Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

The big radio groups may be hell bent on syndication, voice tracking, “best practices”, direct media buying and consolidated management but not everyone is.

There are lots of medium-sized radio groups and smaller operators who are outperforming their big brothers by doing radio the right way.

But it is getting tougher.

Pressure is on even for them to cut costs.

One of the things on the agenda for my upcoming Media Solutions Conference in Philly is how an independent group of radio stations can effectively compete with the sheer size of the Clear Channels and Cumulus Medias of the world.

This is an area rich with ideas that can promise great outcomes for good, local radio operators.

1. How to sustain a world-class morning show on a more modest budget.  Consolidators just fire great assets like morning talent.  But ask me about one plan that changes the entire working relationship with your station and ties up the talent for seven years as well.  A win-win at just the right time.
2. How do you participate against a company that has “partnerships” with record labels that give them early access to new music and direct contact with recording artists?  There is one way you can beat a big national radio group at their own game without having to do partnership deals with record labels.  In fact, the advantage goes to the local stations.
3. Even great local stations need to be cost conscious, but how do you do it without compromising the quality of programming?  I’m going to share some ideas about redirecting your operating budget.  But don’t do it by having department heads slash here and slash there.  I’d be honored to show you how to determine which 20% of what you do as a radio station is worth you budgeting a whopping 80% of your available funds.  This is critical because in today’s business world, you can’t do everything but getting to what is most important takes a new set of skills.  We will discuss.
4. They have iHeartRadio and streaming alternatives but streaming doesn’t make money.  Would you like to know a way to invest modestly in your digital future and begin a simultaneous second stream of free cash flow to add to your spot radio income? 
5. Big consolidators seethe when they talk about Pandora.  They hate Pandora, but Pandora has discovered something so powerful and potentially so profitable that you should rip off their idea right now as they are going after local radio advertisers.  This idea alone more than pays for your tuition to the conference.
6. Direct selling is coming at Cumulus, Clear Channel and maybe even Cox, which has developed a model for digital.  What then?  If you’re a good local operator do you resist this trend or buy into it?  Turns out that there is a third and better strategy that enables you to make buying radio easier without the downside of having direct media buying bid against your rate card.  We’ll get into it.
7. Radio can’t seem to attract younger listeners and with 80 million Millennials out there left to their own (digital) devices, recruiting younger demos is now at the critical point.  There is a sure-fire way to get them to take a second listen to radio.  No consolidator will ever do it.  But a good local operator can and should.  Let’s discuss.

There are tons of industry radio shows, conventions, summits, seminars and all sorts of gatherings that are great opportunities to socialize.

But the Media Solutions Conference now in its fifth year is the recognized leader in learning new skill sets, seeing the future and gathering usable ideas that can be implemented immediately.

Reserve a seat now. 

Reserve one day, all meals included – hurry to get one of the few on-site hotel rooms left.

Here is the curriculum:

1.  Disrupt Your Radio Station

• Blow it up without losing listeners.
• We clear up how to gain audience by attacking all the things digital age listeners hate about radio before a digital competitor does it.
• Use this plan to drastically alter and destroy the old structure the way Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat and Netflix did.
• Turn ordinary radio into new revenue streams.
• Solve virtually every critical objection digital-age listeners have about radio with newfound confidence to innovate.

2.  Master Digital

• Learn how people you probably don’t know make millions of dollars in digital without running commercials or even selling banner ads.  It is being done right now but traditional media isn’t doing it.  Consider this your game plan. 
• Reinvent the station website to churn out money.  Rethink social media.  Forget clicks and “likes”. 
• A better option than streaming and a way for your station to become the “Netflix of Radio”.

3.  Succeed With New Social Media Strategies

• End radio’s social media slump:  Instagram is ousting Facebook.  And Twitter is in trouble.  Time to alter the way you do social media with this new plan.
• Social Media Shakeup: texting with pictures is where you should be.  Fast track it.
• Social Media SOS:  social media is no longer just about staying connected so if your radio station is relying on today’s social media, this is a heads up to get with it.

4.  Reinvent Radio For the Digital Age

• Shake up the way you do radio to make it a growth industry again.  3 month plan of action to get started.
• Better radio on a budget
• Harnessing personalities – how to build a stable of personalities from you station, your farm system and the ones let go by competitors to be part of a new venture.  Best yet, you never have to pay their salaries.
• Finding the digital sweet spot – creating something so compelling that you put a big price tag on it and wait until the first advertiser pays it.  It won’t be a long wait.
• Don’t go down with Facebook and Twitter, boost social connectivity by building your own local replacement.
• Fiscally responsible alternatives for innovating local radio. 
• Learn the most effective approach to reinvigorating a radio station that is under attack from digital competitors.  The secret is in one paragraph you will want to memorize as your credo. 

5.  Growth Opportunities in Short-Form Video

• Discover how entrepreneurs are making millions by doing short form video that contains no ads and has no subscription fees.  This more than pays for your tuition!
• Target key areas of growth for short-form video.
• The one-stop solution to making social, short-form video for a profit.

6.  Engage 80 Million Millennials

• Audience building secrets to engage Millennials and win them back to radio. 
• One-Day Life-Changer:  Make radio instantly cooler.
• I will share my work in generational media that indicates this young and massive audience is available to traditional media such as radio, TV and the record industry but not by continuing the status quo. 
• Come away knowing their hot buttons and their turn offs.

7. Time Shift Radio

• New rules:  All content must be available on-demand – everything.  The audience is demanding it all and all at once. 
• The real solution for creating time shifted radio content. 
• Critical question that will be answered: Whether to rely on over-the-air broadcasts for time shifting or create new content. 
• Boost revenue by marketing time shifting as a new stream of revenue.  Go to school on time shifting.

March 26, 2014 at the Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia 7:30 to 4 pm.

Click here to register now.

Inquire about group rates.