The words everyone longs to hear when a PPM weekly or monthly is released – we got a meter. You see a minor cume increase in some demo but a big jump in share. It’s like winning the lottery. Although instead of getting yearly payouts, you could get cut off at any time. In fact, you may only have this golden meter for a week.
I’ve day to day programmed in New York for 28 years, watching measurement change from diary to meter. I remember those trips to Arbitron for a diary review under the watchful eye of Pat Duggan. I always loved those diaries where the respondent wrote WLTW and drew a line down from 9am to 5pm indicating non-stop listening at work. Of course, I knew that person didn’t really listen for 8 hours without a break. No rest room, no trip to Starbucks, no meetings, no lunch? Yes, PPM really fixed that. That wonderful 8 hours of listening was cut by 75%. But, once in a while we got that “heavy” meter.
They are few and far between. My former station WLTW had a young woman hang with them for well over a year ending in April. Lite FM is a very successful station, but was it real that they were beating Z100 and Hot AC WNEW 4 to 1 with 18-24 women? Of course not.
We had one come our way at CBS-FM a few years ago as well. It was a 52 year old man who listened every night without fail. We had that guy for 51 weeks and my night talent enjoyed #1 25-54 adult bonus checks for 4 quarters. When he went away, so did the bonus checks.
I’ve always felt it is important to know when your station is getting an artificial lift and when a competitor has a friendly meter. A meter that gives you a huge lift can come from someone really devoted to your station. They may listen all day because they love your product. But those of you who subscribe to the Nielsen Control Panel Reports, know that magic meters can also come from a good listener who is heavily weighted. That means they come from an under sampled zip, age or ethnicity. The “weight by panelist” column shows most meters counting for something between 1,000 and 2,000.
When you see a number like 8,000 you know you’ve hit the jackpot. I dream of a loyal listener, on the stream (counting much more than over the air) with a heavy weighting that stays in the panel for 3 years (yes, they can be there that long). However, I live in reality. I know that while that is unlikely, if I had one like that, a competitor is likely to “target” that meter with marketing.
For those large market folks who never worked in radio in the time before PPM, we marketed back then to be top of mind. Much like I see in my home diary market of Ft Myers-Naples, Florida. TV advertising was great for that.
Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s people watched local TV, sports and male targeted stations bought cable to be on ESPN and CNN. But now, in a market like New York, if I’m targeting a 10 year core age cell, there aren’t more than 4 zips that have meters worth going after. Why advertise to the 18 million people in the metro when I only need a handful of PPM households to switch or remain loyal?
Yes, you have to make a good product and pay attention to commercial placement. Great content that engages the listener is the critical step one. But step two is playing the Nielsen game.
Some companies do it better than others with someone on staff who can narrow the focus on who to target. Each of the two biggest broadcast companies have a “Gary” for that. If your company doesn’t have one, and you have the ability to micro market, there are outside vendors for hire. Ted Ruscitti is someone I would recommend. I learn from Ted with each conversation.
Next week, I’ll dig into some tips on maximizing your meters. I’ll add that there is someone in that PPM panel closer to you than you think.
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Jim Ryan is a Music Radio columnist for Barrett Media. In addition, he runs Jim Ryan Media LLC, a consulting company which assists major market radio brands and top talent including national radio personality Delilah. Prior to relaunching his consultancy in 2025, Jim spent 15 years with Audacy/CBS Radio, serving as SVP of Programming. Among his responsibilities included programming WNEW-FM and WCBS-FM. His career includes additional programming stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston. Jim was voted the #2 PD of 2024 in Barrett Media’s Top 20 series in the AC category. He can be reached by email at Jim@JimRyanMedia.com.
