Friday, August 17, 2007

Ich bin ein Arbitroner

Once again it is about that time, to bring forth the rhythym and the rhyme. Really, how much better to start a blog entry than with a little line form that great Greek philosopher, Marky Mark.

Truth be told, things are just kind of popping up here in radio land. First Doug asks me to be on his show last week, then management starts letting me handle all things Arbitron. For those not in the know, Arbitron is the outfit that measures radio and television audiences, which can affect advertising rates. Stations with higher numbers in listeners/viewers or at least in key demographics can and often do charge more for advertising space that those of fewer listeners/viewers, and usually Arbitron is the outfit that measures those numbers (using some technique that I am sure is quite Greek, or Marky Mark-ish to me). And while actually dealing with them in no way affects listenership, it is now up to me to make sure that all of the information they have about our station is correct. One of the ways they do measure listenership is through diaries, where people keep track of what they are listeneing to and then send the diaries back to Arbitron. A station only gets credit if for a listener if the radio information is filled out properly, so it is now my job make sure that all of our information to Arbitron is correct. Yay me, I guess.

Of course, having read my last entry, and I know you have, you know that I am on Doug's show again this week, which I would attribute more toward an inability to get guests than my my overall radio greatness. Anyway, Doug asked me yesterday to be on, and since I had nothing scheduled I agreed to it, little did I realize that I could have made money at Subway this evening, I would find out last night that they needed someone to come in, and making money versus goofing off on the radio is indeed an interesting dilemna for me. Anyway, after agreeing to do Doug's show, I get a comapny email from the station manager, the same one that I just recently got a raise from, and the email asked me to see him about a new program we were carrying. I can't imagine why I am getting called into a meeting about this, I have little to do with programming, and the show is going to air on a Saturday, when I am not even at the station. Little did I realize that I was called into the meeting to be in a conference call with the syndicator from Salem Radio Network. Apparently the new show is some National Geographic thing or another, and we are going to be carrying it on Saturdays. As the conference call was finishing up, Alan tells the guy any future programming concerns to go through me. Mind you, we already have a program director, so I don't know if this is just a new found confidence in my management abilities (god, I hate the thought of management, it is so not radio), a lack of confidence in our current program director, or just shoveling off a shit task. Could be any of the three.

Well, I need to get off of here, and clear out space in the production room, besides the clock is ticking on the radio appearance, t minus 70 minutes and counting now and I am not nervous enough yet. Have to work on that, maybe some more coffee and cigarettes will put the edge back on, so to speak.

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