of the genre, and you just dont have artists saying, I cant wait to win my rst ACA. Were not there and may never get there, but its a different show that hopefully is Programming Note This issue is the last full Country Aircheck Weekly of 2011. part of developing new artists. We offered Eli Young Band their Look for our year-end Weekly Dec. 28, which will feature the rst prime-time awards performance. Scotty McCreery won his best quotes of the year, as well as our Seek & rst award after American Idol. We gave Jason Aldean his rst Employ listing of job seekers, but no music Artist/Entertainer of the Year-type of award. information. (If you are currently on the hunt Music aside, a lot of the negatives seemed focused on the and wish to be included, send your contact bits, writing and segments between the performances. Was info and most recent work history to news@ that aspect as strong as you hoped? countryaircheck.com.) ©2011 Country Aircheck™ — All rights reserved. Sign up free at www.countryaircheck.com. Send news to [email protected] December 12, 2011 Country Aircheck Weekly Page 4 Our next full Country Aircheck Weekly will be delivered Tuesday evening, Jan. 3, which is also the next add date for singles. OFF THE RECORD: DAVID NAIL Country Aircheck Today will continue its publication schedule MCA’s David Nail gives an industry spin through Thursday, Dec. 15, with additional issues scheduled for on the artist interview: Monday, Dec. 19 and Wednesday, Dec. 21. As always, you can What station did you grow up listening to? KFIN/Jonesboro, AR. keep up with news as it happens on our Twitter and Facebook feeds. When was the "rst time you heard yourself Heres to a happy and safe holiday season for all! on the radio? I was stuck in !ve o’clock tra"c in Nashville and mad when I caught the tail end of “Red Light” on WSIX. I wanted to roll Music: Top 10 Christmas Tunes down the window and yell, “Turn on this Tis the season for visits to Santa, decorating trees and David Nail station! That’s me, boss!” Suddenly, I wanted attempting to wrap presents better than a ve-year-old. Heres a to sit in tra"c for the next hour. look at the Top 10 Christmas songs for the last Which regional is a speed demon? Marlene Augustine. You’ve got to make sure this story gets published. We were supposed week, according to Mediabase 24/7, with the to #y from Seattle to Spokane, but since they’re only four hours number of plays in parentheses. You’ll notice apart, I convinced Marlene to drive there because I hate #ying. that all of these are classics; the most-played But it snowed a ton and we lost a lot a time crawling through new Christmas tune is Lady As All I Want For the mountains. But once we got out of the hills, it was a straight Christmas Is You, which had 109 plays last week. shot to Spokane. I couldn’t tell how fast we were going. I saw a state trooper, who was pulled over writing a ticket to another driver, and he starts #agging us down. We were half a mile down 1. VINCE VANCE & THE VALIANTS/All I Want For... (596) the road by the time Marlene stopped. The trooper demanded 2. TAYLOR SWIFT/Last Christmas (469) our license and registration without asking if we knew how fast 3.