Have A Fine Broadcast Day!

I don’t even know where to start on Radio 2020.  On the one hand, its great to see radio finally stepping up to the plate.  Too bad its taken so long.  The optimism is great for the industry and sorely needed.

Unfortunately, if you read the news releases and the rhetoric from the NAB and the RAB you won’t find anything new and nothing about content.  Oh, they address the NAB consolidation issue with the FCC by talking about diversity of formats.

The radioheardhere.com website looks like it was written like a bad radio promo.  There’s no meat but it sounds exciting!  So, one of the big selling points is radio has new technologies (HD Radio and Streaming media, ooh, aaah) but we have someone listening to a double cassette boombox on the front page.  That’s been explained away the same way lame PDs explain questionable on-air content, “the focus group said it was okay.”  Who were those people in the room, what cities were they in and who was behind the mirror? 

Call me nuts but I find it hard to believe that people under 35 thought the double cassette player was edgy and cool.  And why are we talking to anyone over 35 if we’re trying to grow the business?

Its the content.  Its about the content.   No where is that addressed except in the broadest of terms like diversified formats. 

Content is why FM dominated AM.  Content is why Howard Stern got and deserved the great Sirius deal, and its why people remember the colorful Harry Carey, Jack Buck, and Vin Scully while disregarding competent but less colorful game callers like Eric Nadel.  One of radio’s premiere times was(is) a Vin or Harry or Jack called game.   You could see the players, the horizon, and the field.  In color!  The magic of those broadcasts was the understanding they had for the way the fans felt about the team and viewed the game itself.  They understand their audience.

The writing has been on the wall.  Why do you think the FCC is pushing for returns to ascertainments and more local programming?  It may be politics but politics are generally driven by what those who will be voting want.  I was appalled that the guy in Minot, South Dakota said the FCC should get into 2008 not 1972.  Does he have no understanding to his responsibility to the community?  Should we send him the definition of a “public trustee” or “operating in the public interest?”

I saw Bob Iger from Disney on C-Span today.  C-Span is a great resource for broadcasting issues.  He was discussing how Disney would grow in the world marketplace.  He said something very interesting.  Bob Igor believes Disney will grow by being LOCAL.  He discussed a length the need to relate to local communities and cultures because that’s what gets to people emotionally.  Globalization makes no one special.  People have a need to belong and feel special. 

So, we’re back to the local angle.  Frankly, I don’t understand the lack of appreciation for the obvious.  Are we so far off track that we’ve forgotten what brought us to the dance? 

The mind is the most important sex organ.  That’s because fantasy is better than reality.  Theater of the mind is still our most important and most under used asset.  The ability to be “of the moment” and “on the scene” is being taken away by television and webcams.  The Internet’s personalization is commerce driven not emotionally driven.  The Internet wants to know where you’ve been and where you’re going but spends little time on who you are as a person. 

All of the above is what radio does best and its what we should be concentrating on to bring folks back.  If anything we seem to be against everything we’re good at.  Actions speak louder than words.  My favorite line these days is “we’re a content company.”  That is probably one of the more bogus statements floated around.   You’re not a content company if you keep eliminating content and the people who create it.  You’re a spot carrier.   The NAB is against the diversified programming offered on XM and Sirius.  XM and Sirius are radio.  The folks with factory radios are using the same device they use to get FM and AM.  They are bringing people to the mall.  Its up to us to get them in our store.

If we’re in this for the long haul we better get back to the basics of understanding the audience.  Maybe even better understand who the audience isn’t.  The audience isn’t one single person who does not live in your market. 

You may think me a dinosaur for what I’m about to say.  That’s your right.  When people ask me how to program a radio station, the first thing I tell them everytime is read the 1934 Communications Act.  Then  learn about who you’re talking to, what they want, and give it to them.  I tell them to read the Communications Act because every solid structure is built on a strong foundation.

I’m not suggesting a return to the old act just to the spirit.  SERVE THE PUBLIC!  Maybe if we change “public” to “customer” more people will get it.

Radio Heard Here is at least an attempt to help the cause.  Make it a budget item.  How many hours will you use to drive the initiative?  How much air time will you dedicate?  When you get that figured out, scrap the campaign and dump all those resources into doing something on-air and off-air that’s about your community and your community only.  The payoff will be huge.  And you’ll be so different because you’re talking about your town, it will become a reason for people to remember you.  Then ratings will increase.  Higher billings.  Higher share prices!  Damn, problem solved.

 

First an apology for the delay since my last thoughts.  The tax man cometh.

I tell people radio is a lot like baseball.  Young people rule although young acting older pros can hang in there longer than expected.  On the other hand, good players are systematically thrown away because of age. You try to move up from the minors to the majors.  Its the minor leagues that drive the system.

Once again the RAB reports dismal billings for the Texas Rangers of media, radio.  The exception was small markets where revenue increased.  So now, everyone wants to know what’s going on in small markets.  I can remember similiar conversations in L-A in the 80s and 90s. 

My answer is the same today as it was then.  Small markets have direct client contact whether the client is represented by an agency or not.  This comes naturally because they’re in a civic club, the kids are on the same ball team or they go to church together.  They see each other in the grocery store.  Simple geography makes that less likely in larger markets.  But, that’s no excuse.

This isn’t just a sales problem.  This is radio’s problem.  This is exactly what’s wrong with the programming on most radio stations.  Its one of the reasons radio listening is down.  There’s no contact with the client, in this case, the listener. 

Radio stations are becoming commodities which decreases their value to the listener.  It’s hard for me to find out even the most basic of local content, the time of day, by listening to the radio in Dallas.  When Ron Chapman programmed KVIL it was the most local music radio station in America.  It would only work in Dallas and Dallas alone.  That’s what made it special.

We’re running franchised radio stations by default.  Radio stations all sound the same.  There’s a Mix, a Kiss, a Q or Z or whatever in every market and they all sound the same.  This was and still is my argument to those who criticized ABC for offering 24-hour music formats.  Its franchise time baby.  We’re all gonna be McDonald’s or Taco Bell and make a trillion dollars!

I believe the simple answer is not only the easiest to understand but also the most accurate.  So, stay with the McDonald’s theme.  No one turns anybody on to McDonald’s.  When friends come to L-A, you don’t rush to the nearest Mickey D’s on the Boulevard.  You’re headed to an In & Out, Fat Burger, or Tommie’s.  McDonald’s is a commodity available everywhere.  That makes it dependable, common and not special.

If you’re a baby boomer, you remember when people would sneak Coors on planes in suitcases because it was only available in 13 states.

I told a group of new media folks in 1998 that the strength for radio on the Internet was local not global.  Local will make us special and set us apart.  I still believe that. 

Unfortunately when I listen to the radio these days, I feel like local programming is taking a global approach and forgetting the hand that feeds it - the PEOPLE in its market.

The small market guys have never forgotten this because they can’t.  Someone will see them on the street and all of a sudden, they’re accountable to the community.   When was the last time you were accountable to a listener or advertiser (not agency) one-on-one?

There’s nothing like the human touch, looking in someone’s eyes or creating a very personal experience through conversation.  These are all things radio is best at but fails miserably on a daily basis to deliver.

We need to get back to basic politics.  Press the flesh.  Kiss the babies.  Be one of them.  Deliver on your promises.  That gets you re-elected and makes it easier to raise funds!

We’ve been through this before but that was before the Internet in the car, HD, Satellite, PPM, and whatever else is around the corner we don’t know about.

Like the Texas Rangers our pitching sucks.

 

Okay, that got your attention.  What is this idiot talking about?  Many of you will remember when Arbitrend monthly ratings were first launched as a “Programming Tool.”  Arbitron cautioned against making rash judgements or selling with the Arbitrends.  What were the first two things that happened?  Radio sales people hit the streets with the Arbitrends and PDs started changing their stations based on what amounted to statistical variances.

Here comes PPM with minute by minute information.  The latest PPM study being touted by Coleman Research is that Rush Limbaugh’s ratings are higher during spots and right before he comes on the air.  I promise you there are radio stations right this minute increasing their spotload to add more spots before Limbaugh’s show starts.

The data also indicates a big drop in audience six minutes after the beginning of each hour.  It then takes 20 minutes to rebuild to that peak.  All very interesting.  But, to me it’s what isn’t touted or said that we need to pay attention to. 

As you read the Coleman news release, think about these things:

1 - How many people is the information based on?  Is 10 or 1,000, or 100?

I can remember getting an audience study from the leading radio research company in the 1980s.  They had the gall to generate charts and percentages based on 14 people!  Then, claim it was legitimate research.  If you don’t know what “n” equals, discount what you read.

2 - The first six minutes of each hour of the Rush Limbaugh program is a newscast!  So Rush peaks each hour at the end of the newscast.  It then takes him 20 minutes to get the audience back he had when the newscast ended.

3 - Rush’s content is more attractive when it’s negative or neutral than when positive.  I have no doubt this is true but how do they know that?  How many days were surveyed.  Did Coleman have a list of topics that it measured against minute by minute?  Maybe, but frankly I doubt that even Rush has that minute detail.

4 - A Coleman VP says “Though this new technology does give the industry amazing new insight into how listeners use radio, we caution that there are too many variables impacting the audience for PPM to ascertain performance differences for narrowly-defined content categories.  ‘Overanalysis‘ of minute-by-minute PPM data could just as easily lead you astray as give you the correct information.”  So why did they do it?  This is exactly what Coleman did to generate this news release research.

5 - Coleman says in its release that Rush’s content is particularly difficult to analyze because of it’s length.

6 - We already knew that.  This study says most people don’t listen to the whole show.  Really?  How insightful?  Only the talent and possibly a handful of idiot Program Directors believe people listen to an entire show.  Its the whole point of the PPM.  More frequency for shorter periods of time.

That being said, I am and always have been a BIG fan of PPM.  Like with any research, its important to understand what the base is.  Its also important to understand the difference between fact and conjecture.  A lot of what you read is this news release research is pure conjecture from researchers NOT programmers. 

Remember, they FAILED to mention that the first six minutes of every hour of the Rush Limbaugh Show is a newscast and that the show peaks at the END of the newscast.  Rush doesn’t start to speak until six minutes after the hour.  So, does this mean the audience is listening to the newscast and then tuning Rush out?  Does it mean they’re hanging on every syllable of Rush’s words for the first minute of every show?  Or was six minutes actually 5:45 or 6:15?

As you see more PPM data released, use it, consider it, and then look at it in context.   In my book, the PPM is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Just make sure you remember which side your bread is buttered on.

CBS Radio really got into the Internet game later than most.  But since then, they have come on like gangbusters.  First the deal with AOL then the purchase of Last.fm.  Now, CBS stations will stream, in the United States only, over Last.fm.  CBS is touting a new player for both Last.fm and AOL streaming.

This is a great move that I’m happy to see.  As an industry, radio must embrace the Internet and take the lead instead of bringing up the rear.  We must establish our brands across as many platforms as possible.  Television is expanding into out area hurting listening in morning drive.  The Internet is looking to niche us to death with stations that appeal to 10 people.  A 100 “10s” make a thousand folks.

But streaming is only part of the equation.  The websites themselves need to be moved from promotions and marketing to programming.  I argued this point in the 1990s when radio was being cajoled into getting on the web.

But, in an effort to get radio to embrace the new frontier and prop-up their struggling enterprises, website developers and providers starting pushing the Internet as a dumping ground for sales and promotions.  Put all those pesky :10 liners and value added on your website they said.  And we did.

So, now we have all the same clutter on the website as we had on the air.  PLUS, more times than not the clutter has returned to the air.  Listening to some stations sounds like a minor league baseball game.  “My breathing is brought to you by….” kind of chatter.

As the Internet continues to grow and billing and Internet radio gets more sophisticated we are cluttering our websites the way we did AM radio in the 70s that gave FM an opportunity to flourish.

Its time to put the websites in the hands of Program Directors.  Its time for Program Directors to accept and understand the opportunity and responsibility.

CBS Radio streaming on Last.fm is a great step forward.  But they need to do something with their websites.  If you don’t believe me, look at the WCBS-FM website.  Click here.