Part 17: Research "Beyond The Basics"

This month the MPRs of Programming  returns with another look beyond the basics at the first “R” on the list of MPR’s…Research. This time around I’ve solicited opinions from top research experts and a programmer who’s used research wisely to lead his station to successful ratings.

There are two basic forms of radio research….music and perceptual. Current music is best tested by weekly callout and library music by auditorium or living room music tests. Perceptual research tests a station’s image and programming elements beyond the music. The two basic forms of perceptual research are focus groups and perceptual studies.

This research is important because it allows you to test your listeners to see what music they like or don’t like, as well as what they think of your radio station and the rest of the market. While most initial programming decisions should come from gut level instincts, how important is research in offering a tangible gauge of listener opinions to confirm a programmers initial decisions?

GUT VERSUS RESEARCH

Mike Henry is the President of Paragon Research, one of the country’s leading radio research firms. He feels that research can do one thing that programmers can’t do. “Research can verify the tastes of the marketplace or a target audience,” notes Henry.

But while research has proven invaluable in determining the listening preferences of radio audiences, Henry cautions that research can’t refine those preferences into specific on air products. “Only skilled programmers can do that,” says Henry. “Programmers must take the best information available and create compelling, entertaining radio stations. Research needs to be kept in perspective as just one piece of a very large pie.”

One of Henry’s research peers also feels that the combination of gut and research provides the right recipe for a radio station’s success. “You’ve got to include a pinch of this and a handful of that,” claims Tom Kelly, President of Kelly Music Research.

“In time, a Program Director may develop a feel for their station, format and audience” states Kelly. “However, it’s very hard to do with a current intensive format because the ingredients keep changing. Smart programmers incorporate research to provide the recipe and measure the ingredients that help deliver a mouth-watering delight on the air.”

Dave Numme, Program Director of KUFO in Portland, feels that traditional radio is well positioned to succeed against new challenges in the coming years from Internet broadcasting and Satellite radio because of the power of research. “Local research provides radio with the knowledge and power to serve specific and unique target audiences in their given markets,” says Numme.

“Local broadcasters will invest more resources in understanding a specific audience than satellite or internet radio ever will,” states Numme. “By conducting ongoing research, radio not only improves programming for it’s target audience, but strengthens it’s relationship with advertisers by providing them a better product to help them increase their sales.”

MUSIC RESEARCH

Probably the most effective and widely used form of radio research involves the music. In year’s past, after a radio programmer and music director made the initial decisions about what music to add to their play list, their confirmation about the success of their music choices came in the form of listener requests and music sales.

The problem with this type of listener feedback is it only accounts for the small percentage of “active” radio station listeners. While this information is valuable, it doesn’t account for the large majority of radio listeners who will never call a radio station or purchase music. Therefore, the truly effective forms of music research are the ones where opinions of these “non-active” listeners are tabulated.

While Paragon Research doesn’t conduct music callout for currents, they’re very active in many forms of library testing. “Our library tests include Auditorium Music Testing, which most of our clients conduct one to four times a year depending on the format,” says Henry. “We also conduct Personal Music Tests, where respondents take individual tests.”

“We also do Auditorium Format Analyses,” continued Henry, “which are glorified AMT’s in that we not only test some hooks but also broader music boundaries, which are used to define a station’s format boundaries.”

While Paragon and the majority of radio research firms do traditional library tests in an auditorium setting, Kelly Research has patented a different sort of library music test which is conducted in the comfort of the respondent’s living room.

“About six years ago a client who had been doing auditorium testing and was hovering in the five share range was looking for a different approach to library music testing,” remembered Kelly. “Using a recruiting process and approach similar to Arbitron’s, we did a Living Room Music Test. In the first book the ratings for this station shot up by more than 50% and has consistently operated in this share range ever since.”

PERCEPTUAL RESEARCH

While the proper implementation of music research is a critical factor in the success of a radio station, perceptual research is important because it test’s a station’s image and programming elements beyond the music. In many cases, the perceptual research findings may be the catalyst to changing or re-defining a station’s music position overall.

There are two kinds of perceptual research…..focus groups and perceptual studies. Each of these forms of perceptual research are set up to accomplish different things.

“Focus Groups are qualitative research, and Perceptual Studies are quantitative research,” notes Henry. “Focus Groups are used to uncover the range of opinions that may exist about an issue or topic. They should not be used to make decisions, but they should be focused on specific elements such as marketing or morning shows.”

“Telephone Perceptual Studies and large in person research sessions quantify the extent to which opinions actually exist. The point of these studies is to pin the tail on the donkey, so to speak, so the station can develop strategies to drive ratings.”

While Kelly agrees that the general purpose of Focus Groups and Perceptual Studies are different, working together, both of these forms of research can help to uncover broad market perspectives and opportunities.

“One advantage of  Focus Group research,” claims Kelly,  “is that you can see listeners face to face, giving you more of an opportunity to probe them emotionally on topics. You can also create an interactive discussion, which can’t be accomplished in a typical telephone perceptual study. I like to think of focus groups as fact-finding missions that lead into the more specific strategic telephone perceptual study.”

THE ART OF IMPLEMENTATION

Despite a radio station’s best efforts in doing the right forms of research, how important is the implementation of these results? Some feel that the implementation process is an art form in itself.

Poor implementation can ruin the best conceived and executed research,” says Numme. “And conversely, great implementation can do nothing to salvage a poorly conducted study.”

“I do think that the implementation process is an art,” agrees Henry, “because there are plenty of examples of soul-less radio stations with piles of research. It’s totally up to the PD to take the research and apply it, and obviously some PD’s are better at that than others. I’m concerned about the lack of programmers who’ve never programmed without research, because often it seems they lack the instincts to give their station a heartbeat.”

While the proper implementation of research results needs to be balanced with gut instincts, Kelly feels too much gut and emotion can sometimes neutralize the research altogether. “The mistake some programmers make is to second-guess or ignore their research results,” states Kelly.

“Based on nothing more than gut, a decision to ‘turn right’ when the research says ‘turn left’ can lead to disaster. If you don’t have confidence that your research is correct, either change research companies or save the company’s money and just gamble on gut.”

ON-LINE RESEARCH?

One of the most hotly debated topics in the radio research field is the emergence on on-line radio research done by companies like RadioResearch.com. Most traditional radio researchers feel that this core-driven database style of research is too biased in it’s opinions. But on-line research companies feel that this form of research is becoming a valuable way to gauge input on music from core listeners of a radio station.

Henry feels the current fare of on-line research services for radio can’t be called “research”. “On-line research for radio might be reliable some day, but it’s not today,” claims Henry. “Even ‘serious’ on-line market research doesn’t produce results that can be projected to the total population. Radio’s version of on-line research is rife with problems from sampling, to methodology, to incentives, and obviously results.”

While Kelly agrees that on-line research is indeed a hot topic right now, he feels programmers doing research on the Internet need to proceed with caution. In his new book “Music Research-Silver Bullet to Eternal Success” (available at www.nab.org/nabstore), there’s an entire chapter dedicated to the new Internet frontier.

“In our studies of listener’s prone to participate in on-line research,” stated Kelly,  “we found that they tend to be the more active type of listeners, similar to those who call a radio station’s request line. Their opinions do not necessarily represent the whole audience. There is also inherent danger in opening your research to anyone who wants to participate. The research can be manipulated as easily as a request line. I have not yet found an on-line system that offers enough sample control or passive audience participation to be deemed reliable.”

Numme’s programming perspective does find some use in the “self-selected” sample that on-line research offers. “For stations choosing to use on-line music research, they should also use a variety of other sources to make music decisions such as sales, requests, and national callout.”

Next year, the “MPR’s” of Programming continues with a basic look at the next “R” on the list…Ratings. We’ll take a look at the basic ways that radio ratings are derived through Arbitron and other sources.