5 Hot New Media Businesses

Where are the new business opportunities for traditional and new media?

That’s the question I get all the time. 

This morning I’m going to reveal 5 of them – and where the money can be made. 

This article focuses on 5 opportunities you will want to get in on:

1.  How developing private brand Internet streams can be a big business – fast.

2.  What opportunity is ready made for profits if you are a radio personality.

3.  What one music intensive idea could work in your market tomorrow.

4.  The best way to create content for those new head units being readied for cars that will display the drivers smartphone icons in plain view.

5.  A social networking idea that is so good that you can actually charge fans to be part of 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. 

The Hot New Replacement for Adult Contemporary Radio

Radio stations are dumping adult contemporary formats faster than live audiences are walking out on Charlie Sheen.

Okay, maybe not that fast.

But the latest ratings confirm that AC stations are generally declining and being replaced by a potent format alternative.

All of the strategies I am about to share are also powerful aids to just about any radio format today.

This article reveals what, according to the latest ratings, is the winning new format and digs down to tell you 8 things that these successful stations do to beat their adult contemporary competitors:

1.  What music strategy works best.

2.  How much current music must be played to win.

3.  The “sweet spot decades” for music choice – and the danger zones.

4.  What to do with the weekends.

5.  Do contemporary and hit formats require a morning personality or can you save money.

6.  The condiments, add-ons and embellishments that add a share to your numbers.

7.  What to do with non-news formatic elements.

8.  The online component – what must be done at a minimum online to support new ratings winners on-air.

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. 

Lew Dickey’s Royal Wedding

No, not Lew Dickey himself, the newly crowned king of all radio consolidation.

But Kate and William’s royal wedding that looks like it will be turned into a Cumulus attempt at a bad sales promotion and relevant and timely programming.

The Three Stooges are at it again.

The royal wedding is Friday.

Cumulus stations were notified Tuesday that they are sending a jock to the U.K. to cover the wedding for all Cumulus stations.

Nice local programming.

So stations get arguably three days notice to prepare.

Jenn Hobby from the Bert Show in Atlanta (where else?) is going to, as Cumulus Programming Magician Jan Jeffries says, “cover the Royal Wedding and report back to all Cumulus stations with on-going up to the minute color and play by play of the wedding procedure and ceremony.”

Now understand most Cumulus stations have been gutted of live personnel over the past few years. 

And the great majority of the survivors have not had raises in years and it has been forever since a cost of living increase was awarded to a Cumulus employee – unlike the Dickeys and their minions who get special board approved bonuses even when they fail.

Did I mention that most Cumulus part-timers are making minimum wage?

That from their employees’ own description, they are constantly reminded that they can easily be replaced.

Okay … now that I got that out of the way, let’s look at the lunacy of what the soon to be second largest consolidated radio company is doing.

1.  An “urgent” memo you won’t believe from programming chief Jan Jeffries to his stations dictating his terms for the royal wedding – talk about a monarchy!

2.  What radio audiences really want when a TV event captures the public eye.

3.  Why the Dickeys are leaving their affiliate stations at the altar.

4.  The main reason today’s big, powerful media businessmen (and “men” seems to be an accurate description) don’t know how to connect with listeners or advertisers – even when a special event is handed to them. 

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. 

How to Make Radio Cool Again

Can radio become cool again?

Not the way most stations broadcast these days. 

I think we all get that live and local would help and that personalities are what listeners crave.  That local artists would distinguish a radio station from Pandora.

But we’ve said all of that.

This article will reveal 7 specific additional things that radio stations can actually do – some can be started right away with no expense –- to make radio cool, desirable and more interesting to young and old listeners alike.

1.  The way to know precisely what your audiences crave and no, I’m not talking about buying a research project.

2.  How stations shoot themselves in the foot during the first 5 minutes of each hour – maybe even the first 3 minutes.

3.  How radio stations increasingly make their audiences feel inferior – that’s right, inferior – and how to put a stop to it next hour.

4.  What does fantasy sports teach radio about what it can do to become cool again?

5.  The one radio station website no station ever does that it ought to do to become relevant to listeners overnight.

6.  Why do young listeners like NPR so much when it doesn’t cater to short attention spans or stupid dj banter?  Anything we can learn from it.  You’ve got it – right here.

7.  Radio’s best friend is …  Do you know?  Do you know that I estimate that 85% of America’s radio stations are not employing this strategy to regain a foothold with today’s listeners?

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. 

Smart Phones, Dumb Outcome

What I am about to share with you is some of the scary stuff that is actually being revealed about personal information we are giving up every minute of every day on our smartphones and mobile devices without even knowing it.

How consumers can, by their use of mobile devices, tell researchers how happy they are, where they are likely to go next (with over 93% accuracy) and identify who the “influencers” are who can change other people’s minds.

Good?

Not if the current debate brewing over privacy concerns and the mobile Internet continues to rage.

I end with 5 rules that must not be violated if you want to stay on the good side of mobile Internet audiences.

Subscribers, click through.

If you have not yet subscribed, this is a great article to start with and unlock the content.

The pros and many hidden cons of mobile Internet privacy, starts 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. 

Apple’s Radio Killer to Launch Early

It looks like Apple’s music locker that stores the iTunes library of 200 million of their subscribers is ready to launch early.

Ahead of Google.

And may have a surprise for the recently launched Amazon music locker.

More importantly, if Apple does what I think they are going to do, their new subscription streaming music discovery service could be the death knell for music radio.

Unless …

I’ve put together a special report on the very latest about Apple’s plans and what Google and Amazon are up to.  

If you’re a subscriber, thank you for joining our group and simply click through and unlock the content.

If you haven’t subscribed yet and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get. 

1.  All the evidence up to the minute on what Apple is doing that indicates it is up to something big that could greatly impact music radio.

2.  Why Apple appears to be readying something more than a music locker for iTunes customers – here’s the dead giveaway.

3.  A special section on how this streaming service could be a radio killer and what radio stations can do about it.

4.  One way that radio stations can respond now – before the cloud stream takes over – that will act as an insurance policy to keep listeners engaged and coming back.  I’ll name the things you can do that Apple cannot do – and they all make you bigger and stronger.

5.  My best prediction as to how much of an impact cloud-based music discovery services will have on radio and what comes down to the only two options stations can choose from. 

One is lethal. 

One breathes new life into commercial radio.

It’s all 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. 

Why Mobile Content is Failing

When The New York Times emailed me a bulletin that Lindsay Lohan had been taken into custody and sentenced to 120 days in her theft case, that’s when I had just about had it.

Don’t they realize we go to TMZ for that stuff and to publications like The Times for news that takes real reporting?

It is bad enough The Times recently started delivering their printed newspaper under the hot Arizona sun without a plastic wrapper to protect it against sun bleaching.

Bad enough they wouldn’t respond to my complaint about the dirty delivery practices almost as if print subscribers grow on trees these days.

Worse yet that I am still paying for a newspaper that I have already read online the night before it arrives.  Not too smart – on my part.

Now this …Lindsay is a bulletin.

One of my subscribers sent me a link to an article about The Christian Science Monitor and how they have “successfully adapted” to the digital age after being forced to print a weekly edition and halt their daily print publication. Their goal was to get from 3 million 25 million page views per month.

They did it.

But they also “expanded” their coverage to featuring stories on Tiger Woods and his personal problems.

Duh!  Can you say TMZ?

This is what it has come to.

The dumbing down of the audience all because media companies cannot figure out how to do unique, compelling and addictive content on the mobile Internet.

Want to know what to do about it? 

How to fix it?

How can there be a crisis for compelling content on the mobile Internet?  Why are even biggies with all the pageviews making chump change compared to media businesses back in the day?

Here’s breaking news that even The New York Times doesn’t know.  

But you will.  There are three things that guarantee success in the mobile Internet.

Read on.

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Appcasting Is the Next Radio

In the next 12 months or so, a lot of major changes are going to take place in the radio industry.

I’m not speaking of the prospect of more consolidation – not at all – because in the end consolidation will not save the radio industry.

Appcasting is the future of radio.

Former NPR President and CEO Vivian Schiller, speaking at Harvard last week, warned that radio as we know it is over and that a new breed of non-radio competitors is coming.

So, today I want to get you ready.

If you are subscriber, click through and unlock the content.

If you would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get:

1.  The compelling evidence that broadcasting will be replaced sooner than you think by what I call appcasting. 

2.  The 2 main content directions you can choose.  The one most existing stations are likely to take is the wrong one with bad odds for success.  But I am going to tell you which is which.

3.  The most dangerous pitfalls to appcasting.  Avoid these and you can be off and running.

4.  How streaming can work in the new world of appcasting.  Warning:  this is not your father’s web streaming. 

5.  How to defend against competitors who will attack you but follow this strategy and you will cut them off at the pass.

The answers begin 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. 

Critical New Digital Strategies

(My wife Cheryl and I had our first date seeing a hockey game.  It was love at first sight!  13 years later, the couple that attends the playoffs together, stays together)

Everyone talks about creating an essential digital strategy to get in on the current Internet boom, but in my opinion few understand what that strategy needs to be.

It’s not HD radio.

Not how many times your jocks mention Facebook or Twitter on the air or how cool your website is.  Websites are so – well, yesterday.  Today, show me your app.

If streaming music like Pandora is radio’s answer to the digital future, just forget it.  It sounds like that’s what Clear Channel thinks because they want to be the programmable and perhaps customizable radio of the future.

Why?

It’s not the future.

This article outlines 5 critical new digital strategies that should be considered instead …

1.  An app radio show

2.  A streaming station that has nothing to do with your on-air format

3.  A radio station that has nothing to do with the Internet

4.  Build “radio stations” on apps

5.  Create a social network clubhouse

All the details begin 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. 

The Replacement for Mobile Radio

Commercial radio is ready for another evolution. 

It is so exciting that you will want to stop everything and start preparing for it. 

It's not traditional radio formats for the cell phone (i.e., iHeartRadio) and music streaming services (Pandora, Rhapsody).  

In this piece I will reveal …

•  Real convincing evidence of what can happen if you tap the potential of the mobile Internet.  The plan is laid out for you to have and use.

•  What the replacement for mobile radio is – I’ll describe it.  And it's not what you think it is.  Even better.

•  What mobile/digital life will be like very soon and how you can get a leg up on other content providers.  All the specifics on how you will be building a platform of 100% mobile involvement.

•  Plus, the killer app that generates revenue like never before from a new kind of mobile "radio".  

This article will keep you ahead on a new type of mobile radio that is in the works -- with all the details on how to be ready.  

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. 

Ballad-Free Music Formats

WBEB (B101) in Philadelphia has eliminated ballads from its weekends to make them more lively – and less like where the station is popular, at work during the week.

Good idea?

Actually, dropping ballads from the weekends is just the tip of the iceberg.

The adult contemporary format has been declining in recent years.  Once a staple of music radio, the future of AC radio is uncertain.

More importantly, it’s what WBEB is not saying that you should be focusing on and I’m going to reveal it in this article.

•  How not to be left in any radio format when it starts becoming long in the tooth.

•  How to keep your loyal fans while you undergo what may be some radical surgery. 

•  How to protect the brand and not the format.

•  How hanging onto the past can guarantee that your station will have no future (this will be good advice for everyone but particularly for stations with a lot to lose if their listeners stray).

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.  It’s as low as 27 cents a day.

Apple Media Predictions

(JD with my niece Jaime McEwen and daughter Daria rooting for the orange and black).

Apple is getting set to launch its new cloud-based streaming service and it could possibly be the final act to CEO Steve Jobs impressive career.

I’m talking major products and services here.

Things that will revolutionize the TV business, stick it to Google (something Steve Jobs no doubt would enjoy most) and create such demand for Apple’s own iPad that it could leave other tablets lagging behind.

Everyone is expecting Apple to come out with something earthshattering on the music side – like a Pandora streaming product or a music locker.  I’m betting a music locker is likely for a small monthly fee – the better to store your iTunes in for access anywhere.

This article reveals new information on these 5 predictions:

1.  Apple gets into the Netflix business

2.  Apple is negotiating with content companies now

3.  An Apple subscription model is coming

4.  Bandwidth will be burdened

5.  Apple may market an actual television set

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. 

Flipboard and the Content Crisis

(In spring, a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of hockey playoffs)

This article is about how content providers are not keeping up with the plethora of new devices coming to market.

And how content is no longer king because content providers are lagging behind digital advances – the consequences for doing so is fast becoming a crisis.

Among the benefits of this article:

1.  Putting a finger on the disconnect between cool devices and the kind of content that consumers are coming to expect from content providers.

2.  Avoiding paywall problems that are sure to happen if content providers don’t change the way they package content.

3.  Learning a better way to come up with content winners – two things you must do before you can be in sync with changing consumers.  One of them is make sure you own all the cool devices that consumers love.  The other is even more critical.

4.  Recognizing the first thing to do when designing content for 2011 – and it is different from 2010 by a mile.

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.  

How to Get Better Radio Ratings

If you think that the only way to get ratings is to game the People Meter, you may be surprised to find that you may be losing fans not just P1s.   

Some people think so-called P1s are fans, but they have no face, no humanity.

This morning, I’m going to layout a game plan from which you and your people can brainstorm for ways to make better radio and win ratings.  What’s more, this plan will isolate 2 dayparts and aim to deliver 70% of your entire station’s revenue in those time periods.

This article is about how to get better radio ratings …

1.  Why developing a daypart that will deliver half of your stations revenue and the lion’s share of the audience is so critical.  I’ll explain.

2.  How to play lots of music and do personality at the same time. 

3.  The missing ingredient to spike the ratings.

4.  How to develop a second daypart so that you can spend your resources chasing the two shows that will bring you 70% of your revenue.

5.  What to do with middays.

6.  Edgy night programming.  I’ll outline two starter ideas.

7.  Should you voice track overnights in this plan that focuses resources on two dayparts?

8.  News on a music station – what to do (if anything).

9.  Your new key to creating the desire among your listeners so they will not want to tune out.

10.  What to do about streaming your station.  How critical is it to stream your radio format?

11.  What must you do to satisfy an unmet need of radio listeners.  Hardly anyone does it.  You’ll soon know what it is.

12.  Where does texting, Facebook and Twitter fit into better radio ratings.

13.  What jocks should be doing online while they are on the air.  Most stations have it wrong.

14.  What should you do with music sweeps – the Holy Grail of hit radio ratings? 

If you’ve been thinking about subscribing to Inside Music Media, today is a great day to start by reading this story – it’s as low as 27 cents a day including access to everything I have written in the last four years.

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My Media Investments Revealed

I have finally gone and done it.  

After being asked many, many times by readers what media stocks I like enough to invest my own money in – I’m coming clean.

I wouldn’t bet the farm on my say-so, but in this article you’ll get an idea of what media stocks I like enough to invest in and what ones I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot picture of Gordon Gekko.

If you promise not to run out and do anything drastic, you’ll find this article very revealing and hopefully useful as you look to the future of the media industry.  For example …

1.  I own Apple – I’ll tell you that.  But when will I sell it?  Will I sell it?  And I’ve got some target prices from real professionals that you may want to factor in.  Apple’s prospects according to my IRA.

2.  Which one radio stock did I own – you’ll never guess.  I sold it a number of years ago, but it will tell you that I had high hopes for this stock but felt left at the altar.  I sold it – for what I paid.  I’m telling you, you’ll never guess.

3.  Future prospects for radio stocks.

4.  I have my eye on one other entertainment industry investment – I’ll tell you why I love it enough to want to buy it.

5.  How close am I to buying Google or Amazon?

6.  Is AOL going to come back big enough that someone who writes about the media industry would buy it?  If so, when?

7.  Groupon?

8.  What I am watching in new media – where the next investment opportunities may be.

If you’ve been kicking around whether to finally subscribe for as low as 27 cents a day, today is a great article with which to start.  Unlock this article and everything I have written to date.

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. 

The Money Is In Paid Subscriptions

There is mounting evidence that a lot of the content available on the mobile Internet will cost you a paid subscription.

It is happening now across the board in almost every area, but caution is advised because some things are working and some you can learn from because they are not working.

This article is all about the possibilities if you want to keep current on this monumental change that is taking place:

1.  What works and doesn’t work in paid newspaper subscriptions.  Publishers are going full force into paid subscriptions and video and radio companies could learn a few lessons.  We’ll share them.

2.  The video conundrum – paid ads or paid subscriptions.  Can both work?  The video business has more problems in the paid arena than any other but with a few guidelines can see its way to profit from paid video subscriptions.

3.  Radio is trying it.  Some are off and running and some will never be able to get a subscriber to pay even a penny.  We’ll share which are which.

4.  Streaming music – the entire music industry is assuming that consumers will soon pay for cloud-access to monthly subscription services.  Is that assumption correct? Because if it isn’t, you may want to investigate this.

5.  Apps – the pioneer in getting consumers to part with their money.  What do app makers know that you need to know?

6.  Music – the one piece of content that has been so devalued that it may not be able to become part of the paid music chain but it has one other option.  It will take guts, but it will work.

If you’ve been considering a subscription to Inside Music Media, this article today would be a great way to start.  As low as 27 cents a day gives access to this content and everything I have written in the past four years.

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. 

The Battle for the Dashboard

Five years from now researchers forecast Internet-enabled dashboards will grow to 210 million worldwide from 45 million at the end of this year.

The radio could become an endangered species by then.

This article reveals what manufacturers are doing behind the scenes to keep young consumers connected with their new age entertainment in the car and what the challenges and opportunities may be.

I’ll grade the challengers from A to F and provide useful context …

1.  Naming the number one in-car dashboard attraction even before that 5-year growth marker.

2.  The forgotten competitor that content providers don’t even have on their radar screens and no, it’s not a CD player.  It’s even more threatening and I give it a B for consumer desirability.

3.  The desirability of having iPods easily plugged into the entertainment system of the future.  What grade would you give iPod access with all those other choices?  My grade is – well, in the article.

4.  The issue of whether the coming cloud-style music lockers and monthly subscription services will be hot or not.

5.  What happens to radio with all this competition from new media and Internet connectivity?  It’s complicated and you’ll see why radio stations must make meaningful and in some cases radical changes to be an attraction in the car of the future. 

The clock is ticking – nothing in media is happening faster than the Internet-connected dashboard.

If you’ve been considering starting a subscription to Inside Music Media, today’s article makes it a great day to do it – as low as 27 cents a day to access this piece on the battle for the dashboard and everything else I have written.

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Consumer Blunders to Avoid

I can name you at least 3 blunders that are flying in the face of consumers who want to patronize radio, the record industry and live concerts.

These industries are getting in their own way.

This article breaks it down …

RADIO BLUNDERS …

1.  What kind of music do listeners really want – even crave – that radio stations are leaving off their playlists.

2.  One strategic move above all else that can make a music radio station a big hit with their fans – not just P1s – and not just on the People Meter ratings.

3.  The thing even young people crave so much that they would turn on a radio to hear it.  Do you know what it is?

4.  What radio stations are missing that potential listeners want and can’t find on about 99% of today’s radio stations.

RECORDS BLUNDERS …

1.  It’s not the CD or the download that turns record buyers off.  It is this one thing.  Fix it and music starts selling again.

2.  A huge blunder traditional label execs are making when it comes to understanding the taste of the record buying public.  Label execs think they want this, when consumers actually want that! 

3.  A fatal mistake being made by the record industry has zero to do with the type of music they are recording and marketing and yet it is so major that if the labels could find the 3 new superstars in the next year, they would likely fail until they fix this.

CONCERT BLUNDERS …

1.  Fans will always go to see live concerts, right?  Read this and you’ll think twice. 

2.  Is there one thing that could become more attractive to the 80 million members of Gen Y than seeing their favorite music artists and bands live and in person?  I’ll name it.

3.  What does Charlie Sheen and today’s big music stars have in common.  Duh- it’s not winning.  It’s a major miscalculation about audiences that promises to backfire big time.   

If you’ve been reading these summaries for a while considering whether to subscribe, today is a good day to start.  A subscription that unlocks the full story is as low as 27 cents a day to access this story and everything I have written to date.  

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Stick a Fork in YouTube

Why are YouTube, Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon and Hulu’s best days behind them?

Do you know?

They don’t, but this article is going to show media execs in radio, television, publishing and the music industry what one mistake not to make – not now, not ever. 

A preview …

1.  Why YouTube and others are finished growing if they continue to follow their newly adopted plans to be more than they are?

2.  The four elements that are mandatory for any media company at this point in time.  Don’t have one of them and you’re in big trouble.  

3.  What a radio station or record label could learn from Netflix’s decision to chase content.

4.  Discover what is more popular with consumers – traditional network television or online video.  And there is a surprising trend here.

5.  Critical important lessons for radio, television, the record business and publishing before they invest another penny in new media.  There are 5 of them – and now you’ll be able to get a leg up on competitors.

6.  In online/digital as well as old traditional media, you no longer can be all things to all people.  It comes down to two basic businesses – you’re either in one or the other.  Here they are.

Amazingly, YouTube is about to fall flat on its face – and we could be in the same boat except you are going to know media’s evolving new rules starting now.

It’s as low as 27 cents a day to access this story and everything I have written to date.   If you’ve been thinking about it, today’s article is a good way to start.

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Why Mobile Music Streams Will Fail

Within the next six months, we will see a major change in how music is delivered to customers, stored on the Internet and played on the radio. 

The betting is on monthly streaming all-you-can-eat services.

But I’m not buying it.

For a leg up on what’s coming, today’s piece reveals …

1.  Why streaming music services will still fail – as they have for years – if they are what the music industry plans for consumers.

2.  The chances an import streamer from Europe will be like the Beatles and start a streaming music revolution here.

3.  How record labels and even broadcast companies are overlooking the most important way to start a music revolution.  But you’ll know now because I will reveal it here.

4.  Live Nation, the concert and ticket company wants to buy part of Warner Music and shake things up.  Here’s what they are thinking.

5.  Radio’s big music mistake – a huge one – that is repairable with this fix.

6.  YouTube has become Top 40 with pictures and huge audiences.  Their next move?

7.  The answer that everyone is ignoring that could make the music business a new age money machine.  Not through traditional means like CDs, downloads and airplay but through this ingenious approach.

An early warning on big changes ahead for the music and radio industries starts here.

This is a good day to start a subscription and access this story and everything I have written to date for 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. 

How Radio Can Run Groupon Out of Town

If I told you that Steve Jobs and gadget huckster Ron Popeil have radio’s answer to Groupon, would you be interested?

If I said it is not only possible but easy for any radio station to run the coupon-of-the-day service Groupon out of their market on a rail, would you try it?

In this article, I am going to layout a blueprint for turning regular over-the-air radio into a growth business again.

Then, you can take all that money you’re planning to make from online and digital and add it to your ever-increasing profits.

I know– the BIA/Kelsey projections are out and pure radio will not equal last year’s 5.4% growth rate in any of the next two years – and one of them is even an election year.

I don’t care.

This plan requires an open mind, some innovation, a little investment and a lot of enthusiasm.  I’ll share …

1.  What to do with spot radio.  It’s not the vehicle radio needs to become a growth industry again, but I’ve got something for you that is.

2.  There is actually a company in another industry that is doing exactly what radio should do to rev up sales.  Would you like to know who they are and how they do it?

3.  All about a surefire way to sell advertisers on cutting you in on a bigger share of the pie.  It’s ingenious and I’m surprised no station has tried it. 

4.  Apple has its iTunes Store.  What does your radio station have?  I’ll tell you a phenomenal possibility.

5.  What costs virtually no money and can reap increases in radio sales?  Get ready to write it down.

6.  A link to a Malcolm Gladwell article that will change the way you think about selling. 

7.  Plus, my plan for radio stations to run Groupon out of town.

New possibilities for radio start here.

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3 Radical Changes in Consumer Behavior You Must Track

I like to keep readers of this space way ahead on media and consumer trends.

There are disturbing consumer habits that are beginning to emerge that may one day become important to decision making and planning.

This article is about three radical changes that you will want to track not for what they seem to represent but for their not so obvious hidden message.

This article contains three such trends that baffle the mind but have great meaning:

1.  “Online Reputation Cleaners” -- the growing group of companies popping up to erase consumer footprints on the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 

2.  I’ll hook you up with some popular companies that are cleaning all references to clients off the face of the Internet.

3.  Typewriters are becoming “vinyl”.  Guess who is buying them?  Young people.   Laugh at your own peril.  Don’t worry we’re not headed back to the past, but there is a nerve these typewriter users have hit that will definitely impact the future of social networking and mobile media.  Do you know what it is?

4.  I’ll link you to a published report on young people’s growing obsession with typewriters.

5.  “Hands free email”.  No keyboards on mobile devices and laptops – that’s where we’re headed.  I’ve got a new technology to share that claims to cut 12% off the time you spend doing your email.   It’s up and running now and it’s not voice recognition. 

5.  A direct link to how you can test hands free email.

“3 Radical Changes in Consumer Behavior You Must Track” – starts now.

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Radio in 4 Years (My Predictions)

Want to know what the radio business will be like in just 4 years?

This article contains my current predictions:

1.  About what radio owners will have to do to find a growth industry when young and older people are listening to less radio.

2.  I’ll describe the morning show that will be all the rage in 4 years.  Is this something you can do because you’re going to have to.

3.  What will replace audience ratings?  Sorry, Arbitron.

4.  Pay radio will be an option.  I describe it here.

5.  Let me give you a hint – commercials are so over.  I’ll tell you what will replace them for revenue and even give you a heads up on the mega monster of ad revenue growth that few even see on their radar screens.  But you will and I go into detail.

6.  Which radio people are ideal for the new radio that I am going to describe.  Is this you?

7.  Why my model guarantees job security.  That’s right.  All this firing is going to blow up in the face of consolidators and you’ll see why.

8.  Social networking is so important but it won’t resemble what you see today.  Think Facebook and Twitter is the gold standard.  Think again.

9.  How radio will be so different from what you think of today – and specifically – I’ll give you a heads up to get ahead of the curve.

My vision of radio in 2015 – in 4 short years – starts now.

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How to Start a New Media Revolution

Believe it or not, you can learn a lot about competing in the new media business today by learning lessons from the political upheaval in the Middle East.

It’s strikingly the same.

This article reveals …

1.  The untold secrets of viral media.  How it works.  Why it works.  How to do it.

2.  The real power of social networking for your media site is not Facebook – not even Twitter.  It is this.

3.  The one brave and gutsy thing a radio station can do to kick the mobile Internet in the butt.  I’ll describe it and draw up a plan.  If you have the courage, I guarantee this will work for you.

4.  What is now bigger and more important to the music industry than Top 40 radio?  What radio can do to counter.  What you can do if they don’t.

5.  7 strategic steps to compete in a world where YouTube is attracting over 70 million views in two weeks for unknown artists with little experience. 

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.

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