Monthly Archives: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

3 New Media Game Changers

There are a lot of things flying under the radar right now that need to be followed. 

Breaking news in new media that cannot be ignored.

This article reveals …

1.  A new kind of television that will either make or break the TV industry.  I’ll layout what’s at stake and what the prospects are.

2.  A cool new device that allows you to set up a store anywhere, anytime with very little expense.  It is so exciting, you will want to know about it and I’ll bet you set up an account.  You don’t want to miss this because it could make you lots of money now.

3. A phenomena that has been growing right before our eyes but in the past week it has blown the lid off of viral communications.  Cannot be ignored.  A must have for radio stations and record labels.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a member of Inside Music Media so you can access stories like these every day, it comes out to as low as 27 cents a day.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

#1 Radio Biller WTOP’s Revenue Boosters

Bonneville’s WTOP, Washington has done the impossible.

It has just become the number one billing station in the country from market #9.

WTOP out billed some pretty impressive radio stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other larger cities.

New York and LA together bill approximately half a billion dollars in a typical year – double what Washington bills as a market – making this victory most impressive.

And most instructional as WTOP strategy flies in the face of consolidated radio wisdom.

The news is impressive enough but headlines don’t tell the real story.

WTOP billed almost $60 million and that’s not counting their digital revenues that in the past have exceeded 8% of WTOP’s total billing.

In this article, I’ll reveal what things WTOP executives are doing that any station can do …

1.  How their content is different from 99% of America’s radio stations – and I’m not talking about their news format.

2.  How WTOP programs in the moment and cleans up with local advertisers.  All the details.

3.  An innovative listener/station connection that makes their fans addicted.  Read this and you can do the same thing with the same great results.

4.  How WTOP cashes in on websites and social media that other stations neglect.

5.  Is it possible to attract lots of non-radio advertisers to radio?  Bingo!  See how WTOP adds to its coffers by doing that instead of only chasing everyone else’s business.

6.  The one thing that WTOP sellers do that breeds fierce loyalty among advertisers and makes them addicted to the station.

7.  The most innovative strategy is right across the street.  I’ll name two of them in DC that WTOP has mastered and it will get your juices flowing.

If you’ve been thinking about becoming a member of Inside Music Media so you can access stories like these every day, it comes out to as low as 27 cents a day.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Study: Music Piracy Is Down

(With Colin Huber and a nice, fresh homemade Italian pizza)

There is a new study just out that shows a significant decline in illegal file sharing.

Guess the record labels were right.  Sue LimeWire out of business and all their problems go way.

Not so quick.

You’ve got to take a close look at this study and some recent events to get a handle on what is happening now.  If you operate with these assumptions, you’re done.

This article reveals …

1.  The NPD Group study and yes, you’ll see file sharing in the fourth quarter of last year way down until you see this damning evidence. 

2.  What’s the new way young people are stealing music now that their favorite bit torrent sites are being shut down.  Do you know?  You will and it’s impossible to stop it.

3.  What two benchmarks prove that this NPD Study is being misinterpreted.  Two things that prove the study wrong.

4.  How to conduct your own straw poll but do it with your eyes wide open.

5.  The same bad information that the labels are getting about music piracy is also killing radio stations.  Stations want ratings but that is so 90’s.  Today they need fans and we’ll show you the one way to get plenty of them.

6.  One of the biggest acts in the music business disproves the theory that giving away music for free hurts sales.  In fact, the artist I’m going to tell you about sells tons of albums in a world where consumers cherry pick singles.

7.  The only thing that could reduce illegal file sharing is this.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Monday, March 28, 2011

Radio’s Best Digital Strategy

Most radio companies give lip service to digital while cutting back live and local on-air programming.

Take Clear Channel – cluelessly buying up bankrupt digital businesses (i.e., Thumbplay and considering the purchase of Playlist.com) when neither one of these will fundamentally improve their revenue streams.  Pandora is already there.

Entercom told analysts last week that Pandora is not the death of terrestrial radio.  Wanna bet?  With radio stations dumping live and local, Pandora is the killer app.

Cumulus and Citadel together have virtually no real digital strategy for the future.

But wait.

This article is about 26 ways to build a digital strategy that works.  I’ve even numbered them for your convenience in designing your own blueprint.

I’ve got it for you right here – here’s a sampling …

•  The best bet for rapid revenue returns in the digital space and it’s not what you think and not what radio groups are currently doing.

•  Actual suggestions on how to organize digital content in a way that cooperates with the current boom.  I’ll explain how to lay it all out and offer it up for short attention span users.

•  How to create short attention span “radio stations” for iPads – and believe me, you’re going to need to think differently on this.

•  The hottest content opportunities.  I’ll name them.

•  The three main ways to make money from digital – one of them you’ll reject (but it is the best and most profitable way) and the other takes skills you’ll have to go out and hire.

•  How to build a lot of iPad sites that add up to big bucks.  You’ll read the number you must build every year to rake in the cash.

•  Where does terrestrial radio fit in to the digital future.  Hint: not one radio group knows.  But you will.

26 do’s and don’ts.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

What If…

CBS news correspondent Jeff Greenfield has a new book out called “Then Everything Changed”. 

What if Bobby Kennedy had proceeded out of his victory speech by taking the planned route instead of the shortcut through the hotel’s kitchen where Sirhan Sirhan shot him dead?

What if Bobby Kennedy became President?

What is Gerald Ford didn’t get caught up in a misstatement of his own making about communism just in time to get Jimmy Carter elected?

What if … what if.

That got me to thinking about the what if’s in the media business – radio, records, Internet.

The article answers these questions …

1.  What if radio consolidation never happened?

2.  What if the kids of mom and pop operators returning from college were left in charge of coming up with Internet, mobile and social networking strategies and not radio CEOs?

3.  What if a record label bought Napster instead of sued it – what would have happened to music piracy?

4.  What if the major record labels said no to Steve Jobs when he sold them on letting him sell music in the iTunes store as a fix for music piracy?

5.  What if Rupert Murdoch didn’t buy MySpace and the kids who started it continued to run it instead of Murdoch’s traditional media execs trying to monetize it?  Would MySpace be Facebook now instead of being for sale?

6.  And what if MySpace continued to concentrate on music instead of imitating Facebook – would Murdoch now own the new portal to music discovery and not Steve Jobs?

7.  What if Google tried to invent YouTube instead of buying it from a handful of kids for $1.8 billion?

8.  What if the record labels jointly with radio companies invented iTunes before Apple?

9.  If they had, who would be the Apple of today?

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

How Apple’s Music Locker Affects Radio

Steve Jobs is about a month away from announcing his much-anticipated cloud-based music locker concept.

For a price, consumers can store every bit of music (video, files, etc.) they own on Apple’s cloud to access on any equipped mobile device.

The details on this are important – especially ahead of the announcement. 

I’ll share Apple’s plans – the price to consumers, the concept and more importantly, who will be hurt the most by this new concept.

Apple has caught steaming music services off guard and radio is always in denial.  Can radio be hurt by this extension of an iPod?  We’ll take a look.

This article will identify …

1.  What is likely to happen to Spotify, Rhapsody, Slacker and other all-you-can-eat music services?  Are they immune or is it over for them?

2.  What about Pandora?  Pandora is closing in on 100 million subscribers.  Will the Apple music locker close Pandora’s box?  If so, that would be major.

3.  Is radio immune from Apple’s music locker?  Radio is kind of playing into Apple’s hands – I’ll tell you how.  Is the music locker a threat to music radio?

4.  Radio has one sweet spot left – a place that Apple cannot attack – but don’t ask media execs like Bob Pittman where it is.  He’s out buying failed digital companies, but you’ll discover what Pittman is overlooking.

5.  YouTube is top 40 radio today.  Will YouTube music video become a thing of the past?

In these five questions alone, you have mountains of change that could affect the new and traditional media business.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Digital Advertising Starting to Kill Local Radio

A new BIA/Kelsey study is showing real trouble ahead for the radio industry that is highly dependent on local advertising dollars.

Groupon is growing rapidly but so are other digital opportunities that radio is missing in mobile, online and social networking.

This article reveals useful strategies that could prevent radio from losing out to digital media – a trend that is underway at this moment.

1.  Compelling evidence to rethink the digital threat to traditional media – research and surveys.

2.  Some hopeful news from a recent poll that shows where Groupon is vulnerable – and how local radio can step in.  How much the average person spends with Groupon.  And how hooked they are on this coupon-of-the-day service.  Finally, some numbers you can use.

3.  Why the two best radio groups in the digital area are in trouble if they can’t change their digital strategy.

4.  A blueprint for radio to turn digital into a separate business that may even enhance their terrestrial operations.

5.  The best way to sell digital if you are a terrestrial radio station or group -- no one does this -- yet. 

6.  What one thing a radio station could do on-air that would make it a slam-dunk for bigger buy for local digital dollars.  Not what you think. In fact, it’s the opposite.

7.  How to rewire radio’s digital thinking.  I’ll give you an idea you can steal and take to local advertisers now – just for reading this piece.

8.  If you cannot do anything else, here is the one digital initiative you must have going forward if you are a radio company.  It’s this or nothing when it comes to local digital.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Save the date for my next Media Solutions Lab – February 6, 2012 at The Phoenician in Scottsdale.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

America’s Best & Worst Radio Groups

I am often asked which radio group would you work for if you wanted a career in radio.  That would be the one with the best management and best chance to succeed.

A lot has happened since I ranked the best and worst including bankruptcies, mergers, key station acquisitions, critical personnel changes and even luck.  For four years I’ve been getting hundreds of emails a week on the inner workings of radio’s major groups.

So here is my latest list of the best and worst radio groups.

In this article I’ll reveal …

•  What formerly worst group has finally made it to the best list and why they are no longer the worst.

•  The top 8 major radio groups -- what makes them strong and what their future looks like.

•  The three worst radio groups on the planet – at least in the U.S.  You may think you know which three I am talking about but you would be wrong.  I’ve got a big surprise for you and I’ll explain why.

•  The group I think has the inside track on being the number one best 12 months from now.

•  What toxic radio groups to avoid if you’re planning to stick around and have a career in radio.

I start counting down the best and worst radio groups in order – right here.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Content Providers — Be Afraid of the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger

Tell me what about the merger of AT&T with T-Mobile is good for anything or anyone – other than AT&T.

Once the news came out this weekend and it sunk in, I said OMG -- Oh My God, this is big – for content providers like us, radio and traditional media businesses that want to take advantage of residing on all those cool Apple and Android devices that are flying out of retail stores.

If you read any of the news accounts of the just-announced AT&T purchase of T-Mobile, just about everything written is about how the deal will benefit AT&T and hurt competitors.

One of the few good things about radio and record industry people who have been screwed into mediocrity by consolidation is that we have the capability of knowing exactly what is going to happen when there are only three major cellular companies left – AT&T, Verizon and the much smaller Sprint.

This article reveals the growing threat to content providers by a handful of gatekeepers that get to charge a digital toll each month to your fans and customers.

1.  The odds that the AT&T merger is approved by regulators.  Remember this is like Clear Channel, Cumulus and Entercom owning everything in radio.

2.  The threat to you if you are a radio station or pure play operator streaming music for a living.

3.  The fail-safe plan for content providers who are increasingly using more video and audio as part of their content.

4.  The only thing that can stop AT&T, Verizon and Sprint if this merger gets approved and this will truly shock you.

5.  What happens to slam-dunk consumer cellular expenses like that $20 a month texting fee?  There is a change slowly happening regarding consumers and texting.  Do you know what it is?

6.  What is the best strategy for content providers to safeguard against some of the roadblocks that cellular consolidation will throw at you?   I’ll name three things you can be aware of starting today.

If you’ve been considering accessing Inside Music Media every day, today is a great day to start.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Friday, March 18, 2011

Radio’s Believe It Or Not

It is time once again for real stories from the radio and music business that I nominate for Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

More outrageous than a woman delivering a 19 pound baby.

More freakish than high heeled hooves made out of 5,000 hairs.

Or the Frozen Dead Guy Festival.

In radio, we have our own incredible happenings that – as always – to the best of my knowledge are true – a sampling …

1.  The “never-ending” rep contract -- you won’t believe how long this radio rep firm ties up its clients or what they have to do to break the long-term agreement.

2.  Free radio news for the price you’re paying for it.  Which radio trade publication got sexist about a little tiny bit of competition?  Guess.

3.  Confucius:  The Dickey Who Golfs Putz.  If you thought it takes a lot of hard work and long weekends to do a hostile takeover of a competitor like Citadel, wait until you see what Lew Dickey was doing right in the middle of negotiations.  Documented.

4.  Bonuses for failing.  In this age of cutbacks and “layoffs”, guess who turned out to be the greediest bastards of them all on the backs of their present and departed staffers.  We’ve got the eye-popping numbers for you.

5.  The pep talk before Cumulus took over Susquehanna a few years back gives the best insight as to how it will takeover Citadel in September.  An insider tells all.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The New Citadel Media

Cumulus Media is expected to close on its purchase of Citadel Media around September.

The day that deal is consummated, you can expect an earthquake stronger than the one in Japan to hit the radio industry.

While Cumulus CEO Lew Tricky Dickey is promising $50 million in immediate savings – you can bet that $50 million isn’t coming out of his fortune or that of his family. 

Dickey is saying all the right things – that Cumulus and Citadel are a team.  Sounds good – warm and fuzzy but …

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

What Cumulus is going to do when it finally takes over Citadel will be uglier than anything that has happened during consolidation – and that includes a lot of ugliness.   

Worse than the arrogant days of Lowry Mays and Randy Michaels at Clear Channel when they terrorized competitors and fired thousands and thousands of outstanding and dedicated radio people.

The Cumulus takeover of Citadel will be more brutal.

This article reveals what you can expect:

1.  How many of Citadel’s 4,000 current employees must be fired for Dickey to deliver on his promise of $50 million in savings once the acquisition closes.

2.  How the Citadel sales platform will be integrated with the existing Cumulus system.

3.  What about commissions?  Farid Suleman already chopped the hell out of Citadel sales commissions.  Is there room left for more pay cuts?

4.  The one thing Lew Dickey can’t wait to do when he gets his hands on Citadel’s old ABC Radio Networks.  Paul Harvey is turning over in his grave.

5.  If ratings and billing are not so important to Lew Dickey, what is?  I’ll share the sweetest sound in any language to a Wall Street banker and no one is better than Dickey at saying it.

6.  The Cumulus answer to Groupon couponing that will hurt local ad sales – but be seated when you read it.

7.  Dickey says now that the two companies will be one large company he can take on Pandora – just like Clear Channel’s Bob Pittman.   I’ll tell you Dickey’s plan.

8.  Plus, the timetable for completing firings, cutbacks, reorganizing and redeploying Cumulus strategies to Citadel.  

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Coming Media Meltdown-customizable radio, coupons and music downloading

There are three major issues that are headed for a meltdown in radio, local advertising and slumping record sales.

This article reveals their melting points:

1.  There is no such thing as customizable radio.  Even Pandora is not really customizable radio.  With big consolidators moving terrestrial radio more toward Pandora, they are going to kill local radio once and for all.  I’ll explain.

2.  Couponing.  Groupon is getting bigger and more powerful.  But look at what some of the big radio groups are planning.  Warning:  you don’t want to do this.

3.  Free music downloads.  Everyone knows CD sales have been declining for nine of the last ten years, but now legal downloading is tapering off and even the interest in illegal downloading of music may decline.  Here’s why the music meltdown cannot be stopped.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Audience Time-Shifting

There are dramatic changes in how audiences consume content that have major repercussions for content providers in traditional and new media.

This new information confirms that among the other challenges content providers face – not the least of which is rapidly changing technology – more attention should be paid to how content is consumed.

In radio, 95% of the conversation is about Wall Street banks buying up stations like they are hotels on a Monopoly board with very little consideration given to actual content or for that matter local audiences.  Before consolidation, it was the polar opposite.  Mom and pop owners often lost money on radio, but their stations usually focused on serving needs in the local communities without regard to profits.

In the record business, 95% of the major labels’ efforts seem to be devoted to hanging on to traditional income streams – i.e., selling CDs, licensing music.  And new ideas such as 360 deals are laughable because labels do not possess the skills to manage acts and steer their careers in concert venues.

Like it or not, the audience is changing even if traditional media stands steadfast.

This article reveals new research that confirms the continued growth and evolution of audience time-shift plus 5 pieces of strategic advice for content providers in radio, television, print and new media including …

1.  The latest eye-opening consumer research by demographics that shows a runaway movement toward time-shifting.

2.  The one thing consumers are increasingly demanding from content producers – not just traditional media but new media as well.  If you don’t deliver this, you might as well shut down.

3.  The impact of time-sharing on 24/7 terrestrial radio and what can be done to cooperate with the inevitable.  Plus how to deliver new consumer needs that they previously didn’t even know they needed – such as coupons – in your content.

4.  Apple actually gave traditional media a great piece of strategic advice on presenting content for audiences that embrace time-shifting and it will cost you nothing – other than to read it here.

5.  The most creative new idea for offering content to time-shifting audiences that very few content providers even know about – but you will because I lay it all out here.

6.  The missing ingredient from efforts to pander to short attention span audiences.  Without this critical element, your efforts to win new audiences that like to consume content on their terms will come up short.  But make this one move and you can fix it. 

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Monday, March 14, 2011

Who Will Lew Dickey Buy Next?

Lew Dickey, Jr. is now playing with other people’s money. 

That’s why he plunked more of it on the table to buy Citadel last week at $37 a share. 

The question is not whether Citadel is worth $37 a share in what some analysts call a “not fast growth business”.  

The real question is what will one of the biggest under achieving operators in radio buy next.

You’ll love this.

Dickey has a reputation on Wall Street for overpaying for stations.  Insiders say back in the days of the first round of consolidation with Richard Weening, “Lew would bid $40 a share and the joke among brokers was that Lew would pay Milwaukee prices for Oshkosh stations”.

As we witness The Second Coming of Investment Banks who will Lew Dickey prey upon to feed his ego?

This article reveals the potential victims that Lew Dickey may have his eyes on …

1.  Clear Channel.  Don’t laugh.  Of course, Dickey can’t buy all of Clear Channel but can he buy some of it?  Clear Channel has some new options developing as well to avoid having to sell hundreds of stations to pay debt.  I’ll reveal it here.

2.  CBS.  Les Moonves wanted to sell his smaller markets, but does he want to sell more – maybe to Super Lew?  You may be surprised.

3.  Emmis.  They’re in hot water.  They’ve got some major market stations and now that Tricky Dickey is breaking into big market radio is this deal doable?  I’ll explain.

4.  Saga.  Oh boy!  Another company with no debt.  Dickey likes those well-run companies to counteract his red ink.  Read on.

5.  Greater Media.  Nice size group that gets Dickey closer to being as large as Clear Channel, but there is a little catch and you’ll learn it here.

6.  Bonneville.  Makes sense.  They sold 17 stations to Hubbard.  Slam-dunk?

7.  Entercom.  Stop drooling, Lew.  Entercom bid against Cumulus for Citadel.  I’m not saying Lew is a vindictive guy or anything but wouldn’t this be a great headline in the trades? 

8.  Hubbard.  After all, they just bought 17 Bonneville stations.  I’m giving Bruce Reese and the managers that are moving over to Hubbard with him a heart attack right now because Cumulus fires competent managers.

9.  Cox.  Not possible, right?  After all they don’t like each other.  Right?  So that means Cox is safe, right?

10.  Radio One.  No.  Never!  Here is the one reason Dickey would buy all or part of Radio One.  Maybe?

11.  Regent.  Out of bankruptcy after screwing its original investors – now this is just the kind of scenario that made Lew Dickey go after Citadel.  Possible?  Probable?

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Untold Secrets of the Cumulus Citadel Deal

What we know is that radio’s serial overpayer spent $2.4 billion that he still doesn’t have to buy Citadel Media away from anxious shareholders.

That combined Cumulus and Citadel will be a platform of 572 radio stations in tiny markets and the top ten.

That Cumulus will carry $3 billion in debt.

And that Dickey is promising to de-lever that debt quickly to make the deal look like a steal.

That’s what we know.

But behind the scenes, there is a lot that will likely not see the light of day.

This article will reveal the Untold Secrets of the Cumulus Citadel Deal … among which are …

Secret #1.  Why Entercom didn’t fight harder to win Citadel.  Entercom publicly admitted to wanting Citadel and wanting to grow but one thing made them gun shy.  I’ll share that one thing with you.

Secret #2.  Is this a slam-dunk or can this deal be stopped?  There are unresolved financial and legal issues that are never really addressed.  What’s the chance that this deal blows up?

Secret #3.  What happens to Citadel CEO Farid Suleman?  Did he negotiate a way to stay on or get more money on the way out?  Your answer is here.

Secret #4.  Why did Dickey want Citadel so badly?  Why not Clear Channel if he was going to think big – they have a lot of financial problems?  Why not CBS or one of the other radio groups?  Turns out there was a big reason why Dickey had to go to Citadel and no one else.

Secret #5.  What happens to Citadel employees now?  Who stays, who goes.  Is there a plan in place?  The dealmakers don’t worry about people but there is a likely scenario about how Cumulus will takeover Citadel.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

3 New Content Opportunities for iPad 2

Apple’s iPad 2 will be available on Friday March 11th at 5pm.

You can expect 25 million of them to be sold by the end of this year – that’s just nine months from now. These are estimates from analysts who follow Apple closely.

Add to that number the 15 million iPads that have already been sold in less than a full year since the iPad was first introduced and you have the one electronic device you cannot ignore.

It doesn’t surprise me that radio still can’t wrap its arms around the mobile Internet even as this new game changer called iPad proliferates.  In fact, newspapers, magazines, and television – all have left their creativity at home when it comes to the iPad.  No doubt competitors will make some inroads in the market, but right now Apple dominates and it should turn the discussion to new opportunities for content providers.

This is an opportunity for radio stations as well as radio people because they already have the skills to do content on a daily basis. 

This article will reveal 3 new content opportunities that you will want to jump on knowing there will be 40 million iPad users out there by December and who knows how many more in 2012:

1.  A Groupon-type opportunity just sitting there and waiting for local radio ad salespeople to cash in on it.  Let Lew Dickey try selling from Atlanta.  Here’s a specific plan that will show you how to get into the new age coupon business from a local market.

2.  iPad news – the next YouTube meets hyperlocal content.  Not that hard to do but the content has to be compelling, unique and addictive.  I’m going to give it away right here.

3.  The game within the game.  One of my favorites.  Sports teams are generally losing the new media battle.  But here’s a new concept for those of you who want to take an idea to a local sports team and show them how to create a new revenue stream from the fans that sit in their seats at arenas and stadiums.  But you’ve got to know this first.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Radio’s Defense Against Groupon

Groupon, the wildly popular 35 million strong deal-of-the-day website, is coming after local radio.

Radio, having lost its exclusive edge in automobiles to a multi-use entertainment center is now on the verge of losing the sure business it was always able to get from local advertisers – even when consolidators weren’t broadcasting local content.

Now, word that Groupon is sending live salespeople into local markets to stand up face-to-face in opposition to terrestrial radio salespeople.  For CEOs like Lew Dickey who thinks radio sales can be operated out of one national location, this spells disaster.

This article will reveal an innovative, ready-to-use blueprint for radio’s defense against Groupon called RadioOn:

1.  Radio’s huge advantage over Groupon.  That’s right – advantage!  An advantage most radio people don’t even realize they have.  I’ll tell you what it is here.

2.  The aggressive plan that instantly puts Groupon at a disadvantage with the very local advertisers they are now trying to steal from radio.  Once you see it, a light bulb will go on in your brain.

3.  This one tactic I will offer – to double down on Groupon discounts – makes it impossible for Groupon to beat a radio sales pitch.  That is … IF … you know this tactic.

4.  One thing radio can add-on to its sales pitch that Groupon sales execs cannot touch whether they do it on the phone or in person with prospects.  Do you know what it is?  If not, you should.

5.  How to build an early warning notification system that will trump Groupon in local markets rendering them second best forever and forced to live on scraps of business left behind.

6.  This is the killer – a creative way for radio to do an on-air version of Groupon’s model and actually – sit down for this – increase your audience.  If you’re in radio, new media or advertising, you’ll want to know this radio advantage that stations don’t even know they have.  Haven’t even tried.  Until you read this.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Sony Music Screws Up

What kind of a screwed up industry is the music business when Sony hires the almost-retired CEO of rival Universal Music and ignores the digital revolution that is killing them?

Sony CEO Howard Stringer is putting on a clinic of what not to do.

This article reveals …

  • A major consumer change coming and the labels are clueless
     
  • How even restless consumers don’t know what they want
     
  • What Apple is secretly working on to give them what they crave
     
  • Why the labels are looking in the wrong place (we’ll tell you what they are overlooking).
     
  • How music has changed even as the labels have resisted change

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Monday, March 7, 2011

9 Cumulus/Citadel Merger Predictions

The merger of Cumulus and Citadel has major repercussions for the two companies and the entire radio industry.

Here are 9 predictions of what will happen.  Among them …

  • The first move Lew Dickey will make once the Cumulus/Citadel merger closes.  No, not layoff station people – that’s the second thing.
     
  • Dickey’s next move after Citadel.
     
  • The fate of Citadel’s ABC stations.
     
  • First look at the media platform -- Citadel and Cumulus combined.
     
  • The debt tightrope that Cumulus will be on.
     
  • The one thing Cumulus should do when it takes over Citadel – that it won’t do.
     
  • Farid Suleman’s future.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Friday, March 4, 2011

Steal These Apple Strategies for Radio

Radio needs to think more like Apple.

I’m not talking about technology now as much as I am innovation and creating excitement.

Charlie Sheen may be off his rocker but everyone is talking about tiger blood. 

Steve Jobs did another one of his multi-million dollar free publicity product introductions Wednesday when he introduced the new iPad 2.

We’ll I’m here to share some thoughts on how radio stations – yes, good old terrestrial radio stations can take a page out of Apple’s strategy playbook and try something new and better.

In this article, I believe there is more usable information to transform traditional media into the exciting future and I’d like to share …

1.  Six rules any radio station can adopt to create advertiser interest in what they are doing – Steve Jobs-style.  Yes, these principles are also great for entrepreneurs in the media and music business.

2.  How to get advertisers to want to buy radio station innovations.

3.  How to get these same advertisers to pay full price for them and not diminish what terrestrial stations already charge for on-air commercials.

4.  Some down and dirty secrets on how to create so much buzz that advertisers will be eagerly anticipating your event for more than just free food and drinks.

5.  Smart strategy on price points.  Steve Jobs is actually teaching us every time he gets on stage but we’re not listening – until now.

This article is about using the tried and true strategies of Apple CEO Steve Jobs in creating intense interest in your innovations and establishing a popular price point.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Thursday, March 3, 2011

How Google, Apple & Facebook Are Shaping the Future of Content

Payback is a bitch.

And for all the content providers screaming about how Apple, Google and Facebook are putting a crimp in their mobile Internet plans, it is nothing they haven’t already done in traditional media.

You’ve heard the future, now look at the problems it faces:

1.  Is Apple in it to make money on selling cool devices to consumers or by taking tolls for content providers who want to access their hundreds of millions of credit card ready customers?  The answer to understand going forward.

2.  The fate of Pandora and other streaming companies – even radio streams that sell subscriptions or advertising – if they have to pay Apple and others to be available on hundreds of millions of iPhones and 40 million iPads.

3.  Why is Google the Arbitron of the mobile Internet?  No, not that way but in this way.  Both companies make up their own rules but one of them is self-destructive.

4.  With one out of every two Americans with an ISP having a Facebook account, imagine what Facebook could do next.  I have and I’ll share.

5.  There are a few new rules becoming evident in the world of the mobile Internet.  Radio companies looking to derive more of its income will have to play by these rules, but first we’ll tell you what they are.

This article is about how Google, Apple and Facebook are changing the rules to what traditional content providers thought would be a straight shot to the Internet.  Except now, there is one stop along the way – the digital tollbooth and the implications are great.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Clear Channel Heads For Subscription Radio

Bob Pittman has just spent some of Clear Channel’s money to buy a company that is on the ropes – Thumbplay, a $10 monthly streaming music service that only attracted 20,000 subscribers in its first year of existence.

Streaming subscription music services are yesterday’s news, fraught with problems but the jubilant Pittman says his acquisition is only step one.

This article looks at Pittman’s strategy and tries to make sense of his thinking:

1.  Why buy a failed music subscription service?

2.  Pittman is going after Pandora but not the way you might think.  His acquisition of Thumbplay can never exceed Pandora’s audience (now at over 75 million subscribers).  But Pittman is envious about this one thing that Pandora has that could hurt terrestrial radio.

3.  While Pandora looks to get into local radio with non-music formats, is Pittman’s move a Wall Street money guy flexing his investors’ dollars or is it a sound strategy?

4.  Pittman’s game plan – projected and out of his own mouth.

5.  An option Pittman didn’t think of, but you can have it.  I explain the strategy here.

This article is about the biggest radio company’s first, high profile move into the digital future and examines what is good about it and the mistakes you will want to avoid.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices. 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Radio’s Next Buyers and Sellers

You’ve asked me to handicap the top radio groups to project whether they are buyers or sellers and in this article, I’ve done that.

This piece reveals …

1.  Is Emmis a buyer or seller in light of legal headaches and a small platform? 

2.  Entercom – what if the Citadel deal never happens?  Is Entercom a buyer or a seller?

3.  The fate of Radio One in light of a potential Cumulus takeover of the radio industry.

4.  Then how does Clear Channel react if the Dickeys become the new Mays family?  Buy or sell?

5.  Cox is a great operator but can it survive more consolidation as a relatively small group?  I’ve got your answer right here.

6.  The old Bonneville – the one owned by the Mormon Church – are they going to sell the markets they held back from the Hubbard deal or operate them into the future?

7.  And what of Hubbard once they close on the 17-station Bonneville acquisition.  They’ve got Bruce Reese to run it, and Reese’s top managers.  Is Hubbard eyeing something bigger?

8.  CBS – Lee Moonves has said he’d like to sell some stations and hasn’t.  Will he in light of a potential Cumulus-Citadel merger that could change everything.

9.  Saga has the least amount of debt and keeps cranking out cash flow.  Will this small to medium market company feel Lew Dickey’s breath breathing down its back?

10.  Salem?  I have a hunch.

This article gets specific about how the main players in radio consolidation could be affected if the landscape suddenly changes and Cumulus becomes the new Clear Channel.

If you would like to read this story, have access to my entire archive (over 1,200 pieces) and get the next month of my writing included, click “read more” for your choices.