ATTENTION AUDIO ASSASINS: The Game has Changed – A look…

Remember Mike Santos? Mike is the multi format imaging rockstar and the head of Imaging for Entercom in Denver. He overseess 3 stations (99-5 The Mountain, Alice 1059, KOSI 101.1) and shares his experiences with PPM. To all of us PPM changed and still changes what we do and how we do it. Are you ready for the change, are you ready to develop – enter Mike?

It’s the size of a pager and yet, it can bring some of the country’s best Program Directors to their knees.  The Personal People Meter (PPM) has changed the way radio is being done in the states.  Shorter breaks, more music, you literally have access to so much information, that if you’re not careful, you could drive yourself mad watching the meter move.  So what does PPM mean for us Imaging Directors?  Well…a couple things:

1. Get to the point.  The days of the 60 second promo are long gone if you’re in a PPM market.  Some PDs would argue that even 30 seconds is too long.  You have to get in, say what you need to say, and get out.  Don’t take 30 seconds to say what you can in 15.
2. Less is more.  Overuse of effects and “tricks” can kill you in PPM.  Aside from us producers, people just don’t care.  Splash and crash imaging, overuse of technical tricks can make the listener change the station.  Now, I’m not saying don’t EVER unleash your arsenal in a promo, but be real selective.
Okay, so if you weren’t time constricted before, you are now and you’re being asked to do the same quality work, but to “tone” it done a bit.  For a creative person, it’s not really the most productive environment.  But that’s a very “glass half empty” point of view.  Don’t look at PPM as a roadblock to your creativity, think of it as a CHALLENGE.  A challenge to become a more efficient producer.  Improve your writing, find a new angle, unclutter your imaging, you may have been placed inside a box, but how you decorate that box is up to you.  Pretend you’re a professional hitman and for years you’ve been ace with the sniper rifle.  But one day, someone told you had to do the same job and be just as effective, but with a 9mm.  What do you do? Pack it in and quit? Or take a look at the same scenario and find a new way to get the job done?

So crack open the dossier.  You new target is the Personal People Meter.  Do you accept the job?