Portable People Meter Teasers

My biggest fear in regard to the Portable People Meter is that the wrong lessons are being learned.

PPM is teaching programmers how to create programming that isn't an interruption. Air talent are becoming audio wallpaper as talk breaks become anything but. For radio, these micro breaks are death in tiny increments.

Just this week, a friend of mine was telling me about a great break he did. He's a jock in NYC. The break was under ten seconds long, and in it, he tied in the dismay over the Giant's ended season with a song and maybe a promotion too... I don't remember. I should remember, because that was the point of him telling me about the break. He was explaining how the PPM was making him such a better jock, but I was left speechless.

How do you tell a friend "it's not making you a better jock. It's making you disposable." In and out, tight and bright, on and gone.

Gone.

Don't get me wrong... the break was perfect. It was the sort of break truly great music jocks whip in between records without even thinking about it - but it isn't content, and it doesn't connect with a listener. Hell, it's less relevant than weather, because at least that lets me know if I need a heavy jacket when I head out.

I was so excited about PPM before it became a reality. Now I see what I should have suspected all along. The same people who misinterpret the old research are
misinterpreting the new research.

10 second breaks are PPM friendly, but are they emotion? Are they even human? They're fine for a tease but they're not the show.

If you're on a date with a woman and you realize she's nothing but a tease, are you going to bother seeing her again?

Why would we want our radio stations to become the embodiment of a bad date?

That's not intended to suggest a woman is expected to put out on a date. No. The same is expected of her that is expected of her companion on that date: Be funny. Be personable. Be interesting. Be herself. Be real. A little bit of a tease can be a good thing... it could even be fun... but if it's everything? Who wants that?

Apparently, program directors do. Many of them are misinterpreting the research generated by the PPM to the point where they honestly believe anything between the records is an interruption. And it's a big step in the wrong direction. A colossal leap, even.

P.S. Apologies to my friend if he reads this. You know I've been your biggest fan for nearly a decade, and I know your show is a hell of a lot more than :10 breaks.