The Ballots Are In

The Ballots Are In

May 15, 2008 @ 10:52

I told you a couple of weeks ago that my house had been selected for a BBM survey.

We're eligible now because I no longer work in radio. Ouch! It hurts to say that.

My wife took the call, and earlier this week, BBM radio diaries assigned to each member of the family, arrived along with some instructions and a five dollar bill in each one.

It really is peculiar system.

Starting on Monday, the occupants of our house have been asked to faithfully fill out a diary. Its broken down day by day, quarter hour by quarter hour, and you’re supposed to fill it out at the end each day, they’d prefer to you didn’t fill it out at the end of the week in case you’re memory fails you.

Yea, fat chance of that happening.

I’m willing to bet that almost 100 percent of these diaries are filled out as an after thought, by those who feel an obligation to BBM because of the five dollar bill.

It’s absolutely ridiculous to think anyone but a retiree or shut-in would make this priority during their busy week. To think that a teenager or busy young adult would actually sit down with a pen and fill this out is a stretch of major proportion.

Can you image anyone between 18 and 24 doing anything that doesn’t involve a computer? And you can probably stretch that to someone in their mid 30’s.

I mean really, in this day and age of on-line music, information, purchasing and networking, who, with any connection to the computer world would take one of these diaries seriously?

I have a 22 year old who would be all over this if he could do it on his Mac, but to imagine him sitting down at the table with a pen in hand, on a daily basis, filling this out, is not only dreaming in technicolour, it’s not realistic.

But you know what? It’s gonna happen.

It’s gonna happen in my house because having been in the radio business I understand the importance of this archaic system and I owe it to my former colleagues to have it done properly.

I’m going to explain the system to my family and ask them, as a favour to me, to fill out the ballots just the way BBM would have you fill them out.

Problem is, what about other households? What about other families who agreed to take the survey but have no intention of doing it properly? In most families these diaries sit on the kitchen table for the entire week and they’re all filled out by one person, usually mom, out of guilt, on the last day.

That’s how you get bizarre results. Like in the last book when a popular station for older individuals in Toronto enjoyed a huge increase in males 18-34. Excuse me? An obvious case of the “mom” factor.

But don’t worry about my family.

My wife will only fill out her ballot and same goes with the rest of my group. It’s going to be a fun little “family” project, and I won’t even recommend who they should support. That wouldn’t be fair and it wouldn’t be prudent, and I would urge any of you out there who may have been selected for a survey to do the same.

As crazy as it seems, jobs depend on it.

Category: Radio

16 Responses to "The Ballots Are In"

Ryan
May 15, 2008 / 12:40

What a joke.

Before i saw the video i thought it was like a one page leaflet thingy, and although it would be a stretch for someone to fill even a simple form out (even for five measly bucks), there's no way the one in the video would be accurately be filled out by all participants.

But it doesn't matter to me anyway. I can't stomache the Edge's shit, piss and vomit morning show, and the inane fake laughter of every other morning show is even worse.

If you're a former CFNY fan and still embrace good new music while appreciating the old, check out Indie 103.1fm out of L.A.

Craig
May 15, 2008 / 12:46

Fred,

You mentioned "In most families these diaries sit on the kitchen table for the entire week and they’re all filled out by one person, usually mom, out of guilt, on the last day."

I saw this happen..

During the book last fall,I went to pick up my son at his friends home. It was a Sunday evening and I was invited inside to wait for him. As I was speaking with the husband, his wife was in front of the tv. She informed me she was filling out, as she said, "something called BBM." She sat there with the weeks worth of ballots. Filling out each survey for her kids, herself and her husband. She could'nt recall which station her eldest son or husband listened to. Hell, when asked, her husband could'nt even recall his favorite station. I sat there shaking my head, thinking.. These people hold my career in their hands.
It's sad.

great pretender
May 15, 2008 / 12:49

The "mom factor " is the only explanation why insipid , bland morning hosts like CHUM FM's Roger and Marilyn remain on top of TO's rating heap.

Good God, those two make cold porridge seem exciting. Hey, Humble and Fred - please return to earth and save us !

Steve
May 15, 2008 / 14:59

If you've talked about one on the blog before I've missed it, so I was wondering what you think would be a better way of doing things than the current system. There has to be one, I'm just not sure what it is.

Realist
May 15, 2008 / 16:13

How many people under 35 do you know that own an FM radio?

Jame
May 15, 2008 / 16:48

hey Fred is there a section in the BBM diary to enter your Satelite radio listening? or is it geared towards terestial radio?

Steve
May 15, 2008 / 20:10

"How many people under 35 do you know that own an FM radio?"

I do, but I listen to a lot more AM these days. The music is more fun, and the news coverage is better.

Jason from Sudbury
May 15, 2008 / 22:03

Music on am radio? Huh? I can see interesting talk radio but I didn't think there was any good music on am radio besides country and oldies.

Jason from Sudbury
May 15, 2008 / 22:10

I ocasionally end up in Barrie or even Toronto and now that Mojo is gone I rarely listen to am radio, listen to Prime Time Sports on the Fan once in a while but that's just about all the am radio I listen to.

I miss Mojo, I was living in Barrie when it first went on and I used to listen to it quite a bit, even when I moved back to Sudbury I listened online, it was great.

Steve
May 15, 2008 / 23:30

Oldies and country are a nice break from all the goddamn Nickelback on the FM band. And like you said, AM is where all the talk is, not to mention where they hide the sports. Oh, and AM 740 has a great swing show on Thursday nights if you're into that sort of thing.

BBM Employee
May 18, 2008 / 16:45

You see heavily involved in radio given what I read on this blog. Perhaps it's something BBM should be advised of.

Freeway
May 19, 2008 / 10:01

Can't wait for the people meters.

Doug
May 19, 2008 / 21:48

You got $5. Jeez, last year they only gave us $2 each...

In this house it was the Dad factor since my spouse can't be bothered with that sort of thing.

Yes, it really is a clunky system and probably light years away from reality. BBM employee- tell that to your employer

link building services
October 30, 2010 / 23:21

Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!

sklep jezdziecki
November 8, 2010 / 11:36

That is exactly what I used to be trying to find. Very much appreciated.