David Bruce Murray
Feb 01, 2010
NQC
NQC Poll Conclusions
112 of you participated in a poll I set up a few days ago, and now there’s a list of results posted HERE.
It’s interesting to me that we only needed about 25 votes to establish a pattern. The averages generally went down over time, but the grouping didn’t change very much. Jason Crabb was the only artist I noticed who made a large shift. He was at number 18 in the early going, but ended up midway down the list (still ahead of the other soloists).
Which brings up a notable point…voters highly prefer trios and quartets over soloists, but they don’t mind bluegrass as long as it’s the Isaacs.
Does the poll “mean anything?” In terms of NQC making drastic programming decisions based on the poll, I would say no, it isn’t conclusive enough for that. The voters found out about the poll and participated in a relatively random manner, though, so it does represent a fair sample of opinions. I didn’t target it to anyone other than those who normally read this blog. Some people passed the word along on other forums after seeing it here and at least one artist took a personal interest in the results. I allowed nature to take its course rather than telling individuals about it or encouraging anyone in particular to be sure to vote.
Even so, the poll wasn’t perfect. I spotted some mild hanky-panky in the voting. Three pairs of voters submitted nearly identical lists (presumably two members of the family…I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt). Also, some voters submitted lists that had a few votes of 4 with all the other votes being 1. If I throw ALL of the questionable votes out, though, the final list looks virtually the same.
The poll is an accurate enough reflection of general opinion, I think, that NQC should consider a couple of things it revealed. When a group has been coming to NQC for years, and they get extremely low marks, maybe they shouldn’t have prime time scheduling. Also, a group receiving high, high marks probably needs to be on stage when most of the crowd is still there.
Maybe NQC will limit the time allotted to the Pfeifers and the Specks. And maybe NQC will schedule Triumphant in a prime time spot rather than placing them in the last hour so much.
What are your thoughts?
