Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

The “big boys” are sure making a mess of the radio industry.

But for everyone else, there is this stronger approach.

People ask me all the time, what would you do if you ran a radio group in the digital age:

• Do the best on-air radio possible at the best price point.
• Start a separate stream of revenue derived from the hottest thing in media – short form video.

The way I like to address our problems is to know without a doubt what the largest available audience wants.

When I was first appointed as a University of Southern California Professor ten years ago, I started studying the importance of generational media. That is, what each individual audience segment wanted from media and music in the digital age.

As it stands now, look at the numbers …

• There are 95 million Millennials some as old as 33 years and firmly in the money demo radio needs. The radio industry has been late to the game on understanding what it takes to woo Millennials. In fact, radio lost this generation to the Internet, smartphones and social media.
• There are about 45 million Gen Xers, a bridge generation and the smallest of all. Yet this group – the original Asteroids and Beavis & Butthead generation coined the term “radio sucks”. What to do about them?
• And the second largest generation ever born (Millennials are the largest), Baby Boomers still have 75 million survivors in their later years. But that is deceiving because 15 million of this number represent immigrants who have moved to America and thus present another interesting problem for media companies.
• And, the generation now being born – Plurals – is likely to consist of almost half of them from mixed race parents (thus the term “Plurals”). Which way are they leaning? What are their special needs. Some are already as old as 15 and yet most radio people know nothing about Plurals.

Bob Pittman doesn’t have to care.

He’s set for life no matter what happens to his job.

Nor does Lew Dickey need to worry.

Yet these two companies and a number of others who imitate them have blighted the radio industry and make it tough for stations that really care and want to survive not just kick the can down the road.

Is that you, by chance?

What we do once a year is reset and refresh our focus because no matter how pure your intentions are, there is nothing worse than doing radio well that doesn’t need to be done at all.

This is a teaching seminar.

We’re going to address the generations, the opportunities, challenges, things to avoid and provide guidance of where to focus your money and time.

Among the things we will do in Philly, is propose some meaningful solutions for Radio’s 12 Biggest Problems”:

1. Too Many Commercials
2. What To Do with 70 Million Baby Boomers
3. Music Radio TSL Losses
4. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections To Radio
5. Music That Is Too Repetitive
6. How To Get Listeners To Listen Longer
7. Selling Against Competitors Who Cut Their Rates
8. Surprising Listener “Turn-Ons” & “Turn-Offs”
9. How To Attract Millennials To Radio
10. What To Do About the Digital Dashboard
11. The Decline of News & Talk
12. The Demise of AM Radio

And these Digital Media Solutions:

1. Storytelling Instead of Podcasting
2. Start a Short-Form Video Revenue Stream
3. What’s in the Social Media Pipeline After Facebook and Twitter
4. Create Bingeing Audio Opportunities
5. Replace the Money-Losing Station Websites with this Digital Opportunity

Independent broadcasters and digital entrepreneurs are invited to the 6^th annual Media Solutions Seminar at the Hub Conference Center March 18^th in Philadelphia, walking distance from Amtrak’s 30^th Street Station and 20 minutes from Philadelphia International Airport.

Buffet breakfast, lunch and all breaks prepared by James Beard award-winning chef Jean-Marie Lacroix, former executive chef at The Four Seasons included.

Register Now

Contact Jerry about the conference and group rates here.