Category Archives: Radio

Internet access in your car

Posted on by

It’s early days but it is here. And Mark Ramsey looks (not so very far) ahead at what it means for radio stations:

“In the world of mobile radio, our distribution is currently both universal and exclusive. But when “the box” belongs to a third party, we are assured of neither easy distribution nor universal access. The “box owners” will do what Apple does with iTunes: Yes, anyone can post a podcast. But a very few are “featured” while most are not. The “filters” control the value. And in this scenario you and I are no longer the filters.”

I think it’s just very hard for most radio folks to believe that their listeners would listen to another station if they could. If a market has three radio stations, one might be pop…another country…and one doing news/talk. The listening pie is nicely divided, everybody gets a pretty good slice.

When all cars have high-speed net access (and they will), your station won’t be one of a hand full of listening options, it will be one of hundreds.

Will your radio station be in every Ford?

Posted on by

Ford Motor Company and Microsoft are expected to announce new “Windows Automotive” software called “Sync,” that will make it possible (easier?) to make hands-free cell phone calls and download music or receive email.

Chicken Little“If you can use your car to download music, you can also use it to stream music. And if you can stream music then you can do so from any number of music providers, not just your radio station.”

“What is YOUR group doing to be in front of this trend? What is YOUR group doing to be in every car in every way in 2007 and beyond? What content do you have that every Ford will want to stream?” — Mark Ramsey at Hear 2.0

If I were still a radio station program director, I might grab a program schedule and go through the day asking that question about each programming element. I think there will be lots of stuff folks in my local market will want to hear (news, weather, sports, etc) but they won’t want to make an appointment to listen to it. They’ll want to have it automatically downloaded to their cars so they can hear it when they want it. Podcasts.

Good look at the Google Ad Creation Marketplace

Posted on by

Can Google Audio Ads be as easy and effesctive as Google AdWords? That was the question Donna Bogatin (Digital Markets) put to André Bergeron, owner/operator of Babble-On Recording Studios. She wanted “a radio production talent insider take” on how the Google Ad Creation Marketplace will impact the radio advertising industry. Bergeron seems to know what he’s talking about.

“Dollar-A-Holler Radio ads have been around forever. The local Hi-Fi Store owner could always go into the local station and bark off a series of sale prices in shrill tones that would annoy anyone within earshot. This would be no different, really. There is so much more to effective messaging, to branding, to understanding how people listen to the radio than simply writing down “for all your underwear needs” and handing it off to Johnny promo voice to record.

Part of why people can’t stand listening to the radio is the quality of the ads, they’re, by most estimations, shouted, boring, and insultingly simplistic, and, if there are a lot of them, it just magnifies the mind-numbing nature of them.”

I think that sentence really sums it up. That reality will ultimately prove to be The Big Problem for radio going forward. Shitty commercials in an era when we no longer have to listen to them in order to hear the news and music we want.

Andre Bergeron emails an additional thought:

“Throughout a programming day, the station dresses itself with a carefully crafted image using music, personalities, promotions, etc – to create “a brand”, if you will. Then a stopset comes on and it’s like the advertisers are allowed to dress the station in clown’s clothes, leisure suites or horizontal stripes.”

Results, not ears

Posted on by

“Who cares if people are hearing the spots unless they’re hearing those spots and acting on them or unless their opinions and intentions are being altered in such fashion that the advertising expenditure is an investment rather than money out the window?

We need to get past the issue of whether or not listeners stay tuned through a break and focus instead on giving the advertiser what they’re paying for: Results, not ears.”

— Mark Ramsey

How Google Audio Ads work (PowerPoint slides)

Posted on by

The folks at ZDNet’s Digital Markets have some PowerPoint slides that illustrates how Google Audio Ads work. And this from Voices.com:

“Google has positioned the Audio Ads system to serve both top-level advertisers, as well as the advertising agencies themselves. The graphic also shows 75% of the transactions coming from the agencies, and only 25% from independent advertisers. This is likely because advertising agencies already have media planning and media buying personnel, not to mention existing relationships with local and regional radio stations.”

The lables in the little blue rectangles are: Radio Stations, Networks and Rep Firms. Which suggests that advertisers will simply have another option for placing their ads on radio stations. And if Google can make it easier or cheaper or more effective (i.e. feedback, reports, etc)… they’ve added value to the process.