Eliminating Radio’s 3 Biggest Weaknesses

Maybe you laugh when the radio industry takes off after Pandora but Pandora is really not their biggest problem.

Millennial listeners as old as 30 years and younger – many already in the money demo radio craves – have three big problems with music radio.

And all three can be fixed.

So if you’re open to focusing on problems under our control that we can fix, here they are:

SAME OLD MUSIC OVER AND OVER AGAIN

  • We know that to get ratings, the biggest hits need to be rotated frequently.  But young listeners are used to the music discovery that the Internet and streaming music services bring.
  • How to add 2/3 more new music to each hour without losing audience.  In fact, you are likely to gain listeners if you methodically follow this approach we will discuss face to face in Philly in less than 2 weeks.
  • Why no one under 30 listens to any song all the way through in this digital age and yet music radio is based on the assumption that if we can play the right songs, they will stay tuned in.  One critical adjustment wins the day.
  • Two ways to disrupt the stranglehold streaming music services have over young music lovers looking for music discovery.  One is holistic for the entire broadcast day and the other is experimental with less risk to your present format.  We’ll lay them out.

TOO MANY LOUSY COMMERCIALS

  • They hate those 18 unit spot sets no matter how much they might be tempted to listen more to your station. 
  • How to fix the long commercial breaks they hate by reconfiguring the way you present commercials.  How to try this experiment out of prime time until you see that it works.
  • The one type of commercial my USC college students said they “loved” and would actually listen to.  Add one or two of these to the beginning of a stop set and start to address the problem.
  • Making commercials that work better for advertisers.
  • One thing you can do that will increase the effectiveness of your commercials for your best advertisers.  More FM owner Jerry Lee will be there in person to tell you what it is.  It’s simple and costs nothing.  30% more effectiveness gets bigger ad spends.

OUTDATED MORNING SHOWS

  • Younger demos can’t relate to what passes for a local radio morning show, but they love personalities – the same ones stations are firing or watering down.
  • The elements of radio morning shows that most go and what should replace them.
  • Why the elements of morning shows that used to be a must for radio are now passé.  How to come up with morning show content that digital devices cannot compete with.

This is one of the 7 critical issues facing radio stations and digital entrepreneurs.

Here’s the content:

  1. Disrupting what consolidators have turned our radio industry into.  We can’t do this by just changing formats.  It’s going to take a nuclear option and I’ve got one for you that is so big it will push your consolidated competitors back with no option to compete with you.
  2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t a product.  It’s a technology.  Every radio broadcaster needs to start a second stream of revenue separate and apart from radio.  Let’s create some content.  There are some dazzling possibilities out there.  I will share.
  3. Create your own social media.  If you tie yourself to Facebook, Twitter or even the current rage, Instagram, you’re going down with them.  There’s a better way.  Make your own social network and drive it with content and revenue possibilities.  It’s being done under the radar by some smart people right now.
  4. Reinvent radio.  Stop thinking of it as hourly hot clocks and redesign it to be compelling to the very audience we can’t seem to attract – 95 million Millennials.  They dislike radio but they like some things we’re not currently doing.  Interested in providing this content for younger money demos?  It takes an open mind and some creativity.
  5. Video. Video. Video.  We’re wasting valuable time.  You must be in this business but it is not what you think it is.  Let me show you real success stories including one entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  I’m going to play it, talk about it and answer your questions.  This is ingenious.
  6. The key to attracting Millennials.  There is basically nothing radio has to offer right now that Millennials can’t get somewhere else.  The secret to attracting Millennials is to build your station for them.  I know, that sounds awful, but Steve Jobs didn’t design Apple products for later adopters.  He mastered the early adopters by finding out the “radical” things they couldn’t resist.  We can do this and here’s the plan.
  7. Time shift radio.  Look, if you get nothing else out of this learning session you must become skilled at time shifting content.  Binge watching is the rage.  Broadcasting is out.  It doesn’t mean the end if we know how to time shift our content.  I’ll tell you everything I know about this.

Here’s the agenda:

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

8:00 am         Registration/Breakfast

9:00 am         Disrupt & Reinvent Radio

10:15 am       Break

10:30 am       Attracting Millennials

11:45 am       Lunch

1:00 pm         Jerry Lee on More Effective Commercials, Streaming, Branding

1:45 pm         Break

2:00 pm         Digital, Video & Time Shifting Radio

2:45 pm         Break

3:00 pm         Social Media

4:00 pm         Conference Concludes

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in Philly March 26th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Less than 2 weeks until Philly!

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference”.  The Rittenhouse is holding some rooms at $249 for conference attendees.  To reserve one, call 800-635-1042 and ask for Alyson Lurie.