Guest comments

This week we have a guest comment from Lou Mazz - and later in the week check in as we break down the Fall 06 Arbitrons for rock across the nation.

Thanks Lou for the comments.


I was reading some of Dave Lange's comments about programming myths,
and it got me thinking. http://www.mcvaymedia.com/rock/06/programming_myths_part1.html

This is always dangerous.

When I was a pup (and transmitters had spark gaps), we did free-form rock with no
playlist (we could pull from 10,000 LPs) and a simple clock: legal ID on the hour and
a network news feed at :15. All us found ouselves mostly playing 3 or 4 song sets
because otherwise the back-annoucing would get annoying. But, when the time was
right, we could rip into a longer set as long as we covered the spot load (which was
maybe 6 or 8 minutes an hour, not 10). But regardless, we tended to cluster the spots
into stop sets, as is common practice today.

As Dave points out, when iPods and their ilk are everywhere, anyone who wants long
stretches of commercial-free music can get it. So is it really sensable to try to compete
with that when the result is even larger spot clusters? But what's the alternative?
Folks in the video part of the spectrum are playing with 15-second, 10-second and
even 5-second ads as an alternative to traditional 30s and 60s. It is generally easier
to stitch these short ads into audio than video - and it offers up some interesting
wrinkles that could be added to a rate card. For instance - why not sell a "mini set" of
three songs with two 10-second bookends and two 5-second interstitials? You could
chage a premium over a standard :30 because you'd be selling separate impressions,
tied together. This would probably work best for image messaging as opposed to
a specific promotion, where you want to pack all of the relevent info into one burst.
And since I'm borrrowing from TV, let's keep going. Integrate contests into ads. Produce
several variants of a spot and give a prize away to the listener who identifies the correct
version you just played. This would help fight tuneout, offer an additional up-sell to
an advertiser (either on the rate card or in trade), and provide some interesting (and
probably much-needed) creative fodder for your production folks.

I can imagine both of these concepts being executed horribly or being overused,
giving us the aural equivalent of ads on eggs or on the bottom of airport security trays.
But done right, it could be an important part of making "advertainment", which will be a
key to the next phase of commercial radio, regardless of format.
Yours in commerce,
Lou Mazz

Internet Radio Listening UP 150%!!!!

This week we see in a release from JP Morgan that weekly listening to Internet Radio Stations or streams is up 150% growing from 20 Million weekly listeners at the start of 2006 to a new estimate of 30 Million. Revenue from streaming and the web sites that go along with the streaming stations is also up to 500 Million.

That's very impressive growth and likely to continue as more and more people find out how easy it is to tune in on the lap top or desktop. When you compare this media to all the talk and noise we have from the Satellite Radio camps you can see why there is talk of a merger of XM and Sirius. Right now the best estimates place satellite radio subscribers at 14 Million and the goal is to deliver 20-30 Million by 2010. Internet Radio has been quietly growing and is already past their 2010 goal. At this rate by 2010 Internet Radio would pass 80 million - well over double the Satellite Radio audience.

Now we add the news that the technology is available to turn your car into a WIFI hot spot and be able to full access the web as you drive down I-75 and we can easily imagine being able to tune into the whole spectrum.

Stop moaning! You're great radio brand already has a web site and you can (with a little work) stream if you are not already doing it. The audience is growing and streaming technology is getting easier to deal with every day. Just the other day I was listening to the Score in Chicago and they noted that over 4,000 were listening on the stream that morning.

We DO need to work out a settlement with Arbitron on getting credit for streams even if the commercial content is different due to the voice over compensation. Sooner or later the VO talent has to realize that their 'fight' over this will hinder the whole terrestrial radio industry and that they are being very selfish and endangering their whole lively hood. The ad agencies also need to see this writing on the wall.

Is Your Morning Show Safe?

The recent events at The End in Sacramento should be a bit scary to most PDs and Morning Shows. The show did a pretty typical stunt for a Nintendo Wii where you 'held your wee for a wii.' Contestants drank equal quantities of water and the last one to go the bathroom wins the Wii. The problem here is one of the contestants tragically died from drinking too much water. The intense local media coverage of the event resulted in the firing of 10 staff members including the talent on the show, PD, Promotions director, and others. It will be a challenge for the staff members to find other jobs and for the station to rebuild it's image and find another show.

The questions for the rest of us - could this happen to my show?

While this could have been an unfortunate accident it's also a style of stunt we hear on a lot of stations and usually comes off with the only damage being a bit of embarrassment. Think of all the other types of stunts that could have gone wrong. What would happen if we had the 'hands on the car game' going and someone had an allergy or medical condition that got out of control and they died or became seriously ill? Singing from the Shower - and they slip and fall? Even calling in on a contest on a cell phone and getting into a car accident could be something that gets out of control.

One of the resources you should add to the show is some kind of medical advice. It might be a local doctor that also drops in for a weekly live Q/A with the audience. Make sure you consult them before you do anything to a person's body. There are claims in the Sacramento cast that a nurse warned them of this possibility before the stunt.

Also make sure you have signed waivers and that you have talked over these types of situations with your legal team. While it might be an extra hassle in preparing a bit or a stunt - better safe than sorry. It might also be necessary to have medical histories and maybe even a doctor's permission in the legal documents in the future.

The key in managing these events on morning shows is making sure you've taken a careful approach without stifling the ideas. We've all seen the frustration and lack of creativity when you start shutting down too many ideas with 'what if' scenarios.

The reality TV shows have prompted this style of stunt and an accident like this could happen to them. I wonder if they have gone to some the measures suggested here?

The key lesson here is take a few minutes before you get into any type of physical stunt and make sure you don't end up with a career and life threatening situation.

Faster Horses

One of the many quotes that came from automaker Henry Ford has a lot of relevance to Radio Programming right now:

"If I had asked my customers what they wanted," Ford said, "they would have said a faster horse."

We are clearly faced with the opportunity and the need to re-invent. But, where do we start? Just making a better sounding station that's just like what we have now with only a few researched innovations is only a 'faster horse.' It won't compete with all the innovations in new media and become a 'leading edge' product.

The lesson from Ford's quote is that research will probably not yield new innovations. The audience can only give us feedback on what they already know and have heard. If we are going to create something innovative it's going to take a creative idea, a solid plan to implement it, and GUTS. After we have the product on the air we can and should use research to fine tune and improve it. We may also get a few clues on what the audience will and will not accept in the innovation stages.

Hopefully 2007 will be the year when Radio starts to innovate and create again.

Classic Rock and New Music

We all know the success of the Classic Rock formats in most of their incarnations (Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Classic Rock that Rocks, etc). One of the hallmarks was the purity of making sure that Classic only meant old songs. If old artists happened to release a new CD for the most part the Miller Lite Man Law Board of programmers always voted it down and declared ‘Good Call.’

There is ‘other evidence’ all over the place that 25-54s are still following veteran Classic Rockers as they continue to extend their careers. No doubt we’ll see more evidence as George Martin and his son Giles release their re-mix of Beatles songs on the Love CD. In 2006 we saw a number of Classic Rock vets still in action with some very strong CDs:

The Who

The Stones

Bob Seger

David Gilmour

Eric Clapton and JJ Cale

Dylan

Frampton

Def Leppard

Are just a few and we still have leftovers from 2005 from U2, McCartney, Robert Plant, Santana and others that sold well or at least aroused a curiosity in the 25-54 audience.

The Beatles release will likely be the biggest news here and will probably only receive a little airplay and a few ‘special segments’ in the format. Listening to the pre-release tracks like Lady Madonna, Octopus’ Garden, and the haunting slow demo of While My Guitar Gently Weeps all re-vamped with complete re-mixes is fascinating and haunting all at the same time. Why can’t we play this with enough frequency to reach the large Classic Rock audience?

Really it’s gotten to a point where Classic Artists are taking their songs and talent elsewhere. Bon Jovi is trying to breakout at Country and even taking a strong presence at next year’s CMA. Mellencamp writes a good song and sells it to Chevy instead of trying to keep his career alive in radio. Even the Beatles/George Martin have gone to Vegas with the Love CD, it’s really a soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show.

Santana has teamed up with Pop stars and gone to pop/CHR/hot AC for most of his return. The Stones and McCartney have staged their huge comebacks on the concert stage with the most successful tours in years. Dylan did a cameo in Victoria Secrets spots to keep alive. The Who’s classics in the CSI series no doubt at least allowed them to show up with their new CD. Seger’s gonna try the talk shows and a tour for his comeback.

Other media seems ready to jump in and support the on-going talent and efforts from the Classic Rock Vets. Yet, the centerpiece of radio’s link to these artists remains pretty silent. Maybe a resolution for the new year??? Maybe a new idea as we cue up ‘Start Me Up’ for the thousandth spin???

Men Spent More Than Women on Black Friday

I'm sure most marketing 'experts' would have painted the male shopper on Black Friday as too hung over from all the football and turkey to ever get out of bed. Surely he is still on the couch hugging the remote. Well it just didn't turn out that way this year and really most years Men are a lot more important than most marketing teams give them credit for.

Look at the facts in this link - http://www.ddimagazine.com/displayanddesignideas/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003438851

While Women may have outnumbered Men (47.9% Women and 37.4% Men) the Men way outspent the Women. Men on average spent $420.37 while the Women spent 304.30. When it came to BIG TICKET items Men were the ones making the decisions and laying down the cash. Take a look at the link and you can see what they spent money on. It's a great range of goods and ones that your sales team should be able to pull in some business on.

In Rock radio sales we often get ignored. 'Your audience (men) doesn't shop we are spending the marketing dollars on women' is an excuse we've all heard for years. Perhaps it's time to see that Men spend money. If you want it rock formats and sports are most likely your best avenues. Sports costs a ton of money - so welcome to rock radio.

TV - NOT for Boomers???

Was catching up on the local news and hit an story on a survey that finds Boomers are Alienated by TV - www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/Ent04/611210478/-1/ENT

The study was done by Harris Interactive and comes up with a number of findings on Boomer's opinions on TV:

• 37% of boomers are unhappy with TV programming.
  
• Over 80% claim they have a hard time finding TV shows that reflect their lives
• Over 66% belive most TV programs and advertising is aimed at people under 40

This is no surprise as TV has been obsessed with being 18-49 for the last 10 years and now over 60% of the boomers are older than 49. Advertisers are far more concerned with Paris Hilton than Sharon Stone. The marketers see the echo boomer generation still building their preferences and they want to be in the club at all costs.

On the McVay website I just did an analysis of the under 34 generation showing the losses radio is suffering in the demo and some ideas to rekindle the youth radio market:
www.mcvaymedia.com/rock/06/younger_demos_leaving_radio_pt1.html
Radio is clearly falling out with the younger demos and while TV hasn't taken them away it's all the other media out there. Clearly Radio will have to go on younger demo life support for a while to regain strength here.

Remember the old saying - 'when you get lemons you make lemonade.' Maybe it's time to start selling and marketing the huge strength that radio has in reaching the largest generation ever that is now in their prime earning years in their 50s. For many the kids are gone and they are planning a retirement and consuming consuming consuming.

Reaching them on TV (the survey shows boomers are not happy there), going on the internet (MySpace for boomers? - I don't see it). The only electronic media left is Radio and it reaches over 90% of them. They listen around 10 hours a week on the average. Sounds like a pitch to me let's do lunch and write it up.

Borat Proof WEB Marketing is the NEW POWER

In case you haven't heard the Borat Movie - Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan won it's opening week at the movie box office with over 26 Million. Winning the top spot over Santa Clause 3 and Flushed Away. The real key here is Borat opened in only 837 screens, about 1/3rd of the normal opening.

How did this happen? Maybe the big star power, Borat/Sacha Baron Choen's career amounts to a cameo in Talladega Nights and a short run on HBO as the Da Ali G Show. Or was it millions in special effects and a 4 star director? No this was largely shot with 1 camera in a grainy TV news style with mostly adlibs from Borat. Was it from the great TV spots, tons of well placed trailers, big appearences, or millions spent? No it was mostly generated from a few well placed appearences on SNL, Letterman, Leno and a few other smaller shows and TONS of internet marketing. Look at some of the efforts on the WEB:

• YouTube - Movie clips. They posted a ton all summer long.
• MySpace - Free movie sneak peaks for MySpace members in a number of markets
• MySpace - Tons of HTML downloads of movie scenes, music, pics and even deleted scenes for you to download to your site.
• Ringtones
• Banner Advertising on MySpace - The banner looked more like a hype for site not a movie.
• Google - Adwords/Adsense
• Web Site - A truly tacky site that looked so geeky it was fun.

As you draw up your 07 marketing plan remember Borat. Maybe you don't need 300K in boards or 200K in TV. Maybe you need to dive into your computer and think in the new Web World. Just remember 'it has to be fun, hip and unique.'