The Future Is Now

3/11/1994

This week celebrates The Network Forty’s fourth anniversary. Four years ago, The Network Forty began publishing a cutting edge magazine designed to be radio friendly and music/research-intensive. Our primary goal is to produce a weekly publication that serves as a needed tool to help those in our industry learn new and innovative ways to increase their efficiency.

Four years ago, The Network Forty began delivering overnight requests to all of our reporters. For the first time in history, programmers could see, on a daily basis, records that were reacting on different stations across the country.

This was the first of many new and exciting innovations.

Working closely with our friends in the radio and record communities, we debuted sections devoted to different aspects of our business: “Conference Call” poses specific questions to different programmers so their peers can share their thoughts; “Programmers Textbook” provides a forum for those in the business to teach others in their areas of expertise.

But perhaps the most innovative “change” championed by The Network Forty is Plays Per Week. Two years ago, The Network Forty began publishing PPWs with a small number of radio stations agreeing to participate. Most radio stations initially refuse to divulge what they considered to be trade secrets and the industry at-large took little notice. But as the months went by, The Network Forty staff was relentless in the pursuit of PPWs. We believed that it was the most honest and accurate barometer of actual airplay. Little by little, programmers began agreeing and our network of PPW reporters increased.

With the advent of BDS, airplay became the criteria used by the industry to judge a record’s success and Plays Per Week became an industry standard.

Our list of PPW reporters is now conclusive, with reporters spanning the scale from the largest (Z100 New York, Power 106 Los Angeles) to the smallest.

As other trade magazines suddenly jump on the Plays Per Week bandwagon, don’t forget that The Network Forty has been printing the definitive Plays Per Week Chart for the past two years. It would be easy to beat our chests, accept the acknowledgement that we’re the industry’s leader and say, “We told you so.” It’s more important to note that in addition to being the first to champion this innovation, The Network Forty has spent the past two years developing the research and relationships that make this chart the most accurate barometer of actual airplay available.

Why?

The Network Forty monitors Plays Per Week from computer-generated airplay reports supplied by all our participating reporters. Although BDS monitors actual airplay, The Network Forty system provides additional information. The Network Forty universe is much larger than that of BDS. Records that are showing substantial growth in unmonitored markets aren’t charted by BDS. You can see that actual growth and spot substantial future trends by studying The Network Forty PPW Chart. Unlike BDS, The Network Forty does not give credit for records played on the many syndicated programs being aired by stations. You won’t be confused as to what records are actually a part of a stations regular programming. And if technical failure prevents monitoring in certain markets, The Network Forty PPW Chart can provide an exact blueprint of actual plays.

A year ago, The Network Forty began an ongoing series of editorials aimed at redefining the shape of our industry. In many instances, these editorials were highly critical of R&R. For over a decade, R&R held the industry hostage with an outdated system that made it possible for records to move up the charts with no regard for actual airplay or sales. This antiquated system made it possible for paper adds and severe dayparting to manipulate the charts.

In September of last year, R&R finally responded to the pressures within the industry and promised a chart system based on actual airplay. Most of our readers know we have been critical of R&R. But what many have forgotten is that we welcomed R&R’s conversion and even allowed R&R and any other trade magazine to use our term “Plays Per Week” as the definition of charts based on airplay.

Why should The Network Forty give up a phrase we coined and made synonymous with actual airplay charts? Why didn’t we keep the franchise for ourselves? Simple. The Network Forty is confident in our belief that what is good for our industry as a whole is good for our magazine.

Recognizing the industry’s trend toward a more honest and accurate system, R&R finally responded last week and outlined their own changes, using The Network Forty’s term Plays Per Week as their definition. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarity ends. If R&R uses the same criteria described in their Country format (and R&R says the criteria for Top 40 will be the same), their attempt to regain their competitive stance comes too little too late.

Why is The Network Forty PPW Chart more accurate than the PPW process proposed by R&R? Several reasons. First, the universe. R&R continues to hurt the radio industry in general and Top 40 in particular by refusing to include more radio stations in its reporting base. Downsize seems to be R&R’s byword. Second, their methodology is misguided. R&R is weighting their reporters, not just by market size (as does The Network Forty), but by Arbitron ratings. Everyone in our business, particularly those in radio, knows Arbitron research is suspect at best and inaccurate at worst. Arbitron’s inability to accurately reflect the actual ratings of Mainstream Top 40 is a known fact. The weighted inflation of Hispanic and Urban diaries has changed the face of radio…drastically…detrimentally. But R&R ignores these facts and uses this inaccurate research to weight the research. Then throw in the “Add Factor.” According to R&R, the Add Factor “…measures the quality of adds. The AF represents the combined weight of all stations adding a song, reduced to a 1-50 scale, 50 = 100%.”

Huh?

Ask R&R what time it is and they’ll tell you how to build a watch.

R&R’s proposition puts too much emphasis on the wrong station sin the major markets. Since Arbitron traditionally rates Urban and Hispanic formats higher and Top 40 and Rock-leaning formats lower, a chart based on this methodology will make it much more difficult to break new Mainstream and Rock-leaning records.

At this particularly critical point in history, both the radio and record industries need positive plans for increased success, not roadblocks. Radio doesn’t need restrictions and definitions that rely on Arbitron’s inaccurate research. Record companies certainly don’t need restrictive charts that make it harder to break new artists.

The Network Forty accepts Plays Per Week information from all of our reporters…all 265 of them. Of course, larger markets will be weighted heavier, but not the detriment of music that is being programmed on other stations that aren’t monitored by BDS or sampled by R&R.

From the description provided, it seems that R&R plans to chart plays on stations that are, for the most part, already being monitored by BDS. And then compressing that data through a weighting system that makes no sense.

Another dog…another empty knapsack.

The Network Forty provides our industry with the definitive Plays Per Week Chart on Page 3. Beside it, you will find The Network Forty Retail Chart. The two most important barometers in charting the success of a record are airplay and sales. The Network Forty prints those charts side-by-side so you can easily see what’s happening on a national level.

The Network Forty Retail Chart differs from SoundScan in similar ways that our PPWs differ from BDS. We research many accounts that are not a part of SoundScan. Because of our relationship with these accounts, sales trends are quicker to spot than on SoundScan.

Inside the back page, you’ll find additional record information, including The Next 40, a listing of, you guessed it, records ranked 41 through 80. This chart shows the total number of stations playing each record as well as the number of adds each received. We’ll also chart the most-added records of the week and the Top 10 most-requested records of the week.

These pages will provide you with a quick reference to everything you need to know when doing your music: The Plays Per Week Chart, Retail Chart, Next 40, Most Added and Most Requested.

To make it even easier, we’re providing this information as a special pull-out so you don’t even have to look for it. It will find you.

In addition to these features, you’ll find our exclusive breakouts of PPWs so you can chart regional record activity. Also debuting this week is a new retail page called “Bin Burners” that will provide in-depth analysis of the hottest records across the country. “Hot” meaning the records enjoying the biggest increases in sales over the previous week.

These changes, along with others that you’ll see in the coming weeks, are the result of months of “networking” with our many friends in the radio and record industries. The Network Forty continues to provide a reflection of the wants and needs of our reporters and readers. We thank those who worked with us to make these changes a reality. With your continued help and support, The Network Forty will continue to be the cutting edge magazine that provides the industry with the best barometer of our changing times.

The Network Forty is four years old this week. We publish and prosper because of the support you’ve provided. We cherish that support and work hard to make sure we earn it.

You’ve made The Network Forty the most widely read and talked-about publication in the ‘90s. Your friends at The Network Forty thank you.