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.

 

This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.