Remember When “Playlist” Wasn’t a Common Word?

It wasn’t so many years ago that consumers might have talked about creating a mixtape or burning a CD with favorite songs for a friend, but not a “playlist.” I remember moderating a focus group many years ago in which a respondent very confidently told the group that a station in the market had recently…

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Copywriting for 2017

This year’s Presidential Election had many surprising results, but one of our takeaways has been how communication has changed. The two primary candidates credited with the greatest populist appeal stood out because they both spoke differently than the other candidates. One is now President-Elect, in part because his messages penetrated the consciousness of a sizable…

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How Many Spots on Your Station? And, Should Santa Come Early?

Diary methodology allowed programmers and managers to create all sorts of theories about how many commercials listeners could bear and what was the best way to package them. PPM forced us to become more scientific and, despite experiments with other schemes, the prevailing best practice for music stations is two breaks per hour. Yet when…

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What Do Taxi Drivers Listen To?

For itinerant radio managers, the go-to petri dish for in-car listening has long been the taxi ride from the airport. The focus group of one. The individual depth interview with a guy who drives around all day (often listening to the radio). Sometimes there’s the serendipity of the cabbie listening to the station you were…

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