HD Radio - Hindsight is 20/20

We all know the saying Hindsight is 20/20 all too well. As I keep looking at HD Radio there are so many things that we, as an industry and Ibiquity as a producer, could have improved on. Here's some thoughts:

• The Name - HD Radio: HD is quickly becoming all about TV. With all the new flat screens and more and more programming being rolled out and all the marketing on TV that's going on for HDTV it's really confusing the consumer. Imagine if we'd decided to market FM Stereo as - Color Radio. We'd probably still be on AM and the FM band would have been set aside for something else. We could have called it Digital Radio or even better yet we could have built the model around surround sound (digital 360) and instead of just improving the quality in terms of frequency range we could have build a system that would have made the ultimate in car audio and maybe brought back more in-home listening.


• The Boxes - Does this look Hi-Tech in any way? While there are some other models most are not ground breaking. The satellite radios are a bit more interesting and different looking. After we all saw the 'glow' of the I-Pods it should have been a wake up call that the radio makers needed to at least try for some innovation in the design. We should have and could have focused a lot more on the visual display here. Having pics of the artists, logos, trivia, maybe even some artist history or gossip. But the display is not much more than time/channel and maybe song title if it was programmed in right.


• The Programming - The rush seemed to be all about variety and the number of channels being offered. Instead of focusing on building unique products hundreds of HD channels in a box were created and a coalition of owners 'issued' the formats out to the member stations so there wouldn't be any 'in-fighting.' Why didn't we focus on building unique products. What if all the efforts were put into some unique offerings like regional/local indie channels aimed at the new indie rock movement and 16-24 year olds that we'd pretty much written off on our main signals? Instead of just a few imaging pieces and a bunch of mp3 files spinning on a computer we could have made a full effort with real jocks, some feature programming, flashy web sites, and had a real radio station here. We've all heard Live365 home brew web stations that sounded better than many of the HD offerings. Getting 1 hit channel would have been worth a lot more than launching 300 channels no one cared about.


• Marketing - Radio's done a lot here with tons of promo spots all over the bigger markets. The flaws noted in the 'Name' section above are holding back the effort and causing confusion, but at least we have put a message out there. Think about how much stronger the message would be with a unique presentation, programming that catches attention, and some hip-sexy looking products.

Over the next few weeks are going to watch Apple launch the I-Phone. Much like the launch of the I-Pod this product will have a wave of Hyper P1s sign up and praise the product in a cult like progression. From that legion of early adopters (mostly people who were lucky enough to get in line early enough to reserve one and afford $600 for a phone/i-pod) it will likely grow to at least see millions using the product within the first 6 months or so. We've been working on HD Radio for 3 years now and we still don't have a million people able to hear the product.

I do think the I-Phone will not be the runaway hit that I-Pod is for Apple. The launch was well done but Wall Street and so much of the press expects this to be such a huge hit I don't think they will be able to live up to all the spotlight and hype. There are other phones out there with some cool features, ATT doesn't have the strongest network for coverage and data delivery, and the cost of the phones is pretty high. You can get a lot of the features in a phone that comes free with a lot of other services. Still, they have put enough marketing savvy and fuel in the tank to make sure I-Phone gets off the ground. If only HD Radio had done the same.

There's still time to make Digital Radio a success. While we've made some mistakes not enough of the audience knows about it to have formed a negative impression yet. We can't fix the name, but we could start to center the product around surround sound, do more unique programming, aim a lot more HD programming at the under 25 audience and really put an effort into it - not just 'hard drive' it. We could also get the radio mfg folks to put out something sexy - maybe WE should make a cell phone with HD Radio in it - why not?????

Over Protecting THE Brand

As we passed another gas station with prices above $3.20 a gallon it wasn't hard to imagine that American consumers should be swinging into a mode of car buying where MPG once again matters. You can see it clearly in the marketing for the Hybrids and smaller cars that seem to be moving off the car lots a lot quicker than a few years ago.

We have the Hummer H2 plant in our area and I wondered what impact all the high gas prices were having on their product. They did have a few cutbacks at the end of 06 but seemed to have settled down as we face the highest gas prices of the summer. When I asked a friend who works there what Hummer was planning to do to raise the MPG figures from 13 Highway and 10 City. The plan is to put a 6 speed auto transmission in, tweak the fuel delivery computer, and maybe trim a few pounds. It will likely bring it up to 16 MPG on the Highway.

Hummer H2s have Full Time 4 Wheel Drive or All Wheel Drive. If they put in a switch that would allow you to select 4 wheel drive when you were going off road or in the snow and the rest of the time on the freeway or around town use 2 wheel drive you could add another 5 MPG or maybe even more.

The response from the marketing gurus at GM - THAT WILL RUIN THE BRAND. NO WAY.

Wow a feature that is used probably 1 time a year by a small percentage of the consumers is deemed that important? I guess so.

How many things or pieces to your Brand are we protecting to the point of sort of looking 'stupid.' I can think of many rules we follow in formatics, coaching the air staff, handling promotions, and in scheduling the music that are almost as bad as the GM example above. Can you?

Don't Be Yourself - Be THE AUDIENCE!

How many times have you flipped on the radio and caught the personalities chatting all about THEIR world. What a pain it is when the coffee pot is dirty, the printer is out of ink, Bill doesn't flush, or how they spent their time this weekend hanging out backstage with the stars being pampered. Often you have to wonder if the audience cares at all about the every hassle or activity your personalities are experiencing.

One of the things we will be able to see in analyzing PPM data analysis is that the audience reaction to self indulgence may be even worse than all of us imagined. By tracking listener tune out on the minute by minute data and comparing it to what happened on the air we'll be able to see graphically how damaging these moments are. While we still have to have more time with PPM data to really pull out this kind of analysis we all know in the 'common sense' sector of our brains that it's likely to show up as a key element in tune out. And in a PPM world tune out is directly reflected in the numbers - not just forgotten in a recall game.

While in the studio - protected from the audience by soundproof walls, double pane glass, a transmitter, stl, processing, and a really tall tower it's easy with all the flashing control sliders and computer screens to think that you are the center of the universe.

If that's the thought swirling around your studio its time for a big de-briefing. It might be time to sit down with your air personalities and make sure they know the golden rule - IT'S ALL ABOUT THE AUDIENCE. What are they thinking about, what are they laughing at, and what do they want to know more about? Make that the priority in each break and you will be a star - forget about it and you are just another self centered person behind a mic with some headphones on that thinks they are a big star.

Listen to your breaks all day long - this can easily go on well after the Morning Show has left the studio. Is the content all about ME or is it about the AUDIENCE? While a little of the 'ME' sprinkled in to relate to the AUDIENCE is fine - just remember to keep it in moderation, on topic and planed out. If you just start rambling pretty soon you will forget about the audience and it will all be about you. As you prep for a show look at what your target audience is reading about, following on the web, watching on TV, watching on DVD, going to see at the movies, music they are into, and what news or gossip is in the air today. Make sure your breaks center on those areas and not too much on your personal world.

Rocking at Conclave - and a few notes

It's just over 2 weeks till Conclave in downtown Minneapolis - June 28th - 30th. Still time to register and catch a convention that's really not conventional. Conclave is really a learning conference and fights to stick with that plan. You can learn more here.

For this year's Rock panel Mike Boyle (Rock formats editor for R&R) hosted a number of conference calls with group of Rock Programmers and we came up with a session I hope you will attend. It's on Friday afternoon at 5p so we felt we really had to hit a home run to get you into the room. Here's our plan:

Theme - Rock Radio - Ratings, Revenue and Revolution. The 90 minutes will have 3 20 minutes (or so) devoted to each of the 3 Rs.

• Ratings - Gary Marince from Arbitron will take a close look at PPM and Rock Radio. Considering the differences we've already seen with the Philly Rock stations showing huge gains in shares this will be a very interesting session. Gary will also look at using PPM data and he promises to also include lots of help and news for the Diary Based markets.
• Revenue - Jenny Tsao also from Arbitron will take us on a full qualitative tour of rock listeners from Arbitron's extensive qualitative data banks. Rock listeners are very valuable, but we often see sales teams and buyers fail to recognize their worth. Jenny will give you lots of facts to take back to your sales teams and show them the true value of rock radio.
• Revolution - Jennifer Williams from Greater Media's Internet/new media arena will show us all the fast changing and evolving world of the Web in radio. From streaming to personal networks Jennifer promises to give you tons of tools to take back to your web world.

There will be plenty of time for questions and input from you in the audience. Just make sure you're there. Plenty of time after for a few beers and fun on the town in the twin cities.

Shifting gears a little - 3 items from scanning the news to get the week going:

• New Media conference - They wrapped up in NYC and while New Media might imply an Internet conference it is mostly about talk radio and syndication. Of course the news from the meetings was - Talk Radio Has A Huge Future on FM. It's an idea that's been pushed for the last 10 or 12 years. We've pretty much seen the Free - FM CBS FM talk stations fail and most who have tried the format end up with a huge talent bill and not much for numbers. I don't get what the talk guys see here?

• Zune tops 1 million - WOW - Microsoft with millions to spend and it takes a year to sell a million Zune players. I don't know if I'd be having a party with that news.

• Paul McCartney #1 - Paul's new cd on the 'Starbucks' label with a new distribution system ends up #1. Paul is a legend and there is some good music on the CD, but #1!!! Good for Paul but it does say something. Older consumers will buy new music from established stars - but you are not going to sell it to them in the traditional spots - Radio included.

Are You Boring????

Another Monday as Summer Revs up and we're into the last Phase of the Spring Arbitron. Soooo what's going on on the radio? If all you have going on this week is a remote or 2 to sell cars, bars or cell phones and a few giveaway trinkets in the lunch show Bass Akwards contest how do you expect to shine? Is your 'blackboard' of things happening on the air blank like the pic here.

As we work with stations in today's multi station clusters on what happens on air after the morning show we often find a lot of effort to get Selector and the digital system all set up and running. The next 'big' effort usually goes into imaging and production between the records then the air staff, promotions, and special programing/features. But, with PDs often working with multiple stations and sales teams that sell multiple signals some of the stations fall between the cracks. These stations often have to make things happen with less resources. That shouldn't stop you from making the station exciting. You have a whole city, lots of other entertainment to link up with, and a big group of people to interact and party with (your audience).

Just having a good music mix and some creative sweepers isn't going to make any station a winner. The audience has tons of internet stations with unique hyper niche music mixes that we could never attempt with just music on them. There has to be something going on that's going to attract attention on a regular basis. It can be 'on air' or 'in the community' but if all you are working with is that music mix and a few sweepers you are in a sword fight with a tree branch.

Look at your blackboard - is it blank? Even if it's just a big party for the opening night for Pirates at the movie theatre, or a countdown for when Paris goes to Jail, a bar night to watch the last episode of 24 for the season, or a special preview night for the new Linkin Park album - get something going. Even if you have to 'make it up' get out and get going. All it takes is a calendar, a few brainstorm/idea sessions, an awareness of what the target audience is into, and the space to talk about it on the air.

Pandora - Slacker - Custom On-Line Radio

Perhaps you've read about or even visited either Slacker or the Pandora on-line radio sites. Both sites have a variety of on-line stations but also offer the ability to make a custom station just for the listener. Pick a style or an artist and you decide how deep the library will be, which songs are your favorites, and what artists to include in the mix.

Now they also offer portable players. Pandora has units that take a stream from wireless connections wherever you can get to one. Slacker is a little more interesting as it uses a cache system to load up the player quickly then allow you to keep listening even while you are away from the stream. Slacker is also working with a satellite system so you will be able to listen on the road. Slacker has negotiated rights to the music on the system and are not burdened by the Sound Exchange royalties world but Pandora could be in trouble as streaming fees increase. There are some unique limits - both offer the opportunity to skip a song and move ahead but only 5-6 times in an hour. With Slacker you can purchase a premium subscription and skip as much as you want.

Ok fancy tech, but how well does it work in the real world. I decided to put together a station myself and see how well it works. I was a big fan of the Byrds and it's been years since I spent time with their music so I chose them as an artist to center my station around.

When I punched up the Byrds artist station on both Pandora and Slacker it was a unique adventure. The Byrds show up about every 15-20 minutes or so on the Byrds station on both services. On Slacker the rest of the selections are from all kinds of bands that were either influenced by the Byrds/CSN world like Tom Petty or REM and the rest are bands either from the era (Beatles, Grateful Dead, Airplane) or that share a folk style (Dylan, Fairport Convention, Lovin Spoonful). You can set the mix to be more obscure or familiar or center it on an era (but here are no currents or recurrents to work with). On Pandora the mix was very different with tons of new Indie bands (some we've never heard of from indie labels) in the mix and very few 'era' moments.

You can also create a station so I tried to build My Byrds Radio. By selecting songs as favorites I was able to build a list and then set the station to mix in those favorite songs either once in a while or a lot. But, I had to listen to each song all the way through - a long process just to build a Byrds station. Trying to steer the station away from the long Fairport Convention songs or the Grateful Dead jams I didn't want was going to take forever. On Pandora it was even worse as most of the non-Byrds songs were indie bands even a rock programmer couldn't ID that sort of sounded like alt/pop versions of Byrds songs. Sorry I got other things to do - it would be better just to go to my CD collection rip off the Byrds CDS and a few other bands into a Byrds file on my MP3 player and sit back and enjoy.

Still it's an interesting option. It may catch on and become the next interesting application of Internet radio. While Slacker may not have Sound Exchange over it there are still issues with the system that are designed to limit the system so some fees can be collected or so you will be stimulated to go out and buy some music instead of putting in so much effort to build your own world. Pandora on the other hand will sit on the edge of its seat till the CRB decides the fee issue.

Is it a threat to terrestrial radio? Maybe but it's a lot of work to make any of these services personalized. Yes some will jump in, but they won't quit listening to us.

Big Market Rock Sign Ons - What's UP

This past week we've seen Clear Channel in Philly flip it's rumba/Hispanic station to somewhat library based Alternative stations Radio 104.5 and in San Francisco CBS dumps talk Free FM for a Classic Hits format with the old KFRC call letters. In Philly you can check out the station at http://www.radio1045.com/.

Why would these groups jump into rock based formats in Major markets? Just a few years ago Clear Channel was moving rock signals into Hispanic formats - is there a taco under your chair? And when CBS lost Howard most of the rock leaning stations quickly left the music behind for talk. We've all seen the trend of rock declining over the last 5-7 years in ratings so we have to wonder why?

PPM is the answer. Rock shares seem very likely to increase as we now see the initial data coming out from Houston and Philly. You can read more in my PPM review on the McVay web site here. I also just finished a piece for the site that digs much deeper into the potential for Rock formats in the PPM world read it here. This is going to be a BIG trend in the top 10 markets over the next 2 years and we could very well see a revival of rock formats in all the top 30 markets over the next 5 years. PPM different sample methods and systems compiled with the meter automatically recording listening instead of relying on recall and writing it down seems to be finding a lot more shares for Rock formats.

In Philly WMMR's shares are up 84%. Now we have to wonder - how far off is the diary system? We look these topics and more in the report the McVay Media site. Hope you can check it out.

Have a great weekend.

The ART of Coaching

Finally we are into Summer and for my son it means BASEBALL. Last year I helped out as an assistant coach and quickly found out how hard it is to get 11 ten year olds to listen and focus on learning to first back up for a fly ball. This year I'm watching some experienced Little League coaches work their magic and watching them work reminded me of the challenges we all face in programming in coaching the talent on our teams.

In baseball (and in most team sports) winning comes not because of 1 person or a great manager. It comes because the whole team comes together with a spirit and a focus that makes winning almost a forgone conclusion instead of a surprise. But, how do you as the manager create this magical moment? Here are some thoughts that I try to keep in front when helping PDs become better talent coaches:

LISTEN - You can't coach your afternoon guy if you never get a chance to hear the show. You also can't coach unless you spend the time to have real interactive conversations with the talent. Just telling them to tighten it up and do better billboards isn't coaching. You have to ask some questions about them and listen carefully to what they say. Learn their fears, frustrations, turn ons, and habits.

THE 3 Cs - The key steps to building talent always follows the 3 Cs:

1. Comfortable - You can't be entertaining, compelling or funny if you are uncomfortable. We've all seen the stand up comic that's scared to death on stage. Even though the material may be very funny it's tough to laugh when the talent is obviously scared or distracted.
2. Consistent - It takes a long time to really build an audience. Most of it is done one listener at a time and you have to be consistent in the personality you project for everyone to 'get it.' That also means being prepared. Just like a great batter who steps into the box with his feet in the same spot, his hands at the same height, and his legs bent just right every time your talent has to be set for every break.
3. Compelling - You have to have something interesting to say - if you don't it might be better to just shut up.

AUDIENCE: This is 'stolen' from Tommy Kramer who is a great talent coach. Ask most of your talent if they would like to be the SUN (provider of all heat, light, and great sun tans) or the Moon (a rock that orbits the earth and reflects the light of the sun). Most would say - THE SUN. They view their role as beaming all their personality, music and thoughts down to the residents of earth (your market) and getting paid a ton to do it. Really the better answer would be to be the Moon. Listening to and learning as much about your audience as you can and reflecting back to them is the real key to welcomed into their cars, homes and offices on a regular basis. Make friends not followers.

BE PREPARED: You can't 'just wing it.' The goal may be to be comfortable enough and consistent enough to be able to 'sound' like you are being spontaneous and just letting the words fall out, but to really achieve that you have to know where your are going before you crack the mic. Often times a lot of the best on-air talent are very creative people and getting organized and being prepared are areas that happen in the other side of the brain from creativity. Creative people have to work harder at being prepared and if they don't work at it in live radio it's easy to have a bad break or show.

Another thing I'm learning from the Little League coaches this year is you have to practice a lot if you want to see the kids become real good players. You can't just do a little infield before the game and see the team really improve. You have to work with your talent every week and in many cases (like the morning show) probably 3-4 sessions a week. Ideally a PD with 4 live dayparts and 2 weekend people should be spending 12 or more hours a week coaching the team. Yes a quarter of your work week if you are off air. It's a lot of work and often some of the hardest work most PDs do. It's not easy to sit with a morning show and inspire them - but great PDs do it.

In today's world we often don't have the time for real coaching. How often do you see the PD who has 2 -3 stations to cover and still does a mid-day shift. Often we wonder why a station isn't making big progress, we have the music right, the imaging is great, and there's enough marketing, but it's still not gaining. I bet if you start building the talent into real players you'll see the progress. But, it will take time and lots of effort.