Thought I'd add a weekly feature to the blog and review some quick highlights from the past week in our radio world. Last week was pretty dramatic:
1. Economy Hits A Wall: From the coverage on CNBC it looked like last week was as near to a Wall Street meltdown as 1929. It looks like some of the storm has passed, but like IKE we have a huge expense cleaning up the mess. For Radio we didn't need this news as no doubt capital for business will be in short supply and the American economy will likely be in a funk for quite a while to say the least. We all know this will make the going even a little tougher as Radio looks to evolve into a lot stronger platform in the midst of so much new media competition. We're all going to have to get bold and creative and quick.
2.AFDI: Clear Channel wraps up their radio group meetings with an appeal to the troops to Actually F*** Doing It. While some criticize the CC team for using the language and a phrase that Lee Abrams used in his blog a few years ago the spirit is right. Gotta quit talking and start doing.
3. NAB: The convention is over, but is anything going to evolve or was it just another hang out convention?
4. CD's May Be Replaced by Micro SD-Cards? Wal-Mart and Best Buy are teaming up with Sony, Universal, EMI and Warner Bros to use the Scan Disk Micro SD cards and put CDs/Albums on them. Art and liner notes will return (yeah) and there will be plenty of room for you to store your songs on the memory cards also. They can plug into phones, MP3 players, your computer and are not copy protected. Sounds interesting, but will the current downloaders buy in?
5. PPM: The recent legal attempts by 'we like the inaccurate and outdated diaries because we looked OK in it' groups continue to hold PPM back. It's time for these folks to accept the reality and get out of the way of more accurate and reliable ratings data.
6. Looks Like Rock Radio Ratings are improving: Maybe it's the wealth of good new music, better sample return in both diaries and PPM panels, or maybe it's the Guitar Hero/Rock Band video games. Whatever the reason Rock Radio is mostly up in ratings across the country. Unfortunately Arbitron has discontinued their national format trends report due to the problems related to combining PPM and Diary data. So we really don't have any nationwide data to trend on here, but going through the top 30 markets I see 5-6 that are close to flat, 5 or 6 that could be ruled down and the rest are UP. For the stations I work with in both the U.S. and Canada nearly all were UP this past Spring. It's a good time to ROCK.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Authenticity Part 4 - The Wrap
We wrap up being Authentic with the audience with 3 tips:
1. Be Viral: When things happen in unique and unexpected places they can look more authentic. Showing up with a integrated presence in the streets and on the web woven into the event/site can get your message across around the hype filter.
2. Use your audience: They believe themselves. Having the audience spread the word in their own style and words is a lot more authentic than the big voice guy. Just make sure the audience says what they want - not 'which station rocks your town.'
3. Be Unique: Stand out in your words and presentation and surprise them. Think way outside the box and you'll hit 'authentic' a lot quicker than using the same old tricks.
Lastly remember that Image IS the Key and you build that image one sweeper, promo, billboard, and impression at a time. Lose the focus on the image just a few times with the audience and all your hard work can be lost. Once you grow that authentic image work with it carefully to make sure it sticks. Once you lose it you see that the audience doesn't forget.
1. Be Viral: When things happen in unique and unexpected places they can look more authentic. Showing up with a integrated presence in the streets and on the web woven into the event/site can get your message across around the hype filter.
2. Use your audience: They believe themselves. Having the audience spread the word in their own style and words is a lot more authentic than the big voice guy. Just make sure the audience says what they want - not 'which station rocks your town.'
3. Be Unique: Stand out in your words and presentation and surprise them. Think way outside the box and you'll hit 'authentic' a lot quicker than using the same old tricks.
Lastly remember that Image IS the Key and you build that image one sweeper, promo, billboard, and impression at a time. Lose the focus on the image just a few times with the audience and all your hard work can be lost. Once you grow that authentic image work with it carefully to make sure it sticks. Once you lose it you see that the audience doesn't forget.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Living Up - Authenticity Part 3
As we move through a series of thoughts on Authenticity In Radio the key for part 3 is LIVING UP. I don't mean living beyond your means but actually the opposite. Living Up to what you claim.
Once you pull out the hype and quit making statements and claims that you can't live up to you have to find selling points and claims that you CAN live up to. Also keep in mind that longer claims usually set off the Un Authentic Meter.
While there are many stations that stand out with high Authentic scores one great example to listen to is The Drive in Chicago. The main claim for the station is basic and simple - The Sound Track of Our Lives. Notice that they use 'our' not 'your' - which would assume that somehow they knew Your life.
The presentation is also low key. There isn't a big voice booming announcer making sweeping big balls statements. The avoid the laser shot gimmicks in the production and often rely on classic song hooks to showcase the 'soundtrack.'
And when you look at the results the Drive has pushed past the legendary Loop complete with Brandmier. They have also run past WXRT which likely had the 'authentic' Q-score before the Drive signed on.
Another tactic that works - a sense of humor. You can make big claims, but make it obvious that it's a joke. Just remember that humor has a limited shelf life.
Repeating it over and over is also a way that we often rely on the 'drum it into their heads' that often backfires. The more we bang the drum the more often their BS meter goes off. When you do hype it up or use humor watch out - don't overstay your welcome. Keep track of how many times you've run a sweeper or promo and consider that with most stations that have a TSL around 30 1/4 hours a week it only takes 40 plays of the sweeper to get over 60% of your cume hearing the message 3 or more times a week.
Once you pull out the hype and quit making statements and claims that you can't live up to you have to find selling points and claims that you CAN live up to. Also keep in mind that longer claims usually set off the Un Authentic Meter.
While there are many stations that stand out with high Authentic scores one great example to listen to is The Drive in Chicago. The main claim for the station is basic and simple - The Sound Track of Our Lives. Notice that they use 'our' not 'your' - which would assume that somehow they knew Your life.
The presentation is also low key. There isn't a big voice booming announcer making sweeping big balls statements. The avoid the laser shot gimmicks in the production and often rely on classic song hooks to showcase the 'soundtrack.'
And when you look at the results the Drive has pushed past the legendary Loop complete with Brandmier. They have also run past WXRT which likely had the 'authentic' Q-score before the Drive signed on.
Another tactic that works - a sense of humor. You can make big claims, but make it obvious that it's a joke. Just remember that humor has a limited shelf life.
Repeating it over and over is also a way that we often rely on the 'drum it into their heads' that often backfires. The more we bang the drum the more often their BS meter goes off. When you do hype it up or use humor watch out - don't overstay your welcome. Keep track of how many times you've run a sweeper or promo and consider that with most stations that have a TSL around 30 1/4 hours a week it only takes 40 plays of the sweeper to get over 60% of your cume hearing the message 3 or more times a week.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Over Hype - The Core of Un-Authentic
In today's radio world we seem to gravitate to Hype almost naturally. Look at our positioning. There is hardly a station that can't avoid falling into- the BEST - The MOST or The Number 1 trap. The contesting is also filled with it - we can't just have the Winter Escape - it has to be The Ultimate Winter Escape. Then you look at the features, special programs and weekend themes and we've added another layer of hype. The air staff often falls into the 'sound' repeating the hyped up positioning with that 'extra' hype in their sell and fills the breaks even more fomatic hyped up billboards.
What really lies at the core of HYPE is making claims that you can't justify or that are subjective. Who is really 'the best?' Can you prove it with words? Rarely can you make claims like we do and expect the audience to ever really believe them. But, for years radio programming has followed the old marketing model. The reach and frequency game of repeat the same message so many times that it reaches the whole audience and then do it enough till it becomes drilled in. Hypnotize them and they will do anything or believe anything.
This game worked well when we only had a few media to work with and were not saturated with marketing. Now that we are swimming it in all the time and so much of it follows the reach and frequency hype model the audience is not believing it any more.
Getting rid of the HYPE in your station will be a tough task but one that you have to accomplish if you are going to stand up as a hip and credible brand with the under 40 year olds. Cleaning it out of your imaging, contesting, jock presentation and your marketing will take years. These habits run deep in our products and we won't get a lot of recognition for the efforts for a while. The audience expects hype from radio - it's become cliche.
OK so what happens if we commit to cleaning out out the hype - how do you sell the product to the audience? That's what we'll explore in the next segment building Authenticity Back Into Radio in a few days.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Authenticity - The Key To Reviving Radio - Part 1
We've all recognized radio's issues and concerns as we've watched our 'stock' fall with the audience over the last 10 years. In the end our media just isn't 'hip' anymore and with so many new media entries to choose from the job of taking on so many challenges looks daunting from the product and sales side.
While all of these challenges may seem new, radio has actually faced many of them before. As FM radio was taking shape we faced a lot of the same core issues. AM Top 40 radio ruled the land and it was packed with hype. Phony DJs, overly tight playlists often playing the top song every hour, and imaging that was anything but authentic. A lot of the audience was expressing the same issues we see now that radio had sold out and was no longer hip or a source of music discovery.
In those early days of FM being authentic was a core value. Even if you picked a phony name you had to have one that was more of a natural nickname than a hyped up image. Stations didn't position themselves as the Best or the Most they strove more to be unique. The presentation was more 'laid back' and the messages between the songs were more informational than fixed on selling the product. The playlists were a lot wider and deeper than the top 40 AMs with a freedom that lead you on more for what you might discover than what you already know. While you may feel that the description here was mostly about 'progressive radio' or the origins of the AOR format these values were also present in the Beautiful Music Formats and the AC stations of the era.
Radio began to regain it's ties to the audience and the shift to FM was on. In the early 70s only 10 to 15% of the listening was on FM, but by the end of the decade it was over 50%. Of course it moved to the 80% range through the 80s.
Looking at today's 20 something and younger generation that seems to be at the core of radio's woes the one thing they are looking for is AUTHENTICITY. In the oversold world that they have grown up in they can smell a sales pitch miles away and usually run from it.
Radio is full of gimmicks, hype and illusion -- all detractors of AUTHENTICITY. From our 'THE BEST XXX' claims to the over dramatic contests, gimmick names for the stations, and endless formatics designed not to entertain but to drill images into the audience's head.
If we want to revive our product with the audience under 40 AUTHENTICITY will have to be at the core of our values. Over the next 2 weeks let's take a look at some ideas you can use in your station's culture and foundation that will breed authenticity. Hope you can make it back and I also hope you will add to the party with a few comments.
While all of these challenges may seem new, radio has actually faced many of them before. As FM radio was taking shape we faced a lot of the same core issues. AM Top 40 radio ruled the land and it was packed with hype. Phony DJs, overly tight playlists often playing the top song every hour, and imaging that was anything but authentic. A lot of the audience was expressing the same issues we see now that radio had sold out and was no longer hip or a source of music discovery.
In those early days of FM being authentic was a core value. Even if you picked a phony name you had to have one that was more of a natural nickname than a hyped up image. Stations didn't position themselves as the Best or the Most they strove more to be unique. The presentation was more 'laid back' and the messages between the songs were more informational than fixed on selling the product. The playlists were a lot wider and deeper than the top 40 AMs with a freedom that lead you on more for what you might discover than what you already know. While you may feel that the description here was mostly about 'progressive radio' or the origins of the AOR format these values were also present in the Beautiful Music Formats and the AC stations of the era.
Radio began to regain it's ties to the audience and the shift to FM was on. In the early 70s only 10 to 15% of the listening was on FM, but by the end of the decade it was over 50%. Of course it moved to the 80% range through the 80s.
Looking at today's 20 something and younger generation that seems to be at the core of radio's woes the one thing they are looking for is AUTHENTICITY. In the oversold world that they have grown up in they can smell a sales pitch miles away and usually run from it.
Radio is full of gimmicks, hype and illusion -- all detractors of AUTHENTICITY. From our 'THE BEST XXX' claims to the over dramatic contests, gimmick names for the stations, and endless formatics designed not to entertain but to drill images into the audience's head.
If we want to revive our product with the audience under 40 AUTHENTICITY will have to be at the core of our values. Over the next 2 weeks let's take a look at some ideas you can use in your station's culture and foundation that will breed authenticity. Hope you can make it back and I also hope you will add to the party with a few comments.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Exposing Your Content
What are you really doing with your content?
Are you just putting it through the transmitter?
While most of our audience uses the transmitter we all know and see all the expansion of distribution channels.
For example look at a cable TV show like Mad Men from AMC. The whole first season can be watched on DVD, On Demand/Comcast Cable, and on the web site. You can also watch the shows on Mondays (it airs on Sunday night) on line or through On Demand.
With all that distribution you may wonder - isn't this killing their ratings. Why would anyone tune in on Sunday nights for the regular broadcast? Well the reality is that it doubled the numbers for the show as the new season began a couple of weeks ago. They went from around a million viewers to 2 million and now the award winning show is starting to catch on. Watch as AMC pulls off a hit. Much of the work was done by spreading the distribution. Now that the audience has started to discover the show from all the distribution channels they are developing P1s. Otherwise AMC would have had another award winning show that got missed in the maze of 300 cable channels and so much other media.
Could Rock Radio benefit from a similar strategy. You bet.
1. Pod casts - Some stations use them but I bet 90% of you have only 1 or no podcasts on your site.
2. You Tube clips - How much as your station or team posted from station events, guest shots on the morning show, or even just a tour of the station with some pranks from the staff.
3. Collections of morning show bits.
4. Replay the phone calls from your afternoon show.
5. How about a new rock pod cast every week that doesn't air on the transmitter but only on the web with comments on new artists and songs.
6. Maybe a place for local bands to showcase their videos and music complete with reviews and chats.
Most sites I visit don't have much that really pertains to the station or it's content. In Rock we seem to have lots of girl pages (as if there isn't any more revealing content in this genre on the web), RSS music news feeds (wow Billy Joel is on tour), some corporate stuff (the Clear Channel web feeds), the link to streaming, maybe a list of the last songs played, a chart so you can buy songs, hype for the database, bios of the jocks, and hype for the contests.
Where's the audio - this is supposed to be RADIO. And is it local? In the content arena this is supposed to be our biggest card to play.
Are we worried that if we leave the content on the web that the audience won't dial us in to hear it? We are way past being exclusive - now is the time to be INCLUSIVE.
We all know the problem here. Most stations have no resources to get their content to the web. It takes human effort to get it there and with so many stations running so bare boned on staff we can't get ahead. As we come out of these tough times hopefully we can put asside some of the resources to start building a purposeful world here. AND SOON.
Are you just putting it through the transmitter?
While most of our audience uses the transmitter we all know and see all the expansion of distribution channels.
For example look at a cable TV show like Mad Men from AMC. The whole first season can be watched on DVD, On Demand/Comcast Cable, and on the web site. You can also watch the shows on Mondays (it airs on Sunday night) on line or through On Demand.
With all that distribution you may wonder - isn't this killing their ratings. Why would anyone tune in on Sunday nights for the regular broadcast? Well the reality is that it doubled the numbers for the show as the new season began a couple of weeks ago. They went from around a million viewers to 2 million and now the award winning show is starting to catch on. Watch as AMC pulls off a hit. Much of the work was done by spreading the distribution. Now that the audience has started to discover the show from all the distribution channels they are developing P1s. Otherwise AMC would have had another award winning show that got missed in the maze of 300 cable channels and so much other media.
Could Rock Radio benefit from a similar strategy. You bet.
1. Pod casts - Some stations use them but I bet 90% of you have only 1 or no podcasts on your site.
2. You Tube clips - How much as your station or team posted from station events, guest shots on the morning show, or even just a tour of the station with some pranks from the staff.
3. Collections of morning show bits.
4. Replay the phone calls from your afternoon show.
5. How about a new rock pod cast every week that doesn't air on the transmitter but only on the web with comments on new artists and songs.
6. Maybe a place for local bands to showcase their videos and music complete with reviews and chats.
Most sites I visit don't have much that really pertains to the station or it's content. In Rock we seem to have lots of girl pages (as if there isn't any more revealing content in this genre on the web), RSS music news feeds (wow Billy Joel is on tour), some corporate stuff (the Clear Channel web feeds), the link to streaming, maybe a list of the last songs played, a chart so you can buy songs, hype for the database, bios of the jocks, and hype for the contests.
Where's the audio - this is supposed to be RADIO. And is it local? In the content arena this is supposed to be our biggest card to play.
Are we worried that if we leave the content on the web that the audience won't dial us in to hear it? We are way past being exclusive - now is the time to be INCLUSIVE.
We all know the problem here. Most stations have no resources to get their content to the web. It takes human effort to get it there and with so many stations running so bare boned on staff we can't get ahead. As we come out of these tough times hopefully we can put asside some of the resources to start building a purposeful world here. AND SOON.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sales Solves All Problems?
In the 80s as a programmer I heard the claim in a station strategy/budget session that 'SALES SOLVES ALL PROBLEMS.' In that case we had a solid product and really the sales effort was doing well but the potential to grow was clearly there and the team responded. While the revenue gains didn't really solve ALL problems it did exceed the budget and on paper we had won.
At that time we all bought in as the extra sales effort meant more resources to keep the product competitive and ahead. That statement has popped up a number of times and in many ways it became the mantra of business strategy for many station and group strategies for our industry.
Clearly sales generates the revenue and that is the lifeblood of any business. But, you still need a product to sell. In our case we still need a strong and healthy audience.
Does the business plan of your station or group still living in a world where you expect sales to solve ALL problems? It's obvious that we need content and product to sell. With all the new media in the advertising holding and building an audience has never been more challenging. Are you investing enough to get the job done? It's a simple question, but one that we are obviously not asking enough as we watch new media invading on our shares of the market more and more every day.
Building a product that draws both audience and advertisers is a careful balance. Throwing money at the product or making it all product and slighting the sales side doesn't work but, making it all sales and ignoring the product doesn't work either. It's all about balance - are you balancing your resources?
At that time we all bought in as the extra sales effort meant more resources to keep the product competitive and ahead. That statement has popped up a number of times and in many ways it became the mantra of business strategy for many station and group strategies for our industry.
Clearly sales generates the revenue and that is the lifeblood of any business. But, you still need a product to sell. In our case we still need a strong and healthy audience.
Does the business plan of your station or group still living in a world where you expect sales to solve ALL problems? It's obvious that we need content and product to sell. With all the new media in the advertising holding and building an audience has never been more challenging. Are you investing enough to get the job done? It's a simple question, but one that we are obviously not asking enough as we watch new media invading on our shares of the market more and more every day.
Building a product that draws both audience and advertisers is a careful balance. Throwing money at the product or making it all product and slighting the sales side doesn't work but, making it all sales and ignoring the product doesn't work either. It's all about balance - are you balancing your resources?
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Air Staff Critique
Sitting down with the air staff one on one with a trusty air check is probably not on the top of most PDs punch list most days. Over the years it's become almost a forgotten PD art. With voice tracking, digital/computer studios, and more and more formatic rules I bet most of the talent on the air has had very few of these meetings in the last few years.
In fact I've run into studios where you can't even run an air check, unless you tape the whole show off air. These are important meetings and you probably should be meeting on on one at least twice a month with everyone.
So where do we start? Just cue up the breaks and hit play?
Really the better meeting comes when the PD has taken a half hour or so and reviewed a show before the talent arrives. Although I usually review a whole station over a number of dayparts one of the tricks I use is recording the station's stream and going back with a generic wave editor and running through a couple of hours of breaks. You can get stream recorders from a bunch of on-line download sites (www.topdownloads.net - Absolute Sound Recorder 3 - is one of many shareware programs you can use).
The keys to look for in most presentations:
In fact I've run into studios where you can't even run an air check, unless you tape the whole show off air. These are important meetings and you probably should be meeting on on one at least twice a month with everyone.
So where do we start? Just cue up the breaks and hit play?
Really the better meeting comes when the PD has taken a half hour or so and reviewed a show before the talent arrives. Although I usually review a whole station over a number of dayparts one of the tricks I use is recording the station's stream and going back with a generic wave editor and running through a couple of hours of breaks. You can get stream recorders from a bunch of on-line download sites (www.topdownloads.net - Absolute Sound Recorder 3 - is one of many shareware programs you can use).
The keys to look for in most presentations:
- Is the talent COMFORTABLE on the air?
- Are they talking TO the audience or announcing over them?
- Do they know WHO the audience is?
- Are they TOPICAL to the target audience?
- Are they PREPARED?
- Are they EXECUTING the basics - call letters, billboards, liners, and most important interfacing with the music.
The key is picking one of these topics for each session and focusing on just that area.
To get the talent into it - try brainstorming instead of preaching to them. Get them involved in answering these questions and let their ideas and thoughts jump out. If you do you will make a lot more progress with each session.
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