The Hubble Deep Field 3D Image

DeepAstronomy.com produced and posted this wonderful video that explains the importance of the Hubble Deep Field photo, and why it matters to all of us.



I came across it shortly after reading about another town hall meeting disrupted by angry people shouting their views and attempting to shut down opponents expressing theirs.

How small we all are. How small our differences in a universe where large numbers of galaxies can go undetected because they're so far away. Maybe a little stargazing would do us all some good.

- Ralph

Separating the Twits from the Chaff

How many friends have I really got?
You can count them on one hand.
How many friends have I really got?
How many friends have I really got?
That love me, that want me, that'll take me as I am.

- "How Many Friends," The Who

One of the good things about Internet communication, as opposed to older forms, is the exactitude of the quantification.

How many people listen to me on the radio? Arbitron gives me a vague idea, but no one knows for sure. How many people follow me on Twitter? I have a number. FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, etc.? All provide exact numbers on followers.

But as the Who sang, how many friends have I really got? (Online, that is)

Some measure Twitter success by how many people follows them. And I admit, I get a little ego boost when I get another add notification. But numbers alone can't be the measure of success. I'm interested in talking with and learning from folks that, well, share at least some of my interests.

I'm not sure "Britany137" is such a person (if it's really a person at all). Like barnacles, my Twitter feed periodically accumulates this type of follower, ostensively a lonely young lady with a few desultory and vaguely racy tweets. And links to her pictures, of course.

Then they're the get-rich-quick businesses, that have ways to build your Twitter follower count, or make money at home, or -- you get the idea.

The real head-scratchers are the tangentially political Twitterers. Now I follow my elected representatives that tweet, but I don't think I've done a lot of political posting. Nevertheless, I've managed to accumulate some real wingnuts from the far right and the far left.

All of which makes me wonder. Are any of these people actually reading any of my posts before deciding to follow me?

And the answer, of course, is no.

Some, like the faux-young ladies, are simply spambots. Others are concerned about building up large amounts of followers, and basically, the more people you follow, the more follow you back (at least for a while).

I decided that it was time to clean house and block some of these undesirables. I lost about 10% of my followers, but that's OK. I'm not sure US_Bankrupt wanted to discuss the finer points of Franz Schmidt's orchestral works, anyway.

And after all, you're known by the company you keep.

- Ralph

Day 121 of the WJMA Podwatch.

WVTF and Famous Firsts

I don't want to take anything away from WVTF because they have done something remarkable. According to their press release,

The latest radio ratings released by Arbitron, Inc. show NPR member station WVTF Public Radio ranks #1 against all other commercial and non-commercial radio stations serving Charlottesville [Virginia]. WVTF is ranked #1 with a 9.9 share of the area’s radio listening. The #2 station has a 9.3 share (country WCYK-FM), and the #3 station (adult contemporary WQMZ) has an 8.1 share.

Charlottesville is an interesting radio market. It has the standard mix of commercial stations, with a few oddities. It has two AAA format stations, non-commercial WNRN and commercial WCNR. It also has four non-commercial stations serving the area, WVTF, the afore-mentioned WNRN, WMRA, and WTJU.

For WVTF to capture the majority of the public radio audience is no mean feat in itself -- there's lots of competition. But to capture the majority of the total audience, mixing in folks who prefer classical rock, top 40, country, etc. is news, indeed.

As I said, I don't want to take away from WVTF's accomplishment. According to Arbitron, they're the winner. But before we read too much into this, let's look at how that data was collected.

Arbitron stats aren't quite as cut and dried as those for, say, website traffic data.

While Arbitron collects data in some major markets with electronic devices known as Personal People Meters (PPMs), for smaller markets they still rely on people filling out listening diaries. Which is what was used in the 231st-ranked Charlottesville market.

So how reliable is the information from such a diary? Well, it depends on how much get filled in. Arbitron provides some info about their diaries. Mark Ramsey gives a little walk-through of the competing (but very similar) Nielsen radio diary.



One other piece of information: potential diarists are contacted initially by phone to ask if they would like to take part in the Arbitron survey. Which automatically eliminates homes without landlines (about 20% of households), skewing the potential survey pool to an older demographic.

For a public radio station to emerge on top is still a big deal, though. Because as flawed as the Arbitron system is, the numbers are still used by stations and their advertisers/underwriters to determine ad/underwriting rates and whether or not advertising/underwriting on a station makes good business sense.

So even if WVTF doesn't actually have the 15,503 listeners the numbers say they do, it doesn't matter. Because, like Wall Street investors, it's not what the numbers are, it's what you believe they mean.

- Ralph

Day 118 of the WJMA Podwatch.

HD Radio sells out

Something interesting happened in Gainesville, Florida this week. The city completely sold out of HD Radios. There're some lessons to be learned here, but first a little background, and then some perspective.

The background
Public radio station WUFT had been the area's sole classical music station for some time. The station, owned by the University of Florida, decided to ditch the classical format for news and talk. Rather than just pull the plug, the classical music was moved to an HD2 channel. In answer to the howls of protests from long-time listeners, the general manager said: "buy radios." Which, apparently, they did.

The perspective
It's no secret (except to the radio industry) that HD Radio is a non-starter with the general public. So the total number of HD Radios available for sale in the Gainesville area was not that high, to begin with. I would be surprised if a retail store like Best Buy had more than 10 units total in stock.

No matter how vocal the opposition, when it comes to format changes, only a fraction of the pissed-off audience actually does anything. Out of tens of thousands of listeners, a station will receive perhaps 10 or 20 letters of protest. So the total number of people looking for HD Radios to keep listening to classical music is only a fraction of the total disenfranchised audience.

The takeaways
This story has three important messages if you pay attention.

1) Want to move HD Radios? Give listeners a compelling reason to use them.
Most HD Radio signals are just simulcasts of a station's regular programming. That's not compelling. Some do additional programming, but it's not promoted. In WUFT's case, the switch was a highly publicized one, primarily due to the controversy. And it was the only source of the programming people wanted.

2) Music to talk: get used to it.
Just because a station's non-profit, doesn't mean they're not looking at the bottom line. For public radio stations, the numbers speak for themselves: news/talk attracts more listeners than classical music, brings in more donations to the station, and (because it's all syndicated) can be run with less staff. WUFT's switch may seem evil to its long-time listeners, but in management's eyes, it was the logical thing to do. The story's been played out on other stations throughout the system and will occur in much more in the future.

3) HD Radio offers a way out.
WUFT's management knew their decision was controversial, but they had an out. They didn't kill classical music, they just moved it to another location (albeit an underpowered one that few had the necessary equipment to access it). WAMU did it with their popular bluegrass programming, and other stations have done it with formats they wish they weren't saddled with. This is a tactic we'll see used again throughout the system.

4) Internet streaming, the untold story.
Missing in all the coverage is the fact that WUFT's exiled classical programming is streaming on the web. And that's really where the potential for audience growth lies. As it gets easier to access the Internet in portable devices you can use in your car, Internet radio listening will continue to grow. So in the end, it doesn't matter how many bought HD Radios. The smart people have made the move to their smartphones, and even if it didn't make the news, that's where the action really is.

- Ralph

Day 116 of the WJMA Podwatch.

Less Talk - Less Interest

I've mentioned my dislike of the single syllable male name radio format before. Whether it's called "Sam" or "Tom" or "Dave" or "Jack," the concept's the same. Take tracks that market-test the best across several near-related genres, mix them together in a "crazy" format, and add minimal voice tracks that do nothing but make short, snarky comments about... nothing.

Personally, if the DJ isn't going to say anything interesting or helpful, then I'd rather have no voice at all. And if I'm just listening to music with no DJ, well, I'd rather listen to my own crazy mix on my iPod than some else's generic blandness.

It turns out there's I'm not alone. Mark Ramsey, in his Hear 2.0 blog asks the question "Where's Radio's Humanity?" As he says, "people respond to people."

"voices" and the passions of those "voices" and the brands born of those "voices" will become more important to radio, not less. I don't care what lessons PPM gives us in that regard, because PPM is essentially mapping a path for music-intensive stations to be easily substituted by music-intensive alternatives. What makes one station different from another - one digital solution different from another - is its voice. Its humanity.

Now the sardonic wiseacre voice of Sam (et al) is certainly identifiable, so it qualifies as a brand. But is it a voice you can respond to? I can't, because there's nothing there to relate to. The voice is provided as part of the syndicated service that is Sam, and is generic enough to fit in any market, large or small.

And that's perhaps the problem. I'm sure it's cheaper to boradcast Sam then to staff a station. But it's also less engaging. Which means listener loyalty is low. Which means ads aren't very effective. Which means smart businesses go elsewhere to get their message out.

So how much money does that save in the long run?
People respond to people. Makes sense to me.

- Ralph

Day 114 of the WJMA Podwatch.