Why 5 More Inductees Into the Country Radio Hall of Fame Matters

2015 Country Radio Hall of Fame Inductees
Photo courtesy of Kristen Englund

Honoring excellence is always a good idea.

That happened again last week in Nashville when the Country Radio Broadcasters inducted five new members into the Country Radio Hall of Fame (left to right: Randy Carroll, Mike Kennedy, Karen Dalessandro, Joel Raab, and Sammy George).

Each year, the Hall recognizes individuals who have a 20 year history (including at least 15 in the country format) of making “significant contributions to the radio industry.” 

Halls of Fame of course run the gamut from the famous (like the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to the infamous (the now defunct Cockroach Hall of Fame which was in Plano, TX). Your degree of interest in a Hall’s subject matter no doubt plays a huge role in what you get out of your visit. 

For things you’re passionate about, a Hall of Fame is more than an historical record or a repository of memorabilia; the strength of a Hall is the inspiring accomplishments of those who are enshrined.

At the very least, the Country Radio Hall of Fame is a reminder that excellence matters and is still acknowledged and celebrated.  At its best, the Hall and inductees inspire us all to make a daily, “significant contribution to the radio industry.” 

If we’re talent we strive for excellence every break, every show. If we’re managers and program directors we seek to coach each person to their full potential. By example, we encourage each other to believe in ourselves and aspire to be the best we can be.

If you’re passionate about what you do and want to inspire others, Bain & Company has these suggestions:

• Discover and cultivate individual skills
• Excel at a few of your distinguishing strengths rather than attempting to be excellent at everything
• Recognize that inspirational leaders can be anywhere in an organizational hierarchy
• Improve your effectiveness at inspiring others with repetition and experimentation

If you want to show your passion, be your best, and inspire others to do the same, the good news is you don’t wait to be inducted into a Hall of Fame to begin.

Taking a Bite out of a Market Leader: What a Sandwich Chain Can Teach Us

Taking a bite out of a market leader

Shifts in listener and consumer loyalty happen all the time but they always seem newsworthy when “suddenly” a top performer is dethroned.

In reality, many of these abrupt declines may have actually been months, years, or even decades in the making. 

Some of these are the end result of one or more competitors' long and persistent “creep” against a leader, or a leader being too static for too long in a changing marketplace ('slow to react' was one of the points in a recent Washington Post article on Subway that inspired this blog).

Format and market leading stations must continually negotiate the tripwires that can give toe holds or growth opportunities to competitors.

• Commoditization stemming from a growing lack of differentiation in the listener’s POV; that is, listeners don't perceive a sufficient number of particularly unique and important-to-them benefits gained by listening to your station vs. a competitor
• Listeners believe the "listening cost" of your station exceeds its value
• Failure to accurately assess a challenger’s strength or appeal in a timely manner
• A delayed response or inability to adequately respond to "Values Drift;" listener values/standards have evolved but the leader has remained static 
• Time pressures have severely limited creative and/or forward thinking
• The status quo remains status quo for too long;  new services, features, products, or offerings are minimal, or there’s a lack of excitement about initiatives that are launched
• Lack of employee passion for the station, format, listeners or even self
• Eroding relationships with listeners for any of the above reasons

These are rarely intentional over-sights. I haven't walked into a station recently and found GMs, OMs and PDs looking for ways to keep busy. Finding time to just think is a challenge.

Still, in the spirit of ipsa scientia potestas est ("knowledge itself is power"), consider regularly scheduling a meeting of station creatives to talk through these (and other) bullets, share listener Intel, and have a "what if..." discussion.


Do it over a sandwich if you like.

Keep Summer Listeners Coming Back: 5 Retail Tactics For Your Station

“Summer vacation" - who doesn't think that sounds like a good idea?

Just don’t start too soon if you’re in radio - and especially if you're in Country Radio. 

Last week, Inside Radio featured this graphic from Nielsen as part of an article on Memorial Day weekend format flips. It shows the noticeably heaver 6+ May and June radio listening trends for the past four years.

I asked Nielsen’s Tony Hereau how Country compared and he shared the following.

While radio’s average 6+ AQH Persons starts a decline after May, Country’s best 25-54 months begin after May peaking in June, July, August and September (again, note the chart above is based on 6+ while the chart below is based on 25-54).  

A retailer eyeing these charts would likely think about how to convert these seasonal increases into year-round customers.

Taking a page from their playbook, here are five retail tactics and their radio equivalents your station can launch regardless of format.

Retail	Radio
Lower purchase barriers making it easy to buy	Be present on as many platforms as possible.  Be minimalistic in terms of time, effort and information you require of listeners who want to engage in your contests or sign up for your database.
Provide superior value	Insure your Entertainment Value always exceeds your Cost of Listening (EV>CL). The EV is nearly all-encompassing: from talent to music to promotions and more. Meanwhile the CL goes beyond commercial load.
Up-selling and cross-selling	Use compelling teases and promote-aheads to drive additional occasions of listening. Be visible and high-touch so you can ask for more listening in person.
Providing “Social Proof” that demonstrates shared values and behavioral reinforcement	Create believable “peer endorsement” in social media and imaging
Finding ways to say “thank you”	Appreciation is powerful in driving repeat usage and WOM.

This fall, don't just talk about what you did on your summer vacation, brag about what you did before it.

An Important Award You May Have Missed this Week: “Serial” Earns a Peabody

The big awards talk-abouts early this week at country stations have been centered (and rightly so) on the ACMs: big stars, big production, and a Guinness World Record for a live awards show audience.

But another awards presentation this week should also catch our attention: the Peabody Awards which recognize “stories that matter.” This is attention-worthy because one of the awards was given to the “Serial” podcast from NPR.

As reported Tuesday in Tom Taylor’s NOW , the Peabody judges declared Serial “the first unquestionably mainstream podcast.”

“Serial” was referenced multiple times at last week’s pre-NAB RAIN Summit West and was credited with, among other things, raising awareness of podcasting and bringing new users to the genre.

I found the podcast last fall amidst its considerable media attention and WOM and was hooked before the halfway point of the first episode.

It’s easy to understand the popularity of “Serial:” a suspense story with Romeo and Juliette undertones. There's crisp writing, great story pacing, excellent narration, and characters brought to life: people you trust or don’t –or change your mind back and forth - as you learn about them, often via their own words. It’s put together as well as any mystery in any medium.

For this reason alone, “Serial” is important to radio. It's an excellent example of superior story-telling – an skill many of our talent are working on daily.

It also serves as an important reminder that the entertainment bar is continually being raised around us.

But “Serial” is also important from a numbers standpoint.

About 1 in 5 Americans listen to podcasts according to Pew.  Similarly, Edison Research’s Infinite Dial study found 17% of the 12+ US population listens to podcasts monthly including slightly more than 20% of 18-54s who are regular listeners.

A&O&B’s Online Perceptual “Roadmap 2015” found comparable data among US country P1s, roughly 1 in 6 18-34s and 1 in 7 35-44s listen to podcasts at least “a few times a month.”

Of course these numbers don’t mean that 20% of Americans have heard all or even any episodes of “Serial.” Edison puts that number at 3% with awareness at 10%.

Still, in February 2015, the NY Times estimated Serial's downloads at 68-million. 

The point is, going forward, there will be more shows like “Serial” (listen here) that capture the attention of the growing podcast audience.

The biggest and best ones could become as relevant to talk about on your radio show as what’s hot on TV or YouTube. 

Your Morning Show On TV: How to Get the Most Out of a Cutaway

Whether your talent is already appearing on a local TV morning show or you're attempting to make this happen, your probable goal is to increase your morning footprint and have those TV viewers sample your morning show.

But these cutaways will have the greatest impact if they also add value to the TV station.

Here are four steps to maximizing your TV opportunity:

1 - Make the TV morning show look good. Just as in a multi-person radio show, each player - in addition to being interesting in their own right - needs to give others in the room opportunities to look smart, be funny, etc.  Same goes for you and your TV partners.  If the TV talent look forward to your segment because it gives them an opportunity to shine, the segment will be significantly better.

2 - Prepare something fascinating to share. This is not the time to wing it. You’ll either be perceived as interesting and entertaining or a waste of time – there’s not much in-between. 

3 - Engage the TV talent in your story.  Let them know in advance what your content is so they can prepare, participate and look smart to their viewers (making you look smart too of course).

4 - Always deliver a dual call to action:  “Watch the TV partner and listen to your morning show.”  Give a reason for each.

Have an experience or tip to share?  Leave it here.

Getting Out What You Put In: First Baseball-Themed Blog of the Season

Because I have the talent (?) to find a baseball-related analogy for almost anything in life, MLB’s opening week is always an exciting time for me.

Not only does it spell the end of "there’s nothing to watch on TV," the opening games hold the promise for a brand new season of baseball metaphors and also affords the opportunity to throw out the first baseball-themed blog of the year – two things for which apparently I am both physically and mentally unable to avoid doing.

For a couple of months now my new favorite baseball mantra has been “Respect 90.” It comes from Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon who also has made the phrase part of his Twitter profile (@CubsJoeMadd).

Specifically, “Respect 90” is about respecting the 90 feet between home plate and first base. Players demonstrate their respect by running hard from home to first, even when it’s likely their routine grounder or pop fly will be nothing more than an easy out.

Of course “Respect 90” is far more encompassing. The code can be applied to every aspect of playing the game thus demonstrating not only respect for baseball, but for the fans - and even a player’s own self-respect.

A ballplayer may have multiple opportunities a day to Respect 90 – 4 or 5 times while batting and maybe a few more during the game in the field.  Most talent have at least that many opportunities every hour via mic breaks alone.

What if starting tomorrow we as talent determined to “Respect 90” and never mail a break in again, instead going ‘all out’ every time we opened the mic?  Can you imagine how incredible such a station would sound?

Furthermore, can you imagine what listeners and clients and competitors would think if every mic break, every piece of production, every spot, every appearance, every sales call, promotion, etc., etc., embraced the concept of “Respect 90?”

Joe Maddon explained the rewards of respecting 90 this way: 

“Understand whatever you put out there will come back to you. If you give respect, you’re going to get respect in return...If you really believe that and live by that, a lot of things will come your way.”

Embracing “Respect 90” may indeed bring good things to you.  

But you won’t be the only one reaping rewards. 


Some previous catchphrase-related blogs: Polish the Brand, Lovin’ on the Music, The 'Does Anybody Care' Filter

Some previous baseball-related blogs: Legacy Talent, Ideas are Like Runners In Scoring Position, How Many Web Gems Were On Your Show Today  

Using a Mental Scale to Balance Your Creative and Analytic Thinking

I can’t recall a time in my radio career - as Programmer or Consultant - when I didn’t think that the PD's chair was the best seat in the house.

The PD's office remains the place where magic happens (or should). It's the place where the merging of analytic and creative thinking produces an offspring called "awesome radio."

It's a daily tightrope walk. Too much left brain and the station is boring. Too much creative and the station isn't strategic. 

But with the right balance, "awesome" and "magic" can happen with regularity.

Unfortunately time and personnel pressures have a way of delaying or even derailing things - especially creative thinking.

If you find yourself balance-challenged, try imagining a "Content Scale:" methodological or systematic on the left, over-the-top creative on the right. Compare your project's optimal position vs. where it now stands, then take action if you feel the present position too static or if the creative is blurring something important. 

You can make a mental scale for anything.

Predictability	Surprise and Delight
Position	Emotional Impact
Selling	Connecting
Communication Blasts	Individual Acknowledgement
Fact	Stories
Details	Vivid mental images
Comfortable Execution	New listener-station interactivity
Silo	Interwoven

Of course you won't likely be using an actual scale.  But the scale imagery is a reminder to check your balance of left vs. right brain thinking and actions so you can be strategic but not clinical, and fun and fascinating without losing your brand's vision and essence.

If this has put you in the mood for more creative thinking, here are a few related posts you might enjoy:

Polishing Your Brand With Shared Values

A 5-Point Filter for Evaluating Opportunities

Raising the Content Bar

The Kings of Radio: How Listeners Define a Great Talent

Need a Challenge in 2015? Try these Two

It seems that hardly a daypart goes by this time of year when you don’t encounter some sort of “resolution-for-the-new-year” piece.

This isn’t one of those – at least not exactly. 

Instead it’s a two-fold challenge not just for this year but for years to come: “What new things will you learn and how will you contribute to an ‘environment of high expectations’?”

The challenge is different from a resolution in at least two ways:  the camera angle and the ongoing opportunity factor.

Too often the camera angle on a resolution is directed at elimination while we live in a world of creation.  By continually pointing your camera away from subtraction and toward addition – from adding great content on the air to bringing new ideas to help clients – you'll always be thinking about adding value.

Adding value is related to the cultivation of high expectations.  

Successful athletes often point to how they’re continually challenged to be their best by the actions and work ethics of their teammates. You’ve likely been in, or at least heard about, this type of environment. It’s one that's either stimulating or uncomfortable, depending on whether or not your focus is on making valuable contributions.

Way back when I used to write an annual New Year’s piece that was like a pick-and-choose list of “radio resolutions.”  For fun I reviewed that list (which ultimately had grown to 60 ideas) over the holidays and decided that while many were still relevant and valuable, they really were subsets of learning and of cultivating an environment of high expectations. But presenting them as part of a check-off list gave them an unintended “finite” feel.

So here’s one more thought: when you challenge yourself to learn new things and to be a daily contributor to (or perhaps a leader of) an environment of high expectations, instead of subtracting something from a ‘to do’ list, you open the door for an on-going, ever-growing, dare we suggest even unlimited opportunity for positive growth for you and those around you.

Resolutions are effective for some folks I suppose, but I much prefer the process of addition rather than subtraction.

One More Year-End List: Country's Top 10 for 2014

This time of the year we’re tripping over “End of the Year” lists.

Still, we’re pleased to add one more – A&O&B’s annual “Top Songs of the Year.” Each year we publish for clients the final research-driven rankings of every song we added over the previous 12 months. There were 88 in all in 2014. 

Here are this year’s Top 10 songs:

Rank	Artist	Title
1	Luke Bryan	Drink A Beer
2	Luke Bryan	Play It Again
3	Brantley Gilbert	Bottoms Up
4	Blake Shelton	My Eyes
5	Frankie Ballard	Sunshine and Whiskey
6	Blake Shelton	Doin’ What She Likes
7	Florida-Georgia Line	Dirt
8	Dierks Bentley	Drunk On A Plane
9	Justin Moore	Lettin’ the Night Roll
10	Luke Bryan	Rollercoaster

This is the third consecutive year that Luke Bryan has placed multiple songs in the Top 10 and third time in four years that Blake Shelton has done it. To put that in perspective, the only other artists to have multiple songs in our Top 10 were Brad Paisley who had two in 2011 and the Zac Brown Band who had 3 in 2010.

“Drink A Beer” had the top “Like A Lot” score - a perfect 1.0 (the song’s rank average over the last 8 weeks of its life as a current) and spent 13 weeks as our number one testing song.  In addition to his Top 10 finishing titles, Luke also appeared on the 12^th song of the year as part of Florida-Georgia Line’s “This is How We Roll.”

This made Luke Bryan our Top Artist of the Year.

Blake Shelton, who was last year's Top Aritst, finished number two to Luke. Blake had two songs in the Top 10 this year as well as one more in the 20s. 

This is the second year in a row that Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton had the most titles in the top 1/3 of all songs tested.

Meanwhile, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Florida-Georgia Line, Lady Antebellum and Cole Swindell had good years too with each placing two titles in the Top 30.

Notably absent from among the top test titles were Historical Superstars – major artists that had multiple yearly hits prior to 1997.

Total Positive scores were similar to what we saw last year. However “Favorite/Like A Lot” scores for all songs were softer again this year. Anecdotally, market-to-market, we’re seeing an increasing lack of consensus on the biggest hits each week making local research ever more important.

Here’s an Infographic with more.  Enjoy!

You can also check out our Top 10 lists for 2013 here and 2012 part one here and part two here.

And if you're fascinated by America's fascination with end of the year lists, you'll enjoy this from the Washington Post.

Gen X and Boomers: Biggest Holiday Spenders

Just ahead of Black Friday, Prosper Insights and Analytics released their November Consumer Snapshot which included projected holiday spending by demo. 

Some $135-billion is forecast to be spent this year with Gen X and Boomers projected to account for two-thirds of these purchases. 

While Millennials are often chased, they are projected to account for just 18% of all 2014 holiday spending.

If your target audience includes 35-64s, you might want to share this "holiday pie" with your advertisers and prospects:

Prosper Insights and Analytics also has a holiday spending video here and more data here in their "Retailers to Watch" report.

Value Added Plus-Plus: Client Edification Efforts from Both Coasts

When Entercom’s The End in Seattle cut its spot load this summer, it caused quite a bit of talk.  As you may recall in addition to lowering their hourly spot load to six minutes, breaks were limited to two minutes.

Inside Radio reported Tuesday on how that’s been going, including a chart showing steady growth 18-34 and 18-49 thanks to more occasions and longer listening durations.

While the spot load/break duration may have attracted the most attention, what The End is doing for its advertisers shouldn’t fly under the radar: being an information resource for clients on the station's target audience (Millennials). 

According to IR, the station has hired a Millennial marketing expert, built an accessible library of information on marketing to Millennials, and assembled an ‘on demand’ focus group program to provide clients with creative and strategic feedback.

“Entercom Seattle has recognized that The End doesn’t just compete against other radio stations in Seattle, but is part of broader media landscape,” said Jacobs Media’s Fred Jacobs (@fnjacobs) who consults the station. “Understanding changing generational tastes is a major step and a really smart move.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the GMs from all five major clusters in Norfolk, VA - Max Media, iHeart Media, Entercom, Saga and Sinclair - hosted an educational seminar for some 300 advertisers called "Navigating the New Media Landscape." 

Together with Gordon Borrell, the GMs' discussed the impact of combining traditional and digital media (Max Media Market Manager Dave Paulus will give us all an inside look at the process of creating this event and its end result at A&O&B's annual pre-CRS seminar on Wednesday morning, February 25th.)  

"Value added" often means some sort of spot bonus or web freebie. But helping our station clients (and, perhaps in the process, ourselves) to better understand and serve the audience is a longer-lasting, far superior value that "connects the dots" in a way where everyone benefits.  

Tale of Two Bar Graphs: Country Shares and Music Scores

If you want to see just how long the current ‘up’ ratings cycle has been going on for country, this just-released Nielsen bar chart and This Week In Music article affords a nice 10,000 foot view:

According to Nielsen, country is the “top national format among Millennials (aged 18-34) and Generation X’ers (aged 35-49). And audience share has grown 17% with teens (12-17 year-olds) over the last two years…Among Boomers (aged 50-64), it’s the second most popular national format after News/Talk radio."

To get an idea of how music scores corresponded with this chart, I pulled A&O&B data from 2006 to 2013 to compare our music research with the Nielsen shares (at A&O&B, we’ve been tracking music research scores since 1998).

While our data is primarily from 25-54’s, it’s still easy to see parallel growth and the difference between the right and left sides of both graphs.

Compared to our music scores from 2006-2008, those for 2011-2013 averaged eight percentage points higher (visualize the chart without the two middle bars, 2009 and 2010).

Overall scores for both the top 1/3 and bottom 1/3 of the year were also higher.

In 2013 however, the gap between the Total Positive scores for the year’s top 1/3 testers vs. the bottom 1/3 widened slightly helping to explain the softer scores.  

More significantly, for the second straight year, the Like A Lot ("passion" score) gap between the top and bottom 1/3 widened as well.

Now, as the current Boom approaches its 6^th year, the ongoing challenge for programmers isn’t finding songs listeners will like. Overall scores are still good – certainly compared to the pre-Boom years.

The challenge is identifying and aggressively exposing those high passion songs for an ever widening cume and fan base.

TSL: Profiting from a Limited Time Only Strategy

“The problem with your business,” the consultant explained, “is that your customers are saying, ‘If I don’t buy from you today, I’ll buy from you tomorrow.’”

That discussion wasn’t about radio, but it certainly could have been.

Each time a listener decides to listen tomorrow instead of today, the opportunity for an additional listening occasion is not only gone now, it's a possibility/probability that there won’t be any listening tomorrow either – especially if the decision to not listen today was rooted in too many “average” experiences.

On the one hand, predictability is important:  imaging (packaging), brand personality, talent, delivering and occasionally exceeding expectations, etc.

On the other hand, if the content never changes and yesterday’s show sounds pretty much like last week’s and last month’s and last year’s, a lack of listener enthusiasm can be manifest in “I’ll listen tomorrow” behavior.

The solution? The PSL – Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Metaphorically of course.

The PSL is a Limited Time Only (LTO) event. It gets attention and creates urgency, while combining the familiar, traditional brand expectations with something fresh.

The result for Starbucks is increased traffic.

How much? According to gobankingrates.com, in the 4^th quarter of 2013 Starbucks saw 5% more foot traffic and 7% more sales - roughly $800-million worth of PSLs.

Knowing anything good deserves pre-promotion, Starbucks allowed some of their best customers to buy the drink early.

Taco Bell is also adept at the LTO strategy marrying familiarity with fervor via limited time menu items. They're also pre-promoters. Fans of the Beefy Crunch Burrito already know that its long-awaited return to the menu will happen nationwide on December 20^th. Check it out on Facebook.

Radio’s LTO time line is different of course - it may only be a couple of breaks.

But, like the PSL or Beefy Crunch Burrito, our version of the LTO should:

1. Be in-sync with and polish core values
2. Have sufficient crave-ability to generate traffic and word of mouth
3. Appear on a regular cycle
4. Be well-promoted
5. Have an anticipated arrival and be missed when it's gone

One break or one month of something special, radio LTO’s are anecdotes for to the ennui-driven decision to listen tomorrow instead of today.

The Legacy Challenge

Like any good New York Yankees fan, I spent this past season trying to exceed the Minimum Daily Requirement of Derek Jeter.

Lately that hasn’t been hard to do, especially these last few weeks with all the videos - from the Re2pect commercial, to the Made In New York Bronx walk-through, to Jeter’s farewell to the crowd at the Stadium   

But the “Legacy” spot may be the best tribute of all, as players (kids and adults) paid their respects by modeling themselves after someone who inspired them.

That spot reminded me of why so many of us got into radio: because of a talent we connected with. 

Just like the players in “Legacy” we emulated our heroes’ styles, recreated what they were famous for, and perhaps envisioned ourselves doing their job along side them one day.

Admittedly I can find a baseball analogy for just about anything, but I frequently use this one about coming to bat and opening the mic.

No one in the majors is invisible when they come to the plate. Tens of thousands of fans are watching from the stands and ten times that or more are watching on TV or listening via radio. And they have high expectations. 

Perhaps because we seldom have the opportunity to make a visual connection with listeners while we’re on the air, it can be easy to forget that tens of thousands of our station’s fans are focused on us and what we say when we ‘come to bat.’

And they too have high expectations.

You can bet no major league batter walks to the plate without a plan. Yet, just speaking for myself when I was on the air, I know there were too many times when I opened the mic and wasn’t as prepared as I could have been.

I’d like to have those breaks back.

I’d like to have another chance to run as hard as I could to first on what inevitably was going to be just an infield groundout.

Being on the air is easy.

Being great on the air is not.

What’s your unique skill? What’s your plan for every break? Will you give it all you have, knowing that those listening could number between four and six figures, and that they're hoping for something great to happen when you open the mic?

What will you do on your upcoming breaks that will motivate today’s listeners to want to be a part of your show tomorrow… and perhaps even inspire others to follow in your footsteps?

That's the great Legacy Challenge.

PS: A tip of the cap to Paul Konerko of the White Sox – another great player who retired this weekend.  Here’s a nice piece on Paul from the Chicago Tribune.

A&O&B Poll: We're Open To More Country From Taylor

Taylor Swift may have left country a “goodbye note” but the majority of the more than 60 Country PDs, MDs, Talent and Station Executives who took part in Albright & O'Malley & Brenner's quick, and admittedly unscientific straw poll this week said they’ve left the light on for her.  

By more than 4:1 the panel hoped that Taylor Swift would cut another country song in the future with 30% feeling country radio would miss Taylor. 17% said they didn’t think they would play any new Taylor Swift songs now that she’s “gone pop.”

Regarding “Shake It Off,” the first single from Taylor's new pop project, 89% of our panel had heard the song /watched the video. When asked to think about it not as a country song but as a piece of music, 60% said they liked it “A Lot” while 27% liked it “Some.”

72% said their station had talked about “Shake it Off” on the air with 41% saying their station played all or some of it.

We also invited comments. Among the most common were 1) she’s been a cross-over artist for some time, 2) that her music wasn’t any more or less country than what’s being played on country radio now, and 3) an expectation that she will record something country in the future.

There were several “ambivalent” opinions on Taylor’s past or future impact on country and country radio listeners, but no one in the poll expressed anything negative.

Not that I expected to see that from our stations, but I’ve moderated enough listener panels where respondents were quick to dis on Taylor.

So I loved this from Facebook post from Cumulus/Dallas OM J. R. Schumann/@JRSchumann1

"Every time Taylor Swift puts out a new song/album it's amazing to me the hate speak she receives. Grown men and women say terrible things about a girl making music - music with a positive message, mind you. Music that tells kids in their most formative years to be themselves and not let the world get to them. Year after year...Taylor Swift (who has never been pictured drunk, partying, doing drugs, arrested, or anything) remains the subject of so much hate, and we wonder why the world is the way it is. 

Let's just hope the kids of today listen to her lyrics and not what the adults around them are saying."

Apparently he's struck a chord. J.R. says this has been favored over 1500 times and has 1400 re-tweets.

Much success, Taylor.

If you decide in the future to cut something country, there will be people in the format who will want to hear it.

Country in the First Half of 2014: How This Year’s Music Compares to Last Year's at the Half Way Mark

Earlier this month Inside Radio reported that “no format had more momentum than country” heading into the second half of 2014 and that the format had already matched its PPM high of last July during the “summer of country.”

Also in that article partner Becky Brenner referenced A&O&B’s “balance” philosophy when she stated that “a balanced menu from Music Row is seen as essential for growth.”

So how is this year’s music shaping up so far compared to the first six months of last year?

To explore this, A&O&B looked at our music testing data from January 1 to June 30^th of this year and compared it to our data for the same time last year. We focused on two metrics: “Total Positive” and “Like A Lot” and compared songs completing their life as currents in the first six months of each year. This included all songs played in the first half of each year, whether or not they went on to be played as recurrents.

First, the Total Positive and Like A Lot scores for the first halves of 2013 and 2014 were nearly identical.

	Total Positive Average (higher is better)	Like A Lot Average (lower is better)
All Songs First Half 2013	72.6	9.1
All Songs First Half 2014	72.7	9.0

Digging a bit deeper and looking only at the Top 20 Testers, the scores again were nearly identical.

	Total Positive Average (higher is better)	Like A Lot Average (lower is better)
Top 20 Songs First Half 2013	77.7	4.2
Top 20 Songs First Half 2014	77.5	4.2

Finally, we compared the Top 10 Testers for the first six months of each year.  Here, with smallest sample – just 20 titles – 2014 scores were slightly softer than 2013.

	Total Positive Average (higher is better)	Like A Lot Average (lower is better)
Top 10 Songs First Half 2013	78.9	2.4
Top 10 Songs First Half 2014	76.6	2.8

Looking back over the past several years (as a company we've been tracking and trending music data since the late 90s), year-end scores have softened slightly since the peak of 2011. 

And, while this year’s top-10-to-date are scoring slightly below those from the first half of last year (we are talking small changes not dramatic drops among a tight group of titles) overall the format remains in the strong music cycle that began in 2009.    

Still, tenths of a shares matter and identifying and giving maximum play to the songs that mean the most to your listeners is a no brainer.

For many stations the budgeting process for next year is getting underway making now an appropriate time to explore ways to make music testing part of your budget for 2015 (disclosure: A&O&B stations have access to free, online current and gold online music testing using the company’s software).

And while you’re at it, why not have a discussion about the many ways you can interact with listeners and commit to a plan of action.  

Keep the momentum going.