The annual Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s “State of the News Media” report is out and lostremote’s Steve Safran posts some highlights here. I’m reading the entire report but found something interesting on the Pew website. No radio. Sound with no pictures is now called “AUDIO.”
Is that significant? I think it might be but I’m not show how. If this were to catch on, it might become a problem for a few of our networks (Radio Iowa, Wisconsin Radio Network, Nebraska Radio Network, South Carolina Radio Network) down the road. Will I live to see a time when “radio” is an anachronism? Hard to imagine, but…
Mark Ramsey at Hear 2.0 asks and answers:
“I think the term “local” dates to a time when communities could only be served by media which originated within them – the local newspaper, TV, or radio. Today, communities continue to have local pride, interest, and concern, but their means of expressing and sharing in those things are no longer limited to the media which so happen to be around the corner.”
“There is no longer any such thing as “local” as we traditionally use the term. The definition of “local” is both expanding (interests are broader than geographies) and shrinking (I am the ultimate “local”) at the same time.”
“If the Internet makes the world “local,” then what’s is your (radio) advantage?”
Tagged as:
Mark Ramsey
February 23, 2010
in Radio
This week I ran into a long-time broadcaster I called on back in my affiliate relations days. We chatted for a few minutes and the subject of towers came up (I have no idea). He mentioned that he had tried to sell his AM tower but got no takers. Then he tried to give it away. Nope. Now he’s paying someone to take it down and haul it off. As far as I know, that is nothing unusual. But it struck me as somehow… foreboding?
A radio station tower is …iconic. Usually the tallest structure in small towns throughout America. You didn’t need much of a studio but you had to have that transmitter and a tower. The bigger the better.
Every radio guy I know has at least one tower story.
Like the DJ who pulled his UHaul truck into the parking lot of the station where he was to start working the next day. In the downpour, he didn’t realize he’d snagged the truck’s trailer hitch on a guy wire and pulled the tower down. And he didn’t get fired.
Or a story about the insane guys who did tower maintenance, climbing four or five-hundred feet to paint or change a bulb.
[Momentary aside: If someone drops a wrench from 400 feet above you, is it better to remain still or to run? Discuss]
What once took studios filled with control boards and tape decks and cart machines… can now be done with a couple of laptops.
The equation once was:
Good programming (content) + big transmitter + big tower + good frequency = big audience
Now it’s:
Good programming (content) + big transmitter + big tower + good frequency = big audience
I’m sorry I never interviewed one of those tower guys.
February 21, 2010
in Radio
February 14, 2010
in Radio
San Diego-based Slacker, the online personalized radio service is adding ABC News to its personal radio service. Listeners will have access to a dedicated news station including segments from Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos, Good Morning America, Nightline, and more.
Slacker said ABC News integration is expected early this year, and will be available for unlimited access to Slacker Radio Plus subscribers, with a limited time no-cost trail for Slacker Basic Radio subscribers. [via @markramseymedia]
Once upon a time, you had to listen to a radio station affiliated with ABC News to hear those programs. Or visit the ABC News website/mobile app.
Tagged as:
Mark Ramsey
Mel Karmazin is the CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio. Before that he was head of CBS Radio. For most of his career he has been known as a “Wall Street darling” for his ability to drive up the price of his various companies’ stock. Don Imus frequently referred to him as the Zen Master. Let’s just say he knows a lot about radio and advertising.
On December 30th, he was the guest on the Charlie Rose Show. You can watch it here. Rose asked Karmazin which competitor he most feared.
AUDIO: Excerpt from interview with Mel Karmazin 4 min MP3
I was struck by his description of advertising and frank assessment that Google was “fucking with the magic.”
“I loved the model that I had then. At that point I had… I was the CEO of CBS and I had a model where you buy a commercial… if you’re an advertiser you buy a commercial in the Super Bowl and, at that time, you paid two-and-a-half million dollars for a spot and had no idea if it worked. I mean, you had no idea if it sold product… did any good… I loved that model! That was a great model! And why …if I can get away with that model… if I’m in the business where I can sell advertising that way, why wouldn’t I want to do it?
No return on investment. And you know how everybody looks for return on investment? We had a a business model that didn’t worry about return on investment and then here comes Google. They screwed it up. They went to all these advertisers and said, we’ll let you know exactly what it is.”
Oooh. Reminds me of the old saw, “I know that only half of my advertising works, I just don’t know which half.” The full interview is worth a watch and confirmed my feeling that a real sea change (in advertising) is taking place.
Tagged as:
audio,
Google
During my “on air” days (the ‘70s and early ‘80s), the AP teletype was our station’s connection to the world. During the late 80’s and early 90’s, I spent a good bit of time trying to create a low-cost alternative (mostly for radio stations) to the AP’s wire service. This morning I downloaded AP Mobile to my iPhone.
I have a feeling it will become my default app for news. Text, photos, video… it’s all there. I can flag topics of interest and AP Mobile will “push” those to me. And if I see a story and want to “report” it to AP, the app makes it easy.
Associated Press used to be pretty protective of it’s stories. Perhaps they still are, I would have no way of knowing. The old radio guy in me can’t help thinking of this is a tiny version of the old teletype. And my next thought is, “How could the AP police all of the broadcasters and keep them from using AP stories without paying for it?”
The answer is, I’m afraid, they don’t care. Would I rather have the full-featured, on-demand experience offered by AP Mobile… or hear my local “announcer” read it to me?
Tagged as:
iPhone
More than 15,000 people lost their jobs in 2009 in the newspaper industry. I couldn’t find the number for radio and TV reporters. But if reporters are becoming an endangered spieces, it might be a good idea to identify their habitats (so we don’t accidentaly run over them).
I’ve started a Google map for this purpose. I stuck a few pins in yesterday (representing some of our reporters here in Jefferson City, MO), but this is a work-in-progress and I’ll need help from readers.
The blue pins represent radio reporters, the red-ish pins are newspaper reporters and the green are TV folks. [In cities where there are multiple pins, you'll have to zoom in to make out individual pins]
Since I’m making this up as I go, I’ve decided only full-time reporters get a pin. I realize I’ll miss a lot of hard-working folks but fractions will just get too crazy.
For now, I’m defining “full time” as 40 hours a week gathering and reporting news. So, if you’re a radio sales rep who also covers the chamber of commerce meeting… no pin. Like I said, this is seat of the pants.
I could just make a list but I’m a visual guy, so the map works for me. If you work at a TV station or newspaper and can help me with some pins, hit the comment link or email me at stevemays at gmail.com.
I’ve worked much more closely with radio stations over the years but I think I’ll save those pins for last. But we’ll see.