Can a little software really program an alternative radio station? Boston's WFNX-FM is checking out the possibility. It started trials this week of a Web-based feedback tool that it says will be used to adjust the station's playlist.
Want to hear more Bosstones, less Beck? Register your opinion with "FNX Interactive" and it goes into a database, tagged with your demographic profile. In addition to collecting audience ratings (on a scale of 1 to 4) of songs as they air, the software displays the name of the song, artist, and album; gives users the opportunity to enter comments; converse with other listeners and DJs; get more information about the artist; or buy a copy of the CD from a retailing partner.
Station owner Stephen Mindich, who financed the start-up that developed the Java-based software, said that eventually, Web-based audience research may supplant the more expensive telephone surveys and focus groups that help broadcasters stay abreast of their audience's tastes.
"This is a beta-test to see if this kind of research is valid and actionable," explained Mindich. "The early returns are very exciting, but we need to spend some time getting the bugs out." Mindich and the two-man software company, Agent Audio, intend to license the tool to radio stations around the country later this year.
Agent Audio's founder, Randy Thomae, said the software is intended to strengthen the relationship between radio stations and their listeners by creating a constant feedback loop. And that loop provides WFNX program directors and schedulers - who must decide which new songs will get airplay and which older songs are burned out - with a deep database of information about listener preferences.
"They can say, 'How do women 25 and under feel about this song?'" Thomae said. "And there's value in them being able to do real-time queries, so they can figure out that daytime listeners may like the song, while nighttime listeners don't."
But the research application of Agent Audio - using it to hone a station's playlist - has many skeptics. "Even if everyone had Internet access and used their software, the problem is that good research needs to be passive, not active," said Mark Ramsey, president of San Diego-based radio consultancy Nova Marketing. "We need to make sure that the opinions provided reflect Joe and Jane average. What they're doing is self-selecting."
Thomae and Adam Dingle, the programmer who developed Agent Audio's software, are aware that they're fighting the radio research establishment, which relies on focus groups and random phone surveys known as "call-outs" to gauge listener reaction to new music. But they believe they have the Internet's inherent cost-effectiveness on their side.
"This may be a way to gather reasonably good information about listeners for a fraction of the cost of traditional research," said Dingle. "There are some radio stations that can't afford to do call-outs or other research." Indeed, Ramsey estimates that call-out research, which typically surveys 100 listeners a week by playing them snippets of new songs, can cost a station an average of US$80,000 a year. WFNX doesn't do regular call-outs, but some of its larger competitors do.
Agent Audio hasn't determined its licensing plan yet, but it may have a trump card unique to the digital economy up its sleeve: just give it away. Revenues on the free software would derive from referral fees on album sales, targeted banner advertising, and potentially some research-related services.
Whether completely free or just less expensive than traditional research, some in the industry suspect that Agent Audio may be a hit with the cost-conscious broadcast industry. "With all the consolidation that's going on, if there's a more cost-effective way to do research, radio stations will do it," said Tracy Barnes, president of HardRadio, a Net-only heavy metal station based in Texas. "I could see people substituting Internet-based data in place of some of the things they're doing now."
During its debut week, the Agent Audio technology has proven popular with WFNX listeners and the station's DJs. Midday jock Adrian (who works sans surname) has been interacting with users of the service on the air, reading their comments and ratings and occasionally playing their requests.
"For listeners, it gives them a sense of being more involved with the station," he said. "And it basically gives me instant feedback on what I'm doing." He added that while Web-based research may be statistically less accurate than call-outs, it may be musically more relevant. "With call-outs, they just get a 10 second clip, and here they're listening to the whole song, and can write comments."
Employees at cross-town radio rival WBCN-FM weren't aware of WFNX's new feedback technology. But assistant program director Steven Strick said that while his station receives requests via email, he doesn't think that input over the Net would have much impact on the playlist there. "I'm not discounting it, but calls and emails and other types of audience input are just a few of the tools we use to determine what to play," Strick said. "Gut instinct is a big factor, as are record sales."
But the Agent Audio software, whether it proves to be a valid research tool or just a gimmick, may give WFNX, which lags WBCN in the ratings, a marketing advantage. "The biggest complaint listeners have is that radio stations never listen to their views," said Adrian. "What this is saying to our audience is that they have a say in what's going on."
Station owner Mindich thinks the software will appeal to other radio stations for just that reason. "This has the potential to transform incidental listeners into more regular listeners," he said. "It can enhance the relationship between the listener and the medium." Mindich said his company, the Phoenix Media Communications Group, which encompasses WFNX, a chain of weekly papers, and a telephone and online personals operation, will support Agent Audio in marketing the technology.
Thomae, who initially financed Agent Audio by applying for every credit card available and then maxing them out, has big plans for the future. He hopes to develop "personal broadcast network" technology that will function as a customized radio station, learning about a listener's likes and dislikes and then feeding him or her music through a device the size of a pager. But that kind of quantum leap may ruffle some feathers with Agent Audio's primary investor.
"I pointed out that he'd put all the radio stations and record labels out of business - everybody but the artists and the music publishers," said Mindich. So that idea, for the time being, has been removed from rotation.
