You can bet Seattle and Denver are not showing up at the Meadowlands this weekend for the Super Bowl without a game plan to victory.

But you almost get the feeling that the radio industry has been so beaten down that it is just going through the motions lately – adrift and without even a one or two page outline of how to achieve victory.

It reacts instead of responds.

But same rules apply.

You win by planning to win.

And while we always need good defense, we must also have a better offense against digital competitors and generational lifestyle changes that affect the prognosis for broadcast radio.

For example:

• Do you have a simple list of 15-25 things that will lead you to victory in the digital age?  If not, let’s make one together.
• If I showed you something earthshattering that younger money demo listeners want from radio that we’re not giving them, would you add it to your list?  Something that would make them turn on a radio.  Come back every day.  It’s not those awful cluttered stop sets and repetitive music that we give them.  I’m going to tell you and you’re going to say, “Yes, I can do it”.
• How about adding a sensible way to deal with all those short commercials you must run to make your revenue goals in a way that is less of a tune out for audiences.  Because today, listeners don’t just scan to another radio station and hopefully return once the commercials mercifully end.  They pick up their phones and it’s bye-bye.
• Would your list have this one characteristic that all your air people must have to be relevant to money demo audiences.  I’ll tell you what it is – they must be authentic.  And radio is produced, bigger than life and anything but authentic to this critical audience that we absolutely must have.  What’s worth discussing together is tangible ways to make the sound of your radio station more authentic.
• Your game plan should also include the 4 other traits that Millennials seek from their entertainment these days.  I’ll share.  We’ll discuss.  Hopefully you will return home and implement leaving your competitors sounding like a bygone era that is not of interest to the next generation of radio listeners.

If you work with me on this simple but life altering list, you will be unstoppable in making meaningful change in a competitive media industry.

While we’re together, we’ll cover these 7 critical things that will help you become a better broadcaster and/or digital entrepreneur at my March 26^th Philly learning event.

1. The most effective way to disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell you all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media.  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

Ask questions.  Make it personal to get the most out of it.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

More FM Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee has outwitted television competitors, radio competitors, large consolidators and just about everyone else.

But he rarely talks publicly about his strategies.

That ends March 26^th when Jerry Lee joins my faculty for the 2014 Media Solutions Conference.

When you attend, you become part of the session in which we ask Lee:

• The actual steps to testing advertising to win long and more lucrative contracts by guaranteeing that their commercials will be 8 times more effective than spots they run anywhere else.
• How to strike it rich by making commercials for your best advertisers and prospects that have the critical aspect of positive emotion – the element most radio commercials lack.  Thus, poor performance and lower spends.
• Of the two best ways to test emotion, the one that More FM uses.
• How More FM never fails to deliver results that exceed expectation to advertisers, which explains why this one locally owned station is always first in revenue beating all the other excellent competitors.
• For those who are not ready to write and test copy for emotional power (although I don’t why not), Lee’s referral to where your people can learn to write better emotionally positive copy now – for free.
• “Professor” Lee will share groundbreaking results of about the three types of response advertisers can get from an ad campaign – high response, marginal and worst results.  Let me give you a preview.  Big results are delivered 11% by TV and 20% by radio.  Marginal results 51% by TV and 30% by radio.  Worst results that can even jeopardize brands and slam the door on future business:  38% for TV, 50% for radio.  Our mission:  create better emotionally driven ads that can reap higher revenue buys.  You’ll have a path to making that happen when you return home.  The state of the economy has nothing to do with getting better results and writing more business.
• We’ll ask why Jerry Lee took the bold step to change the name of his number one radio station in the month when the station attracts the most listeners (during December’s Christmas music programming) from B101 to More FM.  What he discovered through research may help you.
• Why he doesn’t stream More FM – no stream, just radio.  Top biller in the market.  No one has ever asked.  We will.

But so will you.

What a great opportunity to interact with this successful radio owner. 

Here’s the rest of the 7 critical things that will help you become a better broadcaster and/or digital entrepreneur at my March 26^th Philly learning event.

1. The most effective way to disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell you all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media.  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

I’m putting ample time aside for questions and hitchhiking on good ideas.

Sean Hannity will be live with Michael Harrison, the recognized expert on radio and talk radio.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

That’s why I have asked More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee to join the faculty at my March 26^th Philly media seminar.

He has a system for getting 18 times the results for advertisers and believes that all stations should at least be delivering 8 times the expected results.

If they did, game over – you win more revenue.

Lee has got it down to a science and you’re going to hear him talk about things that can make a difference for locally focused radio stations:

1. How to get advertisers to sign on for longer flights – six months at a time.
2. The key elements to getting them to go for the longer contracts.
3. The only two things that can accurately test the critical emotion factor in radio commercials – one of them is measuring listeners brainwaves.  The other is the one Lee used at More FM.
4. How to write better copy.  In fact, I’m going to ask Jerry Lee how many times out of a 100 does an emotionally effective commercial win a larger radio buy.
5. We’ll ask him about the three types of response advertisers can get from an ad campaign – high response, marginal and worst results.  Let me give you a preview.  Big results are delivered 11% by TV and 20% by radio.  Marginal results 51% by TV and 30% by radio.  Worst results that can even jeopardize brands and slam the door on future business:  38% for TV, 50% for radio.  Our mission:  create better emotionally driven ads that can reap higher revenue buys.  You’ll have a path to making that happen when you return home.  The state of the economy has nothing to do with getting better results and writing more business.

While we have him there, we’ll drill down on why the drastic name change to his perennially number one radio station from B-101 to More FM at the peak of its popularity. 

What’s that about? 

And streaming.

Lee’s station doesn’t stream and yet More FM is the top biller in the market.

What a great opportunity to interact with this brilliant radio owner who rarely speaks publicly about these critical issues.  And it will happen only in Philly for those attending live and in person.

Here’s the rest of the 7 critical things that will help you become a better broadcaster and/or digital entrepreneur at my March 26^th Philly learning event.

1. The most effective way to disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell you all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media.  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

I’m putting ample time aside for questions and hitchhiking on good ideas.

Sean Hannity will be live with Michael Harrison, the recognized expert on radio and talk radio.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

There’s a scary story out of Clear Channel recently.

Pandora is hurting them.

Yes, that Pandora – the one so many radio people just choose to ignore.  Pandora has been methodically hiring former radio account executives to work their magic for them.

To make matters worse, Apple just recently did a major radio buy but skipped Clear Channel, which it considers a competitor because it owns and operates iHeartRadio.

And then there are two more developing circumstances.

Interest in buying radio advertising is down as the New Year begins.

And radio companies are shooting themselves in the foot by dropping their rates in a panicked attempt to close the gap.

Even though most radio groups remain in deep denial, the facts are what the facts are.

Clear Channel wouldn’t call for a 0.5% across the board cutback just two weeks after the budgets they approved for 2014 got rolling.  But they did.

It’s bad out there and not going to perk up any time soon.

But there are strategies that can bolster your position in the market and increase share and it’s on the agenda for my March 26^th Philly conference.

1. Partner with Pandora.  This may work for stations that are confident enough that they can continue to command the share of radio revenue they need, but instead of having Pandora walk in and pitch against you, you partner with them.  Worth a call.  Pandora will listen.
2. Raise rates modestly but within weeks.  Apple doesn’t allow consumers to walk in and say, “I’ll buy an iPad if you throw in a new iPhone”.  End of discussion.  But radio sellers increasingly are prostituting themselves by cutting their rates to match a desperate lesser market competitor and in effect saying “buy radio at this price and I’ll throw in my meaningless digital in order to get the price down”.  Why doesn’t this industry get it?  Fair price.  Price integrity.  No kitchen sinks thrown in.
3. Never sell digital along with radio.  Never. Ever.  I’m planning to show you an alternative that allows you to get your radio rate and add to it by starting a second stream of revenue. 
4. If you have only one thing to sell on radio, the package that I am going to describe for you should be it.  Most radio stations do it the other way around and miss this outstanding revenue opportunity.
5. Ask me about the three ways to get a prospect to buy.  You line up a proposal with three options on the page and the one you want them to pick is guess where?  First, in the middle, or the last one.  You just need to know which position to put the option you want them to choose.  Proven to work.  Start using it in your proposals now.

Just a few of the effective strategies worthy of your consideration that we will discuss face to face. 

Here are the 7 critical things that will help you become a better broadcaster and/or digital entrepreneur at my March 26^th Philly learning event.

1. The most effective way to disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media.  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

I’m putting ample time aside or questions and hitchhiking on good ideas.

More FM (formerly B-101), Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee is on the faculty to talk about how he out bills every competitor year after year with digital, Pandora and you name it in his face.  He owns one powerful station and is willing to share.

Sean Hannity will be live with Michael Harrison, the recognized expert on radio and talk radio.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

The Rittenhouse Hotel has one room left at our special conference rates for those arriving the night before who would like to stay on site. 

I need CPR.

Remember when I said I sold Apple and Pandora stock to buy Google and Netflix?

Well, in one short year Google is up over $200.

But Netflix is up hundreds of dollars with a $54 pop yesterday alone.

Please don’t ask me about all the duds I’ve invested in and burst my bubble.

Now I invest in what I know and believe in and Netflix is at the top of the list.  There will be some profit taking today and Netflix is always subject to headwinds so its not like the old blue chips used to be.

The real question is why am I so high on Netflix?

And why should radio be going to school on the Netflix model when it is barely keeping up with Netscape and AOL dial-up (names from the past).

Those 95 million Millennials I always tell you about – some as old as 30 and part of the money demo with the rest coming of age each year – they have changed the way content is consumed.

In effect, they have killed live broadcasting.

And invented binge watching – where they download all the episodes of a show and watch it on-demand, on their schedule as long as they want.

So Netflix, a company that almost put itself out of business by trying to force snail mail customers to switch to online delivery redeemed themselves.

They fed the monster.

Started making some damn good TV series – yes, they became content creators not just aggregators – and made them available to be downloaded all at once.

Orange Is The New Black and House of Cards to name two shows that helped Netflix disrupt network television.

Networks don’t want to make their content available all at once on debut day or sometimes even soon after they air on stations.  Their baby boomer media bosses refuse to have any part of disrupting television.

But it is already done.

I’m thinking if I owned a group of radio stations, I want to learn about ways I could create content and win young listeners and eager advertisers by cooperating with the inevitable.

Content radio can offer for download.

Not repurposed morning show material – that’s old school and won’t work.

There are new ways to hop on the Netflix model and create a new opportunity for the next generation to get hooked on what we do.

Obviously, I’m psyched about this which is why you will see it on my list -- 7 critical things that will make you a better broadcaster or digital entrepreneur at my March 26^th Philly learning event.

1. The most effective way to disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media?  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

I’m putting ample time aside or questions and hitchhiking on good ideas.

More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee is on the faculty to talk about how he out bills every competitor year after year with digital, Pandora and you name it in his face.  Go one on one.

Sean Hannity will be live with Michael Harrison, the recognized expert on radio and talk radio.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

The Rittenhouse Hotel has offered an additional 4 hotel rooms at very reasonable conference rates for those arriving the night before who would like to stay on site.

Heard another great Terry Gross NPR interview the other day with P.W. Singer, co-author of the new book Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know.

It’s chilling.

Over just the next five years, Cisco estimates the number of Internet-linked devices with go to as much as 40 billion.

Refrigerators, cars and gadgets all being linked up via the Internet.

And radio is still just trying to figure out how to do a website that makes money.  That’s so 90’s.

The Internet of Things changes the world because your car may have a problem and automatically notify the manufacturer and then schedule an appointment with your dealer.

It’s so automatic that it may tend to eliminate some of the greatest opportunities for selling.  When your battery is running low, you don’t shop for the cheapest, you get notified by the dealer that they have your new battery waiting.

We are content providers and at our very best, aggregators of businesses that want to sell their products and services to customers.

You may not be worried about The Internet of Things, but you should be.

Because radio isn’t about hanging on or surviving the digital revolution, it’s about remaking the industry where we create content that is unique, addictive and compelling and sell products to people who can buy them where they live.

But if the Internet of Things comes to pass, as I believe it will, many buy decisions will become more automatic.

I see opportunity here from the folks who developed the first social network and one-on-one relationship selling.

Yes, radio.

If you’re up for this discussion and a few more vital ones my March 26th Philly conference is focusing on 7 critical things that will make you a better broadcaster and/or digital entrepreneur.

1. The most effective way to really, radically disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell you all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media.  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

We can do this face to face in a learning session that will not only help to retrain the brain but empower the next generation of radio and digital content.

More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee is on the faculty to talk about how he outbills every competitor year after year with digital, Pandora and you name it in his face.  Go one on one.

Sean Hannity will be live with Michael Harrison, the recognized expert on radio and talk radio.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.   Conference ends at 4 pm. 

Read the transcript of the P.W. Singer Interview here.

How local is local enough to score money demo audiences and win new advertising revenue?

What surprising things make sense to realistically cutback on in the present ad revenue climate?  I mean, it’s not like ten years ago.  Budgets are tighter.

Why is digital backfiring on radio stations – making little money, deflecting attention from more critical issues and actually negatively impacting existing spot sales?  Buyers increasingly turn radio’s digital products into cheaper on-air ad buys.

Is there a way to finally monetize streaming radio? 

How do you compete in markets where large, debt-ridden consolidators are turning radio into a blighted area of local revenue?  You are doing a lot of the right things but they are dumbing down the medium. 

Some pretty serious questions, don’t you think?

Some of the best operators today have done quite amazing things while their publicity-seeking counterparts were running their mouths.

They retrained their brain to reimagine the radio station in a digital age that now have 95 million Millennials coming of age.

There are some radio execs who threw out the old rules and disrupted their radio stations.

One station in a major market has a dominant share of audience – even higher than last year when it was, you guessed it – number one then and a bigger number one now.

A station that found increased revenue when everyone else was complaining about the deleterious effects of digital by getting present advertisers to spend more on-air.  Growth by offering solutions to make existing advertisers happier and willing to pay more.

Aggressive on-air branding moves that most of us would be afraid to undertake, until we could be assured that it was a grand slam.  P.S., in this case it was.

One of the few stations that took a different and creative approach to digital revenue and cleaned up.

I can hardly wait to share this new intelligence with you.

My March 26th Philly conference is focusing on 7 critical things that will make you a better broadcaster or digital entrepreneur.

To be more specific:

1. The most effective way to really, radically disrupt radio and not lose audience or advertisers.  On the contrary, gain more money demos and more revenue. 
2. How to stop wasting money and people power on digital initiatives that don’t really increase your revenue.  If there is only one digital project to undertake, this is the project that has money written all over it.  I will share.
3. How to create a social media network to replace Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or whatever whim is next in social media.  The social network you are going to create can never be taken away from you and this one makes money in the first year.
4. The 15-to-25 things that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Let’s not fool around, here are the handful of things that work in today’s market.
5. Go to school on a media entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year doing a 5-minute weekly video that has no commercials, no product placement, no banner ads on the site and doesn’t charge subscription fees.  I’ll show you video and tell all about the plan.
6. What if someone actually could breakdown the 4 to 6 things that Millennials want in their lives – in fact, that define their preferences for media.  You’re going to get a checklist of things that you can use to make sure everything you do from now on attracts Millennials. 
7. How to time shift radio and develop strategies to make radio more like Netflix, the popular aggregator of content that all generations love.  I’m here to tell you, radio can play by the same rules.  There is a Netflix model for radio.  Understand it and run with it.

We can do this face to face in a learning session that will not only help to retrain the brain but empower the next generation of radio and digital content.

More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee is on the faculty to talk about how he outbills every competitor year after year with digital, Pandora and you name it in his face.  Go one on one.

Sean Hannity will be live with Michael Harrison, the recognized expert on radio and talk radio.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.   Conference ends at 4 pm. 

I know what you’re going to say.

Your favorite NFL playoff game’s ratings were high and the Super Bowl ratings will be through the roof.

That everyone loves The World Series.

And, lest I forget …

Sports rights are being sold for record numbers.  And the NFL is even looking to package some additional inconsequential early season Thursday night games now on NFL Network for another network who will pay more.

Sounds like sports is still a pretty good business and it is.

Until you see the storm clouds ahead.

The Wall Street Journal reports kids are no longer watching baseball:

“The average World Series viewer this year is 54.4 years old, according to Nielsen, the media research firm. The trend line is heading north: The average age was 49.9 in 2009. Kids age 6 to 17 represented just 4.3% of the average audience for the American and National League Championship Series this year, compared with 7.4% a decade ago”.

The kids have found other things to do.

And The Journal also reports that fans prefer to stay at home rather than attend games in spite of high ratings.

Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals had to turn to sponsors and corporations to sell enough tickets to avoid being blacked out.

The NFL has tried in-stadium solutions like Wi-Fi and special content only available to those attending to no avail.

I point this out not to suggest panic, just to remind you that young audiences change businesses quickly because they are the change makers and sooner-than-later become the money demo.

If that is true, sports joins radio, the record industry and other traditional media ventures in jeopardy of losing a good thing because it is unwilling or unable to change.

For example, if you turned your station over to teenagers to reinvent, you’d probably choke on their suggestions.  I did this with college students in an honors class I taught at USC where they were to reinvent satellite radio.  The class sponsor XM Satellite was not impressed with their radical ideas most of which were four to five years ahead of what they were eventually forced to do today.

This deserves some attention.

Nothing is safe – not even sports.

The March 26^th Philly conference is focusing on 7 critical things that will make you a better broadcaster or digital entrepreneur.

Are we up to learning new skills to aggressively stay in the game?

1. Disrupting radio.  Digital competitors are doing it to us now but the answer is plain and simple:  we must do it to ourselves.  They are winning.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t an add-on to broadcasting.  You’ll see it all differently when you go to school on how effectively a radio station can start a profitable separate digital revenue stream.  I will share.
3. Dominate social media.  Facebook and Twitter are out, don’t exit with them.  Social networks you start, run, monetize and keep all the profits from – that’s what we’re going to get to. 
4. Reinvent radio.  There are 15 to 25 things that can be done within a week of leaving Philly that cost you nothing more than the price of admission that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Real take-home pay.
5. Video is your future.  I will play video from the best of the best – entrepreneurs who haul in $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  But a special secret path to monetization that you should adopt.  I’m going to. 
6. Conduct a Millennial makeover.  Generational listeners 30 and under are available to you for the taking if you know what they want.  And as a USC professor who developed courses in generational media, I’m going to share the latest with you. 
7. Time shift radio.  Broadcasting is out.  Audiences want on-demand.  Binge watching is in.  Morning shows are no longer morning shows.  This is a definitive look at how to time shift radio and catch the hottest trend of the past two years. 

I’m putting lots of time aside this year for questions.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.   Conference ends at 4 pm. 

Digital companies are chipping away at radio stations because radio people refuse to disrupt their own business first.

The best defense is always a good offense here, too.

I’ve often talked about the need for major disruption by radio to radio – big stuff, major changes.

This will not drive listeners and advertisers away.  It will do the opposite.

So I’m advocating that we get more skilled at blowing up what doesn’t work about radio to make the medium much stronger and more competitive.

Let’s get back to channeling the innovator in all of us.

We’ll discuss, explore and converse about what this means March 26^th, but I also plan to give those who are attending my Philly seminar a stash of strategies that could actually make audiences and revenues stronger.

Thought you’d appreciate sampling a few ways to disrupt radio.

1. Shutdown your Facebook account.  Don’t hang on to a meaningless audience of “friends” that has nothing at all to do with your station’s future success.  Facebook is on the decline, not useful, not relevant, and not even accretive to increasing revenue.  There are two rising social media services that are better options for some stations, but the best option is to build your own social network.  Not expensive.  Very compelling and easy to monetize.  Ask me, I’ll tell you what I know.
2. Give major advertisers who sign a lucrative contract with you this guarantee:  you get the results you want or you run the campaign again on us.  Then, before you take this to a client – raise your rates.  The more certain you are about radio working, the more advertisers will crave you.  Consolidators have turned radio sellers into vacuum cleaner salespeople (with all due respect to vacuum cleaner salespeople).
3. As unintuitive as it sounds, higher rates are more desirable than lower ones if your advertisers are local, interested in results and need your help.  Disrupt the way radio relates to local advertisers by testing their copy at no cost, helping them make other buys (even on competitors) and getting them to see you as a solution that they don’t want to live without.  In fact, let’s ask More FM (formerly B101, Philadelphia) owner Jerry Lee.  He’s on the faculty and he’ll be teaching at our seminar.  He does this stuff better than anyone.
4. Throw out the hot clock.  Younger listeners don’t like rules.  They don’t want to hear them either.  I’m going to want to talk with you about a way to make your stations appear more like Netflix as a user experience than a traditional radio station.  This means loading up on choices that listeners make.
5. Make your next program director a listener.  Not to run things but build the format around their preferences and not yours.  This is hard for us to do because we have been gatekeepers of content and we have owned the towers and transmitters.  Now anyone can produce and distribute content so our new mission is to transform our stations into feeling like the listener is running the show.  Not so much letting them vote on what music to play.  Even more.  By empowering their musical curiosity like no other medium.
6. Run random commercial breaks – so unpredictable that even a competitor can’t tell when the next one runs.  Then, add entertainment incentives into the stop sets to give reasons to listen.  For example, if I said “within minutes I am going to tell you about 5 marketing jobs that pay over $60,000 a year”, bet you’d listen to my commercials especially if I don’t post these jobs on my website.  Let’s talk about reinventing the commercial cluster and turning them into a grade A must-listen to feature instead of a garbage can for advertising.  Remind me to tell you how advertisers will gladly pay you extra to make stop sets more compelling.

I can hardly wait to be with you in Philly March 26^th.

I hope you can put one day aside to be part of this learning seminar now in its 5^th year.

The Philly conference is focusing on 7 critical things that will make you a better broadcaster or digital entrepreneur.

1. Disrupting radio.  Digital competitors are doing it to us now but the answer is plain and simple:  we must do it to ourselves.  They are winning.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t an add-on to broadcasting.  You’ll see it all differently when you go to school on how effectively a radio station can start a profitable separate digital revenue stream.  I will share.
3. Dominate social media.  Facebook and Twitter are out, don’t exit with them.  Social networks you start, run, monetize and keep all the profits from – that’s what we’re going to get to. 
4. Reinvent radio.  There are 15 to 25 things that can be done within a week of leaving Philly that cost you nothing more than the price of admission that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Real take-home pay.
5. Video is your future.  I will play video from the best of the best – entrepreneurs who haul in $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  But a special secret path to monetization that you should adopt.  I’m going to. 
6. Conduct a Millennial makeover.  Generational listeners 30 and under are available to you for the taking if you know what they want.  And as a USC professor who developed courses in generational media, I’m going to share the latest with you. 
7. Time shift radio.  Broadcasting is out.  Audiences want on-demand.  Binge watching is in.  Morning shows are no longer morning shows.  This is a definitive look at how to time shift radio and catch the hottest trend of the past two years. 

I’m putting lots of time aside this year for questions.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  Conference ends at 4 pm. 

There is no bigger tinderbox than social media.

New research is just in – see if you can anticipate the results.

What two social media sites are more popular than Twitter?

LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Photo pin-up Pinterest is used by 21% of 1,445 people polled up significantly from 15%.

LinkedIn was at 22% and 18% for Twitter, which has leveled off.

Is Facebook dead?

71% of the respondents use it but most of them are older with younger people moving away from Facebook to SnapChat and Instagram.

Think of it.

Radio stations build the majority of their social media focused on Facebook, which this research confirms, is on its way out.

And radio thinks social media is an add-on when it is really a separate tool for engaging audiences.

With radio audiences and revenues declining, what if you could build your own social networking that was better than Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or anything presently out there.

I’m going to get to this at my March 26^th Philly media conference where you will see an alternative so rich with possibilities, you will want to consider it.

In fact, I’ve got an impressive example of how people like you are already discovering a way to do social media in ways that build real fans and impact revenue.

The Philly conference is focusing on 7 critical things that will make you a better broadcaster or digital entrepreneur.

1. Disrupting radio.  Digital competitors are doing it to us now but the answer is plain and simple:  we must do it to ourselves.  They are winning.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t an add-on to broadcasting.  You’ll see it all differently when you go to school on how effectively a radio station can start a profitable separate digital revenue stream.  I will share.
3. Dominate social media.  Facebook and Twitter are out, don’t exit with them.  Social networks you start, run, monetize and keep all the profits from – that’s what we’re going to get to. 
4. Reinvent radio.  There are 15 to 25 things that can be done within a week of leaving Philly that cost you nothing more than the price of admission that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Real take-home pay.
5. Video is your future.  I will play video from the best of the best – entrepreneurs who haul in $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  But a special secret path to monetization that you should adopt.  I’m going to. 
6. Conduct a Millennial makeover.  Generational listeners 30 and under are available to you for the taking if you know what they want.  And as a USC professor who developed courses in generational media, I’m going to share the latest with you. 
7. Time shift radio.  Broadcasting is out.  Audiences want on-demand.  Binge watching is in.  Morning shows are no longer morning shows.  This is a definitive look at how to time shift radio and catch the hottest trend of the past two years. 

I’m putting lots of time aside this year for questions.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Last 3 on-site hotel rooms still available at conference rates.

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.   Conference ends at 4 pm. 

A federal appeals court threw out the FCC’s rules Tuesday that would require Internet service providers to give all traffic equal access on their networks.

Who cares?

Net neutrality is an eventual goner and greedy mobile carriers, music services and video-intensive customers who rely on high-speed connections may have to pay more.

Let’s get this right.

Consumers want everything on their mobile devices and content providers want to give it to them but mobile carriers are going to run up the costs.

There could be an appeal by the FCC or the case could go to the Supreme Court.

I say it again, who cares?

American media has blown it.  They resist change and then when they finally discover the mobile future, they get hit with this.  And the Aereo case.  And the demise of social media.

Sounds like an opportunity for radio to me.

No, not trying to convince 95 million Millennials to sit still for our 18 minutes of commercials each hour.

A real chance to get into the content business under the bandwidth radar.

Radio does content like no one else, but we don’t understand binge watching, short-form video, time shifting or even social media.

That changes now.

While baby boomer media moguls take to the courtrooms, we need to get busy in the skunkworks.

We’re going to drill down into this at my March 26^th Philly conference.

Opportunities.

Possible pitfalls.

A path to profitability.

I’ve identified 7 critical areas that can make a real difference for your career and your work in the coming year.

1. Disrupting radio.  Digital competitors are doing it to us now but the answer is plain and simple:  we must do it to ourselves.  They are winning.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t an add-on to broadcasting.  You’ll see it all differently when you go to school on how effectively a radio station can start a profitable separate digital revenue stream.  I will share.
3. Be skillful at social media.  Facebook and Twitter are out, don’t exit with them.  Social networks you start, run, monetize and keep all the profits from – that’s what we’re going to get to. 
4. Reinvent radio.  There are 15 to 25 things that can be done within a week of leaving Philly that cost you nothing more than the price of admission that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Real take-home pay.
5. Video.  Video.  Video.  I will play video from the best of the best – entrepreneurs who haul in $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  But a special secret path to monetization that you should adopt.  I’m going to. 
6. Conduct a Millennial makeover.  Generational listeners 30 and under are available to you for the taking if you know what they want.  And as a USC professor who developed courses in generational media, I’m going to share the latest with you. 
7. Time shift radio.  Broadcasting is out.  Audiences want on-demand.  Binge watching is in.  Morning shows are no longer morning shows.  This is a definitive look at how to time shift radio and catch the hottest trend of the past two years. 

Lots of Q&A so you can get what is important to you out of our day together.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  Conference ends at 4 pm. 

The hottest thing – if you believe The New York Times – is real-time event based shows like Sunday night’s Golden Globes.

Recently a nice puff-piece in The Times about Globes owner and producer Dick Clark Productions would have all of us thinking that this is the new great hope for broadcasting.

The answer to DVRs.

The remedy for time shifting and binge watching.

But TV’s Nielsen ratings showed only a 2% increase for the show in the money demo of 18-49 (6% overall from 2013).

I can tell you what is increasing by leaps and bounds.

Time-shifted content, binge watching and social media.

Jennifer Lawrence’s “ugly” dress was social media driven.  You didn’t need to watch The Globes to see it.

Are you ready?

Many (many) of this key generation we need to attract to remain viable, didn’t even watch The Golden Globes. 

Not a second of it.

They followed it on social media and skipped it.

You didn’t need to watch The Golden Globes on TV to see Jacqueline Bisset’s rambling diatribe.  That was on YouTube.

E’s Red Carpet was a better attraction for Millennials than the show itself.

Sofia Vergara’s dress and the dresses of everyone else were curated on endless social media sites.  Seeing them on TV was so, well – so 90’s.

Same thing is happening with football and sports.

The event is no longer the main event.

Football is more popular than ever but the Wildcard NFL games a few weeks back didn’t even sell out their venues – in other words, fans love football but they increasingly don’t like going to the event.

Yes, it’s expensive but it always has been.

Yes, it’s warmer to watch a Packer game on TV but it always has been.

But now, social media is the main event and the game (or show) is simply the excuse that drives social media.

This is a good thing for us if we’re serious about the content business.

But no one turns to radio because radio thinks it is the main event 24/7.  But in reality audiences are living without morning shows, funny personalities, getting traffic and weather together on their smartphones and leaving in droves for streaming music service alternatives to music radio.

Hell, even TV is no longer the big show in town.

So we need to rethink how we do content.

How we cater to the content and events of others.

We need to be driving the event-based social media discussion.

This takes a new point of view and new skills as I will share with you at my Philly conference March 26^th.

Why keep churning out perfectly good programming that could also be catching the wave of social media?

You see, social media is not Facebook and Twitter.  It’s broadcast driven content that feeds social media.

So I hope you’ll check your calendar and reserve a seat. 

Here are the 7 critical things that will make all the difference for radio and digital entrepreneurs in the year ahead.

1. Disrupting radio.  Digital competitors are doing it to us now but the answer is plain and simple:  we must do it to ourselves.  They are winning.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t an add-on to broadcasting.  You’ll see it all differently when you go to school on how effectively a radio station can start a profitable separate digital revenue stream.  I will share.
3. Dominate social media.  Facebook and Twitter are out, don’t exit with them.  Social networks you start, run, monetize and keep all the profits from – that’s what we’re going to get to. 
4. Reinvent radio.  There are 15 to 25 things that can be done within a week of leaving Philly that cost your nothing more than the price of admission that can transform an antiquated approach to radio to one that even the next generation can embrace.  Real take-home pay.
5. Video is your future.  I will play video from the best of the best – entrepreneurs who haul in $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  But a special secret path to monetization that you should adopt.  I’m going to. 
6. Conduct a Millennial makeover.  Generational listeners 30 and under are available to you for the taking if you know what they want.  And as a USC professor who developed courses in generational media, I’m going to share the latest with you. 
7. Time-shift radio.  Broadcasting is out.  Audiences want on-demand.  Binge watching is in.  Morning shows are no longer morning shows.  This is a definitive look at how to time shift radio and catch the hottest trend of the past two years. 

I’m putting lots of time aside this year for questions and one-on-one interaction.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships – Send your best clients to the Philly conference.  Ask them?  They’d love to go.

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  Conference ends at 4 pm. 

T-Mobile is a sore loser.

The DOJ wouldn’t approve its merger with AT&T because it would have created a monopoly (hey, what’s USAir and American Airlines?).

Nonetheless, T-Mobile was left whole too small to compete with the few remaining established monopolies so it threw caution to the wind.

Radio people, read this carefully.

They started driving their competitors crazy by disrupting everything on site from those onerous mobile contracts to the most recent shot below the belt – they will cover termination fees for individuals as well as up to five lines per family for consumers who leave their mobile carriers.  

That translates to up to a $650 credit after trading in their phones.

This is radio waiting to happen.

Listeners are bailing, advertisers are paying pennies on the dollar and we have to throw in bogus digital options to effectively win the lesser radio buy these days.

Don’t get me started because I’m going to go off on this at my Philly conference.

But I can’t wait.

Why aren’t we offering something to Pandora and Spotify users who actually pay fees to these potent streaming music competitors?  And I’ve got a few ideas on exactly what to offer their customers.  Bet we could come up with even more together.

Why aren’t we taking radio off the digital life support system that is killing ad rates? 

How? 

How about going in and offering the equivalent of frequent buyer miles that reward radio buys.

Why aren’t we blowing up commercial sets – I have a few programming friends who are thinking, I’ve got the staging for it in my mind right now.  Listeners hate commercials and yet we keep telling them how much music we’re playing only to run more unlistenable commercial blocks.

Ask me about the no-fail way to get almost anyone to try your radio station if you do this one thing.  But remember, I’m the program director who pulled all contests off of one of my stations and started giving away jobs -- so keep that in mind.

Let your listeners form a programming planning board and don’t override them.  In fact, turn the station over to them for an entire weekend.

Or keep playing the same 30 songs over and over again – you decide.

Find ways to give them music discovery not repetition. 

I know.  I know. 

Repetition works if winning PPM is your goal, but PPM will let you down next month when they change panels but listeners will stick with you if you give them what they really want.

Make life difficult for your digital and cross-market radio competitors.  You’re making it easy right now.

Be T-Mobile and act like you’ve got nothing to lose because you really have everything to lose if the status quo is maintained.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere crashed the AT&T CES party and was rejected.

I love it. 

Competition is a contact sport not “best practices” handed down from a few suits in a venture capital monopoly.

So when I say disrupt, I mean really disrupt and if you want to get into this discussion meet me in Philly where we will focus on 7 things that will make this year your best in a long time.

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.

I’m putting more time aside this year for questions.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships – learn how to make it possible for your best clients to attend and they will love you for it. 

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am.  Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel.  Buffet lunch and all breaks included.   Conference ends at 4 pm. 

When Bob Pittman runs his mouth on CNBC about the digital dashboard and how he wants to be everywhere, I hope you’re not buying his snake oil.

Pittman wants to be everywhere but radio!

Country iHeartRadio concerts from Texas. 

Pop iHeartRadio concerts from Las Vegas. 

Hell, iHeartRadio content and branding instead of local.

I fought the lonely battle against HD Radio when it was supposed to be the next thing and guess what?  It wasn’t.  HD Radio isn’t even a thing.  So I know a red herring when I see it.

The digital dashboard is HD Radio waiting to happen.

Getting caught up on finding a place on the digital dashboard with 7 presets and an infinite number of radio, satellite radio and digital competitors is such horseshit that I’d like to believe my readers know this.

During CES week we’re going to hear a lot of people like Pittman waxing eloquent about all the new technology that is coming and why shouldn’t he? 

It’s better than talking about the $21 billion in debt he can’t seem to fix.  Don’t hold your breath waiting for CNBC to ask him about that, either.

What’s more important than the digital dashboard?

Building a clubhouse of fans who want to be in your own social network not Facebook’s.

Making unique, addictive and compelling content not cheap computer-generated music that doesn’t compete with customizable streaming music services.

Selling content through personal relationships because it costs more but gets you more.

Not confusing digital with broadcast radio.  They are separate and don’t play well together.  We need to be market leaders in both.

That the digital dashboard is a figment of the imagination of people who know nothing about radio and a lot less about the 95 million Millennials coming of age.

For example, do you know Millennials don’t like to call themselves Millennials?  I’ll tell you how they refer to their generation when I see you, but be cautious in the meanwhile.

Top priority is creating great content.

That’s it.  Why don’t we want to believe this?

It’s times like these that I remind myself of why I love to share a more realistic and optimistic view with great local broadcasters and digital entrepreneurs.

At my Philly conference on March 26^th we will be focused on making great radio content even as the largest consolidators are stinking up our markets with cheap, unlistenable programming. 

And -- how to create separate digital streams of revenue because, after all, radio people are the greatest content creators in the world.

This is the year of the local radio group that will eat consolidated radio alive while they are obsessed and distracted by refinancing all the debt they ran up.

For everyone else, it comes down this …

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.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together.  I’m putting more time aside this year for questions.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships – learn how to make it possible for your best clients to attend and they will love you for it. 

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm. 

NBC and Comcast still aren’t learning their lesson.

They tried to push Jay Leno out of The Tonight Show and put him on in primetime so Conan could take over.

That was a costly (in more ways than one) failure for them so they brought Leno back to Tonight while they tried to come up with another way to shoot themselves in the foot.

In a few months from now, Leno gets ousted again by this clueless company so they can promote younger talent to step up.  Jimmy Fallon to Tonight.  Seth Meyers to fill Fallon’s old show.

And Jay Leno becomes a free agent.

Fox and CNN are reportedly talking to him.  Yes, CNN run by Jeff Zucker, the man who when he was at NBC came up with the Leno to primetime ill-fated experiment.

Stop everything because Leno is still number one in the money demo going out the door.

Does it make sense to fire the old guy even if the old guy is winning younger audiences?

Kind of like radio’s dilemma.

Do we put younger people on to win the money demos?

All that Comcast is guaranteeing is that the guy who finished number one in his time slot will be a competitor.  No guarantees about Fallon or Meyers.  They’re good, but was this move good?

So, Apple should have fired Steve Jobs because he was a baby boomer who wore jeans and a turtleneck and loved The Beatles, right?  Oh wait, they did that!  How did that work out for Apple back then?

Attracting 95 million Millennials coming of age is different than pandering to them.  We know what they want but media execs think they just want younger faces and voices.

Yes, they want that, too but not exclusively.

I want to have this discussion of how to win over Millennials at my Philly conference in March.  I mean, 95 million people coming of age is important, don’t you think?

I can tell you as a USC professor who studied generational media that I have a pretty good idea of what the new money demo wants and it is not what radio stations are giving them.

I’m thinking you may change your mind about how to approach attracting the next generation after this discussion.

To me this conference is about two key things:

• How to do great radio when competitors in an industry are being blighted by venture capital backed groups that are dumbing down the medium.
• Unlocking better digital solutions that create an additional revenue stream.

Smaller, locally focused groups are going to eat the consolidators alive this year while they are busy refinancing their debt and reducing their payrolls further. 

And the reason is because successful stations are going to focus on these 7 critical things:

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).
2. Mastering digital.  Digital is a separate revenue stream not an on-air programming tactic.  No one in radio is doing digital the right way.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Nothing is in more turmoil than social media.  Let go of Facebook and Twitter.  Beware of Snapchat.  Go with Instagram but its shelf life may be very short.  Let’s talk about building your own local social network.  Doable.  Better. 
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in, broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?  How stations must rethink broadcasting in light of the growing popularity of on-demand competitors.  Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.  In fact, I’ll play the video for you and reveal the business plan.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without almost 95 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

I’m making lots of time for questions, answers and plenty of interaction.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included. 

Seth Godin recently wrote that there is a productivity gap with all the apps, software and digital devices we have available.

He points out:  “Are you more productive? How much more?”

Godin cites the work of the prolific author Isaac Asimov who wrote over 400 books on a manual typewriter adding “I find it hard to imagine they would have helped him write 400 more”.

This gets me to thinking that the problem the radio industry has is that it seems like it wants to be digital and not broadcasting.

When radio stations give away their “streams”, they devalue the value of their on-air stations.

Streaming on-air radio is a cheap idea from consolidators.  Even mom and pops wouldn’t have come up with that lame idea.

How much better is radio today – if at all – with its ability to voice track, do local news from regional hubs, sell advertising directly without the relationships of live, local account execs?

Digital is not a format.

It’s not really an industry.

It’s a technology.

We make the programming. 

We entertain and inform audiences.  We are fools to think clicks and likes have anything at all to do with our business.

That’s another business – and yes, we need to be in that one too – separately.

That’s why my upcoming Philly conference will focus on rethinking our mission:

• To do the best on-air programming radio has ever done (unfortunately, it is the worst which is why the entire next generation is not attracted to radio).
• To develop a second, separate and simultaneous stream of revenue from digital initiatives that represent more than just “Twitter”, “Facebook”, apps or streaming.

In other words, I’m here to tell you as a professor and proponent of generational media that trying to make the radio industry what it isn’t and never will be is not the answer.

Make it what it can be – a source of excellent, local programming.

Here’s a stunner.

In 2014, smaller, better-run, locally focused radio groups could do this and beat the pants off venture bank-owned radio groups who are, frankly, a blight to the radio industry through “worst practices” and lack of vision.

The path to resurrection is through local stations that understand the fundamental difference between radio and digital.

Radio must excel at both and but they are not the same thing.

I’ve whittled it down to the 7 critical areas that will make all the difference in the world to operators and to entrepreneurs wanting to start some new initiatives in digital content that has a chance of really taking off.

1. How to really disrupt radio and the damage what has been done for over a decade by consolidators.  Smart format changes will not be enough – too little, too late.  This requires bold thought and swift action.  Digital competitors are not all that great but they are stealing local radio buys.  Here’s how to really disrupt radio and get the momentum back.  Everything is on the table when we talk disrupting radio.
2. Master digital as a second revenue source.  Separate radio from digital because it is not working and never will.  Two sources of revenue, radio and new media will.
3. Forge into social media in a new way.  Facebook is over, Twitter is not realizing its potential and there is a better way to use social media that you create to build revenue positive cash streams.  Social media is not an add on.  It’s a separate business.
4. Reinvent radio on every level.  Nothing is the same in our world today but radio.  And it’s stripped down and threadbare from what we were raised on.  This turnaround requires an aggressive and positive plan to focus on a handful of things that will make all the difference.
5. Get into short-form video yesterday!  Maybe the advantage of being late to the race is that we now have strong evidence of what works and what doesn’t.  I have promised to show you how entrepreneurs with less experience than radio execs are making millions a year from a 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, no banner ads, no product placement and no subscription fees.  The money is coming from something we have not thought of previously – and you’ll see it and learn how.
6. Attract Millennials.  The new number is 95 million Millennials coming of age.  They are different and they won’t go for what passes as radio today.  But they have a sweet spot that you must know.  We’ll make this part of the discussion.
7. Time shift radio.  If consumers are screaming anything at us, it is to time shift our content.  You’re going to be among the first to learn how.

I’m making lots of time for questions, answers and plenty of interaction.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships for companies who want to show appreciation to their clients by giving them the gift of seeing the future.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included. 

The brilliant journalist, programmer and talk radio expert joins entrepreneurial broadcaster Jerry Lee and Sean Hannity at my March 26^th learning conference in Philadelphia.

Harrison is the go-to guy for just about every publication and news network when it comes to understanding radio.  He is the owner of Talkers and Radio-Info and he will join our discussion that focuses on 7 critical areas that successful radio operators must master. 

No speech, just teach.

If you’ve never been to one of these, this is our fifth year.  You’ll like the people who will be sitting next to you because they very much care about the radio industry and many are entrepreneurs looking to succeed in digital content.

To put it bluntly:

• How to do great radio when competitors in an industry are being blighted by venture capital backed groups that are dumbing down the medium.
• Unlocking better digital solutions that create an additional revenue stream.

Smaller, locally-oriented radio groups are starting to beat the big boys in revenue and audience.  If ratings and revenue are your yardstick, these smaller, better-run groups are going to have a great year this year at the same time the consolidators will have their worst.

And, they won’t be giving their programming away online.

Won’t be using the myth of digital as an excuse to drop their rates.

Plus, after this conference, they will be deadly competitors in short-form video, audio and social media projects that show great promise.

I’ve created 7 modules of curriculum for the one-day teaching event.

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).
2. Master digital.  It’s not brain surgery but believe it or not, no one in radio is doing digital the right way.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Let Facebook and Twitter go, that’s not social media now.
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in, broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?  Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without almost 95 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time-shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time-shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

I’m making lots of time for questions, answers and plenty of interaction.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships for companies who want to show appreciation to their clients by giving them the gift of seeing the future.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  

There is a reason Congress is gridlocked and so partisan.

Because our elected officials are largely baby boomers.

Baby boomers are idealists – they were either for the Vietnam War or against it.   They were born out of an age of idealism that is coming to an end.  They are uncompromising in many ways.

Millennials born between 1982 and 2002 are civic-minded and social.  They are non-confrontational.  This helps to explain why they are turned off by even the best plans of baby boomers who speak up and advocate.

Baby Boomers still run the media business and they generally don’t have a good grasp of the next generation that is the largest in 80 years  – almost 95 million strong and coming of age.

I became fascinated with generational media when I was a professor at The University of Southern California.  My years there coincided with some of the best that Steve Jobs had at the helm of Apple. 

It is why when I do my conference in Philly this March, I am going to show the group how to avoid costly mistakes that occur when making media decisions without knowing the new audience.

You can’t do talk radio to Millennials, they don’t want to talk politics like baby boomers.

Their parents held to their ideals but Millennials want compromise.  Sound familiar?

Baby Boomers came of age during the era of Mad Men when they accepted if not celebrated the excesses of advertising and promotion.

But Millennials are repelled by hype – a lesson radio stations fail to learn to this day.  There is another more effective approach, but stations don’t know what it is.

There actually is a way to do commercials Millennials will respond to but they are veiled commercials that have more to do with non-commercial content than they do with selling something.  I know of no radio stations that can’t do this so good luck selling it to advertisers.

Baby Boomers were self-absorbed – “the now generation”.

Millennials are self-absorbed (like parent, like child, I guess) – “the me generation”.

Everyone has short attention spans.

Baby Boomers are defined by the rules.

Millennials reject rules – and their parents to a great extent encouraged it by advocating for their children like no other parents before them.

See how fascinating this is – and scary?

Media execs are making assumptions they have no right to make if they want to appeal to this must-have audience.

So, I think we should have this conversation face-to-face in Philly.  And when I talk politics, let’s let Sean Hannity weigh in when he joins us in person.  He’s on the faculty and he can tell you that talk has to adapt to the next generation in dramatic ways.

When we talk about creating great radio, let’s ask Jerry Lee who has done it decade after decade at More FM (former B-101) in Philadelphia by doing radio not digital.

There is one very encouraging sign.

Radio doesn’t need to be digital.  It doesn’t need to be what it is not – ask Jerry Lee.  And we shouldn’t be giving it away online.  We should be creating new and separate content to form a second stream of revenue.

And radio shouldn’t dumb itself down to save money.  If you compete against these kinds of operators, you’re going to like our discussion about trying to be excellent in an industry that is increasingly blighted by venture capital owners.

I’ve created 7 modules of curriculum for the one-day teaching event.

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).
2. Master digital.  It’s not brain surgery but believe it or not, no one in radio is doing digital the right way.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Let Facebook and Twitter go, that’s not social media now.
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in; broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?   Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without almost 95 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time-shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time-shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

I’m making lots of time for questions, answers and plenty of interaction.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships – send your clients and show appreciation.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  

What kind of a screwed up industry are we in when media companies imitate each other and innovate nothing.

New Year’s Suckin’ Eve.

Ryan Seacrest is the replacement part for Dick Clark but Dick Clark was an innovator not a placeholder.

Worse yet, Carson Daly is NBC’s imitation of Ryan Seacrest.

And there are 95 million Millennials out there saying, “I’ll watch Miley Cyrus’ performance on YouTube, thank you!”

When Dick Clark invented New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, there was an old bandleader named Guy Lombardo who played in the New Year for TV audiences and the countdown was done by a guy named Ben Grauer (Video).

Clark disrupted New Year’s Eve and appealed to a new generation with rock and roll.

Now Clark is gone and his former audience now goes to bed before midnight and what TV is left with is imitations.

And that’s a good way to look at radio.

It’s your father or mother’s Oldsmobile.

Not a BMW or Tesla.

It doesn’t have to be that way and I’m out to show a group of local radio broadcasters and media entrepreneurs that they can innovate every day and not imitate.

My Philly conference is especially important because it focuses on the two most important issues our industry faces:

• How to do great radio when competitors are cheapening the brand
• Unlocking better digital solutions that create an additional revenue stream

That’s why I’ve created 7 modules of curriculum for the one-day teaching event.

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).  Disrupting is not imitating.
2. Master digital.  It’s not brain surgery but believe it or not, no one in radio is doing digital the right way.  Separate and apart from what’s on the radio as a second revenue stream.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Let Facebook and Twitter go, that’s not social media now.  Instagram and Snapchat are in now but there is something even better that is worth your attention now.
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in; broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?  Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.   See it, learn its secrets and be inspired.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without 95 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time-shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time-shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

I’m making lots of time for questions, answers and plenty of interaction.

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 person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships – send your clients and they will appreciate you.

Last call for on-site rooms at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates.  Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.