Category Archives: Radio

Google buys dMarc Broadcasting

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As a barter radio network, part of our pitch to prospective affiliates has been: Instead of letting your unsold commercial inventory “go to waste,” give them to us in exchange for some top-notch news and sports to enhance your station’s programming. Win-win.

So Google buys dMarc Brodcasting, a radio advertising firm whose technology allows national advertisers to buy unsold station inventory, and automatically inserts those commercials into the stations’ unsold slots.

In the online world, Google AdWords enables advertisers to find the lowest-possible rates publishers will take, and helps publishers find the highest-paying spots. This technology could greatly enhance the process of national ad buys — making it more efficient on both ends. [Analysis by RAIN]

Big Question: Will barter networks like ours someday (soon) have to compete for this inventory? Will station managers put his unsold avails in a big Google basket rather than barter them for programming? That might not be the question at all. I don’t pretend to understand what’s happening here. And there has always been rep outfits that promised to sell a station’s unsold avails, but most stations wisely steered clear of hese guys. Be interesting to see where Google heads with this technology.

Talkin’ bout my g-g-generation

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Bonneville International says it is launching a major initiative to recruit new talent to create radio news content that appeals to young listeners. Bonneville says it is out to recruit on-air talent, reporters, producers, production personnel, and website developers for its new initiative.

“The company’s new venture will seek to deliver a product that entertains, provides needed depth that currently might be found only on some public-radio stations, and provides news through the perspective of Generations X and Y,” Bonneville said in a statement.

My old friend Morris (one of the Lost News Boys) sent this along and it appears to have come from the Radio Business Report.

Does “needed depth currently found on some public-radio stations” appeal to those in Gen X and Y? I mean, do you cover different stories? Do you cover the same stories but with some hipper, younger presentation? Is it even possible to lure young web-heads back to the radio for their news?

And what if your best news trick is covering the state legislature and government news? Do we/can we fit into such a format?

The quick and the dead

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“In the very near future, there are only going to be two types of media people: those who can reliably work and publish (or broadcast) incredibly fast, and those … who can’t.” — Simon Dumenco on AdAge.com. (Spotted on too many blogs to credit.)

The point of Mr. Dumenco’s article seems to be that blogging ain’t no thang. Won’t argue that. But his final point (above) got me thinking about the talented men and women who work in our newsrooms. They can whack out a story pretty quickly. But many of them are still stuck in the old radio news cycle. Some stories for morning drive. Some more for midday. And still some more for afternoon drive. Do the Amish have newsrooms?

Why, I once asked, don’t we just post stories (for the public and our affiliates) as soon as we have them ready? While no one actually says the words, the mindset is clearly that it isn’t news until a reporter reports it. So it’s okay to ration out the news. If we give it all to them now, they’ll just gobble it whole and then we’ll have to go get some more for the next newscast.

Once upon a time –in a small market galaxy far, far away– I hoarded stories for days when I covered for our vacationing new guy. NRE’s (News Ready to Eat). Honestly, I understand. And it begs The Big Question of news organizations like ours: Are we in the “network” business…or the “news” business. I honestly don’t know the answer.

The difference between TV stations and newspapers

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Terry Heaton on the Washington Post’s matter-of-fact streaming of the Alito confirmation hearing: “There is now officially no difference — online at least — between TV stations (and networks) and newspapers.” Is this equally true for radio stations and networks? If so, what might that mean?

Let’s say, for example, that a local newspaper in Anytown, Iowa, covers the very same news events as the local radio station. (Just for fun, let’s say they cover more events because they have more news people.) And they stick a little MP3 recorder in front of the newsmaker and immediately post a couple of paragraphs –including the sound file– to the newspaper website. Along with an image.

The remaining ‘defining difference’ between the newspaper and the local radio station is the method of delivering that news ‘content’ to the good people of Anytown (and the world). It’s still easier to turn on the radio and listen to the story (assuming I happened to tune in at the right moment) than to get in front of a computer to look/listen. Unless the ‘computer’ happens to be my Treo 700 mobile phone.

Thinking about all of this made me wonder about the definition of “radio station”: n: station for the production and transmission of radio broadcasts.

That’s just not gonna work anymore. We need a better definition, fast. I have not worked at a radio station for almost 22 years so I’m not qualified to come up with one. But it can no longer be about hardware (transmitters and towers). It has to be about people.

I think I’d be looking for smart, interesting (sometimes funny) people who live, work and play in the community your station serves; good writers; informed, well-read people who know how to do an interesting interview; people who know how to record/edit good, quality audio (video?).

If you stopped recruiting and hiring those people because it was no longer “cost-effective,” I suggest you find some, quick-like-a-bunny. But will they want to come work at the radio station if they can better use their talents and creativity on the local “newsaper” website?

Randy and Warren (and maybe Nate) are a lot closer to the world of terrestrial radio than I, so maybe they can help me answer a question I’ve been wondering about lately. How hard/easy is it in 2006 to find and recruit people to work at the local radio station? Where do the prospective hires come from? What are they looking for? What kind of skills do they have? Just click the comments link below.

Sports play-by-play good for music stations?

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Mark Ramsey (Radio Marketing Nexus) doesn’t think so:

“I have never seen any perceptual research support the notion that adding play-by-play to a music station is good, on the whole, for that station’s non-sports listenership or image. If anything, I’ve seen cases where a music station ends up standing for one thing only: The sports franchise.”

The post above referenced pro football and I have no idea if Mark thinks the same thing about collegiate sports. But it seems like something our sports affiliate relations guys would know something about.

Making radio relevant again

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I’ve been reading Douglas Rushkoff’s latest book (Get Back In theBox: Innovation from the Inside Out) and was delighted to come across an interview with Rushkoff at Radio Marketing Nexus. Mark Ramsey talked with Rushkoff about “how to make radio relevant again.” Ruskoff misses the same things about radio that I do. AUDIO

“Because of my book tours I’ve been in a lot of radio stations, and even from 1995 to 2005 the amount of change I’ve seen has been shocking. There used to be this kind of quality to an FM radio station – I hate to be stereotypical, but there was a certain kind of chick who would be the receptionist at an FM radio station. There was a certain kind of guy that worked in the album room organizing the albums. There was a certain kind of geek figuring out the emphasis rack.

But FM stations are not really like that anymore. They feel much more like almost any other office, and if you didn’t see the control room you wouldn’t know you were in a radio station at all. They don’t ooze their culture anymore.

There was a smell and a quality and a texture to everything radio that I think was the fun of the industry. There was something so real about it. In the early days when I was a kid, you had Ron Lundy and Cousin Brucie – you just somehow knew those guys were there even though they were playing top 40 stuff. You knew it was a world of guys with records and personalities. And there’s so little of that on the radio today.

There’s almost nothing in mainstream radio that has that sense of this as a club of people in a cool place having a great time sharing some of their ecstasy with those of us driving to work or sitting in our bedrooms who wanted to have a taste of what it’s like to be an adult who understands music, who reads “Rolling Stone,” who understands why we’re fighting the Gulf War, or whatever it is. And I want to piece of that.

When I turn on the radio now I don’t feel that these folks have a piece of anything that I can’t get a piece of by going into Allstate to work in the morning. It’s just another working stiff with some computer telling them what to play and when to play it and when to read the ads.

I don’t trust the voice behind the music anymore because I don’t know that he’s really an expert or that he really cares. He’s not part of a living, breathing, fertile culture whereas if I go online and look at these Podcasts I know these people have done it not for the money but for the love of it. And radio is going to have to go a long way now to convince me that there’s somebody there who cares about what they’re doing for some reason other than the cash.

Finally, I would say the purpose of radio is to keep people company. And in order to keep people company there’s got to be a human being on the other side of it. The more truly human your radio station is the better it is at keeping people company. And the more computerized and business-like it is the farther outside the box you’ll find yourself.”

So there you have it. The pure, distilled essence of what’s wrong with radio today. And it seems like it would be very easy to fix. To get back in the box. But I fear we don’t even remember where we put the box.

RadioWarren.com

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Warren KrechNow we’re talking. Long-time radio guy Warren Krech has started posting some interviews at RadioWarren.com. I immediately spotted several that I’ll want to listen to. I assume these are interviews he did on local talker KLIK and the station has blessed this re-purposing of the interviews. Good move Mr. Manager. I don’t listen to radio at work so I’ve never heard these. Now I will. And it might prompt me to listen to KLIK to hear more. See what’s happening here?

I looked for, but didn’t see, the feed link. Warren is almost podcasting and will, I’m sure, get that final piece in place. I want to be able to subscribe so I won’t miss any interviews. Or whatever interesting, informative audio (or video?) he comes up with.

And by posting these to an RSS enabled blog, he can open up the comments so we listeners can get in on the conversation. If you lose your way, I’ve added Warren to the blog roll and slotted RadioWarren.com under Links.

Online school closing network in Nebraska

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The following item appeared in a recent RTNDA regional newslettter:

Thirty broadcasters in Nebraska have joined a network of stations sharing winter closing information. The idea started in Kearney at KRNY-FM and has grown into an on-line and on-air entity known as weatherthreat.com. The most notable feature of the service is its price—free. Schools, organizations, and the media can all use the service at no cost. On the network’s web site, creator Travis Hollman adds, “But along with being priced right, I would say weatherthreat.com is unique in that it is a non-exclusive network that is operated around the clock by local media working together for a common good.” The system works by giving accounts to all who participate, allowing them to log in and post or check closings. Hollman says he may expand to other states.

At first glance, this looks like a pretty good idea, well executed. These kinds of things almost have to be collaborative to work and getting a bunch of radio stations to cooperate is a good trick. But even if they can’t make this thing regional, it could work on a district-by-district basis. (Thanks, Kay)

Network Affiliate Relations 2.0

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Affiliate RelationsIn the previous post I offered some ideas for using the web and related technologies to “connect” with local radio listeners and advertisers. I took a nap and had a sub sandwich and now I’m ready make a list for network affiliate relations. What is that you ask?

From the mid-eighties to the late nineties, part of my job was “selling” our network services to radio stations. We provided news and and sports programming in exchange for commercials on the local station, which we in turn tried to sell. The trick was to keep the stations you had while adding new stations when and where you could.

I drove all over half a dozen states, meeting with station managers, program directors and news directors. For the most part, this was pre-consolidation and I was talking to the station owner or a manager who was almost completely autonomous. They could make a decision without checking with anyone up the food chain. They were at or near the top of that chain. No longer the reality.

Where was I? Oh. How would I use today’s communication and publishing tools if I were doing that job? First, I’m not sure I would have the balls to do what I’m about to propose. There would be some risk. As much as doing business “the old way?” Don’t know. And, fortunately, no longer my call. But here goes:

Blogging

I’d create the “MyState Radio Network Affiliate Relations Blog.” It would be right out there on the web with the rest of the blogs. No password. The target audience would be the men and women that worked at radio stations affiliated with our network. Topics would include (but not be limited to): Programming, Sales, Traffic, etc. We’d talk about how stations use the network programming and why they sometimes don’t (it’s called clearance).

That sound you hear is the first alarm going off. If we publically acknowledge that some of our affilaites don’t air all of our programming, an advertiser might read the post and become concerned. Fact is, the advertisers already know that or can find out easily enough. By engagaing our affiliates in a frank and open discussion of this topic, we might learn something that could help us improve our clearance.

I’d let stations know about upcoming advertising campaigns and –where possible– offer suggestions on how they can take advantage of this locally. The traditional fear is that if they stations know –in advance– some of them might do or say something that could torpedo the network buy. Not much trust there.

I’d open up the comments and encourage the stations to let us know what they think about what we’re doing. If I got a hot one, I’d jump on the phone (or in my car) and deal with it.

What would an advertiser think of this public exchange? Not sure. We might get some points for being open and transparent. Nothing to hide. Radio stations might take the same view.

Here at the end of 2005 we communiate with our affiliates using the web, email, fax, telephone and in-station visits. All good and all necessary. And safe. Or at least the illusion of safety and control. Whatever the stations think and say about us, they’re thinking and saying. It’s critical to get them to say it to me and say it early.

Podcasting

I’d do a weekly podcast targeted at affiliates but out there for anyone to listen to. Who would I chat with? My news staff; my affiliate relations reps; my sales manager and his account execs; station managers, program directors and news directors… anybody and everybody involved in this business. We’d talk about anything and everything. If we –the network– does something really stupid, we hang it out there and talk about it. Why we did it. How we might do it differently in the future. What if an advertiser heard one of these? Great. If the “conversation” is going to take place, I want to be in on it.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to try such…”non-traditional” tactics. I’m not aware of any networks that are but if you know of one, send me a link.

Radio 2.0

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Web 2.0 is a term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users. Ultimately Web 2.0 services are expected to replace desktop computing applications for many purposes. [Wikipedia]

If I owned a radio station (let’s narrow this to “small market” radio station since I have no first-hand experience in large markets), how might I use the Web and related technologies (blogging, podcasting, SMS, etc) to better serve my listeners and advertisers? I have to believe that any idea I might come up with is arleady in place and has been for some time. But just for fun, he’s a few off the top of my head (in no particular order):

1. High-speed Internet access to every office and studio in the radio station. If you still have someone doing “live” radio, they need access to the web.
2. A station website. Doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive but it does need someone to feed and care for it. Don’t make them do this on their own time. More on content later.
3. A station blog. If I had to choose between one of the “traditional” black-background-lots-of-album-covers sites…and a well tended blog on Blogger or Typepad…I’d go with the blog.
4. Buy at least one digital audio recorder. I can think of no reason to ever buy another analog recorder.
5. If you do school closings and lunch room menus, post these to your site. If your schools are already doing this on their sites, link to them.
6. If you do obits on your station, post these to your website. Better yet, set up a database with a password protected form and let your local funeral homes post and update their announcments.
7. Provide a place where your local churches can post news or link to their websites if they’re already doing this.
8. If you do a daily “Tradio” sell-stuff-on-the-air program, record it and make it available as a podcast. You should also provide an online dB where listeners can post items for sale (a la craig’s list)
9. Record your major newscasts and post these as podcasts. Will take an extra 10 min but will greatly extend the audience for this programming.
10. Take the digital audio recorder to every city council meeting, chamber of commerce meeting, school board meeting, hospital board meeting, etc and record them gavel-to-gavel. Pull some cuts for the on-air news but post the full proceeding as a podcast. If you don’t do this, someone else will. And if you can’t staff these, ask for volunteers. Some of your techie listeners can probably do this better faster than you can and would love to be involved.
11. Create a business directory post short video tours/interviews. If video is just too much, do audio with accompanying photo gallery.
12. If they don’t already have them (and they will), set up blog for each of your loca civic organizations and help them get started. Link from the station site/blog and promote them on the air. Do the same leading up to the county fair or any other annual event.
13. Record the play-by-play audio of your local high school games and post to your website/blog as a podcast. Yes, you can sell sponsorships. Podcast the weekly Coach’s Corner, too.
14. If your local churches are not already “godcasting” their weekly services, offer to help them do this.
15. Find and encourage local bloggers and be sure you have them on the station blogroll.
16. If you have local bands, ask them to send you MP3 files of their recordings and include these on the station website. You’ll probably need a section for different genres (CW, Rock, etc)
17. Produce a local garden or home fix-up show and podcast these from the station website.

If you didn’t recognize a number of the terms I used above, find someone who can clue you in and ask them to help. I’d like to think that anyone currently working in radio (I left in 1984) could expand this list to 100 ideas. Or 200.

If all of this sounds “too local” or corny then forget it because you’re hopelessly screwed. The next generation of listeners are not going to be tuning you in for the tunes. If they listen at all, it will be for this kind of engagement with their lives. Ironically, this is where radio started half a century ago and we were very good at it. Some are still good at it and we better figure out how to get good at it again. Fast.

But don’t worry about your community. They’ll be fine and they can execute every one of the ideas above without any help from the local radio station.

Use the comments link below to let me know what I’ve missed.