The Infinite Dial

I'm headed back to New York from Canadian Music Week -- always a great convention -- after having been part of the panel on PPM this morning. Last year, the PPM session drew 10 people, somebody noted; this morning, with Montreal already currency and other markets ready to roll later this year, the room was full.

One of the striking things about the PPM panel is just how drama free it was, compared to any discussion of the subject in the U.S. To a person, anybody you ask will tell you that it's a function of Canadian radio's different relationship with ratings service BBM, a consortium of broadcasters, advertisers, and ad agencies.

Beyond that, there's less opportunity in Canada for some of PPM's hot-button issues to emerge. Urban radio is down to one major outlet -- Toronto's CFXJ (the Flow). Most of the markets to be measured are Country-friendly, more like Dallas and Atlanta than San Francisco or Philadelphia; (Toronto is, again, the exception.) Another diverse market, Vancouver, is more likely to look different in TV than radio ratings. And while most markets have gotten a lot more FMs recently, anything that doubles respondent mentions from three to six stations will still cover half of the major stations in many markets.