Contemplations of Social Media Radio Convergence

I read with great interest an article on radiofacts.com that detailed radio station 93.5 KDAY's convergence efforts with regard to twitter and it's on-air presentation. KDAY had used twitter to generate listener song requests themed around the surprise knockout of Manny Pacquiao. It was a very interesting article and spotlighted a very innovative programming strategy that embraced the water cooler talk of the day. The article further stated that this innovation is one of the reasons why the station is ranked number 12 in the nation's 2nd largest radio market. I have a perspective that I wanted to share with Radio Facts and I wrote a comment/response on their website, but it did not appear. Now, I don't know if this was because my comment did not pass moderation, or if the editor just did not see it, or maybe some technological glitch occurred and my comment just did not appear. At any cause, I thought I would re-publish my response on my blogs. You can read the article here . And here is the text of my response:

Dear RadioFacts,
First let me say that I thoroughly enjoy radiofacts.com. There is not a day that goes by that I do not check for Radiofacts to learn of the latest urban radio news and views. That said, I read with great interest the article entitled "Why 93.5 KDAY is knocking out radio competition." The article does a great job of describing how the station converges it's social media platforms with it's on-air presentation. Agreed. It was a good promotion to engage the audience around the water cooler talk of the day - the surprise KO of Manny Pacquiao. However, I take issue with a couple of points the article either states or implies.

1. "KDAY remains ranked #12 in the market" - Not so fast, RadioFacts!! As I peruse the Nov. 2012 PPM book, I just cannot find where they are ranked that high in the market. A ranker pulled6+, Mon-Sun 6a-12m  and sorted by average share will show KDAY ranked at 28, KJLH is ranked 27... if you view the ranker by average rating you will find them at #22, tied with KJLH and 2 other stations - however, KJLH is listed ahead in this tie because the audience composition is more pure. .. By average persons KDAY is ranked 28th in the market, while KJLH is ranked 27th. With all due respect, can you please clarify where KDAY is ranked 12th in the nation's second largest radio market?
2. Sales: It would be interesting to see KDAY's strategies relative to sales. It's curious that the station has a decent cume, but still maintains a modest rating point. How does the station's innovations on the social media universe translate into digital sales?? Does the cume vs. rating point ratio translate into results for advertisers? I don't know the answers to these questions, I'm just sayn....
3. Digital Strategies - the article presents KDAY as a leading edge, innovator when it comes to the utilization of social media strategies and implies that others can learn from them. I submit to you, sir that the digital team at KJLH is and has been at the leading edge of social media convergence. I would put them up against any social media team in the city including those at the major corporations.

The article says KDAY is knocking out the competition. It describes that even with a weak signal and niche format, the station is finding listeners and ratings success - this due to it's innovations in the social media universe.  I surmise that KJLH is among that competition. But We are not woozy. We are not weak in the knees. We are not on the ropes... In fact, we are vibrant, relevant, bobbing and weaving, sticking and moving... I am not hating - don't have too. It's good that KDAY's innovations receive notoriety and kudos for their broadcast efforts. But, in this market, we are a part of the conversation because as an independently owned, small-signal, niche broadcaster, we are not knocked out. In fact it could be said that we are floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee!!!

#stillstanding