Late Friday caller ID flashed my longtime friend Todd Wallace was on the phone.

I answered with “hey, how ya doin’” in my best Phillyese.

The voice on the other end was Todd’s son-in-law who said “I don’t think this call is going to go the way you thought it would” and informed me of Todd’s passing.

His credentials were rich:  Big 8 Drake jock, program director, consultant here and in Australia and New Zealand, the “father of call out passive music research” and on and on.

I know him from our long relationship and mutual love of radio.  When I founded Inside Radio, Todd supplied his audience ratings even before the publication made it big.

When I moved to Phoenix, Todd along with fellow buddy Bill Gardner founded the “Scottsdale Study Group” to study the lunch menu at local restaurants and pursue non-stop two-way conversation about all things radio.

Bill and I once stayed on after one of our lunches to talk right up until dinner – non-stop talk with no commercials in a way.

We had regulars like Bruce St. James and John Sebastian and a host of friends like Gary Edens, the late Jim Taszarek and many others.

We’d have guests passing through join us like Scotty Brink – sometimes in ways a bunch of program directors could appreciate like the time I invited a radio acquaintance who said he was on his way to check into hospice where he expected to die.

Lowry Mays picked up the tab because every time I got my Amex out I told them that the hardnosed founder of Clear Channel who tried to sue me for $100 million wound up settling for millions to get me to drop my countersuit so before wallets came out, the question would be posed, is Lowry paying?

Back to the programmer on his way to hospice -- he died and I covered it in Inside Music Media but a few years later he returned from the dead – that’s right, he never died – to stage a bank holdup.  You can’t make this stuff up.

Bank bandit or not, how could we know – he was a programmer who loved radio, that was the ticket to admission. 

Todd often encouraged me to give voice to the radio industry and its people we love who know how to do the best local radio and expose the evil ways of hedge funds and their CEO puppets – like I needed encouragement.  Still, I appreciated that my friend appreciated what I was doing.

I don’t have to tell you that every loss is a tough one and particularly so when it is a radio friend.

Radio is like ice hockey – we compete ferociously but always shake hands in the end to show respect.

I’m glad I never had to go up against “One-book Wallace” as he was called for his ability to fix stations quickly and make them bulletproof.

And now that I’ve had a few days to let it sink in Todd’s passing reminds me of how fortunate we are to be in an industry where we care about the audience, probably make less money than we could doing something else and forge wonderful lasting relationships with everyone -- even competitors.

Todd was an outstanding radio guy and devoted friend, I celebrate his life today by reminding myself and all who will listen that like radio, even friendship is local.

Previously: Surprise: Young People Prefer Talk Radio … Spotify’s Pivot to Audio Books … Audacy Hiring Cheaper While Laying Off … Headwinds in Cox Radio Selloff … Why Audacy Continues to Deny Bankruptcy … Late-Stage Consolidation … Expanded Firings on the Table at Audacy … Saga Off the Sales Block … Now It Can Be Told About Lowry Mays … Audacy & Lenders Reportedly Lawyering Up …  

You may also like: Uncertainty at SiriusXM … iHeart’s Newest Way to Fire Without Fallout … How Audacy Lost $1 Billion in 3 Years… An Unexpected Development at Saga … What Would Make Young Demos Put Up with Commercials … A Hail Mary for Audacy … The Truth About Radio Performance Royalties … A Warning About All Those Audacy Bankruptcy Denials … Saga Wants to Acquire … Audacy Weighs More Layoffs

Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed.  Everything else is just public relations --  George Orwell

I’ve written a lot of things about the fools who have ruined the radio industry by losing their local focus, firing staff, plugging in cost-cutting measures and devolving to selling ads at whatever they had to do to screw their competitor out of the buy.

This was not Ed Christian.

Ed was a radio junkie – listening to all his stations, regularly chatting with his market managers, insisting on rate integrity, local content and old school ideas.

My friend Tom Taylor, the fine journalist who covered the radio industry for decades remembered the person who lived the local radio life:

• “Ed Christian was all about being (and appearing to be) local. The Norfolk stations aren't marketed as owned by Saga, but by "Tidewater Communications." The stations in Coastal Maine are "Portland Radio Group," etc.
• “And when Ed came to town for a visit and there happened to be a client party, he didn't want the focus to be on him - but on the local market manager. Because that person was the one the business community was interacting with, and not The Big Out-of-Town Boss. 
• “Also - Ed was insistent on the local facility looking business-like, and ready for a client visit, at any time. None of this stuck-away-in-the-back-of-the-strip mall stuff. (Jerry Lee was the same way - B101 had a prominent room up front for client/ad agency visits, and it was impressive as hell. It was like Mad Men, updated. I don't know about the liquor cabinet).”

Different in every way

• Saga actually owned the buildings (with few exceptions) from which their stations operated – this in a world where larger group owners were rushing to get out of town.
• A few weeks ago, he told me that he bought iHeart’s building in Norfolk for a little over $1 million – iHeart happy to get out, Eddie thrilled to get in saying within a few years the move would save them on rent.
• He was kind in very private ways – I know of circumstances where he helped employees through health issues by opening up his wallet and being supportive and never looked to publicize or take credit for it.
• He was right about Nielsen and when they sued him for what I believe was a trumped-up charge of stealing ratings, his ‘punishment’ was to become a Nielsen subscriber but when the mandated ‘punishment’ was over, he cancelled that day – years later he subscribed in a few larger markets at his price and terms.
• Ed was a pioneer in the use of translators to cover a market and also reluctant to spend on streaming where he didn’t think it contributed to the bottom line – different, unheard of but apparently it worked for Saga.
• He used to tell me some of the old school promotions that his local clients were eating up that helped Saga return profits for their shareholders and marketing help to retailers.
• We talked about teaching – he shared his experience as a visiting professor.

Eddie loved reading me unless I got out of line and then in the earlier days we would have at it but as the years went on we agreed on the sorry state of radio and the importance of local radio in reality not just name.

And when he got mad at me, he let me have it.  But I always loved him – we didn’t have to agree to be friends.

His death caught me by surprise – as I’ve said, he seemed to be doing fine – but I have this empty feeling for the loss of a friend who had a great sense of humor, who kind of admired what I did and how in the end, he turned out to be the only beacon focused on authentic local radio.

A saga is a long story of heroic achievement.

To those of us who are proponents of local radio instead of hedge fund shortcuts, Ed Christian’s Saga and (small ‘s’) saga was completed with consistency, dignity and sense of purpose and profitability.

As Tom Taylor says “They don't make 'em like Ed Christian any more” and therein lies the reason for the mess radio is in today.

Saga After Ed Christian

Over the weekend, the quintessential local broadcaster William O’Shaughnessy passed away at 84.

I have known Bill O’Shaughnessy since I first founded Inside Radio.

He was a great and active supporter who has always subscribed and he has always been a great fan.

He’d call and shout “Hey Del Colliano” or “Professor” and engage me in one of three intellectual pursuits – local radio, the First Amendment and Bill O’Shaughnessy.  I wish you could have heard those calls over the decades.

When Cheryl and I got married 24 years ago, Bill attended our wedding in Philadelphia but he was also responsible for recommending the 12-piece society orchestra with three vocalists from New York who knocked them dead at the celebration.

But I paid the exorbitant fee – twice!  Once for my wedding and again when my daughter married, she begged daddy for the same orchestra Bill recommended which I then hired to fly in to Phoenix and bingo, the same magic.

We argued about politics but it never got nasty – oh, maybe I accused a smart guy of being beholden to dumb politicians, but how could I mean that – he knew.

And as hard as he tried, he could never make me like the NAB – I like and liked a lot of the dedicated people who work there, just not their misguided mission to suck up to the greedy bastards who ruined the radio business.

I can see Bill in heaven right now, saying “but wait, professor” – he never gave up trying to talk “sense” into me.

The first time I received a package from his two small local Westchester stations I was impressed with his money until I opened it to read a self-published “ratings” booklet with the names of local, national and prominent politicians waxing eloquent about his stations – pure genius.  No numbers.

I read on and saw my name in there with a quote from me – I made his self-published ratings book.

Actually, Bill was ahead of his time here as well because he was an ‘influencer’ before social media made it popular.

On the First Amendment, he was rock solid – if he was wrong, he erred on the side of everyone who disagreed which made him right in my book.

On local radio, he never put syndicated political talk on his station the way most owners do, he never admitted that AM was declining, he was a “towny” and proud of it in the elite surroundings of Westchester, NY. 

And he didn’t sell the stations.

Bill, you (I know you’re listening) were right about local radio – you made it work, lived it, breathed it, celebrated it while your competitors were selling out to the highest bidder.

I could go on, but there’s one thing I saved for last.

Bill – the master publicist – would snail mail the appreciations he wrote or delivered at the funerals of prominent people.

It doesn’t take a writer or a professor to appreciate his masterful use of words including descriptive adjectives, colorful words and action verbs.

He made the dead come alive again in all their glory if only for a few short minutes.

I know no equal to Bill’s ability to celebrate a life in words so it would be heresy to even try absent his many skills. 

So, I suggest everyone cancel all plans to leave the earth, brother Bill has left us for another local market higher up and there will be no one to stage a fitting farewell.

Instead stay here and fight for First Amendment rights and the viability of local radio both causes in which he devoted his life, passion and God-given gifts to keep his ‘tribe’ focused on what’s really important.

Jerry Del Colliano is a professor at NYU Steinhardt Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions Music Business Program.  His background includes Clinical Professor of Music Industry at the University of Southern California, TV, radio, program management, publishing and digital media.

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Previous Stories

Yesterday iHeart conducted a “phantom firing” that is shrouded in uncertainty that may be causing more anxiety than even their pre-virus 1,000+ mass “dislocation”.

Publicly, they are saying one thing, but behind the scenes there are a lot of concerns about just who is non-essential and whether they are in fact expendable after the 90 days are up.

This typical smoke and mirrors approach for iHeart is reportedly massive now.

And a handful of draconian cutbacks that probably don’t have anything to do with the effects of the coronavirus on their company – some absolutely jaw dropping.

No one believes the radio industry will come back even when the virus goes away so the real question is – what exactly did iHeart just pull off in the name of the coronavirus.

Read the full article now

Newstips  

Every morning when I awake, the first thing I do is reach for my iPad and scroll to open Tom Taylor Now.

Today is significant because it marks the last day Tom will ply his trade.

Now that he is retiring, I can tell some tales out of school about my friend and former associate.

When we worked together at Inside Radio, Bill Moyes did his yearly research project as usual but this particular year, we asked him to test what would happen if we stopped publishing the printed issue and started delivering news daily by – are you ready – a fax machine?

The results were predictable. 

After all, who would really want to read their radio news on thermal fax paper which was prevalent at the time – before the onset of the Internet.

Tom and I and Steve Butler, Kyle Ruffin and Christine Burke digested the research results and I drove Bill to the airport.

But when I returned to our Cherry Hill, NJ office, Tom was the first person I encountered.

He looked me in the eye with a twinkle and said “we’re going to do it, aren’t we”?

My memory of the moment was to fumble and say something stupid like “why would we risk losing all our subscribers to do a faxed publication” to which I remember Tom repeating “we’re going to do it” almost as if he would have been disappointed if I had said no.

We did it.

He did it, really.

One human dynamo found a way to come up with four pages of news everyday in an era when radio people were for R&Rto be delivered overnight or the other printed trades to arrive.

Our competitors hesitated for years giving Inside Radiothe advantage and some tried to hire Tom away.

This was a rehearsal for radio publications in the Internet era in which Tom had developed all the advantages and he thrived.

Over the past six years, Tom, Robert Unmacht and Kristy Scott published the must-read daily Tom Taylor Now.

Tom blended his curiosity with humor and humility – a great advocate of radio but not blind to radio’s challenges.

He loves radio people and they love him – it’s evident in everything he writes.

Tom was not among the trade press happy talkers who sold their soul for an ad or an interview – the publications that I made fun here in this space.

Respectful of advertisers and grateful, but he didn’t let them influence his reporting in any way.

That’s saying a lot in an industry of spin doctors, promotional experts and eventually powerful consolidated companies.

Tom wanted to be fair and in all his iterations he always succeeded.

Now, Tom is retiring.

You have to keep in mind that it may take only 5-7 minutes to read radio news but it takes all day and sometimes well into the night to gather it. 

Tom is an antiques buff.  He’ll now have time to pursue his other passion and spend more time with his sainted wife, Sharan without whom he could not have devoted such passion to such monumental tasks.

I’ve have had the honor of working with Tom, the horror of having to compete against him and respect for how Tom Taylor has handled a daunting task with grace, professionalism and conviction.

I hate to see him go, but I am grateful to have known him, called him a friend and now get to see his well-earned next act in a life well-lived in an industry so grateful to have felt his reassuring presence.

Comment on this story for publication by scrolling down to “comment” (public) or send your thoughts for my eyes only not for publication.  I value your input, wisdom and opinions and respond to every email that you write to me personally.

Here’s where to Report News confidentially in our Witness Protection Program.

Contact Jerry here

Claude Hall made disc jockeys, program directors, managers and record industry people stars.

His Vox Jox column in Billboard for many years was like a soap opera.

Even if you didn’t know the personalities that he was writing about, somehow you felt like you did after reading Claude.

Claude Hall died late last week from complications of a fall.  Until the very end, Claude’s love affair with radio and music and the people who made it was as strong as ever.

Longtime talk show host and now station owner Rollye James helped Claude resurrect Vox Jox online to continue the narration and spread the love.

Claude Hall was unique.

True, he was a pioneer in the radio and music trade publication field.  But he also distinguished himself by what he did after his Billboard days were over.

Claude, the teacher.

Claude, the writer of books and novels.

It was as if he was showing his beloved radio people that even though our hearts will always be with our audience and co-workers, there is life after radio.

And that life is better because we spent some of it in radio.

All this takes on greater relevancy today because venture capital-run conglomerates have taken the fun out of radio.

The respect that Claude innately showed for on and off air talent was somehow lost on these big corporations that suddenly separated personalities from their audiences in the name of business and dumbed down the radio stations audiences loved to listen to.

Respect for their talent.

And quirks.

Their ability to bond with audiences in countless different ways.

All this made Claude Hall even more relevant in his final days on this earth.

Because Claude was reminding us to honor the unique skills of radio personalities.

To look for creative individuals who programmed stations not just oversee playlists and voice tracking.

And to appreciate managers who had the skills to attract and employ the nutty people we tend to be in this industry and make it a viable business concern as well.

To Claude, everybody was a star.

To be in Vox Jox was always an honor.

To be considered a friend by the man who seemed to love all radio and music people without boundaries forged close friendships that lasted in many cases for a lifetime.

If you were a fan of Claude Hall and want to keep his memory alive, there is a way.

Show respect for talent, encourage programming geniuses and support managers who lead their teams to serve audiences not just people in suits who own a financial position in a radio company.

I have come to know many people over the years who have had to leave radio for one reason or the other and here again Claude Hall shows us the way.

As it was with him, there is always a future for talent beyond radio, but never forget your radio roots.

A life well lived often consists of making a meaningful impact and leaving a legacy for the future.

Claude Hall did both and will be missed by all who loved him.

Condolences to his family from an industry he touched in so many personal ways that he will be remembered forever.

Report Newstips confidentially in our Witness Protection Program here.

Comment on this story for publication by scrolling down to “comment” or send your thoughts for my eyes only not for publication.  I value your input, wisdom and opinions and respond to every email that you write to me personally.

Talk to Jerry privately here.

Thank you for telling your friends and associates about our original reporting in Inside Music Media.  Tell them they can read 5 FREE SAMPLES

1. Amazon’s Alexa on Echo.
2. Along with Apple CarPlay, Google Home and Android Audio reach 7% of our potential audience. Let’s figure this out, it’s important.
3. Artificial intelligence – teens trust artificial intelligence (Siri, algorithms, Alexa, etc.) MORE than they trust media or humans. Solutions?
4. Radio needs a “second stream” to counter TV’s “second screen”.
5. Young people will reject anything radio does with commercials because it breaks the continuity. Wait! That’s how we monetize radio and streaming. Now what?
6. 90% of car dealers’ radio ads don’t work and are a waste of money – new research.
7. 68% of ALL local commercials are a waste of money according to new research but there is a way to make local commercials more effective.
8. Being “unpredictable” is a major key to winning 18-34 year old Millennials – but radio is the most predictable medium of all. What to do?
9. The station that cracks the “app code” for its content will be very successful with younger generations. Do you know what the “app code” is?
10. Google’s unwillingness to protect advertisers from serving ads next to objectionable content (i.e., terrorist websites, porn, etc.) is an opportunity for radio but only with these changes.
11. Student loans, jobs and dreams are central to winning Millennial audiences.
12. 1 out of 5 minutes of all audio is happening on a smartphone.
13. Podcasting is the way to reach them and yet radio accounts for only 1% of all podcast programs.

These are among the topics we will explore tomorrow at my Independent Radio Management Conference in Philadelphia.

And I can hardly wait to share Millennial powered sales ad promotions that big advertisers will support right now.

Learn about them and how to pitch them when we are together.

If these issues are as important to you as they are to many broadcasters, come to Philly on Wednesday – air, car, Amtrak (5 minutes from the station).

Invest from 9 to 4 pm tomorrow – Wednesday April 5 -- and we will start with what’s new, what’s working and what’s ahead.

View the Full Program here

Google has been losing business left and right from major advertisers who don’t want their ads to show up with objectionable or offensive content.

Places like terrorist group content or porn sites – a buzz kill for advertisers who care about their image.

So far Google has been unwilling (perhaps also unable) to prevent serving ads to places where advertisers don’t want to be.

And advertisers have been strict about this because they believe you are known or even defined by the company you keep.

Google is holding fast against unhappy advertisers.

And the question arises can radio benefit from this?

Radio guarantees advertisers exactly where their content will be and it will be safe.

I’d like to say yes, but radio has a lot of work to do before it can benefit from some of the shortfalls of digital advertising.  There are others as the dew is off the lily for digital ad serving as we’ll discuss at our independent radio conference this Wednesday.

But still, radio has some problems to fix before asking disgruntled Google advertisers to increase their radio budgets.

1. Radio has to first unlock Millennials who see radio as out of date, unnecessary and irrelevant to their 18-34 year old age group in the digital age.  You’ll see an expert on Millennials address how to get results on this next Wednesday.
2. Better, more effective commercials must be offered by radio and as you’ll see after a special presentation this week, just this one thing – writing effective copy, using the right kind and number of voices and testing the advertising for effectiveness can increase a station’s advertising right now with or without a Google bump.
3. Radio must change the way we speak to audiences and present content because advertisers want authenticity that radio does not presently have.

And I can hardly wait to share Millennial powered sales ad promotions that big advertisers will support right now.

Learn about them and how to pitch them when we are together.

If these issues are as important to you as they are to many broadcasters, come to Philly on Wednesday – air, car, Amtrak (5 minutes from the station).

Invest one day – Wednesday April 5 -- and we will start with what’s new, what’s working and what’s ahead.

View the Full Program here

If you ask any radio manager what the biggest problem the industry is facing this year, it is competing against rate droppers.

iHeart has led the race to the bottom and other stations (even consolidators) have had to acquiesce.

The widespread sale of short, cheaper spots has not helped the overall radio industry.

Cumulus followed and look where it got them?

And now just this week we learn CBS Radio is initiating huge rate cuts, doing one-day sales and offering bonuses to get whatever business they can.

It’s bad in markets where local, independent operators are forced to compete with this kind of thing but it doesn’t stop there.

Rampant rate cutting has moved to markets where consolidators do not operate as buyers get used to wielding this kind of power.

They’ve created a monster and it is the media buyer who expects deep rate cuts, promotions and bonuses.

It’s hard to make your numbers like that.

But at our Philly conference next week the focus is on local and independent operators who want solutions to dealing with this new media buyer/advertiser entitlement to drive radio rates down so low stations have a hard time making budget.

1. How to counter pitch a rate dropper and come out ahead.
2. One thing that will almost guarantee you a premium rate making your station immune from rate droppers. Yet few stations have caught on yet. We’ll have one at the table that will share how they do it.
3. How to handle expected bonus spots and meaningless digital bonus ads that drive down rates and give media buyers more weapons to fight with.
4. Things you can do when you have to take a low ball buy (who can afford to turn away money) so the next time you are in a position to get a higher rate in spite of what your competitors give up.

If these issues are as important to you as they are to many broadcasters, find a way to Philly next week – air, car, Amtrak (5 minutes from the station).

Invest one day – Wednesday April 5 -- and you will come away with strategies that make a difference to your bottom line.

View the Full Program here

One, two or three voices?

How many voices on a radio spot is proven to be most effective for your local client by far?

Do you know?

Would you bet your billing on it because that’s exactly what a lot of stations are doing when they don’t listen to what listeners want.

I can promise we will tell you next week at my Philly radio conference and it is one of those three choices.  Research shows you can greatly increase the effectiveness for your client’s local spots if you choose the right number voices.

We’ll have an expert to talk about this.

And also to talk about how to keep advertisers in flight and not off the air. 

We’re all looking for ways to build the revenue up in this challenging year for radio, so let’s not forget this way.

Reduce churn – that will greatly help.

Make more effective ads.

And test those ads.

Then charge a premium for testing and for delivering better results.

But there is so much more because this isn’t a show and it isn’t for networking.

It’s about building revenue, attracting in-demo listeners, competing with digital for revenue and refreshing yourself on trending topics that affect local radio stations.

Again, if you attend this conference – and you get nothing more than this information, you will more than pay for your time invested.

But look at the following list of subjects, you’ll get a whole lot more.

View the Full Program here

If you make no other change in the year ahead, the one thing you must do is update your morning show.

Many companies know that they have a problem with changing audiences and their outdated morning shows that are essentially unchanged for years.

If you don’t act, you can be sure they will.

Some 50% of a successful stations revenue is derived from AM drive so a lot is at stake.

Here’s what you are going to have to deal with …

1. Increasingly listeners want a lead female anchor and not just a woman sidekick. iHeart pulled Ellen K off its primary Ryan Seacrest KIIS morning show in LA for a young woman sidekick and sent Ellen to another one of their stations – KOST.       Within months she was beating Seacrest and he and the KIIS show have steadily declined once a strong woman competitor hit the market. If it can happen to “Kiss” and to a name as big as Seacrest, it’s time to look at your options for promoting women in the morning. It’s complex, but we have solid input and useful suggestions.
2. What if you have a solid male morning show personality? This can be delicate but your station has some options.
3. Old features are irrelevant today even though stations need traffic and news for revenue purposes. How to strike a balance between the features radio needs to keep the billing up and new features to get the audience re-engaged.
4. This is a generalization but worth noting – in markets where humor is the chief component of radio morning shows, we’re seeing a slide.
5. Morning show listeners want more authenticity and we’re going to brainstorm some ways to make mornings more authentic before someone else in your market figures it out.
6. Contests are not a big draw but dreams are – all of us are dreamers. But here is what young in-demo audience’s think of as dreams.

Find a way to Philly next week – air, car, Amtrak (5 minutes from the station).

This kind of information is too precious to miss out on and only available in the company of other local operators who are definitely not sitting still.

Invest one day – Wednesday April 5 -- and you will come away with focused ideas and strategies on revenue building, updating your morning show and the following subjects:

View the Full Program here

That’s a problem because everything we do in radio – build cume, expand quarter hour listening, focus on P1s – is based on the simple idea that if a station plays the most popular songs, the audience will keep listening.

In fact, programmers believe if you stop djs and air personalities from talking, ratings will go up (and because of PPM methodology, it is true).

But listeners love really good radio personalities.

We even have this notion that if we run 8 minutes of commercials twice an hour it’s okay because the audience will check back in.

That’s like tempting them to seek another hit of dopamine at one of their many other digital choices.

2017 is the year of radio revenue challenges – make no mistake about it – and we’re focused like a laser on it.

But let’s not lose sight of how the audience has already changed and radio has not.

This is why we do a refresh every year on topics that are trending for radio stations.

And shorter attention spans that are killing our chances for success with this 18-34 demographic that advertisers desire.

1. They don’t listen to songs all the way through even the ones that they like.  That’s the Pandora/Spotify influence.  It’s pure adrenaline that listeners seek when they are listening to music.  Even playing the hits is no longer enough, but there is an alternative made for radio but time is short.
2. There are ways to make it more difficult for 18-34’s to tune out the music they like.  One way is how we present it and that will be front and center at my Philly conference in about a week.
3. Another way is to let them tune out and keep trying to draw them back but that can prove to be difficult and costly because some kind of a bribe may be necessary.  Still, it’s one of your options.
4. One area we will explore is “music discovery”.  18-34’s are really into that – again, a byproduct of streaming music services and music on-demand that they grew up with.  You are going to learn a way to feed 18-34’s the music discovery they want without losing the hit appeal of your station.

There is no problem the radio industry cannot confront and turn into an advantage.

But great ideas like these are useless without a game plan forward and you’ll get that in Philly next week.

Invest one day – Wednesday April 5 – and you will come away with focused ideas and strategies on revenue recovery, making 18-34’s stay tuned and the following subjects.  It’s tax-deductible, check with your accountant:

View the Full Program here

If this isn’t a once in a lifetime opportunity for radio, I don’t know what is.

According to Deloitte’s “Digital Democracy Survey”, 80% of young TV online and mobile TV viewers will skip commercials.

Over 70% of Millennials and those under 15 (Gen Z) say such ads are “irrelevant”.

45% use ad blocking software with 89% saying it is their intent to block all advertising.

46% say they focus more on ads that they can skip.

99% of Millennials and Gen Z multitask while watching video.

If the radio industry wasn’t so driven by two big companies flirting with bankruptcy and desperate to sell anything, they would call this an opportunity for radio, too.

Independent local stations – the ones planning on staying in business and making a profit – can come up with a strategy to make radio advertising more appealing to a very large generation of potential listeners.

Be more authentic in spots.

Use more voices – we now even know the optimum number of voices to create the most effective ads.

Test the spots before running so the client doesn’t waste their money (obviously, a debt-ridden consolidator isn’t worried about advertisers wasting their money or doing more effective ads).

You bet advertisers will pay more for this.

What I’m saying is that the glass is more than half full for radio if stations focus on results and that includes understanding how Millennials and Gen Z think.

You are aware that I am doing a conference for local radio in about a week and a half.

I have consulted an expert in Millennials to drill down on these powerful keys.

And independent stations who have mastered – yes, mastered – getting premium rates from advertisers while making them more effective to in-demo audiences.

I can make you this promise.

Invest a day in this conference and you will have so much focused information on what is currently trending among audiences and advertisers.

It will be the best and most useful day you’ve spent gathering intelligence on how to compete in the second wave of consolidation.

View the Full Program here.

This one is on iHeart.

They can’t get their rate so they are selling as much as they can for as little as they have to take.

Market after market competing managers are telling me that this is killing them. It drives the price of radio down and it makes it harder to make your numbers.

And if anyone cares – good broadcasters usually do --- a lot of crappy, cheap, short ads are being aired making the on-air clutter problem even worse.

In other words, listeners have had it with commercials and radio adds more of them. And when you run a lot of shorter ads, it seems like even more.

This is a big deal especially for independent operators who can’t afford to sell inventory the way iHeart is doing.

Scorched earth selling.

So, if you’ve been following my narratives about the radio conference I’m doing in Philly in about a week and a half, you’ll understand why I’ve consulted independent stations that are succeeding at fighting rate cutters.

I’m going to be honest (as opposed to the opposite, right), even shrewd operators are getting dinged by predatory sales practices of desperate consolidators like iHeart.

But they are getting dinged less.

And they are increasing the spends of their best advertisers and cutting down on churn.

So if you’re at the table when we get to this number one revenue issue confronting radio right now, you’ll learn …

• How to get your best advertisers to spend more with you even if they have to take it from your competitor.
• The exact pitch that makes you their lead and biggest buy.
• Why and how independent stations employing the approach you will learn are even getting premium rates.
• The package to put in front of advertisers and we’ll name names of resources you can go to for helping your best advertisers spend with you first with the biggest buy.

I’m not a big fan of what consolidation has done to the radio industry and I want to offer solutions that can help independent operators succeed even when their competitors are hurting the industry.

I can’t force you to be there, but I can invite you with this promise – it will be the best and most useful day you’ve spent gathering intelligence on how to compete in the second wave of consolidation.

View the Full Program here.

One of them is not radio’s fault, really.

The other absolutely IS radio’s doing.

Consolidation ruined the business.

When I first said this as publisher of Inside Radio in 1996, I got more crap from people who were loving the potential of gobbling up competitors, running an entire market and dominating ad rates.

Did they get fooled.

But all of that eventually faded when they saw that the venture capital that put these monopolies together started firing them or making them take on more jobs than any human could do.

And it wasn’t just once – it kept happening and still does today.

Just yesterday, I got a tip on Entercom and how they are cutting CBS expenses even now without FCC approval to merge.  Just a small detail when CBS execs understand a wink and a nod.

The other problem that is directly on radio is a blatant disregard for an entire generation of listeners and what a lousy time to assume that all teens growing up would be radio listeners.

So we lost Millennials and judging from my mail and my contacts in this business, the word Millennial is not one radio people even like to say even though they constitute the 18-34 year old demographic.

You might say Napster killed music, but it didn’t.

Apple killed music when Steve Jobs talked the labels obsessed with music piracy into letting him sell tunes for 99 cents.

Let the cherry picking begin.

You might say digital devices killed radio but radio killed radio by refusing to change, ignoring vastly different needs of an 86 million generation – something it continues to do right up to this moment.

So venture capital continues to play monopoly with a handful of groups.

Only the strong will survive unless …

Unless, the local, independent radio operators re-engage this Millennial audience because without them there is no growth ahead for radio.

1. We will need to focus on making radio the next social medium because radio personalities used to have a direct pipeline into the heads of listeners and it can be that way again when it comes to music, all things local and advocacy.  Social media is not Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or SnapChat.  It’s radio. 
2. We will need to stop stealing from advertisers.  Okay, get mad at me if you want but it’s true.  Radio consolidators are so desperate that they have accepted a new standard – shorter spots, cheaper prices.  Now that’s a loser if I ever heard it. Instead radio needs to help its best advertisers get palpable results.  Test copy, produce better commercials, meet joint goals.  Not just run one cheap ad after another.  That’s not a business, it’s a fire sale.  So when I tell you Jerry Lee knows more about making advertiser ad campaigns wildly successful at higher prices, I’m not kidding.  That’s why I am having him lay it all out at my conference in two weeks – the one you need to attend if you care about not going down with venture capital backed companies on the verge of bankruptcy.  You think bankruptcy doesn’t hurt you?
3. Once and for all, get over digital.  Do radio.  Great radio.  Give listeners what they want and advertisers something they can’t get from a programmatic buy at low, low prices.  And when you want to do digital right, make it short form video, the fastest path to a never-ending money stream.  Get the right topics, the right people, the right angle and the right monetization – and we’re going to have a conversation about this.

To make miraculous things happen for the rest of this year, become expert at the things that matter most to listeners and advertisers by taking a seat at the table at my radio conference in less than two weeks.

Conference details here.

When young in-demo audiences under 40 turn on a radio, they hear aliens.

Radio doesn’t sound like them and doesn’t have what they want from a radio station today.

Here are some of the things listeners want from radio …

1. Talk one-to-one not to everybody at once.
2. Listeners do not appreciate when radio stations try to relate to them. At my conference last year, Dan Mason, Jr. presented his research that showed listeners are turned off by stations that try too hard to relate. In other words, be authentic, not patronizing.
3. Listeners still feel radio personalities talk down to them.
4. They don’t like when women are put into subservient roles or put in positions that are second to males – a role that used to be accepted.
5. They hate hype and yet radio stations are veritable hype machines with sweepers, promos and jocks who sound like they are bragging. Most stations would tell you their station never hypes but listeners would disagree.
6. Radio will have to come up with another way to schedule commercials. If stations keep running short cheaper spots that ad agencies prefer, listeners will tune out and stay away.
7. Read their lips – they don’t listen to songs all the way through even ones they love. Ironically, radio is based on the theory that if we play the most popular songs, the audience will stay listening. Any realist knows this is not the case so a different approach is now required.
8. Listeners want the station to stand for something. Quick: what does your station stand for in one or two words. Let your audience answer and don’t be surprised if they can’t. And if you think they will regurgitate your on-air branding, they won’t. A radio station that engages audiences must be described by them in one or two meaningful words.
9. They want stations to help them with life – get a job, meet people, follow their dreams, pay their college loans down. No station you know of does this.
10. They want stations to advocate for them and fight for what’s fair. Stations advocate for listeners? What am I smoking?

I have described a station that today’s audiences want and today’s radio is not giving them.

To find out how to start the process of changing the way we engage audiences, reserve a seat and join the discussion at my upcoming radio conference two weeks from today where we will share ideas and strategies. Details here.

You need another industry seminar, show or convention like you need a hole in the head. Believe me, I know that.

But this is not just another conference.

It’s the one you should seriously consider attending.

These annual learning conferences exceed the expectation of attendees every year and this is our eighth-year.

Let me tell you how this one-day investment on your part can reap tremendous career and personal benefits all year long.

CBS/Entercom Changes Everything

Believe that this is just another consolidation if you like, but you’ll likely see things out of your control affecting your ability to compete even if you’re not in a big consolidation market. Bad practices travel. iHeart, the new Entercom and Cumulus plus their new merger partner will dictate buying, programming and pressure local stations previously immune from the disadvantages of consolidation.

Programmatic Buying: Good for Them, Not for Local Stations

Consolidators are getting set to automate buying to realize vast savings from cutting commission expenses. But programmatic buying in the digital space already has a proven record of driving down rates and putting too much power in the hands of buyers. Local, independents would best be focused on a new age of relationship selling. But what does that look like?

Relationship Selling vs. Programmatic

Local stations that can learn how to test advertiser copy and employ what we know works best in producing radio spots can earn a premium even as consolidators cut costs. MoreFM in Philadelphia is the one station (that’s right ONE) that outbills entire radio clusters and we have their chairman presenting face-to-face to you at our conference. This is the only way to hear it from a station that succeeds at beating consolidators. Miss this and you miss a lot.

Short Commercials Will Be the Death of Local Radio

Consolidators are selling as many short, cheap ads as they can because they are desperate. But their churn is awful. This is a path for sure failure of local operators who are likely going to be forced into feeding off short, cheap spots. So what’s the one thing that can get a serious advertiser to run longer spots at higher rates? We’ll tell you and you can return home and do it because this isn’t speculation – it’s actual results.

Attract 86 million New Listeners

Millennials are not interested in corporate radio, but we’re commissioning expert and author of books on Millennials Morley Winograd to answer this blunt question: what does a radio station have to sound like to get more of these high demand, in-demo Millennials? While your competitors guess, you’ll actually know what to do.

The One Thing That Can Make a Millennial Addicted to Radio

That’s right, I said addicted. Strong word but you’re going to learn that there are a couple of things that even a Millennial can’t resist from radio if they otherwise like what they hear. One thing is the radio station that can make their dreams come true. Another is a station that can help them find better jobs. We’ll talk about these. But the best of all is a promotion so addictive, they will not dare turn your station off. While consolidators are sharing a trip among 45 markets you can be doing this – and yes, you’ll hear the blueprint in Philly.

Facebook and Twitter Are So Passé

To embrace social networks publicly is to look even less cool than radio looks to younger listeners these days. Instagram is hot but peaking and SnapChat is the ten-second now you see it, now you don’t app that is all the rage – for the moment, that is. But what if I told you that there is an exciting new social networking concept made for local stations and it can be bigger than Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. That’s what I intend to do.

Better Get On YouTube

BUT … local radio stations need a local strategy for YouTube that is the biggest, most important platform for digital involvement. Without YouTube, you’re just waiting to be outdated. But what if I shared with you a way to not only get a meaningful presence on YouTube but also make money? Would you call that a good digital strategy for radio?

Identify the Emerging Critical Trends for the Next 12 Months

Podcasting as a radio format … Radio morning shows designed for the digital era … A new way to talk to listeners (the way they like but we don’t do) … Rethinking women on-the-air … Repurposing the dead hours of 7pm to 5am … Reversing Time Spent Listening declines … How important is Amazon Echo’s Alexa to Radio’s Future and more.

You can’t expect to succeed in 2017 and beyond if you’re the last to know what trends are developing and how to take advantage of them.

The Independent Radio Management Conference is not a show, not a series of panels with people who could learn more from you than you could from them.

It’s an interactive learning event for smart media executives where the teacher and the taught together do the teaching.

Won’t you accept my invitation to reap all these benefits and more and join radio executives for this career-changing event?

2 weeks from now – April 5^th in Philadelphia.

One-day.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program To 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For
• Cutout shows for after 5pm aimed specifically for P1 listeners and premium advertisers
• How to use podcasting on-air to generate revenue and loyalty
• How to create a weekend revenue stream by targeting your station’s loyalist listeners

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(With a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo
• Radio as the new social medium – not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or SnapChat.

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

As a professor at the University of Southern California, I had the good fortune to get to know some great media resources not the least of which was a man who has become the go-to expert on Millennials.

He is Morley Winograd, co-author of three books on Millennials.

So for this year’s management conference in Philly, I asked Morley to put together a presentation on three things.

How radio can get Millennials to listen in the age of digital devices.

How radio should engage the 75 million Baby Boomers who are still left.

And how radio can deftly appeal to that in-between generation, Gen Xers who are very much in-demo for us.

All three relevant generations to the future of radio with knowledge from the recognized expert on generational media.

The answers are not easy, but they give hope for those who care to really go to school on generations and how they use radio.

For example, there may be 75 million Baby Boomers left, but only about 50 million were born in the USA. So classic hits formats are not the sole solution.

Millennials have so many other choices besides radio that they don’t need it the way other generations do and that is problematic because there are 86 million Millennials between 19 and 35, the in-demo audience radio must have.

Gen Xers have been largely ignored by radio stations that tend to program using established target formats rather than generational need. For example, Gen Xers are the prime podcasting generation and yet podcasting siphons off radio listeners and has no real path toward significant monetization.

We will propose a solution that is very doable among other strategies to reach the three target generational groups.

If hearing from the expert on generations and the way to get them to listen to radio would be a good investment in time, I hope you will reserve a seat at the April 5^th Independent Radio Management Conference.

That’s less than 3 weeks from today.

Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm        Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program To 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For
• Cutout shows for after 5pm aimed specifically for P1 listeners and premium advertisers
• How to use podcasting on-air to generate revenue and loyalty
• How to create a weekend revenue stream by targeting your station’s loyalist listeners

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(With a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo
• Radio as the new social medium – not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or SnapChat.

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

Stations know they are going to make their money primarily during daylight hours especially mornings.

After 7pm, radio goes into a second gear.

More voice tracking, less original content. Just things to keep the station warm.

But there is increasing evidence that 7pm to 5am will bring added revenue by adopting a new and different strategy.   This much-needed revenue could be the difference between posting a profit or breaking even at best.

Better yet, adopt some of these new programming ideas and stations will have something to sell advertisers at premium rates even if competitors are forcing them into lower rates during the day.

I think you’ll agree this is worth learning more about so I am putting it high on the agenda of my upcoming Independent Radio Management Conference in three weeks from now.

We’ll identify the kinds of things that fit into your present formats.

A special cutout for P1 listeners that would not only generate revenue but expand listening of your best and most loyal audience.

A way to use podcasting on-air that actually makes money and gains a premium.

A few weekend content strategies that can’t miss as revenue producers because they are aimed at P1s.

This management conference is an actual meeting of great minds (yours) and useful ideas and strategies.

I hope you will consider joining us at upcoming Independent Radio Management Conference.

Here’s the full program …

Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am             Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm             Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm        Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program To 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For
• Cutout shows for after 5pm aimed specifically for P1 listeners and premium advertisers
• How to use podcasting on-air to generate revenue and loyalty
• How to create a weekend revenue stream by targeting your station’s loyalist listeners

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(with a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo
• Radio as the new social medium – not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or SnapChat.

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

PPM emphasizes gigantic cume listening to radio.

In fact, the People Meter’s ability to credit any station that picked up an encoded signal was one of the chief selling points of PPM.

More audience.

You’ve heard me say that the statistic that Nielsen does not bandy about is the more than two decades long decrease in time spent listening to radio.

Less listening.

And if we want to be really honest, running eight or more minutes of short commercials every half hour is not going to help keep audiences tuned in.

But some things are possible that we are not trying and I’m going to get into them at my Independent Radio Management Conference exactly 3 weeks from today.

Let’s talk about ways radio can disrupt listeners instead of the other way around.

Paying off debts.

Getting excellent jobs.

Achieving your dreams.

I’m saying a radio station could probably get away with a few necessities every hour if they could build promotions around these things.

Currently there is little incentive for a listener to stay tuned because if they miss something they can hear it online or maybe they don’t mind missing it at all.

But disrupt the audiences preconceived notion of what a radio station is and give them something they crave and you have a reason to tie them to your on-air signal.

I always say the teacher and the taught together do the teaching so I’ve got some additional ways radio can disrupt an audience that has, to be frank, taken radio for granted.

Won’t you consider joining us at upcoming Independent Radio Management Conference – a meeting of minds and useful ideas.

Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program To 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(with a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo
• Radio as the new social medium – not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or SnapChat.

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

I made a speech recently about radio being the new social medium that surprised me in the reaction it received.

I posited that radio was the original social network long before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others in a significant sort of way before two-way digital technology and that it could still be today.

That radio was the aural connector of individuals and groups before social networks.

The response surprised me because broadcasters in attendance admitted that they never looked at radio quite like that and college students and even teens in attendance came up to me to say that they agreed.

It got me wondering that maybe we radio folks are trying too hard to adapt radio to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when even people young and older think of radio as a formidable social medium.

That’s why I want to discuss this at the upcoming Independent Radio Management Conference in Philadelphia is 3 weeks.

Think of the ramifications that are major.

The hottest social network as of this moment is SnapChat, a service that derives its popularity from disappearing pictures and videos after they are viewed for ten seconds.

Yet in radio, we were the originators of instantly disappearing content before we started archiving it, shoving it onto apps and linking it to our station websites.

We know audiences right now really appreciate that which happens spontaneously and then is consumed and disappears.

Meanwhile stations are devoting all sorts of efforts to fitting radio into Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when the winning formula may be doing it the other way around.

And discussions like this to identify the real challenges and opportunities make us dangerous as individuals and an industry.

Won’t you consider joining us at upcoming Independent Radio Management Conference – a meeting of minds and useful ideas?

Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program To 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(with a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo
• Radio as the new social medium – not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or SnapChat.

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

Listeners want radio air talent to talk to them differently.

They want more passion, less hype and believe it or not, less trying to be relevant to them because it’s not going over.

They want morning shows to change because while radio still depends on the tried and true morning show of the past (funny, traffic, transit, news and/or entertainment news), listeners are using smartphones for that.

There is new evidence on whether they prefer a man or a woman as lead morning show host and information about what happens when a woman is subordinate to a man as part of the team.

This is suddenly very pressing because 50-60% of a radio station’s revenue is driven by its morning show. 

There’s news on contests and stations will be surprised to find that tastes have changed about them to.

And there are things that would make a radio station more relevant to today’s listeners using a station advocate fighting for them.  We’ll talk about what this means and how to do it to exceed audience expectations.

In addition to the way air talent talks to listeners, they don’t believe much that a radio station claims – a credibility gap that can be fixed.

Listeners keep complaining about the same things radio stations do (too many commercials, not enough music discovery) but now they have alternates to radio.

There’s a lot of changes becoming evident that you should know about and that we will discuss at the upcoming Independent Radio Conference in Philadelphia in a month.

One of them is a strong desire for a radio station to take on different personalities during the day.  This will be a fascinating revelation to get a leg up on.

Another is that they like music that is so eclectic that most hit music stations won’t go there.  We’ll show you a safe way to “go there”.

And there is one thing – and only one – that could cause a listener to listen more often and longer if a radio station that has the above qualities would do it.

A promotion that is so compelling that they admit they would not turn your station off.

Every year, broadcasters who want the most accurate and latest information on audience changes and advertising trends attend this Philly Conference.

More consolidation is coming.

More big groups dumbing down local radio.

There are dangers but also opportunities ahead.

We invite you to see the final selection of topics for this meeting gleaned from surveys of radio executives.  I hope you like it and better yet that you will take a day to invest in this useful resource.

Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program to 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(with a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

Radio is facing a second significant round of consolidation as witnessed by the recent Entercom/CBS merger and the expected merger of Cumulus at some point thereafter which will present challenges to smaller local broadcasters.

Independent operators will feel the pressure directly but are best positioned to compete in an industry with increasingly fewer owners, wrong-headed top down management and more debt that creates bad decision making.

If local operators are going to sit still while the big get bigger, consolidators will eat them alive by dumbing down programming and sales in their markets.

Katz, the iHeart monopoly rep, is already getting to the ad money first for its parent company before the rest of its clients get any of the buys.  iHeart gets the lion’s share.  You gets less.  (That’s what they must have meant by less is more).

And now with consolidator-inspired programmatic buying being pushed to reduce or replace relationship buying, local broadcaster’s may survive but programmatic has proven to drive down rates and that affects everyone.

All of this is why I try to put together the challenges and opportunities that will affect local radio in the next 12 months.

It’s why we do our Independent Radio Conference.

And today, I am happy to share with you the program I am so proud of with shout outs to the experts who are volunteering their expertise to help local operators get a leg up on the deleterious effects of consolidation -- Round Two.

I invite you to see the final selection of topics for this meeting gleaned from surveys of radio executives.  I hope you like it and better yet that you will take a day to invest in this useful resource.

Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm             Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm        Getting Millennials To Listen
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• How Gender Fluidity Will Affect the Way Your Program To 18-34’s
• How to Talk to Baby Boomers AND Millennials (There Are 75 Million of Each)
• The Kind of Air-Personalities In-Demo Today’s Radio Listeners Now Want
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers
• How to Change the Way We Talk to Today’s Listeners
• The Contest Prize Listeners Crave Most (Not Money, Not Trips)
• Why Music Sweeps Are Backfiring on Hit Music Stations (and How to Fix It)
• How to Finally Improve TSL Which Has Been Declining for 2 Decades
• How to Handle Too Many Commercials
• How to Add Music Discovery to a Tight Hits Format

The Morning Show of the Future / Repurposing 7pm-5am

• Updating the Morning Show
• The One Morning Show Feature That Every Station Should Have
• New Evidence That the Morning “Man” of the Future Should Be a Woman
• Eliminating Outdated Morning Shows (Making Them Cool Again)
• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Handle Traffic On-Air Now That Listeners Widely Access It Online
• How to Rebuild Eroding Audiences After PM Drive
• The One Type Commercial Even Millennials Will Stick Around For

Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital

(with a presentation for MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee on ad churn and a video from programmer & Podcasting expert Steven Goldstein on podcasting)

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• Reducing Advertiser Turnover to Virtually Nothing
• The Best Company to Pretest Advertiser Copy for Success
• The Optimum Number of Voices That Make Radio Ads More Effective
• The Perfect Radio Solution for Podcasting
• New Competition From User-generated Content like YouTube
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Master Short Form Video
• New Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• The Potential of Alexa For Radio, the Powerful Voice of Amazon’s Echo

Getting Millennials To Listen

(With a special presentation from Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and generational expert)

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Promotions That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• Focusing on Fans Not Listeners
• Eliminating the Hot Clock as Millennials Like No Rules
• Positioning Radio Against Pandora, Spotify & Streaming Music
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Millennials Like More Eclectic Music in Their Hits Station (and How to Give It to Them) Local Radio Vs. More Consolidation
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio (Millennial Values)
• How to Remove Hype From Millennial Targeted Stations
• The Significance the Hottest New Social Medium, SnapChat, to Radio

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

If you’ve been thinking about attending this local radio conference, let me tell you what you will get …

• Everything you need to replicate the way MoreFM in Philadelphia tests copy for advertisers, how they produce spots that use more than one voice and how this leads to loyalty that virtually eliminates advertiser churn. Jerry Lee will be there to answer specific questions.
• Tactics for dealing with competitors who are driving down your station(s) rates by offering too many bonus spots, costly perks to agencies and digital add-ons.
• How to attract Millennial listeners who now number 75 million between 18-34 not by guessing what they want but by looking at evidence. Author and Millennial expert Morley Winograd is preparing a video that offers specific advice on winning over Millennials. And as an extra, what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers now want from radio.
• A blueprint for rebuilding eroding radio audiences and putting a stop to the Time Spent Listening decline that has gone down every year since the early 90’s. Getting listeners to listen longer.
• You’ll see in detail what the morning show of the future looks like as digital listeners look elsewhere for traffic, weather and transit info. Today’s listeners’ favorite type of radio commercial – yes, we should be doing a lot of these and charging a premium for them. And be introduced to the “morning man” of the future.
• Concrete ways to eliminate the 3 biggest listener objections to radio. Too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending music repetition that turns listeners off.
• How to program to shorter attention spans.  The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love. What’s the right mix of chatter? Music sweeps. Commercial placement.
• How to add the new music young audiences now expect. How that affects hit rotation.
• Digital that makes real money. A cost-effective way to start a revenue stream of commercials, product placement and even paid subscriptions doing station-produced short form video.
• Podcasting that either makes money or is a placeholder for radio. Edison & Triton’s new research shows awareness of podcasting has grown 22% in the past two years. But few podcasts make money. Programmer turned podcast expert Steven Goldstein is preparing a video presentation that shows you how and what topics to begin with.
• Plus, which issues are trending upward for independent and local radio broadcasters so that they may see the future more clearly.

Here’s how to reserve a seat …

Save $100 -- Register

Bring your key people -- Inquire about group rates

The conference is at The Hub Conference Center, 2001 Market Street Philadelphia. Here are some places you can stay -- Nearby Hotels

Conference details …

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The conference is not available by stream or video.

• Competitors driving down rates...
• Increasingly high advertiser turnover …
• Difficulty attracting younger in-demo listeners especially Millennials …
• Reinventing a more relevant morning show …
• Turnoffs like too many commercials and repetitious music …
• Declining TSL (down every year since the early 1990s) …
• Too many commercials and too many shorter spots …
• Shorter listener attention spans …
• Disappointing digital revenue …
• The urgent need for new formats …

My upcoming radio conference focuses on these major issues for local broadcasters who find themselves competing with even more consolidation.

Consolidation continues.

Entercom merges with CBS at the end of the year and you know soon Cumulus will likely have to find a merger partner to keep up with the other debt-ridden operators who must scale up to remain alive.

So this conference is for independent, local and regional broadcasters and your key people.

In our one-day together we will drill down into the following areas that will give you the best chance to succeed in a world of renewed consolidation.

What you will get at the Local Radio Conference

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices. Jerry Lee will share resources, techniques and advice for independent operators who want to virtually reduce advertiser turnover.
2. Selling Against Competitors Who Cut Rates – The answer to too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions. What to do about big radio remnant sales to agencies for pennies on the dollar that eat into local station selling and rates which is expected to be on the increase.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Morley Winograd, an author and expert on Millennials is preparing a special video presentation just for this conference on how radio must adapt to win this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo to radio. Also, what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want from radio to listen longer.
4. Rebuilding Radio Audiences – New approaches to hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The most requested morning show features that radio is not currently delivering. The prototype of the new “morning man”. The one way listeners will stay tuned for premium-priced commercials. Traffic and weather in the age of smartphones. A can’t miss feature every morning show must have.
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – Just paying attention to these three problems will bring positive results.
7. Longer Listening – TSL has been down every year since 1990. Try these changes to spot placement, music sweeps, music rotation, new rules for jock talk vs. music. The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – What to do with all those shorter spots agencies are buying, best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies) and what to do if you can’t reduce spot loads.
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – How to handle the growing number of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love. We’re going to discuss why more frequent stop sets actually feed shorter attention spans and non-stop music invites tune out.
10. Music Discovery – How to ingeniously add more new music without giving up on playing all the hits.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Video, video, video. How to tap into short-form video revenue with virtually no upfront expenses. How to get P1 listeners to buy subscriptions to digital content. Income from product placement. Go to school on SnapChat, the hottest social network currently and how to take advantage of it.
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format. Hot:  Weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – Suggestions for spoken word formats that go beyond political talk. How to launch a podcasting station on-air.
14. Podcasting for Revenue – The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show. Does podcasting erode on-air audiences? Is there hidden money in podcasting? Programmer turned podcast expert Steven Goldstein is preparing a special video for those attending this conference.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

What to do?

Is it worth a radio station betting the future on 75 million remaining baby boomers or do you just discard them for younger demos?

Do you get younger and blow off the things boomers loved about radio? (This may be a moot point because most of the large consolidators and their smaller followers have already cutback on these things).

That hasn’t worked out so well.

That’s radio’s dilemma and a solution is now becoming evident.

There is a way to engage younger audiences – Millennials who number 75.4 million and also serve older audiences who have been the staple of radio.

Ironically radio’s big mistake is to program to baby boomers at the expense of Millennials.

When creating content in the digital age, it is always preferable to create content for the change makers who are in fact the younger Millennials.

I’ve isolated 7 specific strategies that can easily be implemented by any radio station, any format in any market and I’m going to get into this at my Philly conference April 5^th – a month from now.

The problem well-meaning radio stations have been having with maintaining their money demos and acquiring new listeners is that they are afraid to alienate older listeners.

As you will see these concepts – the ones Millennials value most – will never alienate baby boomers although oddly enough some of the things baby boomers still want from radio will drive Millennials away.

One of the seven requirements to meet the needs of the next generation is to be authentic. Almost nothing about a radio station is authentic. It’s full of hype, commercials, promos, and noise.

That can be fixed.

The other 6 things that younger demos now require are just as important and we’ll go through them one by one.

This is going to be a fruitful dialog because without spending a single dime, smart radio stations can fine tune their strategy for not only satisfying their loyal core older listeners but for the first time have a chance to win the hearts of younger ones.

Here are the other 7 critical issues trending at our upcoming radio refresher:

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 “big boom” 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.
3. Create your own social media. If you tie yourself to Facebook, Twitter or even the current rage, Instagram and SnapChat, 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. I recently gave a speech about the most compelling social medium of all – and the first.   Radio.       I will share.
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 – 75 million Millennials. They don’t warm easily to radio as baby boomers did 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 get into video but it is not what you think it is.  Let me show you real success stories including entrepreneurs who make millions by doing a free 5-minute weekly video. No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees. Radio can do this.
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. Stop advertiser churn dead in its tracks.  Some independents not only cut churn rates to near zero but earn premium prices by doing a series of things you can replicate in your market that pleases advertisers.  While consolidators are out hawking programmatic buying, you’ll want this proven program to deliver measureable results and clean up doing it. I’ll have experts and resources available just for you.

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 at the Independent Radio Management Conference April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Learn more

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Nearby Hotels

“The teacher and the taught TOGETHER do the teaching”

Debt is not one of them.

But the giant debt-ridden consolidators are affecting independent operators not only in direct head-to-head competition but by changes they are foisting upon radio.

If you’re iHeart, Cumulus, Entercom/CBS or one of the other big consolidators, you’re likely not going to need a refresher each year to keep up on radio industry trends because corporate does all the thinking.

But if you’re an independent operator, smaller group, regional broadcaster or someone who has to compete with consolidators like these, here’s the good news.

Independent-minded thinkers are the future of radio.

And, they’re not going bankrupt any time soon, either.

Consolidators are implementing programmatic ad buying because it is cheaper and allows them to ultimately reduce the number of sellers they pay commission too.

But the premium rates will go to independents that know how to reduce advertiser churn by making their ads more effective and thus more important.

Consolidators are moving to jock in the box type music formats that involve little talent and no local feel opening up opportunities to competitors to clean their clocks.

My Independent Radio Management Conference is focused on stations that find themselves competing with even more consolidation and it’s adverse affects on an industry.

So this conference is for you and your key people.

Here’s what you will come away with from this one-day seminar on topics currently trending in radio:

1. How to Reduce High Advertiser Churn
2. How to Defeat Rate Cutters
3. How to Attract Millennial Listeners
4. How to Rebuild Eroding Radio Audiences
5. Creating the Morning Show of the Future
6. Strategies to Eliminate the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio
7. How to Increase Time Spent Listening
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
10. How to Deliver the Music Discovery Audiences Want
11. How to do Digital Content That Makes Money
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats
13. Great New Options for AM Radio
14. Podcasting as a Revenue Producer
    

Learn More Details

Register

Inquire about group rates

There is a list below of 14 areas that are critical to independent radio stations.

Consolidators are essentially ignoring the issues listed but audiences and advertisers are clamoring for more.

Pick any two or three topics – your choice – and your independent radio station can get stronger before the year’s out.

Take rate cutting.

I think you’ll agree that’s the disease that is killing radio but if the big boys are doing it what can independent stations do to stop it?

At my independent radio management conference in Philadelphia April 5^th – one month from now – you’ll learn a one-two punch that has proven to be more than impressively successful at independent stations.

In fact, consolidators have no defense for this revenue strategy.

Both steps involve offering an enhanced sales package that guarantees that you can charge a premium rate – not bonus your way into negative revenue growth.

Plus, a plan to virtually eliminate advertising turnover, the kind that makes it awfully hard to make your numbers.

An independent radio station leader will teach the details so you can return to your market(s) and confound the rate cutters who are killing radio.

But scroll down and look at some of the other 14 key areas that are critical to independent radio stations.

Why should you be following policies and ideas of consolidators who are loss leaders?

Why not learn from the independent operators who are on their way to mastering the 14 key strategies for independent radio station success.

If you miss the 14 key strategies for independent radio stations April 5^th, you miss a lot.

This event is radio’s first conference primarily for independent operators and your key people.

The following things are currently trending in radio and here’s how independent broadcasters can take advantage of them.

14 Key Strategies for Independent Radio Stations

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Combatting Competitors Who Cut Rates – Strategies to deal with too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions. Defense against remnant agencies stealing local and regional business for pennies on the dollar.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Specifically what this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo wants from radio. Bonus: what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want.
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Changes in hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.       A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials. A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather. The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want.
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off.
7. Longer Listening – TSL down every year since 1990. New solutions for spot placement. Commercial-free music sweeps. Music rotation. Talk vs. music. The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running. The best placement. Alternative placements in highly competitive situations. Best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love. What’s the right mix of chatter? Music sweeps. Commercial placement.
10. Music Discovery -- How to add the new music young audiences now expect.       How that affects hit rotation.  The science behind mixes.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Short-form video revenue. Subscription income from P1s. Product placement. Prepare for the next big thing: SnapChat.
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format. How to get ahead of this trend: weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – What’s next after conservative talk. A Millennial AM station? Seriously?
14. Podcasting – As a revenue producer. Or a station placeholder. The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show.  Does podcasting erode on-air audiences? Selling them for profit.

Conference Details

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The Radio Solutions Conference is not available by stream or video.
• Additional faculty contributing to this one-day seminar: MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee, Millennial expert & author Morley Winograd and broadcaster turned podcaster Steven Goldstein.

Register

Special rates are available so your key people can also attend

Inquire about group rates

Did you hear that iHeart is now cutting back on engineers and traffic directors?

More restructuring.

The big groups are getting bigger (Entercom + CBS).

iHeart is massive and desperate so when they are forced to take a shortcut it affects good local and independent operators, too.

Up until now what the “big boys” did has hurt independent stations and local groups.

Now, the tide is turning.

That’s why I am doing a conference for independent operators so they can take advantage of the changing radio business.

Consolidators want to do cheap “jock-in-the-box” formats.

But you’ll learn which formats are worth the time and investment in terms of audience and revenue. Face it even if consolidators will not -- a voice-tracked program was never any listener’s favorite radio show.

Consolidators need to drop rates to get bigger spends with no concern to what that does to their markets or even their own station ad rates.

Yet, on April 5^th in Philadelphia, you will hear a presentation on how to get premium rates, lower advertising turnover and remove yourself from market pricing of radio ads that are spiraling down.

And the one way you can guarantee commanding a premium rate while competitors are dropping theirs.

Consolidators think digital is an imaginary way to offer more goodies after they drop ad rates.

But as you’ll learn, digital should never be mixed with spot sales. It should be making money in a cash stream that helps your overall revenue.

Is there such a digital project?

Yes, there’s one great one that costs next to nothing and starts making money for independent operators on day one.

Consolidators can’t bother with Millennials with all their debt problems, but Millennials are 19 to 35 years old – a prime demographic.

Learning critical new strategies about how to reach Millennials as you will do when an expert shares his research will put your independent station ahead of consolidators once again.

If you miss the 14 key strategies for independent radio stations, you miss a lot.

This conference is for the independent operator and your key people.

The following things are currently trending in radio and here’s how independent broadcasters can take advantage of them.

14 Key Strategies for Independent Radio Stations

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Combatting Competitors Who Cut Rates – Strategies to deal with too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions. Defense against remnant agencies stealing local and regional business for pennies on the dollar.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Specifically what this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo wants from radio. Bonus: what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want.
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Changes in hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.       A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials. A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather. The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want.
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off.
7. Longer Listening – TSL down every year since 1990. New solutions for spot placement. Commercial-free music sweeps. Music rotation. Talk vs. music. The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running. The best placement. Alternative placements in highly competitive situations. Best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love. What’s the right mix of chatter? Music sweeps. Commercial placement.
10. Music Discovery -- How to add the new music young audiences now expect.       How that affects hit rotation.  The science behind mixes.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Short-form video revenue. Subscription income from P1s. Product placement. Prepare for the next big thing: SnapChat.
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format. How to get ahead of this trend: weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – What’s next after conservative talk. A Millennial AM station? Seriously?
14. Podcasting – As a revenue producer. Or a station placeholder. The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show.  Does podcasting erode on-air audiences? Selling them for profit.

Conference Details

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The Radio Solutions Conference is not available by stream or video.
• Additional faculty contributing to this one-day seminar: MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee, Millennial expert & author Morley Winograd and broadcaster turned podcaster Steven Goldstein.

Register

Special rates are available so your key people can also attend

Inquire about group rates

Now with the CBS/Entercom merger, radio is getting bigger and correct me if I am wrong but these big behemoths are the ones choking from debt.

CBS/Entercom

iHeart

Cumulus and some certain merger partner to be announced.

So, you’re either really big or not big enough.

Beasley

Townsquare

Hubbard

And Saga is an independent-type operator that does nothing like the consolidators which is why its stock is valued above all.

Suddenly, advantage small, local and independent operators.

This is what my April 5^th Media Solutions Conference is all about.

It’s not for consolidators.

The latest breakthrough in relationship selling that gives independents an even greater advantage in getting premium rates – we’re all over it.

A proven system for virtually eliminating advertising churn among your most prized and profitable advertising sources. Count on it.

And since consolidators are self-destructively all in for online programmatic buying to eliminate sales commission costs, independents can get better at relationship selling while their big competitors cut costs at their own expense.

Independent operators are in a better position to take on the three biggest listener complaints about radio – you’ll get fresh strategies to attack the problems, not ignore them like big consolidators.

And in areas like digital revenue, you’ll leave with a working knowledge of the one digital project that most big stations ignore in spite of its popularity with listeners.

After all, consolidators know it all which is why they’re always on the panels but never in the room taking notes at their conventions.

This conference is for the independent operator and your key people.

The following things are currently trending in radio and here’s how independent broadcasters can take advantage of them.

14 Key Strategies for Independent Radio Stations

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Combatting Competitors Who Cut Rates – Strategies to deal with too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions. Defense against remnant agencies stealing local and regional business for pennies on the dollar.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Specifically what this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo wants from radio. Bonus: what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want.
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Changes in hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.       A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials. A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather. The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want.
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off.
7. Longer Listening – TSL down every year since 1990. New solutions for spot placement. Commercial-free music sweeps. Music rotation. Talk vs. music. The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running. The best placement. Alternative placements in highly competitive situations. Best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love. What’s the right mix of chatter? Music sweeps. Commercial placement.
10. Music Discovery -- How to add the new music young audiences now expect.       How that affects hit rotation.  The science behind mixes.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Short-form video revenue. Subscription income from P1s. Product placement. Prepare for the next big thing: SnapChat.
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format. How to get ahead of this trend: weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – What’s next after conservative talk. A Millennial AM station? Seriously?
14. Podcasting – As a revenue producer. Or a station placeholder. The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show. Does podcasting erode on-air audiences? Selling them for profit.

Conference Details

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The Radio Solutions Conference is not available by stream or video.
• Additional faculty contributing to this one-day seminar: MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee, Millennial expert & author Morley Winograd and broadcaster turned podcaster Steven Goldstein.

Register

For those of you bring key associates special rates are available.

Inquire about group rates

If digital revenue is the salvation of radio, why are big radio consolidators having such a hard making money with it?

Even when they are the ones who get to decide what revenue is considered “digital” and what is spot, the numbers are unimpressive.

iHeart makes its money from concerts as their spot revenue slips.

CBS adds virtually nothing to the bottom line from digital.

Ditto Entercom.

And the biggest mouth touting digital is Townsquare and they’re not setting the world on fire either.

Spot revenue down, digital unimpressive.

It looks like independent stations are going to have to show the consolidators how to make money from digital, too. 

At my Media Solutions Conference April 5^th, we’re focusing on trends and issues that pertain to independent operators.

One of the most independent operators – WBEB, Philadelphia puts digital in its place and the manager, Jim Loftus, will be in attendance so you can ask him directly.

Consolidators have backed themselves in the corner and are using “digital” however it is defined as just another thing to bonus and drive down rates.

Independent operators will have no part of that so you’ll learn only learn about digital projects that have a revenue stream – now.

And cost-effective digital projects that make sense.  If they cost too much and all they are good for is bonusing “digital” with spots to self-deport your ads, we’re not going there.

The proven digital cash streams that are made for independent operators.

This conference is for the independent operator and your key people.

The following things are currently trending in radio and here’s how independent broadcasters can take advantage of them.

14 Key Strategies for Independent Radio Stations

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Combatting Competitors Who Cut Rates – Strategies to deal with too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions.  Defense against remnant agencies stealing local and regional business for pennies on the dollar.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Specifically what this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo wants from radio.  Bonus:  what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want. 
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Changes in hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.  A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials.  A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather.  The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want. 
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off. 
7. Longer Listening – TSL down every year since 1990.  New solutions for spot placement.  Commercial-free music sweeps.  Music rotation.  Talk vs. music.  The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running.  The best placement.  Alternative placements in highly competitive situations.  Best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love.  What’s the right mix of chatter?  Music sweeps.  Commercial placement. 
10. Music Discovery -- How to add the new music young audiences now expect.  How that affects hit rotation.  The science behind mixes.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Short-form video revenue. Subscription income from P1s.  Product placement.  Prepare for the next big thing:  SnapChat. 
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format.  How to get ahead of this trend:  weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – What’s next after conservative talk.  A Millennial AM station?  Seriously?
14. Podcasting – As a revenue producer.  Or a station placeholder.  The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show.  Does podcasting erode on-air audiences?  Selling them for profit.

Conference Details

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The Radio Solutions Conference is not available by stream or video.
• Additional faculty contributing to this one-day seminar:  MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee, Millennial expert & author Morley Winograd and broadcaster turned podcaster Steven Goldstein.

How to Register

There is currently a $200 discount

Register

Some companies attend with key associates and special rates are available.

Inquire about group rates

Independent stations will soon be faced with programmatic buying either from competitors or their rep firm, if that rep is iHeart-owned Katz, or both.

Programmatic buying is the dream of debt-ridden consolidators because they can eliminate sales commissions and lower costs.

But independent operators know that long-term ad contracts at accretive prices are based on long-term relationships.

It’s the smaller, independent, regional or local operator who is always looking for new ways to enhance relationship selling not eliminate it.

My Media Solutions Conference focusing on radio is for independent broadcasters who find themselves competing with even more consolidation.

Let’s face it we not only have iHeart and Cumulus but now a merged Entercom and CBS with someone likely to merge with Cumulus. 

The big are getting bigger but not better for the way independent stations operate.

While consolidators and reps like Katz are busy trying to change what works for their financial situation, I thought you would want to learn a program that works now only at independent stations that propel them to greater revenue growth.

Ways to make your advertisers buy more and deeper.

To set yourself up as the first stop in your market for all ad buys by testing their copy and helping produce their ads using knowledge we have gleaned about how audiences respond best to commercials.

Virtually eliminate advertiser churn.

A presentation so good, so thorough and with so many resources on which to follow up that you will have another weapon against the negative selling of consolidated competitors.

This conference is for the independent operator and your key people.

The following things are currently trending in radio and here’s how independent broadcasters can take advantage of them.

14 Key Strategies for Independent Radio Stations

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Combatting Competitors Who Cut Rates – Strategies to deal with too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions.  Defense against remnant agencies stealing local and regional business for pennies on the dollar.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Specifically what this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo wants from radio.  Bonus:  what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want. 
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Changes in hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.  A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials.  A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather.  The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want. 
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off. 
7. Longer Listening – TSL down every year since 1990.  New solutions for spot placement.  Commercial-free music sweeps.  Music rotation.  Talk vs. music.  The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running.  The best placement.  Alternative placements in highly competitive situations.  Best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love.  What’s the right mix of chatter?  Music sweeps.  Commercial placement. 
10. Music Discovery -- How to add the new music young audiences now expect.  How that affects hit rotation.  The science behind mixes.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Short-form video revenue. Subscription income from P1s.  Product placement.  Prepare for the next big thing:  SnapChat. 
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format.  How to get ahead of this trend:  weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – What’s next after conservative talk.  A Millennial AM station?  Seriously?
14. Podcasting – As a revenue producer.  Or a station placeholder.  The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show.  Does podcasting erode on-air audiences?  Selling them for profit.

Conference Details

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The Radio Solutions Conference is not available by stream or video.
• Additional faculty contributing to this one-day seminar:  MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee, Millennial expert & author Morley Winograd and broadcaster turned podcaster Steven Goldstein.

How to Register

There is currently a $200 discount

Register

Some companies attend with key associates and special rates are available.

Inquire about group rates

iHeart.

Cumulus.

Entercom/CBS.

If you’re one of these big consolidators, you’re likely not going to need a refresher each year to keep up on radio industry trends because corporate does all the thinking.

But if you’re an independent operator, smaller group, regional broadcaster or someone who has to compete with consolidators like these, here’s the good news.

Independent-minded thinkers are the future of radio.

And, they’re not going bankrupt any time soon, either.

Consolidators are implementing programmatic ad buying because it is cheaper and allows them to ultimately reduce the number of sellers they pay commission too.

But the premium rates will go to independents that know how to reduce advertiser churn by making their ads more effective and thus more important.

Consolidators are moving to jock in the box type music formats that involve little talent and no local feel opening up opportunities to competitors to clean their clocks.

My Media Solutions Conference focusing on radio is for independent broadcasters who find themselves competing with even more consolidation.

And you know soon Cumulus will likely have to find a merger partner to keep up with the other debt-ridden operators who must scale up to remain alive.

So this conference is for you and your key people.

The following things are currently trending in radio and here’s how independent broadcasters can take advantage of them.

14 Key Strategies for Independent Radio Stations

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven sales program MoreFM, Philadelphia uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Combatting Competitors Who Cut Rates – Strategies to deal with too many bonus spots, perks to agencies, digital content add-ons and additional costly promotions.  Defense against remnant agencies stealing local and regional business for pennies on the dollar.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – Specifically what this 86 million strong 18-34 money demo wants from radio.  Bonus:  what Gen Xers and Baby Boomers want. 
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Changes in hiring air talent, how to talk to listeners differently, music rotations, handling commercials, updating radio to be cool again in the minds of listeners.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.  A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials.  A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather.  The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want. 
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off. 
7. Longer Listening – TSL down every year since 1990.  New solutions for spot placement.  Commercial-free music sweeps.  Music rotation.  Talk vs. music.  The one promotion that will stretch TSL.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running.  The best placement.  Alternative placements in highly competitive situations.  Best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love.  What’s the right mix of chatter?  Music sweeps.  Commercial placement. 
10. Music Discovery -- How to add the new music young audiences now expect.  How that affects hit rotation.  The science behind mixes.
11. Digital That Makes Money –- Short-form video revenue. Subscription income from P1s.  Product placement.  Prepare for the next big thing:  SnapChat. 
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – A new music format and an innovative spoken word format.  How to get ahead of this trend:  weekend talk shows for music stations.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio – What’s next after conservative talk.  A Millennial AM station?  Seriously?
14. Podcasting – As a revenue producer.  Or a station placeholder.  The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show.  Does podcasting erode on-air audiences?  Selling them for profit.

Conference Details

• The conference starts at 8am with registration and complimentary breakfast.  
• The program begins at 9 am and breaks at 12 noon for complimentary lunch.
• All breaks are included in our day together.
• The program ends at 4 pm.
• The Radio Solutions Conference is not available by stream or video.
• Additional faculty contributing to this one-day seminar:  MoreFM Chairman Jerry Lee, Millennial expert & author Morley Winograd and broadcaster turned podcaster Steven Goldstein.

How to Register

There is currently a $200 discount

Register

Some companies attend with key associates and special rates are available.

Inquire about group rates

You may or may not be aware that the hottest thing currently in social media by far is SnapChat.

The company is using its popularity to time an IPO.

SnapChat is a mobile app that lets users receive and send videos and photos that self-destruct ten seconds after they are viewed.

The NBA, McDonald’s, Disney and a host of other content providers are doubling down on this new social media platform.

SnapChat has 158 million daily users, staggering.

Some 2.5 billion snaps are taken every day.

The founders have corralled a different take on social media that is so opposite of, say, Facebook that with Timelines and archiving personal history exists for long-term use.

Not so with SnapChat.

If you’re with me so far, it strikes me that SnapChat, the ten second self-destructive social media wonder is like, well – good old radio.

Radio going one better and saying you have only the present to enjoy what you’re hearing and it does not self-destruct until you turn the radio off.

This begs the question that we will raise at my upcoming media conference of whether radio is spending too much time trying to be like the Internet, adapted to the world of apps, another extension of social media.

If so, we may have the answer to why this strategy isn’t working.

If young, money demo-type audiences are rejecting Facebook already for that which appears and then disappears in ten seconds, maybe this is an area where radio can excel.

Stations are stymied as to whether what they put on the air should also be available on a time-delayed basis online.

Or whether to even broadcast what’s on the air online simultaneously.

If so many prime users are saying they want to experience content in the moment and then move on, isn’t there more radio can do to fulfill their wish?

Among the issues worth considering …

Wow moments that appear only on-air and never again.

And what qualifies as a “wow” moment that is so impressive when it occurs and then even more impressive when it never occurs again.

How many should be do and how far apart?

Who will do them?

Believe it or not there are many “wow” moments radio could add to be more like SnapChat.

If CNN is on SnapChat (and it is), shouldn’t radio do SnapChat news?

Remember, the difference between what’s on the air and wow moments is an audio snap and every bit of it occurs on the air not online.

Imagine the brainstorming we will do on how to create audio snaps.

This is not about spending more money.

Or even pulling the plug on popular radio formats.

It’s about mirroring an explosive trend by young money demo audiences that is currently going unrecognized by radio.

How to create SnapChat moments on radio as well as wrestling with the best way to channel radio content is on the agenda at my upcoming Radio Conference in less than 6 weeks.

One thing we are outstanding at in radio is targeting male and female audiences.

Over the decades we have contoured formats and sub-categories of formats to appeal to these audiences with precision so great advertisers trust our ability to service their needs.

Now, the discussion about male and female and other options has led to political battles over bathrooms, gender and other changes that are becoming significant.

I’m not saying stop doing what you’re doing and start programming to specific subsets of LGBTQ, but the evidence is clear that our audiences are changing and we will want to learn as much as we can since so much of our success depends on it.

The National Center for Transgender Equality did a survey of 28,000 respondents to discover that one-third chose “nonbinary/genderqueer” when given a choice of the terms that best describe themselves.

I don’t know about you, but that is major.

Perhaps more startling is a 2015 survey of 1,000 people in radio’s money demo 18-34 conducted for Fusion Media finding that only 46% of the respondents replied that there are only two genders – male and female.  Some 50% said that gender can be described over a wide array of other choices as well.

That’s half the sample!

To be sure, I am not saying our stations need radical change tomorrow.

But radio has had a habit since consolidation in 1996 of falling behind our audiences (Millennials, digital, streaming music, etc.).

It is prudent to embark on some modifications that would not scream out “this radio station does not identify with your gender”.

And what is remarkable – done right – these adjustments can fine tune the buy in on audience identification with radio stations that too frequently are being seen as outdated or not cool.

So how far do we go and where do we begin?

An aircheck of the average radio station contains shockingly offensive things to people who identify as something other than male or female and the research shows you’re looking at 50% of your audience in today’s terms with likely expansion tomorrow.

Morning shows are so gender specifically male that they could be problematic without making some adjustments.

In an industry where radio is criticized by listeners as not sounding like them stations run the risk of furthering that impression if it doesn’t take some immediate steps.

A male-female morning show or a female only morning show is the future but just the voices are meaningless without conveying the changing attitudes of audience.  This is trickier than it seems although very doable with the right understanding of audience beliefs.

On-air personalities that sound robotic or should I say voice tracked are often insensitive to varying genders because they lack warmth, emotion, connection and are often judged on the gender that they sound like.

In other words, the sound of the voice is only one component in considering programming to gender fluid audiences. 

It’s what they say that matters just as much and we don’t have to look past too many stations before we have male gender bias built into everything.

We’re going to discuss the evidence of gender fluidity and its impact on radio as well as the solutions to take prudent steps to stay ahead of the trend at my upcoming Radio Conference in 6 weeks.

This is the most mystifying metric of all.

Before digital media, social networking, iPhones or even short attention spans, radio began losing time spent listening.

And it hasn’t stopped for 25 straight years.

The former Arbitron first started to track the figures and each year (and into the Nielsen era) radio has posted this almost unbelievable erosion of time listeners spend with their favorite radio stations.

There are a lot of Band-Aids for this continuing loss of interest in radio, but to be fair it helps to understand the mitigating circumstances.

Even back in the early 90’s listeners complained in research studies commissioned by numerous stations that there were too many commercials, repetitive music, too much talk and not enough variety.

This led program directors to fire up their liners and sweepers to position their music stations as “more music, fewer commercials and the best variety”.

Of course, what radio was touting on the air in response to these objections wasn’t true and over time listeners got the real message that radio was not listening to them.

And, the erosion continued.

When satellite channels, digital and eventually streaming music services became a competitor, radio was left with the same complaint -- too many commercials, repetitive music and not enough variety.

What’s important is that radio listeners (and potential radio listeners) want radio to listen to them.

But now their list of demands includes even more things that they are afraid radio is not listening to.

For example …

They want a different kind of morning show – not the good old goofy gang, something different and while we have identified specifically the changes they want, most radio people cannot name them.

And they are radical changes to say the least.

Listeners want to be talked to differently --- not as a mass audience out there but one-to-one. Last year at my conference Dan Mason, Jr. shared some of his research that listeners didn’t like it when station’s tried to relate to them.

Huh?

If they didn’t like radio trying to relate to them, what did they want instead?

Most listeners know radio stations have to run commercials but they don’t like the way they sound or the way they are run.

To be fair listeners do not understand that most stations hate the national and agency spots they get because they are moronic, but as a business they must accept them and run them.

Still, there is emerging new evidence that stations can run a full schedule and mitigate some of the negatives associated with commercial clutter.

But is anyone listening? Do stations care?

Do stations even know what they can do to make the spots go down with listeners easier?

That’s why there is a growing divide between listeners and the stations they want to like. In fact, they want to crave.

Yes, they want to love radio but not something that doesn’t speak to them.

Services that listeners expect are not traffic, transit and weather – they can get these things readily on their phones.

They want an advocate. I think if you knew what that advocate concept looked like, you’d gladly run out and do it.

Our research on Millennials show they are more concerned with whether they (the listeners) are seen as being fun-loving than whether the on-air jock or personality comes off as fun-loving.

Again, what does this look like in terms that could allow stations to adapt?

And all the cash prizes (yes, cash), tickets, trips and other enticements are not as important to them as their dreams.

And there is a way to get new age in-demo listeners “hooked” by helping them achieve their dreams.

These are important issues.

We are going to discuss the problems as well as the solutions to end TSL erosion at my upcoming Radio Conference in 6 weeks.

The future of radio passes through digital content, social networking, short form video and mobile apps.

To succeed in the changing radio business, we need to add expertise in these areas now more than ever because the year ahead will be one of great change and many opportunities.

2017 is the year that you must master digital media to be viable, employable and prosperous.

The next Radio Solutions Lab April 5^th in Philadelphia is a meaningful refresher for digital in the year ahead.  It is the most comprehensive, up-to-the-minute source of reliable information for the evolving radio, media, digital and music industries.

Our mission is to provide those facing the many challenges ahead with authoritative, cutting edge information to not just survive in changing times, but to thrive.

The Radio Solutions Lab is a one-day interactive learning experience.

It begins Wednesday, April 5 with complimentary breakfast.  Class starts at 9am.  Jerry Del Colliano presents the notable current trends and predictions of what’s ahead.  We break for a complimentary lunch at noon.  “Visiting professors” present in the afternoon.  Complimentary breaks are offered all day.

Jerry Lee’s presentation on reducing advertiser churn and getting the highest rates available.

Morley Winograd author of three seminal books on Millennials, presents what Millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers specifically want from radio.

Steven Goldstein does a video presentation on the potential and challenges of podcasting.

Here’s a preview of what you get at the Radio Solutions Lab:

• New evidence that you can now slow the decline of radio audiences and revenues – and increase them – by making a few strategic moves.  One involves an across the board change in entertaining audiences and another requires only adopting 5 improvements that will get results.
• The biggest digital threat to traditional radio in 2017.  Not streaming.  Not mobile.  Not apps.  Not websites.  It’s a new-form of social media that is growing in popularity.  It’s critical to know and you will.
• Increase the effectiveness of radio advertising by 80% and double billing even as competitors drop their rates.  Here’s where Jerry Lee comes in.  His one FM station MoreFM outperforms entire clusters.  Lee reveals how to engage advertisers to reduce churn.  Test their ad copy.  Produce spots that have been proven to work.  And you won’t leave this conference without making his approach your approach and getting access to his resources.
• Two new digital strategies that should be added to all radio proposals in 2017.  This makes competitor’s digital efforts seem like just a way to bonus digital instead of unleash it.
• What are the most effective new social media strategies.  Twitter and Facebook are the wrong direction.  Been there, done that.  Hear this and you’ll get a head start charting the right direction.
• How to disrupt your radio stations after all these years before a competitor or digital competitor does.  If you take only one thing away from this conference this year, make it this blueprint.
• The fastest way to double digital dollars.  It’s short-form video but not of your djs or staff.  Two to five minutes on the right subject can be monetized now with virtually no expenses.  We’ll show you how to get started.
• 5 great new businesses you can start in 2017.  Face it, there are fewer radio jobs every year and this year will be no exception.  Want a glimpse into what the skills radio people possess are good for in the media world now? Take an insurance policy out on your radio career in spite of unsettling consolidation
• The most effective on-air promotion that is guaranteed to attract Millennials.  Believe it or now, simple cash giveaways won’t do it.  Same for trips and even concert tickets.  This promotion is so powerful you will keep doing it month after month for fear a competitor will steal it.
• How to deal with shorter attention spans.  Hey, Millennials don’t even listen to their favorite songs all the way through.  Here’s a plan to adapt to shorter attention spans without blowing up what’s on your air.
• Podcasting as a placeholder.   That’s one of the frank conclusions you’ll get from Steven Goldstein, one of us – a radio person who also understands podcasting.  Opportunities to use podcasting as a necessary placeholder and the potential to generate revenue done right.   Challenges.  Pitfalls to avoid.
• The best formats to target baby boomers.   Morley Winograd’s presentation will nail it.  Are you sure it’s classic hits, talk and news?  Really?  Here’s what the experts say.
• The best formats for Millennials.  Are you absolutely sure it is not news/talk or throwback hits?  Morley Winograd gets specific identifying radio’s best opportunities to reach Millennials listeners.
• The best formats for GenXers.  Not as large a generation as Millennials or Baby Boomers but smack in the middle of the money demo.  Learn which radio formats are the sweet spot for GenXers.  And as you’ll learn, just because they coined the term “radio sucks” doesn’t mean they don’t have some new favorites.
• The awesome power of more than one voice.  This is a discussion that you’ll want to be in on.  How many different voices make your message strongest.  How many are too many.  I can tell you this now.  One voice according to research you’ll hear is not enough.  This decision doesn’t cost you money but it will absolutely make your station money.

The most important decision you will make about your ability to be viable in this time of great change requires investing just 1 day to guarantee successful outcomes in the year ahead.

The 2017 Radio Solutions Lab in less than 7 weeks from today.

Reserve a seat here. 

Inquire about group sales discounts here.

It will have a morning show that has a woman lead and a new very different role for a man.

No traffic. None. Instead, choose from one of these three alternatives that they like better.

News. But not the way we used to do it or currently do it. Like Twitter.

Someone looking out for them. A station that fights injustice, complaints, rip-offs, etc.

A one-to-one relationship. They can’t have a relationship with voice tracking even if owners do.

Fun. A typical radio station comes off as hype by people who sound like they’re going to lose their jobs.

Homegrown personalities in EVERY time period like YouTube stars.

Better commercials. They’ll put up with more if they’re better and you might not be able to afford to reject lousy national commercials but bad local spots are on you.

The one commercial type that even Millennials like. No, love. And no station knows what it is let alone how to do it.

Commercials with more than one voice.

A digital strategy that has less to do with trying to be what a radio station is not (digital) and more like, naming a station “Alexa” and teaching listeners how to use the very popular Amazon Echo to have a real relationship with a real, live radio station.

Different playlists during different dayparts. We radio people are used to being one thing 24/7. Today’s audiences are much more eclectic.

Music you’ve never played before mixed in with the music you play.

Songs that are shorter because so many people 18-34 don’t listen to even their favorite songs all the way through.

A station that will help them find jobs – not as a promotion but an element of the station’s format.

Radio is the original SnapChat, the hottest thing in social media for hundreds of millions of people. A snap lasts ten seconds and disappears. What makes you think they don’t want a radio station that does great things and then disappears (no website replays).

A cause. Stations are often without soul. In the past, radio has appealed to anti-war, pro-civil rights, and women’s issues. Find the causes this generation cares about and wrap yourself in it.

And, the greatest contest ever devised by a radio station – “The station that helps you pay down your college loan”.

Imagine brainstorming these issues with other radio execs.

That’s where we’re going to go at my upcoming Media Solutions Lab April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Reserve a seat and come away with …

1. Why for the money demo, a woman is the best “morning man” and the new role for male companions. And how to find that most important person.
2. Listeners get traffic on their phones; you’ll learn the three things that could be just as potent and just as marketable.
3. How to do news so cool that it sounds like an audio Twitter – and what today’s audiences call news.
4. How to create a listener’s advocate.  What issues do you get involved in and how do you sell it.
5. A list of things you can do when you return to your station to encourage a one-to-one relationship with listeners.
6. How to have fun on-air without seeming like phony radio – you’ll know what we know works.
7. How to use YouTube stars as your guide to developing the next generation of on-air talent. Nothing is more desirable to 18-34’s than YouTube stars.
8. How to make commercials so good that listeners will listen and act on them and you will reduce ad churn. No one does this better than MoreFM’s Jerry Lee and he’ll be there to show you how.
9. You’ll learn the one commercial type that is never a tune out when done like this.
10. How to get the jump on competitors by creatively interfacing with the super popular Alexa from Google (Alexa, the replacement for a physical radio that takes voice directions for all kinds of things.  Why not radio?).
11. Ways to create different playlists for different dayparts – what that looks like.
12. Options that work for listeners who increasingly will not even listen to their favorite songs all the way through.      
13. How to build a program that helps listeners find jobs. It has been done successfully. Gained 700,000 cume in three months. The PD who did it will tell you.
14. Ways you can make radio more like SnapChat, the popular app that lets users share content no longer than 10 seconds that disappears after it is heard. Why disappearing content is so important. How this will impact radio even if you choose to ignore the trend.
15. Learn the most powerful causes that can make a radio station have real meaning to 18-34’s who are civic minded if they are anything.
16. How to do “The stations that helps listeners pay down their college loans”. How it should sound. How it should NOT sound or you’re wasting your time and money. How to get it funded. And make a profit on top of it. All of it to take back with you.

That’s just a handful of things you will take away from my next Media Solutions Lab.

Not counting the ideas generated from our group brainstorming.

See the full Media Solutions Lab program here.

I can hardly wait to share these solutions with you in less than 7 weeks from now.

Beat the scheduled price increase.

Reserve a seat

Group rates

Learn more …

Contact Jerry for help attending

Did you catch SNL Saturday night?

Alec Baldwin’s record setting 17^th guest host appearance had a curious bit of content in his monologue.

Baldwin harkened back to the early 90’s recalling some of his famous moments on SNL when current cast member Pete Davidson, who is only 23 years old, broke in.

Alec:  In 1998 I was Pete Schweddy on Delicious Dish selling my sweaddy balls on a radio on NPR.

Pete:  What’s a radio show?  Is that like a podcast?

If you are a Millennial, have Millennial children or teach them as I did at the University of Southern California, you’re thinking – what’s a radio show, indeed.

No matter how many times radio is warned, the radio industry continues to chug along like it is still the 90’s.

Outdated and irrelevant morning shows, the worst time of the day to lose listeners.

Music repetition that turns off Millennial audiences yet radio playlists and formats are relatively the same as they were decades earlier.

Why?

Songs that are too long for shorter attention spans, but radio plays them from beginning to end in high rotation every time even though the 18-34 year old Millennial listeners don’t even play their own music all the way through.

Disconnect.

Air people that don’t connect with Millennials and the audience knows it.

Not enough authenticity.

Too much hype.

No fun for the gaming generation.  Many on-air people sound like they are about ready to get fired which, if you think about it, is not too far from the truth.

You remember that there is no more fun than doing a radio show – at least before consolidation.  Voice tracking never got its own hashtag.

Commercial breaks that are so impossible to listen to, it’s an invitation once or twice an hour to actively drive whatever listeners you’ve earned far away.

We used to lose them to other stations while we irritated listeners in the hopes of getting them back.  Now we leave them to their own devices literally.

It’s a big list of things a very stubborn radio industry protects to keep doing radio as they know it instead of the way younger audiences desire.

As I am preparing for my upcoming radio conference, it strikes me that I can pass along the latest trends and predictions about where we’re heading, but we need to have a discussion about making radio more relevant.

Morning shows that can’t be missed.

Can you really say a radio morning show can’t be missed?   Well, there are ways to make it more compelling in content, services, fun and by taking a new approach to who does mornings on your station.

Or, just keep doing the same thing with the same results.

My answer to making radio more relevant is not to compete with digital and social networks.

It’s not to do the same thing streaming music services do.

The way to make radio more relevant is to reinvent it as the conscience of a new generation.

Get into their heads with content you have not even begun to imagine but once you start, they’ll be no stopping.

Radio needs to be the audio YouTube.

The social media link that is missing.

As an aside, I gave a speech upon being inducted into the Television and Radio Hall of Fame in Philadelphia this past November.

My wife warned me not to make my acceptance speech about my favorite topic – me.

So I talked about radio as the original social medium and how it kept evolving until digital social media made radio do stupid things.

For what it is worth, the college students and sons and daughters in the audience made it a point to come up to me afterwards and reaffirm my assessment of radio as a social medium.

Listen to them. 

Only radio two execs out of 400 people in the audience acknowledged the potential power of radio’s position as I imagined it.  Without embarrassing them, I hope, they were Jim Loftus and Jerry Lee – two of the best because they are always ahead of the radio industry trying to keep pace with audiences.

Radio as a social medium.

We should talk and let’s have this discussion at the Radio Solutions Lab in six weeks.

Radio as a social medium not an imitator of digital social media is so powerful, so exciting and so doable, your trip to Philly to learn more will unlock your ideas and show you the only real future for the radio industry.

Wednesday, April 5 – Philadelphia

Beat the price increase.

Reserve a seat 

Group rates

Learn more …

Contact Jerry for help attending

One of the things that makes my annual radio conference so useful is that we not only isolate the industry’s challenges and opportunities.

We are also big on building the necessary skills to succeed in the digital and social age of radio broadcasting.

Some examples:

• Presentations – everyone knows how to do them, but what does it take to do one that reverberates your message.
• This one thing will make your presentations more effective – how to deliver a “gift” to your group.  Learn how to do this and you will become far more effective than you’ve ever been. You’re going to love this.
• The other is an issue with timing – the sweet spot for timing and this, I guarantee you, will surprise.
• How to handle group input and stay on message.
• What it takes to follow up and put a presentation of ideas into action that actually gets accomplished.  And this part has little to do with the actual meeting style itself.
• Self-confidence.  I get it!  All of us in the media business have some degree of self-confidence, but what if I showed you a way to literally dial up a boost of self-confidence for when you need it the most.  That’s exactly what I’m going to do.
• How about this!  What if you had a new way to build the self-confidence of OTHERS that they can’t get from any one else?  Imagine the willing cooperation you would earn when you unlock the confidence of others.  You’ll check that off your list, too.
• Working with difficult people – a real challenge especially when the industry is consolidating and the pressure is on.  Let’s say some people are just not very nice, honest or appreciative to put it mildly.  Engaging them in their own negative behavior will do your career in.  I’m going to show you how to handle people who are just plain difficult every time.  And you can (anonymously, of course) describe some real troublemakers and we’ll provide some better techniques.
• Inspiring Millennials.  Women may be from Venus and men from Mars but Millennials are in another solar system to many Baby Boomer and Gen X managers.  Millennials can be the greatest employees.  They just don’t respond to things the way their elders do.  Unless, of course, you are willing to try a few new ideas which I will provide.

Scroll down and look at the radio topics we’re covering.

Consider the skills modules described here.

This is not your hang around in the hallway radio conference.

Wednesday, April 5 -- Philadelphia

I hope you will consider joining the radio, media execs and entrepreneurs who have already reserved a seat.

Reserve a seat 

Group rates

Learn more …

Contact Jerry for help attending

2017 Media Solution Lab Topics:  The Most Effective Digital Game Plan … 5 Required Millennial Hot Buttons … Programming to Shorter Attention Spans …  The Disrupted Morning Show Listeners Now Want … Making Real Money From Podcasting … 2 Totally New Formats … Station Streaming for Profit … Short-form Video Cash Stream … YouTube & Radio … New Found Radio Revenue … Retaining Advertisers …  New-Age Contesting …  Curriculum

It’s difficult to increase revenue when large groups are driving local rates down.

You need something buyers want that is more compelling than bulk spots, discounts, tons of bonuses as well as the expected contests and promotions.

1. Like a one-year campaign in which 5 of your best local sponsors pay a premium to be part of your station’s pay down your college loan promotion.
2. Replacing all those bonuses that have become expected with value-added that buyers will want for sticking to your rate. I’m thinking testing their commercials for effectiveness for free, not giving away cheaper spots.
3. The avalanche of increasingly shorter spots for fractions of what they are worth can be answered by testing the length that will work best and back it up with research.
4. You’ll need a new way to approach buyers and a company that won’t charge you an arm and leg to identify the exact length of their radio commercial that works the best on your station.
5. And proven ways to make their commercials more effective while competitors are running cheap commercials that don’t perform.
6. Show them how to identify their expectations from their flight and deliver the results to prove success. If you fall a bit short, give them more. If you exceed the advertiser’s expectations, they can expect to pay a higher rate.

At the Radio Solutions Conference 7 weeks from now, you’ll hear experts who have done these things and share their strategies with you. 

• Where to go to effectively test ad copy
• Producing 3x more effective spots 
• How to exceed advertiser expectations
• Affordable copy testing companies
• Where to put the avalanche of shorter, cheaper spots
• That college loan promotion you’ll want to do before a competitor
• And how to reduce advertiser defections

Reserve a seat  (22% discount today)

Group rates

2017 Media Solution Lab Topics:  The Most Effective Digital Game Plan … 5 Required Millennial Hot Buttons … Programming to Shorter Attention Spans …  The Disrupted Morning Show Listeners Now Want … Making Real Money From Podcasting … 2 Totally New Formats … Station Streaming for Profit … Short-form Video Cash Stream … YouTube & Radio … New Found Radio Revenue … Retaining Advertisers …  New-Age Contesting …  Curriculum

Radio sounds like it is stuck in the 60’s.

In fact, if Rip Van Winkle took a long nap back in 1968 and woke up today, not much would have changed about radio.

But the world HAS changed.

Radio has not.

This is a topic for our Media Solutions Lab at the 2017 Advanced Radio Management Conference in just 7 weeks.

How can we make radio sound younger without doing something stupid like putting all young voices on the air (note: young people loved 75-year old Bernie Sanders so you don’t have to be a Millennial to make a station sound great to a Millennial)?

But you have to stop sounding like, well -- radio.

The hype is out of control.  We’ll talk about where it is and how to fix it.  Actually, many radio people are surprised when someone identifies hype that they missed.

Commercials – we can do better making them (when they are local) and how we schedule them.  Let’s discuss the plan that younger audiences are most likely to accept without killing your ratings.

Music in the age of streaming music websites needs a total re-do.  Go ahead and do one more year of radio playlists as usual and run the risk of losing younger listeners forever.

Short attention spans are radio’s friend – yet stations have no idea what this means and aren’t taking full advantage of it.  How to play the short attention span card as only radio can.

And you can’t even begin to attract the gaming generation without contests and the contests most stations do would put Rip Van Winkle back to sleep again.  I’ll give you two that will not only drive audience but revenue and because this is a lab, we’ll work on refining it for your needs together.

We’re working hard so that if you miss this radio conference, you miss a lot.

If you’ve never been to one of my learning labs, you’ll love the relaxed format, two-way conversation, brainstorming and atmosphere of approval and acceptance to new ideas.

Here’s the program.

I hope you will consider reserving a seat.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda/Media Lab
The Hub Conference Center, Philadelphia
April 5, 2017

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Radio Programming in the Digital Age
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Growing Digital Revenue

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Changing the Way We Sell Radio
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Mastering 18-34 Millennial Audiences
                       Making Money From Podcasting
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Radio Programming in the Digital Age

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• The Morning Show of the Future Featuring a Strong Woman Personality and Features That Are Not Presently Available to In-Demo Audiences
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• The On-Air Contest That Every Listener 18 to 45 Would Stay Glued to the Radio For Without Question
• How to Coach Talent to Sound Like Today’s Younger Audiences (Hint: They don’t like on-air talent that tries to relate to them)
• Young Listeners Don’t Like Rules, But How to Make a Radio Station Sound Like it is Freeform
• The Promise of Sunday Night Talk Shows On Music Stations
• How to Handle 18-34 Year Olds Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why and How Radio Must Get Back to Contesting to Keep the Gaming Generation Engaged
• How to Remove the Obvious (and Hidden) Hype That is Turning Off Listeners
• The One New Radio Format That Can Score Big Ratings on Either FM or AM
• How To Do “Twitter” Type News On-Air and Enthrall Hip Young Audiences
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• Why it is Now Urgent to Unbrand Radio Stations
• Making a Dent in Commercial Clutter Even With Too Many Short Spots

Growing Digital Revenue

• What to do about the Growing Popularity of Podcasting Among Gen Xers and Baby Boomers Even As It Is Not Profitable and Drains Radio Listeners
• Why Short-Form Video is the Fastest Way to Real Digital Revenue
• How It Is Done Professionally on an iPhone 7 and Few Other Expenses
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Caution Ahead on Social Media as Advertising Shifts Back to URLs (Proof: The Super Bowl)
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital Content
• Latest Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Remake the Station Website by Only These 3 Essential Things
• Why YouTube is the Future of Media (ask your kids) and Where Radio Can Fit Into The Most Important Digital Platform Ever

Changing the Way We Sell Radio – Presenter Jerry Lee

• The One Small Change When Recording Local Spots That Triple Their Effectiveness
• What’s More Effective for a Local Advertiser – a Male Voice or Female Voice? 
• A Rapid Response to an Ad Industry Survey of 5,000 Radio Campaigns That Found 68% of the Local Advertising Campaigns Were a Waste of Money
• The “Sweet Spot” for Agencies and Advertisers with Money to Invest in Radio
• How to Cut Advertising Churn Enough to Finish the Year Up 3-4%
• Ways to Stand Up to Rate Cutters Who Give Away Too Many Bonuses and Costly Promotions  
• How to Get a Premium Rate as Competitors Are Accepting Whatever They Can Get
• The Best Resource for Testing Local Advertising Copy
• Jerry Lee is Chairman of MoreFM, Philadelphia who has developed the premier system for testing copy, recording effective commercials and cutting advertiser churn through delivering tangible results. 

Mastering 18-34 Millennial Audiences – Presenter Morley Winograd

• The specific things Millennials really want from radio.
• Getting Millennials to listen.
• How to appeal to Millennials without losing younger Baby Boomers now in their 50’s.
• How to program to Baby Boomers (there are nearly as many of them as Millennials).
• How to target Gen Xers – one format rarely done would hit an immediate homerun.
• Why Millennials want radio to be more personalized than Spotify or Pandora.
• Millennial values – the things that must be evident on the air to win over 18-34 year olds in the age of streaming music services and competing digital and social content.
• Morley Winograd is a USC Professor and co-author of three books on the Millennial generation including Millennial Makeover and is considered an expert on the topic.

Making Money from Podcasting -- Presenter Steven Goldstein

• Overcoming the Roadblocks to Radio Station Podcasting
• Most Popular Topics for Radio Podcasts
• Where to Begin – to Do it Right From the Start
• Monetization Techniques – the Fastest Road to a Revenue Stream
• How to Deal With Potential Listener Erosion From Your Station
• List of Pros/Cons So You Can Decide Whether Podcasting is Right for Your Station
• Steven Goldstein is the founder/CEO of Amplifi Media, a leading company in podcasting

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Register

Inquire about special group rates

Radio is evolving at an unprecedented rate with challenges from digital media, the advertising sector and within the radio industry itself.

Driving innovation at this time of great change is the latest thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demos of 18-34 and 25-54 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, causing and responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We now invite you to see the topics for this meeting gleaned from surveys of radio executives.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda/Media Lab

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Radio Programming in the Digital Age
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Growing Digital Revenue

12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Changing the Way We Sell Radio
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Mastering 18-34 Millennial Audiences
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Radio Programming in the Digital Age

• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• The Morning Show of the Future Featuring a Strong Woman Personality and Features That Are Not Presently Available to In-Demo Audiences
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• The On-Air Contest That Every Listener 18 to 45 Would Stay Glued to the Radio For Without Question
• How to Coach Talent to Sound Like Today’s Younger Audiences (Hint: They don’t like on-air talent that tries to relate to them)
• Young Listeners Don’t Like Rules, But How to Make a Radio Station Sound Like It Is Freeform
• The Promise of Sunday Night Talk Shows On Music Stations
• How to Handle 18-34 Year Olds Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why and How Radio Must Get Back to Contesting to Keep the Gaming Generation Engaged
• How to Remove the Obvious (and Hidden) Hype That is Turning Off Listeners
• The One New Radio Format That Can Score Big Ratings on Either FM or AM
• How To Do “Twitter” Type News On-Air and Enthrall Hip Young Audiences
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• Why It Is Now Urgent to Unbrand Radio Stations
• Making a Dent in Commercial Clutter Even With Too Many Short Spots

Growing Digital Revenue

• What to do About the Growing Popularity of Podcasting Among Gen Xers and Baby Boomers Even As It Is Not Profitable and Drains Radio Listeners
• Why Short-Form Video is the Fastest Way to Real Digital Revenue
• How It Is Done Professionally on an iPhone 7 and Few Other Expenses
• Finding New Digital Revenue Streams
• Caution Ahead on Social Media as Advertising Shifts Back to URLs (Proof: The Super Bowl)
• Radio as a “Preview Channel” for Digital Content
• Latest Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Remake the Station Website by Only These 3 Essential Things
• Why YouTube is the Future of Media (ask your kids) and Where Radio Can Fit Into The Most Important Digital Platform Ever

Changing the Way We Sell Radio – Presenter Jerry Lee

• The One Small Change When Recording Local Spots That Triple Their Effectiveness
• What’s More Effective for a Local Advertiser – a Male Voice or Female Voice?
• A Rapid Response to an Ad Industry Survey of 5,000 Radio Campaigns That Found 68% of the Local Advertising Campaigns Were a Waste of Money
• The “Sweet Spot” for Agencies and Advertisers with Money to Invest in Radio
• How to Cut Advertising Churn Enough to Finish the Year Up 3-4%
• Ways to Stand Up to Rate Cutters Who Give Away Too Many Bonuses and Costly Promotions  
• How to Get a Premium Rate as Competitors Are Accepting Whatever They Can Get
• The Best Resource for Testing Local Advertising Copy
• Jerry Lee is Chairman of MoreFM, Philadelphia who has developed the premier system for testing copy, recording effective commercials and cutting advertiser churn through delivering tangible results. 

Mastering 18-34 Millennial Audiences – Presenter Morley Winograd

• The specific things Millennials really want from radio.
• Getting Millennials to listen.
• How to appeal to Millennials without losing younger Baby Boomers now in their 50’s.
• How to program to Baby Boomers (there are nearly as many of them as Millennials).
• How to target Gen Xers – one format rarely done would hit an immediate homerun.
• Why Millennials want radio to be more personalized than Spotify or Pandora.
• Millennial values – the things that must be evident on the air to win over 18-34 year olds in the age of streaming music services and competing digital and social content.
• Morley Winograd is a USC Professor and co-author of three books on the Millennial generation including Millennial Makeover and is considered an expert on the topic.

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 5^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

I want to throw up every time I read a quote from a program director supposedly being promoted who talks about the station brand.

Screw the station brand.

That’s how the people who ruined the radio industry talk.

Let’s focus on listeners.

Not P-1s or any other faceless, nameless listener.

Fans.

People who love your station or could fall in love with it.

So, you should take a seat at the table at my upcoming Radio Solutions Lab.

It’s a powerful look ahead at audience preferences that have changed while the radio industry is busy doing more consolidation that has never worked.

Our group is made up of independent radio people who can and want to be the best.

So we’ll talk about how the morning show needs to change now – 18-34’s are outta here if not.  

How there are ways to deal with commercial clutter that is turning off listeners and killing TSL.  Ignoring it will only makes listeners go away.  Not the problem.

I am going to explain in detail how to do a promotion that pays down college loans – one that doesn’t sound like corporate radio and one that no manager in her right mind would turn down. 

And a way to pay for it.

Do me a favor and ask some listeners what they love about your station and then what they hate.

Do you know?  Can you back it with evidence?

I promise you, what they love is on our list of topics and we have solutions for what they hate about your station.

Philly.  April 5^th.   Join in and keep up.

Reserve a seat

A partial sampling of topics …

End Advertiser Churn
Stop Rate Competitive Rate Cutting
5 Keys to Millennials
Eliminate Listeners 3 Big Objections to Radio
Significant Increase Time Spent Listening
Up to $500,000 a Year Making Short Form Video
All Podcasting All the Time But On Radio
The Morning Show Listeners Now Want

Learn more

7 weeks and counting until the 2017 Media Solutions Lab

Their lifestyle and preference are changing and they want morning shows to reflect their needs.

They want a more significant role for women in the morning drive.

This is in conflict with radio groups that are cutting expenses and either reducing the morning teams or promoting second tier talent to replace more expensive stars.

In-demo listeners appear to want a woman lead in the mornings.  But what is surprising is what they want as a supporting cast.  We’ll be addressing this at our conference – less than two months from today.

Listeners don’t want or need the services that morning shows have embraced for decades because their phones now provide those services on-demand.

Yet, there is a list of things that they want if they are going to continue listening to their favorite radio morning show.

5 things to be exact. 

Responding to these 5 things will make all the difference to morning shows.

Surprising new evidence about news.

Those music star interviews are showing a decline.  We can now track station ratings that have access to recording stars that are losing ratings hand over first.

To what?

To morning shows that most programmers – not all, but most – can’t believe an audience would want.

Not even comedy in the morning is untouched by changing audience attitudes.

That’s why we’re going to present the information and discuss the best options before stations see more audience erosion in the time period they can least afford it.

As mornings go, so goes the station – and the station’s revenue.

Check your calendar, reserve a seat and join this critical discussion.

Learn more

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates  (50% off everyone in your station’s group).

Other compelling topics we will cover:

How To Get More Advertisers To Re-Up
How To Shut Down Rate Cutters
The 5 Keys To Millennial Listeners
Explained:  The Killer “Pay Down College Loan” Promotion (And How to Get Your Advertisers To Pay For It)
Reducing Commercial Clutter Without Cutting Spot Load (3 New Ideas)
Revealed:  Feed Attention Deficit for Longer Listening
Add $100-500,000 a Year Making Short-Form Videos
Save AM By Going All Podcasting All the Time
What Listeners Now Want From Morning Shows

86 million Millennials want music discovery.

Radio wants the ratings that come from playing the same songs over and over again in high rotation.

Millennials who are between the ages of 19 and 35, don’t like to listen to the same song all the way through.

Radio still thinks if you play the safe “popular” hits, even Millennials will stay tuned.

Radio winds up unnecessarily losing audience with a strategy that is this much out of sync with the audience every music station must have.

In my generational media work that started when I was a professor at the University of Southern California, the answer became evident to give the next generation of music radio listeners the music discovery they consider mandatory while not losing radio ratings to unfamiliar new music.

There is no radio station doing what the evidence strongly suggests.

And the reason is that stations would have to disrupt what they do on the air in a way even more radical than when Top 40 came on the scene to redefine radio at the start of the television generation.

Yet stations can do the same thing today.

Redefine what a music station is.

Watch Millennials fall into place.

For example:

• How to add two-thirds more music discovery to a winning hit mix.  That’s not a misprint – it’s two-thirds music discovery to one-third repetitive hits presented in a special new way.
• And without losing PPM ratings – in fact, probably gaining share.
• How far should a radio station go in selecting the songs for music discovery.
• And, most importantly!  How to fit it all into each format hour.

That’s what I am going to show you at my upcoming Media Solutions Lab in Philadelphia.

This is important enough to add to the agenda because streaming music services are taking their toll on radio audience and in the case of Pandora, local ad dollars as well.

Apple Music added 20 million paid subscribers in about a year.  Spotify reported 40 million paid subscribers last September.

They’re growing.  Radio is losing prime audience to streaming music services and other digital options.

But Spotify and Pandora can’t do radio the way we’re going to show you.

Here’s the Agenda:

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

8:00 am         Registration / Complimentary Breakfast

9:00 am          Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting
                        Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences
                        The Morning Show of the Future
                        Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio
                       
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments

10:45 am        Longer Listening
                        Dealing with Too Many Commercials
                        How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
                        Digital That Makes Money
                       
12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1:00 pm         Better Options for AM Radio
                       Podcasting – Yes or No!
                       
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments

2:45 pm         Jerry Lee’s Presentation: Reducing High Advertising Churn
                       Morley Winograd:  Attracting Millennial Listeners

3:30 pm         Audience Q & A

4:00 pm         Conference Concludes

Here are the program details:

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven program MoreFM, Philadelphia Chairman Jerry Lee uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting – How to take back control of the media buy from large consolidators or underachievers who are willing to drop rates, add costly promotions and flood the buy with bonuses.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – A list of compelling content that is like catnip to 18-34 year old Millennials.  Presentation by Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and other books on this generation.
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Take notes on things like changing the way you hire air talent, how they talk to listeners in the age of digital and social media and making today’s radio not sound like yesterday’s.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.  A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials.  A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather.  The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want. 
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off.
7. Longer Listening – With TSL down every year since 1990, commercial-free music sweeps will no longer keep them tuned in.  It’s this, instead.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running.  The answer to where is the best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. What Cinches a Buy Faster Than Even Bonus Spots – Blow bottom feeding competitors out of the water when they offer tons of bonus spots to buyers and you offer this.
10. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love.
11. Digital That Makes Money – Why you should eliminate the expense and effort of doing social, web and app digital projects when this one, very inexpensive approach can start producing big bucks in months – I’ll show you teens that make more money from this approach than entire radio stations.  If they can do it, you can do it!
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – Is radio all out of mass appeal formats?  Not if you choose the innovative, new spoken word and music formats from this list.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio -- I’ll bet you if you put this megaton promotion on an AM station along with this format, even a Millennial will find it and stay tuned.  And what if I show you how you can pay for it and profit by selling it to a handful of advertisers? 
14. What to Do About Podcasting – The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show.  What we’re learning about what works and what doesn’t and the future of podcasting in radio’s revenue future.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates here

If you’d like to stay nearby, review these locations and prices here.

Look through our program, brochure here.

TOO MANY COMMERCIALS!

They’ve complained for decades but it has fallen on deaf ears because radio would rather sell more ads cheaper than fewer ads at a premium price and now, that’s all advertisers will buy.

Along with short spots that are annoying and seem like even more clutter.

Listening declines will continue as long as the problem is not addressed.

Quarter hour radio listening has gone down every year since the early 90’s.

So what to do?

Embark on 2 strategies to respond to this listener deal breaker – immediate and long range.

Immediate Action …

Run short spots in stop sets exclusively for short spots nothing longer.

Run longer spots together without short spots.

Longest spots run in shorter breaks.

Stop down for spots at different times in each hour (you won’t be punished by Nielsen if you do it right.

Put something so compelling in the middle of longer stop sets that will force listeners to stay tuned.

Never mention the word commercials.

Never tout commercial free music (they don’t believe it anyway).

Learn why today’s short attention span listeners are not attracted to continuous music sweeps because they like interruptions and how to take advantage of that.

Longer Term …

Raise rates – even modestly. Fewer ads bringing in more revenue.

Produce better local commercials (the ones you can control) – TV ads are as big an attraction for the Super Bowl as the game itself.

Run a one-year promotion to pay down listeners’ college loans, get advertisers to pay for it and generate high premium profit for you.

Details at The 2017 Media Solutions Lab

Curriculum: How to Stop Rate Cutting, Rebuilding Eroding Audiences, The Morning Show of the Future, Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections, Increasing Time-Spent-Listening, Dealing with Too Many Commercials, Programming to Shorter Attention Spans, Digital That Makes Money, Better Options for AM, Is Podcasting a Radio Format?

Presentations: More FM Chairman Jerry Lee (Reducing High Advertiser Churn), Millennial Makeover author and expert Morley Winograd (Attracting Millennial Listeners)

We’re waiting for the final 2016 revenue numbers, but most indications are that radio will be flat or down half a point.

This is not the first year and not the last for financial challenges.

Some of our large radio groups are paying the price by burning through cash flow and adding to their stifling debt.

But some radio groups and stations are dedicated to beating the unfavorable market conditions.

So what to do?

More resistance to rate cutting (although less is considered to be better than none). Failing to employ a digital strategy that actually makes significant money. Letting good salespeople get away and dumbing down on-air product. These are the things that consolidators are doing and look where it has gotten them.

Meanwhile digital is supposed to be radio’s lifeline but the average station does under $250,000 a year in real, true digital revenue – many far less.

But there are ways to guarantee a positive finish for 2017 up as much as 4% in radio revenue.

• Focus on 10 of your biggest and best advertisers by increasing the effectiveness of their ads so they will increase their spend and pay a premium rate. That alone redefines your revenue year. Let’s talk about the stations that are actually doing it at my Philly conference coming up in two months.
• Go after a handful of big local TV advertisers and present them with a tantalizing radio alternative. Get them to define what a successful campaign would be and then show them a plan that includes quality ads that you are willing to produce and test for effectiveness. Even if these big local TV spenders won’t give up all of their television budgets experience shows when presented with a compelling radio alternative, they find the money for radio.
• Then skip the digital projects that aren’t making big money and focus on short-form video that can generate revenue through both sponsorship and product placement. And even paid subscriptions. Young entrepreneurs are already generating more money than the average radio station from video. We’ll go to school on them.
  Change the way you motivate sellers. Raise their commissions, reduce the “make work” radio has dumped on them that prevent additional sales. A plan to put them on the street selling 90% of the time. Ask me about how to inspire sellers in a way you’ve never seen before. It works.

This one-day seminar is not available on video, audio or stream.

Just in person April 5 at the Hub Conference Center in Philly 2 months from now.

Examine the 12 modules below that make up the curriculum here.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates here

Here’s the Agenda:

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

REGISTRATION / COMPLMENTARY BREAKFAST

8:00 am         Registration / Complimentary Breakfast

9:00 am          Strategies To End Rampant Rate Cutting
                        Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences
                        The Morning Show of the Future
                        Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio
                       
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments

10:45 am        Longer Listening
                       Dealing with Too Many Commercials
                       How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
                       Digital That Makes Money
                       
12 Noon        Complimentary Lunch

1:00 pm         Better Options for AM Radio
                       Podcasting – Yes or No!
                       
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments

2:45 pm         Jerry Lee’s Presentation: Reducing High Advertising Churn
                       Morley Winograd: Attracting Millennial Listeners

3:30 pm         Audience Q & A

4:00 pm         Conference Concludes

Here are the program details:

1. Reducing High Advertiser Churn – The proven program MoreFM, Philadelphia Chairman Jerry Lee uses to keep advertisers renewing at high rates and premium prices.
2. Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting – How to take back control of the media buy from large consolidators or underachievers who are willing to drop rates, add costly promotions and flood the buy with bonuses.
3. Attracting Millennial Listeners – A list of compelling content that is like catnip to 18-34 year old Millennials. Presentation by Morley Winograd, author of Millennial Makeover and other books on this generation.
4. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences – Take notes on things like changing the way you hire air talent, how they talk to listeners in the age of digital and social media and making today’s radio not sound like yesterday’s.
5. The Morning Show of the Future – The prototype of the new “morning man”.       A more authentic way to do premium-priced commercials. A must-have feature more addictive than traffic or weather. The one thing every station leaves out of mornings that in-demo listeners really want.
6. Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio – How to fix too many commercials, outdated morning shows and ending repetition that turns listeners off.
7. Longer Listening – With TSL down every year since 1990, commercial-free music sweeps will no longer keep them tuned in. It’s this, instead.
8. Dealing with Too Many Commercials – New thinking on how to schedule all those shorter spots stations are running. The answer to where is the best place in the hour to schedule them (PPM and non-PPM strategies).
9. What Cinches a Buy Faster Than Even Bonus Spots – Blow bottom feeding competitors out of the water when they offer tons of bonus spots to buyers and you offer this.
10. How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans – The cure for the epidemic of listeners who won’t listen to a song all the way through --- even one that they love.
11. Digital That Makes Money – Why you should eliminate the expense and effort of doing social, web and app digital projects when this one, very inexpensive approach can start producing big bucks in months – I’ll show you teens that make more money from this approach than entire radio stations. If they can do it, you can do it!
12. Creating Fresh, New Formats – Is radio all out of mass appeal formats?  Not if you choose the innovative, new spoken word and music formats from this list.
13. Great New Options for AM Radio -- I’ll bet you if you put this megaton promotion on an AM station along with this format, even a Millennial will find it and stay tuned. And what if I show you how you can pay for it and profit by selling it to a handful of advertisers?
14. What to Do About Podcasting – The #1 podcast in the iTunes Store is an on-air radio show. What we’re learning about what works and what doesn’t and the future of podcasting in radio’s revenue future.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates here

Look through our program, brochure here.

Even stations with high ratings and great sales professionals are having a hard time keeping up with the loss of advertisers – it makes for a bumpy ride at a turbulent time.

Here’s a preview of a presentation being conducted by MoreFM, Philadelphia Chairman Jerry Lee at the upcoming Media Solutions Conference on how to make advertisers’ campaigns so successful, they re-up, not leave.

High Advertiser Churn – With Jerry Lee

• The one small change when recording local spots that triple their effectiveness.
• Quick!  What’s more effective for a local advertiser – a male voice or female voice?  If you’re not dead sure, be in Philly April 5^th.  The research on this is startling.
• How to respond to an ad industry survey of 5,000 radio campaigns that found 68% of the local advertising campaigns were a waste of money.  See the main reason and nip it in the bud.
• The “sweet spot” for agencies and advertisers with money to invest in radio that 3 out of 4 radio campaigns are missing – you no longer will.
• Believe this!  It is possible to cut advertising churn down to virtually nothing with techniques being used by Jerry Lee’s MoreFM right now (a perennial top biller in the market).
• Get around rate dropping competitors.  Let them get stuck with the cheap rates with lots of giveaways and bonuses.  Here’s how you get the PREMIUM rate. 
• The best resource for testing local advertising copy.  Plug in.  Get started.

Not available by streaming or audio.

In less than one day, more useful ideas and strategies to meet radio’s challenges.

April 5, 2017 at the Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia – 20 minutes from the airport, 5 minutes from Amtrak

View the full curriculum here.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about discount group rates

Contact Jerry Del Colliano

I can think of no one who knows more about Millennials than Morley Winograd who along with Michael Hais, a former Frank Magid researcher, wrote the book on the topic.

In fact, they wrote three.

I met Morley when I was a professor at The University of Southern California.  He is a professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business.

So here’s my assignment for Morley.

Take all that you know about Millennials and extrapolate how their values and needs coincide with what radio has to offer.

Millennials are notorious for not having a relationship with radio the way their Baby Boomer parents do.

So what does it take?

What’s their sweet spot?

If it is something radio can do, how can we do it better?

No more flying blind.

But Morley’s understanding of all generations including Gen Xers (about 44 million) and Baby Boomers (79 million) will help to clarify what their needs are as well.

For example, we know Xers are the prime market for podcasts, but podcasting is not a revenue stream for radio.  In fact, it is a distraction.

Baby Boomers are aging but they still populate in numbers equal to Millennials.  Only last year did Millennials outnumber Baby Boomers for the first time.

Are Boomers going to listen to classic hits or Rush Limbaugh into their graves or are their ways to attract them along with the interests, of say, Gen Xers and make that package marketable.

As far as Millennials go, is it even possible for radio to attract them in big enough numbers to ensure radio’s viability going forward?

Any chance of getting them away from Spotify and streaming services?

If they don’t want or need traffic and rely on their own devices for news, use social media as a replacement for talk, what does radio for Millennials look like?

This is my 8^th learning conference.

I don’t believe sitting there and not being expert on the specific challenges of the radio industry is a good use of time.

I hope you’ll join the executives who investing a day to get current on the issues that really matter to the future of radio.

Curriculum for 2017: 

• Reducing High Advertiser Churn w/MoreFM’s Jerry Lee
• Strategies for Ending Rampant Rate Cutting
• Attracting Millennial Listeners w/Morley Winograd
• Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences
• The Morning Show of the Future
• Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio
• Listen Longer Strategies
• Solutions to Commercial Clutter
• Digital That Makes Money
• Underground AM Stations
• Podcasting, Yes or No? 

Details …

Not available by stream or video.

Discount rates for two or more attendees and larger groups.

Buffet breakfast, lunch and breaks included.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Talk to Jerry privately

Conference Brochure

For three, possibly four, decades listeners have been telling the researchers stations hire that they hate radio commercials.

In the 1960’s Marlin Taylor and Jerry Lee, Jim Schulke and Bill Drake among others took a shot at fixing the problem.

Taylor and Lee, at what was the forerunner to today’s MoreFM in Philadelphia, ran four commercials an hour, one every 15 minutes – a little more, not much in drive time.  The ratings soared and the ad rates quadrupled.

Schulke who ran SRP, the successful syndicated instrumental music format had similar restrictions.

And hit stations, adult contemporary and talk stations had so much garbage on them that they were unlistenable so Drake limited the loads to 12 spots an hour on his client RKO stations.  Many imitators followed.

They all succeeded.

Eventually most of the stations gave in and added back the irritations so that they could make more money.

And today, with radio barely able to get their rates, giving away tons of bonuses and more advertiser-preferred short commercials, it’s bedlam.

What a bad time to give up sniffing glue as they said in Airplane.  In other words you couldn’t pick a worse time than now to be dealing with a clutter problem and a diminished rate problem.

Radio needs the listeners AND the revenue.

There is one type of commercial that is an absolute tune-in among all age groups.  How about doing more of them for starters.

But then there are agency spots that radio can’t change.

There is something that can be done in the middle of stop sets that will force listening to continue, but no one has done it as simple as it is.

There’s lots of evidence that running two overweight commercial stop sets an hour would be better off becoming four or even six – the rationale being shorter attention spans like more interruptions.  There’s something to it.

A neat little trick on how you organize long vs. very short commercials that won’t lose a listener and promises to keep more tuned in.

And there is a word you must never say on-air because it makes listeners flee.

You can always run fewer spots, or can you?  Times are tough.

And you can make better commercials with a proven record for impressive results and listener satisfaction. 

I guess what I am saying is that considering what a game breaker commercials are for radio stations that need to run them, shouldn’t we have a conversation about new and effective ways to mitigate the damage …

That’s where we’ll pick it up at the upcoming The 2017 Radio Solutions Conference

All New Curriculum for 2017:  1) Reducing High Advertiser Churn, 2) Strategies for Ending Rampant Rate Cutting; 3) Attracting Millennial Listeners; 4) Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences; 5) The Morning Show of the Future; 6) Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio; 7) Listen Longer Strategies;  8) Solutions to Commercial Clutter; 9) Digital That Makes Money; 10) Underground AM Stations; 11) Podcasting, Yes or No?  Details …

1. A morning show featuring a woman not a man and for those shows that are succeeding now with a man in the lead, the difficult but required process of changing the show to appeal to strong women.
2. Traffic reports that become contests – Hardly anyone in the money demo relies on radio for traffic as long as they have a smartphone. The race to beat the smartphone will become a contest that pays prize money and offers social status (Radio has gone silent on contents at a time when the gaming audience has grown).
3. A morning show “advocate” to help listeners – And not a national one, only local. Yelp, Trip Advisor and the many popular sites that give voice to online audiences can translate well into a local “haggler” who earns a reputation for sticking up for listeners. Yes, and especially for music formats.
4. No voice tracking at all even overnights – The one thing 20 years have proven is that voice tracking never gained an audience it just saved money.
5. On-air people who sound like the audience – Turn the radio on, it doesn’t sound like what Millennials sound like either in voice, values or content.
6. A major contest that pays down listeners’ college loans – No Millennial or Xer could resist a good station with this great contest. But it can’t sound like a radio contest and no prize sharing among markets. That’s not authentic.
7. The above college loan prizes paid by advertisers as an advertiser incentive that generates many more times the cost of doing it. Listen in on the pitch that has advertisers fighting with each other over sponsors paying down college loans.
8. Putting all short commercials in one stop set – These are the ones advertisers want but most stations are making the mistake of stacking their long commercial stop sets in a way that makes them sound even longer. The station of the future has to accept what the market wants but be less destructive about delivering it.
9. Making commercials more effective for advertisers – This is unfortunately the last thing on the minds of most station execs just trying to keep up.  Tested copy, spots that are produced with proven techniques for increasing response. Finding advertisers who will sign long-term contracts for premium rates not the bonus-infused market declines.
10. Shorter music sweeps not longer as attention spans now require lots of interruptions to keep audience attention. New thinking on stop set placement not for PPM but for short attention spans.
11. Songs that aren’t played all the way through – We have research that shows in-demo listeners even tune out songs they love so the station of the future will modify its playlist, presentation and format. In other words, radio used to understand that if you played the right songs, listeners would keep listening. Now you must play the right songs, not all the way through, with new elements added to keep them for the same period of time.
12. The best of podcasting on-air – Podcasting appeals to older radio listeners who prefer it to political talk radio. Podcasting is a radio format. A Sunday night show. Maybe the “Haggler” or advocate referenced above in #3. Or LOCAL musical companion to your radio format.
13. No digital – Don’t give away radio content or drive listeners elsewhere – It hasn’t worked giving away content for free without an adequate path to real monetization. When this station does digital, it does something entirely different from radio and starts a revenue stream. I’m thinking short-form video that teenagers have figured out how to monetize more than the average radio station.

This is what my conference is about this year.

You’ll find more details about The Station of the Future in the conference brochure right here:

2017 Radio Solutions Conference Brochure

Here’s a full list of topics we will cover:

• Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting
• Reducing High Advertiser Churn
• Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences
• Digital That Makes Money
• Attracting Millennial Listeners
• Eliminating the 3 Biggest Listener Objections to Radio
• The Morning Show of the Future
• Listen Longer Strategies
• Solutions to Commercial Clutter
• Underground AM Stations
• Podcasting – Yes, or No!

Not available by stream or video.

Discount rates for two or more attendees and larger groups.

Buffet breakfast, lunch and breaks included.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Talk to Jerry privately

The more the radio industry puts its on-air programming online, the more the industry declines in audience and revenue.

Yet, that doesn’t stop the Einstein’s who have no clue from finding new ways to drive listeners away from radio.

Websites with content that was on-air begs the question, why listen on-air?

And no one with a straight face will make the argument that there is money in this.

Yesterday, CBS Radio pulled another rabbit out of its – well, out of its hat to make CBS Radio sports content available on a dedicated channel of Apple Music.

Great for the ego but with all respect, who the hell is listening to Jim Rome, Tiki & Tierney and Gio & Jones on an actual radio station?

The ratings say next to no one.

Nothing has been a bigger flop than CBS Sports Radio so now put a dedicated channel on Apple Music so it can be a big flop there.

You’ll note, you’d flunk your MBA thesis if you proposed an idea like taking your on-air content and putting it everywhere you could without making real revenue and while eroding what radio listening you have.

You do know that?

So here’s my proposal and I’m going to detail it at my upcoming Radio Solutions Lab Advanced Management Conference:

What happens on-air should stay on-air.

Never on digital.

Never use on-air people to create digital.

When doing digital, build a bench of new digital stars who do not also appear on radio.

Their shows, topics, podcasts or forums do not have to coincide with the format of your station.  In fact, they shouldn’t.

You can make tons of money within 6 months of getting into short form video that is – all together now – not made up of what’s on your radio.

You only need an iPhone 7 – even a CBS bean counter would love those numbers.

What’s on the radio is special and there are two compelling reasons why the industry is experiencing such turbulence currently.

1. We’re watering down the on-air product and making it available elsewhere inviting people not to listen while we continue to do audience ratings where they should be.
2. The on-air product is nothing like what we’re capable of offering because radio is more interested in cutting costs than building brand.

Let’s continue this discussion and fill in the details in Philly at my 2017 Radio Solutions Lab April 5^th, a little more than two months from now.

Here’s a full, updated list of subject matter we will cover:

• Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting
• Reducing High Advertiser Churn
• Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences
• Digital That Makes Money
• Creating Fresh, New Formats
• Finally Attracting Millennial Listeners
• The Morning Show of the Future
• Ending Repetition That Turns Listeners Off
• Dealing with Too Many Commercials
• Longer Listening
• Surprising New Options for AM Radio
• What Cinches A Buy Faster Than Even Bonus Spots
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• What to Do About Podcasting

For details on each of the above topics, click here.

Not available by stream or video.

Discount rates for two or more attendees and larger groups.

Buffet breakfast, lunch and breaks included.

Reserve a seat 

Inquire about group rates

That’s checking their phones about 150 times a day.

Young folks average 110 texts a day.

Some 46% of smartphone users say they can’t live without their devices.

And we in the radio business must be on another planet when we design and program radio stations in the digital age.

What would happen if we rethought the mission of a radio station with this in mind?

Would we still be doing traffic reports?

Would weather still be sacred when it is right there in our listener’s hands on-demand?

Would it change the way we do social media? 

I hope so.

What kind of air personality would it take to compete with or replace this kind of dependence on a smartphone?

How would our commercial breaks be configured?

How would we do better, more effective commercials in a world dominated by checking the phone incessantly?

Would you program in 5-minute blocks or just blow off phone user stats like these?

Is the way we present music something that needs to be rethought?

Is there a close personal relationship from the radio to a phone user possible?

I am going to propose that it is and how we should try it on-air.

I hope you will consider joining me at my 2017 Radio Solutions Lab April 5^th at the Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia – 5 minutes from Amtrak’s 30^th Street station and 23 minutes from the airport.

In addition to competing with digital devices, there are 11 big bets to place on new ideas:

1. Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting.
2. Reducing High Advertiser Churn -- Presented by WBEB’s Jerry Lee in response to a shocking study of 5,000 ad campaigns in which 68% of local advertisers said their radio spend was “a waste of money”.  Let’s stop this in its tracks.
3. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences -- Millennial-friendly new targeted formats.
4. Digital That Makes Money -- How to assemble the “Content Station” of the future that merges radio with digital and social. 
5. Creating Fresh, New Formats -- A sampling of formats and format variations that hit the sweet spot for even the most distracted in-demo audiences.
6. Finally Attracting Millennial Listeners -- By making radio sound like them, have special content for them and embrace their 5 most desired values.
7. The Morning Show of the Future -- Why a lead female personality is now required – no more sidekick status.  New features.  And the ones that should go.  How to make mornings 60% of your total station billing.
8. Ending Repetition That Turns Listeners Off -- How to surgically add music discovery to the familiar hits.
9. Dealing with Too Many Commercials -- We need to have a conversation about something that drives listeners away.
10. Longer Listening -- Time Spent Listening to radio has declined every year since the early 90’s.  And hardly any Millennial listens to songs all the way through these days (even on other platforms).  Now there is an easily implemented way to keep listeners from straying and it isn’t longer music sweeps.
11. Underground AM Radio -- Say hello to the underground AM station of the future.  Format possibilities, how to promote and sell. 

The 2017 Media Solutions Lab is about significant positive change.

Not available by stream or video.

Discount rates for two or more attendees and larger groups.

Buffet breakfast, lunch and breaks included.

Reserve a seat 

Inquire about group rates

Here’s what’s really killing radio revenue right now.

Agencies are in the driver’s seat.

They demand lower rates and market competitors – usually the big consolidators – begin the race to the bottom of the rate card.

Naturally, competitors feel they have to also comply to get in on the buy.

Then the agencies want bonus spots.

Again, the other bidding stations have to step up with goodies.

Sometimes this means contests and/or promotions above and beyond the initial rate quote.

Then there are some consolidators such as CBS, iHeart and Cumulus who try to push competitors out of the buy by dropping rates even further.

iHeart flexes its corporate muscle even more by doing remnant-like deals with agencies that buy their radio spots for pennies on the dollar then get the rest of the iHeart multimedia platform effectively driving spot rates down to dangerously low and ridiculous levels.

Even good radio groups looking to protect their rate integrity are facing these crosswinds.

Radio is not only shooting itself in the foot using a weapon handed to it by agencies and buyers but then they pass that weapon around to each other to inflict further damage.

We’re going to deal with this in Philadelphia when we get together April 5^th.

Some things cannot be changed.

But there are a lot of things radio can do and before you reserve a seat to get familiar with these options, let me explain.

Radio creates virtually no premium content that agencies must buy at their rates.  But there is a way to carve out part of your inventory for premium content and it comes with its own rules.

Morning shows used to be premium rate material but as groups have watered down morning shows and accepted lesser rates, the premium has vanished. 

Now, there is a way to start a “waiting list” for advertising on your morning show if you do a handful of things to make buyers and agencies crave it.  Imagine a “waiting list”.

And a way to redefine the meaning of “bonus spots”, the ones that are in essence driving rates down further.

And you will be fascinated by a Millennial sales pitch I am going to show you how to make to a handful of big clients.  We’re talking about big money here.

The pitch.

The pricing – which I’m going to tell you now is high, but you’ll get it.

If you bring your sales execs with you I will show you privately how to overcome specific objections.

And did I mention that this is for a one-year contract or else you pull it off the table?

And we’re just getting warmed up because we need to place bets on new ideas.

I’ve got content divided into 11 groups:

1. Strategies to End Rampant Rate Cutting
2. Reducing High Advertiser Churn -- Presented by WBEB’s Jerry Lee in response to a shocking study of 5,000 ad campaigns in which 68% of local advertisers said their radio spend was “a waste of money”.  Let’s stop this in its tracks.
3. Rebuilding Eroding Radio Audiences -- Millennial-friendly new targeted formats.
4. Digital That Makes Money -- How to assemble the “Content Station” of the future that merges radio with digital and social. 
5. Creating Fresh, New Formats -- A sampling of formats and format variations that hit the sweet spot for even the most distracted in-demo audiences.
6. Finally Attracting Millennial Listeners -- By making radio sound like them, have special content for them and embrace their 5 most desired values.
7. The Morning Show of the Future -- Why a lead female personality is now required – no more sidekick status.  New features.  And the ones that should go.  How to make mornings 60% of your total station billing.
8. Ending Repetition That Turns Listeners Off – How to surgically add music discovery to the familiar hits.
9. Dealing With Too Many Commercials – We need to have a conversation about something that drives listeners away.
10. Longer Listening -- Time Spent Listening to radio has declined every year since the early 90’s.  And hardly any Millennial listens to songs all the way through these days (even on other platforms).  Now there is an easily implemented way to keep listeners from straying and it isn’t longer music sweeps.
11. Underground AM Radio -- Say hello to the underground AM station of the future.  Formats possibilities, how to promote and sell. 

The 2017 Media Solutions Lab is about significant, positive change.

This better idea session will not be available by stream or video only in-person.

The rates are favorable and even better for two, three or larger groups.

Buffet breakfast, lunch and breaks included.

Reserve a seat 

Inquire about group rates

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And read these full articles …

            Has CBS Found the Secret to Knocking Off Jerry Lee's More FM?

            Cumulus Changing Its Management Style

            iHeart Cutting Rates, Rewarding Agencies to Hurt Competitors

            The War Against Twitter

            Megyn Kelly’s New Gig

            What the Morning Show of the Future Looks Like

            Why iHeart Owners Are Fine With Delaying Inevitable Bankruptcy

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We just added Jerry Lee’s solution to a study of 5,000 ad campaigns by the Advertising Research Foundation that shockingly revealed that 50% of national radio commercials are a waste of money and an even higher 68% of local commercials are considered to be a waste of money. Lee will explain the steps and strategy to turn those numbers around in your favor as he has done at WBEB-FM, Philadelphia. Reserve a seat here.

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This is the only chance this year to solve four of the most critical problems facing radio at once.

1. Changing the way we engage audiences
2. Getting around a rigged ratings system
3. Growing on-air revenue and making real money from digital
4. Getting 18-34 year old Millennials to listen to radio

It’s all in the Advanced Radio Management Program, which begins tomorrow morning at 8 am in Philadelphia.

We know that radio revenue continues to decline.

We know that radio stations make no significant money from digital.

That the ratings system is hurting what audiences we attract.

And that unless we’re willing to go to school on what Millennials really want, they’re lost and so are we.

If you’re anywhere near an airport or a regional train station, don’t miss this opportunity to reset your year and assure that the decisions you make in these critical areas will be the ones that work.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

Here’s the schedule with the topics and curriculum that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Don’t just sit there, make it happen.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am             Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm          Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Desperate stations are drastically dropping rates potentially putting the year in jeopardy for competitors.

They’re throwing digital in – for free.

Plus bonus spots that eviscerate any decent radio market cost per point.

And advertisers can’t so no to this assault on transactional business, which, sadly, for most stations, is the majority of what they write.

But as you’ll hear there are smart defenses against rate droppers.

Ways to get the same buyer who is taking the cheap rates and running and buying annual contracts.

This is the one thing stations can’t afford to let rate droppers do to them.

We are going to focus on strategies gleaned from operators who have found a very successful defense for maintaining rates and in the process have discovered a new way to deal with advertisers who are getting transactional buys from desperate broadcasters at prices so low they can’t turn them down.

The day focuses on arguably the most critical issues facing radio this year: re-engaging audiences, growing on-air revenue, making money from digital and doing a Millennial radio station makeover.

Driving the innovation needed to compete with multi-platforms in a time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45 am       Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm               Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm          Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

No topic can be more critical than what is happening now.

Competitors panicking, dropping rates, throwing in digital and bonusing down the buy.

But we’re going to focus on strategies gleaned from operators who have found a very successful defense for maintaining rates and in the process have discovered a new way to deal with advertisers who are getting transactional buys from desperate broadcasters at prices so low they can’t turn them down.

The day focuses on re-engaging audiences, growing on-air revenue, making money from digital and doing a Millennial radio station makeover.

Driving the innovation needed to compete with multi-platforms in a time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The day focuses on re-engaging audiences, growing on-air revenue, making money from digital and doing a Millennial radio station makeover.

Driving the innovation needed to compete with multi-platforms in a time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

April is soft.

Retail is soft for the entire year.

Some advertisers are taking a percentage of their ad budgets from radio and buying digital with radio money.

Radio has no digital to offer advertisers other than streaming that doesn’t bring in any significant revenue.

iHeart is already cutting retail rates so drastically it could bring the entire radio industry down.

The year is headed for a loss and local stations are feeling the pain already.

But there are proven ways to outperform a weak radio revenue market.

New sources of income ready-made to contribute to the bottom line.

Ways to deal with competitors who are slashing/cutting ad rates and/or bonusing ad buys to death.

A digital plan that could actually recapture the money advertisers are now diverting to digital.

Subscription revenue, yes income from subscriptions that radio stations are missing.

New forms of advertising such as product placement for radio (not just TV and video).

Newfound revenue from binge radio programming hitchhiking on the popular Millennial habit now reserved for video.

And taking 7pm to 12 midnight and in essence building one or two more radio stations on the same signal to churn revenue where there is essentially nothing.

These are some of the ways that can make a difference as soon as you can get up to speed and implement them.

That’s why the conversation at our April 6^th Philly Conference is focused on significant topics like these that can make a real difference to a radio station at this time of great change.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

The Advanced Radio Management Conference begins a week from today and this is the last call for registration discounts for the learning event.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm               Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm          Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The day focuses on re-engaging audiences, growing on-air revenue, making money from digital and doing a Millennial radio station makeover.

Driving the innovation needed to compete with multi-platforms in a time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

These are the three things that can make the biggest difference to radio in a difficult year.

In a week and a half we will be having a conversation about these issues in Philadelphia.

Changing the way we engage audiences as Millennials now make up the entire 18-34 year old demographic and yet there are still 70 million Baby Boomers and 45 million Gen Xers to consider.

Growing on-air revenue in an era of large companies driving rates down with bonuses and by selling across their platforms.

Making money from digital which is now not just an option but mandatory and yet few stations derive significant revenue from digital.

And doing a Millennial radio makeover to make our stations sound more inviting to a large audience that has turned to their own devices.

Driving future innovation is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule below and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The day focuses on re-engaging audiences, growing on-air revenue, making money from digital and doing a Millennial radio station makeover.

Driving the innovation needed to compete with multi-platforms in a time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am             Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm             Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as work in generational media as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

In less than two weeks, we will be having conversations in person about four of the most critical things as they relate to the future of the radio industry.

Changing the way we engage audiences – Millennials make up the entire 18-34 year old demographic and they are not responding to the way radio is doing things now.

Growing on-air revenue in tough times considering that some ad agencies are diverting up to one-third of their traditional radio budget to digital and just as large consolidators are dropping prices and using bonus spots to lower ad rates.

Making money from digital which had been an add-on to the radio business and is now becoming an essential part of radio’s survival.

And retrofitting our radio stations to be more Millennial-friendly so that these critical audiences can know radio is now talking to them.

Driving the future innovation necessary to meet these challenges is a new approach that involves a better understanding of generational media.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am             Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as work in generational media as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Two weeks from now we will be having conversations together about the most relevant issues that face the radio industry today.

Changing the way we talk to audiences as Millennials now make up the entire 18-34 year old demographic and yet there are still 70 million Baby Boomers and 45 million Gen Xers to consider.

Growing on-air revenue in an era of large companies driving rates down with bonuses and by selling across their platforms.

Making money from digital which is now not just an option but mandatory and yet few stations derive significant revenue from digital.

And doing a Millennial radio makeover to make our stations sound more inviting to a large audience that has turned to their own devices.

Driving future innovation is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The day focuses on re-engaging audiences, growing on-air revenue, making money from digital and doing a Millennial radio station makeover.

Driving the innovation needed to compete with multi-platforms in a time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We invite you to see the schedule and drill down into the topics that are so relevant to radio at the present time.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am              Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am              Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am       Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45             Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm         Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm         Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm              Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

This is the final update for my April 6^th media solutions conference in Philadelphia focusing on new radio.

Radio is evolving at an unprecedented rate with challenges from digital media, the advertising sector and within the radio industry itself.

Driving innovation at this time of great change is new thinking based on a better understanding of generational media especially the money demo of 18-34 year olds.

Jerry Del Colliano invites you to join radio broadcasters and digital executives for a one-day interactive conference focused on leadership, responding to disruption and new content, programming and sales models.

We now invite you to see the final selection of topics for this meeting gleaned from surveys of radio executives.

Advanced Radio Management Program Agenda

8 am             Registration/Complimentary Breakfast
9 am             Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
10:30 am      Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
10:45            Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System

12 Noon         Complimentary Lunch

1 pm              Growing On-Air Revenue / Making Money From Digital
2:30 pm          Break/Complimentary Snacks and Refreshments
2:45 pm          Doing A Millennial Radio Makeover
4 pm               Conference Concludes

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences

• New Ways to Repurpose 7pm to 5am
• How to Program to Shorter Attention Spans
• Strategies to Reinvigorate the Morning Show
• 3 Contests That Will Guarantee Millennial Listeners
• How to Retrain Air Talent to Sound Like Today’s Audiences
• Why it is Best To Focus on Fans Instead of Listeners
• Why Un-branding Your Station Attracts More 18-34s
• Eliminating the Hot Clock As Millennials Like No-Rules Radio
• How Radio Can Take Advantage of 18-34’s Growing Discontent With Music Streaming Services
• How to do “Twitter News” – Give them 22 Tweets not 22 Minutes
• What to do About 18-34’s Who Don’t Listen to Any Song All the Way Through
• Why Creating 2 or More Formats on One Station Now Makes Total Sense
• Why Radio Must Get Back to Contesting for 18-34 Millennial Gamers
• How to Increase Ad Results by One Simple Change
• The Radically New (Unrecognizable) Talk Radio Ahead
• How to Remove Hype 18-34 Year Old’s Hate About Radio
• How to Identify the Next New Radio Formats

Nielsen – Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
(With Sean Hannity, Richard Harker, Glenda Shrader-Bos)

• How to Stop Losing Credit for Audience You Already Have
• The Truth About Voltaire
• The Hannity Research (80% of his listening lost to PPM flaws)
• Genres of Station Being Punished by PPM Technology
• Alternative strategies to PPM
• (Just added) Nielsen’s New Digital Ratings

Growing On-Air Revenue & Making Money From Digital

• Competing Against Rate Droppers
• What to do About Podcasting
• What is Short-Form Podcasting
• New Competition From User-Generated Content
• Finding New Revenue Streams
• How To Recession-Proof Your Station
• Master Short Form Video
• Revenue From Product Placement & Subscription Fees (Just Like Cable)
• How Millennials Are Changing Social Media Again
• The Future of Radio As a “Preview Channel”
• How to Create Binge Listening Content for Radio
• New Thinking About Streaming On-Air Content Online
• Career Advice & New Skills To Stay Relevant
• Better Ideas for the Station Website
• Motivational Tips for Employees (Cutbacks, Show Appreciation, Handling Disputes)
• How to Beat Declining Radio Revenue

Doing a Millennial Radio Makeover
(With Former Cox/CBS Programmer Dan Mason)

• Getting Millennials to Listen
• The 5 Things Millennials Want From Radio
• Gender Neutrality – the Next Big Thing
• How to Appeal to Millennials Without Turning Off Baby Boomers
• Surprise: Why Milllennials Don’t Like DJs Who Try to be Relatable
• More Music or Less Talk – Millennials Vote With Their Thumbs
• What Millennials Want in a Radio Personality
• Millennials Weigh in On Gossip and Hot Topic Talk
• Why Millennials Want Radio to be More Personalized Like Pandora (And How To Do It)
• How Millennials Want Radio to Change The Way They Talk to Them (On-Air)
• The Contest Prize Millennials Want Most (Not Cash, Dreams)

Led by Jerry Del Colliano whose background includes on-air and management roles in major market radio and television, publishing and digital as well as Professor of Music Industry at The University of Southern California.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in-person April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Please join us for this transformative experience.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Radio groups are eating each other alive.

They are in a panic.

Advertisers and agencies are diverting some of their radio spend – sometimes as much as one-third – and giving it to digital.

But predatory groups like iHeart not able to maintain any kind of rate integrity across their 850 stations are selling big chunks of advertising – sometimes using their rep firm Katz which also reps their competitors – to deliver a price so low, no one can compete.

Then they along with others are bonusing the agencies and advertisers to death thus driving down prices further.

Ask any group exec and they’ll shake their head.

It’s hard to have enemies in this industry when you have competitors who are desperate.

And radio is about to get waltzed down the wrong road again as Nielsen deliverers a custom radio product that measures only radio streams or their pure plays along with terrestrial radio.

Hello!

This move to rate only radio-favorable content is a big giant invitation for advertisers to buy the digital part on the cheap and demand more bonus spots for terrestrial stations.

I can’t help these big operators.

What worries me is the independent operators and smaller groups that are trying to do the best local radio they can against these forces.

At my upcoming conference in Philadelphia in less than 3 weeks, we’re going to have a conversation about competing in an industry of dominant group owners who are willing to hurt the industry to stay alive for another quarter.

There are strategies and solutions that work against such predatory practices.

My conference is about new radio – the kind of innovative things operators who plan to stay in business and thrive would want to do.

Nothing in the curriculum for companies teetering on the brink of bankruptcy or lost in the stupidity of consolidation.

Of all the conferences I have done – and I’ve done a lot since the 1990s, this one has more new and emerging topics and developing trends hitting all at one time.

And as you’ll see below, one of radio’s bravest researchers, Richard Harker, is joining me in a live session along with Premiere talk show host Sean Hannity.

Turns out Harker had the balls to do a study of existing PPM technology vs. Voltair in one of Hannity’s major markets and discovered that Hannity’s show and probably all spoken word radio shows are being robbed blind of listeners who are actually listening but not being credited by Nielsen PPM.

As is my custom from teaching inquisitive students as a professor at USC, you, too, will be able to join that discussion and drill down to some real insights with Richard and Sean.

Oh, one more thing.

If you think that this listener inequity just applies to spoken word, you’re going to be surprised – no, horrified – to see how other certain music formats are also getting the shaft.

So there’s that and also some ways to circumvent the audience inequities beyond just buying a Voltair machine.

One more thing and then I’ll let you have at the curriculum below.

This topic of audience gender neutrality that is on the docket is going to be big. Gender norms are changing. Audiences expect media outlets to be friendly to their new expectations and yet 100% of America’s radio stations are still stuck in the 60’s when it comes to relating to new generations of listeners.

And now add gender disruption of the magnitude that I am projecting.

It would be an honor to work face-to-face with you if you can reserve the date – April 6^th.

Now, preview the curriculum.

Deliver What Millennial Audiences Want By Being Relentlessly Authentic

Music's Now a Commodity Like Ketchup -- What to Do

On Contesting:  Don't Offer Cash, Offer Dreams

Blowing Up Your Station and Building a Content Model

The Big Audience Issue of 2016 – Gender Neutrality

Kill the 8-Minute Stop Set Before it Kills You – Alternatives

Radio's Future:  Target Younger, Not Older (Older Adopts Anyway, Later)

Talk to Millennial Audiences the Way You Tweet

We're Doing it All Backwards Programming Stations Instead of Targeting Audiences

Radio's Real Competitor is Not Another Station or Internet Service, it's User Generated Content

On TSL: Short Attention Spans Are Your Friend -- Kill Long Music Sweeps, Don't Play Songs All the Way Through, Program More Interruptions to Feed A.D.D.

The Best Way to Raise Rates is to Create Premium Content

Over 100 Million Listeners Are Available But Radio Programs to 70 Million “Unavailables”

A Sweeper is a Self-Inflicted Wound to Your Audience -- What's Better

Divorce Your Digital Do Radio Separately Then Restart as Short-Form Video 

If Stations Are Making Most of Their Money From Spot Sales Then They Are Missing 7 Revenue-Ready Innovations

Consider New Forms of Revenue Such as Subscriptions and Product Placement

Radio Must Create Binge Content Like Netflix -- Audiences Demand It

Conducting a Long Overdue Millennial Radio Makeover

Someday Radio May Not Exist, the Exciting Opportunities Ahead For Radio Executives

Reserve a seat here.

Inquire about group discounts here.

A preview of Ways To Change How Radio Engages Audiences at my upcoming April 6^th media conference – The Advanced Radio Management Program on April 6^th in Philadelphia. Details here.

1. Embrace authenticity
2. Talk like the people who look like your audience
3. Talk more often than four times an hour (here’s how much talking to do).
4. Talk to audiences like you tweet
5. Remove all hype from your station promos (today’s listeners don’t believe them anyway and think radio is outdated).
6. Replace “sweepers” that scream this station is not real and is not for you
7. Instead of doing everything to attract audiences, focus only on creating fans
8. Avoid using social media to promote your station — to be more effective think of social media as a give back of information, humor or entertainment without a sales pitch
9. Music listeners are growing tired of streaming services the way they did with repetitive radio — give them curation about the music, artists, and genres.
10. Radio got out of the news business at the wrong time — today’s 18-34’s are addicted to Twitter and their newsfeeds so give audiences Twitter length news.
11. Do not play songs all the way through — generational evidence suggests even if Millennials like the songs, they will tune out.
12. Millennials care about the social consciousness of the companies and organizations they embrace, to engage these 18-34’s you must now be readily associated with a cause they care about.
13. Your listeners want to be your program director — ways for them to immediately access the airwaves the way a tweet is broadcast to followers in Twitter.
14. Start doing contests again — 18-34’s are a serious gaming generation and we’ve stopped the fun to save corporate owners prize money.
15. Count down the hits using numbers — this is the BuzzFeed generation and they loves lists.

… Plus 15 MORE strategies to help change the way we engage radio audiences today.

Also on April 6^th modules on:

Getting Millennials To Listen

Outperforming a Slowing Revenue Trend

Repurposing 7pm to 5am

Making Money From Digital

Programming To Shorter Attention Spans

Reinvigorating the Morning Show

Finding New Revenue Streams

Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System (Sean Hannity & Harker Research)

What To Do About Podcasting

New Competition From User-Generated Content 

A Millennial Radio Makeover Brainstorming Session (Dan Mason)

And, of course, Changing the Way Radio Engages Audiences

Not available on tape or by streaming.

Jerry Del Colliano is your program leader – former major market radio, television talent, program director, author & publisher, speaker and professor of Music Industry at the University of Southern California now in his seventh year of presenting this annual executive media conference.

Consider the impact the Advanced Radio Management Program can have as you advance your career and lead your stations, media outlets or entrepreneurial company towards further success.

Join us April 6^th in Philadelphia.

Register here.

Inquire about group rates.

I saw a breakdown of why Donald Trump voters continue to choose him in spite of his bat shit crazy rhetoric.

Immigration pales by comparison to Trump’s ability to cut through the establishment that voters increasingly do not trust and challenge conventional thinking.

On the Democratic side to some extent Bernie Sanders’ Millennial supporters are tired of what they perceive as being worked by an old time politician from another decade with tons of baggage.

The media business is also suspect.

When viewers give more credibility to Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver than they do the cable news channels, you know there is a problem.

Radio stations by and large sound like they did in the 60’s – although not as good due to cutbacks and a de-emphasis on personalities and air talent.

Radio thrives on denial.

They even institutionalize it through their trade organizations – The NAB and RAB.

Most radio companies are incapable of change.

They want to do radio their way not in the new way that listeners may want.

So you have talk radio today that sounds like the 70’s.

Music stations that are worse than their heyday because they are just a laptop in the closet with sweepers and no personalities.

And this – there has been no innovation in radio in decades.

So, while Trump has found a way to channel this contempt for business as usual, radio exemplifies it.

Now we hear CBS Radio is officially for sale – all of it.

Cumulus and iHeart will go bankrupt.

Entercom is a hanger on and not strong enough to carry an industry.

So now it is time for all those people who are NOT planning on selling their stations or filing for bankruptcy to innovate.

And by innovate I am not talking about making minor adjustments. I’m saying, reinvent radio the way radio reinvented itself when television came along.

That’s why I am doing my 7^th annual media conference in Philadelphia, April 6^th – for independent local operators who know they have to be the leaders in innovation to survive and hopefully thrive in the future.

This is for people who want it straight and want to get it right.

Not willing to sit back and see radio take its final bow because the people who run the stations are afraid of innovating.

That would be easy and predictable.

Take a look at the solutions that will be offered at this event and see if it makes sense for you and your people to stop doing radio as usual and let us fire up the creative juices that could bring a major turnaround.

It’s an Advanced Radio Management Program unlike anything else.

Outperforming a Slowing Revenue Trend
Learn how to compete against consolidators who are driving ad prices down in desperation to avoid bankruptcy by making it difficult for competitors to get paid what they are actually worth.

Getting Millennials To Listen
Discover the things that 18-34 year old Millennial listeners say they want from radio that they are not currently getting. Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason joins us to help you begin a Millennial Radio Makeover that incorporates these needs.

Making Money From Digital
Learn why there isn’t a radio station in the country deriving significant ad revenue from their digital strategies and where exactly to focus limited resources to achieve a much better outcome.

Programming To Shorter Attention Spans
Learn how to rethink formats that are currently appealing to older audiences by adapting them to younger listeners who are distracted by mobile devices and social media.

Your New Competitor: User-Generated Content
Discover why younger money demos are now insisting on being their own “program director” which explains the popularity of YouTube and social media that allows them to be in charge. Once you know how to translate this need into radio programming, you’ll be riding the next wave.

Reinvigorating the Morning Show
Morning shows should deliver 50-60% of a radio stations total revenue but their chief appeal – personalities, news, traffic, weather – are no longer audience magnets. Learn how to pick up the pace of change for your most valuable asset – the one thing station’s must get right to succeed.

Repurposing 7pm to 5am
Voice tracking and syndication will not be enough to generate the extra revenue needed to stay on the road to success. Learn how these time periods are being used successfully to gain audience and revenue – sometimes in ways that are unorthodox.

Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
Listen to researcher Richard Harker and talk show host Sean Hannity explain the study they did that discovered a majority of actual listening to Sean’s show was not credited by PPM. Engage them directly. Get answers to how to get around a rigged ratings system.

What To Do About Podcasting
Learn why podcasting may have a future as a radio format but not as a standalone business. Go beyond basic podcasting to pod-radio and explore all the details for making podcasting a radio station with all the revenue that would attract.

Finding New Revenue Streams
In a world where audiences click to buy apps (75% of which they never use) and access entertainment and information on-demand, radio now sees a model where paid subscriptions, product placement and other strategies are increasingly an option.

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
Learn how radio can become more relevant to 86 million money demo listeners by sounding more Millennial. You’ll leave with a plan that will enable you to start teaching on-air talent to change the way they talk to their audience.

Eliminating Listeners’ Biggest Objections
Learn what to do to deal with the negatives of long commercial stop sets, repetitious music and morning shows that don’t do it for them any longer.

One day, April 6^th at The Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia.

Not available on tape or by streaming.

Flexible format – you join the discussion.

Continued involvement – the learning and feedback don’t stop here, you can follow up when you return home to maximize what you’ve learned.

Jerry Del Colliano is your program leader – former radio, television talent, program director, author & publisher, speaker and professor at the University of Southern California now in his seventh year of presenting this annual executive media conference.

Consider the impact the Advanced Radio Management Program can have as you advance your career and lead your stations, media outlets or entrepreneurial company towards further success.

Register here. 

Inquire about group rates.

Millennials have no real relationship with a radio station.

Not true of baby boomers who to their dying day still recall their favorite stations and personalities.

Even Gen Xers who were first to coin the term “radio sucks” had no real other choice the way 86 million Millennials do.

Gen Xers are today’s podcasters and they are cheating on radio.

The important thing is to build relationships.

And it’s time radio stations that are serious about succeeding in a digital age rethink the way they connect with Millennials.

One thing is for sure.

If we’re serious about attracting Millennials who constitute 100% of the prime 18-34 year old demographic now, radio is going to have to be open to some pretty substantial changes.

The way we talk to Millennials must change.

Each station must adopt the 5 most important values Millennials care about the most yet most stations don’t even know what these values are.

I’m going to get into all of this at my Philly Conference in 3 weeks from now because it is possible to have a new beginning with the digital generation.

But we only have one chance to get it right.

The timing is right which is why I have elevated this topic to the top of the list. Millennials are growing tired of streaming music services and they are sure not paying for them. Even Spotify only has 20 million paid subscribers. Apple Music about half that.

Radio can offer a new approach to music, which will take away any advantage millions of songs on-demand can have. But no station is doing this yet. You will at least want to hear about it and be early to adopt if it is right for you.

How to prevent Millennials from being drive-by listeners who tune-in and then turn to their other devices – the digital ones. I’ll give you three compelling strategies that you will love. This will hook even the most skeptical Millennial as you’re about to hear.

Changing time-tested radio formats and go with a “no rules” approach. Millennials hate rules. The hot clock is out but how do you maintain order?

The importance of doing news but not newscasts. And not fast paced entertainment reports with music behind them. The Twitter approach to news – yes, even on a music station. Let me describe the sound and then fire away with questions.

New uses for radio that fit into the Millennial lifestyle.

Let’s be honest, radio hasn’t come up with a new format in three decades.

And new formats alone are not the only answer – a new use for radio is. And before our time together is up, you’ll hear my ideas and contribute your own.

As I said, the hour is late. It’s more than time for some deadly honest approaches to strengthen radio.

How to get Millennials to listen to radio.

Here are 9 other critical issues on deck for the April 6^th meeting:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity.   Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
2. Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
3. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
5. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend. Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
6. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
7. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
8. Standing up to a rigged ratings system. Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
9. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

1. Go on the air and wage war against digital. I didn’t say don’t do digital. I said declare war and point out its weaknesses of which there are many.
2. Every week a radio station should make news and I don’t care if you play the most vanilla music that anyone ever heard. Reset their attention every Monday.
3. Don’t give me this negative stuff about how Millennials don’t listen to radio. I already know it!! If I made the decisions on your station I’d have more Millennials than you can handle with this one move.
4. Okay, okay. I’ll tell you the move. Become the station that pays down student loan debt. I’ll tell you how this works without going broke and how you can get the Mexicans to pay for it – alright that part is bullshit – but I will show you how to get someone else to pay for this life changing promotion at my upcoming Philly conference.
5. If you are a really young skewing station, tell your listeners no one over 50 allowed. Say it again and again. Come on, all that old branding stuff isn’t working anymore. Speak in terms 18-34’s can readily understand.
6. Pick apart other radio stations on-air for the things they do that are not cool with Millennials – and hit them again and again. This is the age of no bullshit not political correctness.
7. When it comes time to do traffic, tell them to take their phones out and use Google Traffic while you use what was traffic report time to tell them who is hiring good jobs. You think they’d like that tradeoff since only old people use radio for traffic info.
8. Punish competitors for being robots by making all your jocks live.
9. Let jocks talk (no longer than a tweet) every three minutes except twice an hour. I’ll show you how in Philly.
10. From now on everyone on your station talks like they tweet – but first you have to learn how to adapt tweeting to radio.
11. Attack streaming while simultaneously doing it.
12. Your station must sound like its listeners from now on – this doesn’t necessarily mean all air talent has to be 22 years old. Know the secret ingredient.
13. I sold millions and millions of trade press ads a year when I owned Inside Radio and I dictated price, length of contract and terms. Why did so many advertisers buy me?  Ask my friend Barry O’Brien the best R&R salesperson that ever lived.
14. The next time your competitor drops their pants and throws tons of bonus spots at an advertiser to win the majority of the buy, immediately take your offer off the table and walk. Secret for those with cajones: advertisers want what they can’t have and they’ll think you’re better (and they may have a dictate to buy you so now they’ll have to negotiate fairly). More strategies like this, not by sitting home and continue getting bonused to death.
15. Blow up your morning show. Want to find out what Millennials want from a radio morning show – by the way, we’re not giving it to them. Dan Mason will bring direct requests from listeners in a Millennial Radio Makeover. Wait until you hear it from the mouths of Millennials.
16. Want to make more money than all your current digital endeavors now?  Take the time between 7pm and 5am and create binge content to sell at a premium.  This can turn dead time into a license to print money.

Hitchhike on ideas that restore radio to that medium that adapted to television.

Now a new strategy for the digital age.

I plan to give it to you in my refreshingly honest way April 6 in Philadelphia at my next media solutions conference.

Not available on tape or by streaming.

Some groups are bringing their people to learn how to think organically about radio so they’ll be pumped when they return home.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Radio keeps getting whacked in the revenue department.

Cumulus bottomed out yesterday with awful Q4 and yearly revenue figures.

iHeart and the others are down and that doesn’t bode well.

Will everyone have to be Townsquare a company that says they’re a digital company not a radio company and in their memos to employees reminds them:

“As you know we are a digital company that owns radio stations.”

The emails continue with some online content ideas and concludes by saying:

“Please tell, remind, ask, and beg your listeners to go to your website.”

Beg?

Is that what radio has become?

I’m saying no and I’ve got the evidence to prove it.

There are plenty of better ways to increase revenue while doing the best radio programming possible. For example:

• Premium spot rates – the only way around big consolidators driving down local ad prices is to adopt a policy like this which I will lay out at my upcoming management conference.
• Binge programming – develop binge programming for after 7pm until 5am and weekends following the latest information we have about younger money demos and watch your revenue totals increase now – not three quarters from now.
• Paid subscriptions – you’re talking to the right guy when I share the power of paid subscriptions when added to special in-demand programming. And if you don’t think your on-air audience will pay up, wait until you see the evidence.
• Product placement – yes, we can do that in radio. It’s no longer just for TV and there are companies like Macy’s and Target that have budgets for these things not to mention local advertisers who will love the concept.
• Defending against big operators driving down radio rates – that is the number one problem according to radio group heads. No matter how you may be, companies with nothing to lose are dropping rates and bonusing spots in effect killing the rest of the radio market. This puts a stop to that pronto.
• Short-form video – inexpensive, social media friendly and a perfect companion for radio.

Let’s continue this conversation when we get together in Philadelphia April 6^th.

Look, I’m into dealing with the truth even if it is painful but I am also optimistic about what we can do when we innovate and directly respond to the forces that are posing a long-term threat to radio operators.

So, we’ll start with finding new radio revenue streams and then we’ll deliver on solutions for these critical issues:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences.
2. Making money from digital.
3. Getting Millennials to listen.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show.
5. Turning around radio’s alarming revenue declines.
6. What to do about podcasting.
7. How to do a Millennial Radio Makeover to win more 18-34’s.
8. Selling around a rigged ratings system (Harker Research and Sean Hannity share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to reclaim the listening you’ve lost).
9. Eliminating radio’s biggest objections

A day of information and inspiration with topics that really matter.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Most radio stations sound like they are broadcasting to Gen Xers or baby boomers.

And 86 million Millennials 18-34, the largest available audience, know it.

Radio is not essential to their lives.

To be deadly honest – they can’t relate.

So getting Millennials to listen to radio is among our highest priorities at my upcoming April 6 New Radio Conference in Philadelphia.

Here’s how that segment will go.

I will be working with Dan Mason, the very able programmer of Cox and CBS fame, who has taken a keen interest in what it takes to attract Millennials.

Attendees will be part of the discussion if they like as we go through some of the things that we know Millennials want from radio.

And we will brainstorm together.

For example:

• How they don’t like djs that try to be relatable. But wait -- isn’t that what program directors tell their jocks to do – be relatable? But there is one other thing Millennials would appreciate most.  Let’s see if we can put our heads together to find ways to do it.

• More talk about the music – and as we know djs never talk about the music other than an occasional casual mention. They’re lucky to talk at all – maybe four times an hour with nothing worth listening to. But what specifically do 18-34’s want to know about these recording artists? Let’s explain it.

• From an actual Millennial listener: “trying to relate current music to what’s happening in the world”. Hell, radio doesn’t do that! Maybe that’s why radio is so meaningless to Millennials. By the way if we can make some adjustments, that leaves streaming music services just being – well, music services. Apparently Millennials are starting to want more.

• What constitutes a radio personality to Millennial listeners.

• What they like and don’t want in a morning show.

• Ways radio can stop offending Millennials with – of all things – social media. Yes, radio is doing social media like a new age direct mail campaign.  

• Gossip, hot topic talk – the only real stuff djs do when they say anything – here’s how that goes over with Millennials.

• And believe it or not Millennials want terrestrial radio to personalize the their stations like Pandora. I know, it can’t be done. But they think it can. Here’s what they want you to do.

• And they want you to change the way you engage them on-the-air.  And we’ll be specific about this.

This is a big piece of our agenda in Philly for good reason.

Fix the Millennial problem and radio may be able to show some real growth again.

This is the 7^th annual conference I have put together for progressive thinking broadcasters and media executives who want deadly honest solutions to critical problems that are hurting the radio industry.

The “How To Get Millennials To Listen” session.

Here are all 9 critical issues on deck for the April 6^th meeting:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity.  Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
2. Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
3. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
5. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend.  Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
6. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
7. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
8. Standing up to a rigged ratings system.  Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
9. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Radio may be having a hard time attracting Millennial listeners but radio stations are employing a majority of Millennials aged 18-34.

This is a very different generation – not at all like their baby boomer or Gen X bosses.

Millennials don’t stay anywhere very long.

At Google arguably the best place to work with benefits like free lunch, dry cleaning, child care and spending one day a week on any project you want – Millennials still leave even that job.

At USC my students who worked at the university radio station enjoyed the camaraderie of being with others but rarely listened to the station on their own time.

When new Cumulus CEO Mary Berner did questionnaire after questionnaire about employee job attitudes recently she publicly admitted that the results showed they liked their job but not the company.

Is there a way to motivate Millennial workers and those who have been through hell working without raises, promotions or for that matter even encouragement?

At my upcoming Philly conference I think we should have this discussion because there are a lot of things that can be done.  

A quick preview …

Money is never the number one motivator for employees. Believe it. Never. In fact do you know where salary ranks in job satisfaction? You will.

Empowerment – the one thing most radio companies refuse to do. Even the managers at Cumulus have to bow down to corporate infrastructure.

How to empower people who you may not be used to empowering and where do you start.

This one thing – and this is worth the trip to Philly for this alone – that can motivate anyone even an employee who has been abused in the workplace or taken for granted.

This works 100% of the time and you can learn how to do it.

But don’t get me wrong – sincerity matters. Just to do the things that we know are working at stations that bring about great productivity will fail if they are not applied sincerely.

How to resolve disputes.

To get employees to get along with each other.

The best way to show appreciation.

How to handle cutbacks.

Even firings if it comes to that.

Radio people are brutal. Learn from other industries where being laid off is not the career ending move that it has become in radio.

Setting goals that motivate not discourage – and remember, money doesn’t motivate even for salespeople the way this does. Come and learn some new ways.

Radio is at a crossroads and not enough attention has been paid the past decade to the art of managing people.

Bring your concerns and we’ll offer refreshingly honest solutions that can make all the difference as part of our Open Forum.

Motivation tips for radio employees – another important subject to be covered at my April 6^th radio conference in Philadelphia in four weeks.

Here are 9 critical issues on the agenda:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity.  Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
2. Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
3. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
5. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend.  Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
6. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
7. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
8. Standing up to a rigged ratings system.  Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
9. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Millennials are famous for embracing authenticity.

But radio is the least authentic sounding thing to them – hype, promos, 8 minutes of commercials with meaningless gibberish every 30 minutes and features that make no sense (like traffic when they can get it live on their phones).

When jocks talk it is often only every 15 minutes and well, they say nothing.

Few people on radio sound like the audience that now represents 86 million 18-34 year olds.

By and large radio sounds the same way it sounded in the 60’s and 70’s.

There hasn’t been one significant new radio format innovated in many decades even though audience tastes have changed.

Djs sound like they were all descendants from Cousin Brucie.

The only thing that has changed about the way we engage radio audiences is that the audience has left us and turned to their own devices – digital devices.

So top priority to remain relevant is to change how we engage audiences.

This is not going to be easy but it is a must.

How to do news that’s more compelling then Twitter.

And music that makes listeners forget about streaming services.

How to remove hype that 18-34’s hate so much they won’t even tune in.

To replace the sweepers we are addicted to that scream “this station is not for you”.

In fact, we will need to train our air talent to be as interesting as they are on their Twitter pages.

On radio they are dumbed down, but at my upcoming conference in Philadelphia, I’m going to show you how to train your on-air talent to be as compelling as they are on Twitter.

Training on-air people to sound like the audiences they are targeting (and as I will show you this doesn’t mean they all have to be 24 years old).

Our goal is for you to return to your market and have enough things you can do to push your station into the present in as painless a way as possible. But it’s going to require an open mind.

I am so proud that we have numerous independent local radio groups not only attending this training but bringing their people so that change will begin at this conference for them organically when they return home.

 Let’s start with a big problem.

Changing the way we engage audiences.

Here are the 9 critical issues on deck for the April 6^th meeting:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity.  Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
2. Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
3. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
5. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend.  Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
6. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
7. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
8. Standing up to a rigged ratings system.  Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
9. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Here’s the part that is hard to understand.

If no radio station in the country is making any significant money from their digital projects, why don’t we do something else?

Good question.

At the heart of the matter are radio execs who frankly are expert in radio but not necessarily digital media. They have to rely on what others do.

Townsquare claims that 50% of their revenue is from non-radio advertising but that doesn’t mean that it’s from digital. Townsquare makes their money from events the way iHeart does.

The wakeup call came last year when agencies put out the edict to spend one-third of their radio budget on digital. So you can see why this all of a sudden ramps up the importance.

Streaming doesn’t make any money and isn’t worth the effort. You can stream to have presence online but don’t confuse that with making money.

Websites are money losers in general as are apps.

Social media?

Even Twitter can’t figure out how to make money.

What else is there?

Well that’s what I’m doing to drill down into at my Philly Conference in less than 5 weeks from now because waiting can be devastating.

Video.

14-year old kids make more money with videos featuring product placement than most radio stations – I played a bunch of them at last year’s conference.

But now, video – especially short-form video – is something radio content providers can get into and as I am going to show you, it doesn’t have to be strictly limited to what you do on the air. There is a world of possibilities.

Running ads is not cool, but selling product placement is – so how do you go about it?

Where do you get the content – will it cost you even more money to produce short-form video?

Well, the one thing you won’t want to do is force you air staff to do digital.

Please re-read that line because it is the mistake almost every radio company makes.

But there is a win-win way to create a side-business that someday may outperform even your spot radio revenue.

Then there are subscriptions that can be tied into your digital products. You tell me what is so special about your station and I’ll tell you some can’t miss digital products you can affordably produce. (At this conference, that’s the way we do things).

You’ll want to see the latest evidence on podcasting before putting your resources there but a paid subscription podcast? Let me show you how and what mistake to avoid making.

Social media is big and the mistake is to use it as a promotional tool. Well, if not a promotional tool, how do you monetize social media, which is everything to 18-34 year olds.

And don’t forget binge content – check out this plan to create binge-worthy radio content that plays right into one of the most popular trends in digital media.

Maybe you, too, are getting the feeling that there’s a lot we can do.

Making money from digital.

Here are 9 other critical issues on deck for the April 6^th meeting:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity. Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
2. Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
3. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
5. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend. Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
6. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
7. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
8. Standing up to a rigged ratings system. Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
9. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Millennials have no real relationship with a radio station.

Not true of baby boomers who to their dying day still recall their favorite stations and personalities.

Even Gen Xers who were first to coin the term “radio sucks” had no real other choice the way 86 million Millennials do.

Gen Xers are today’s podcasters and they are cheating on radio.

The important thing is to build relationships.

And it’s time radio stations that are serious about succeeding in a digital age rethink the way they connect with Millennials.

One thing is for sure.

If we’re serious about attracting Millennials who constitute 100% of the prime 18-34 year old demographic now, radio is going to have to be open to some pretty substantial changes.

The way we talk to Millennials must change.

Each station must adopt the 5 most important values Millennials care about the most yet most stations don’t even know what these values are.

I’m going to get into all of this at my Philly Conference in 5 weeks from now because it is possible to have a new beginning with the digital generation.

But we only have one chance to get it right.

The timing is right which is why I have elevated this topic to the top of the list. Millennials are growing tired of streaming music services and they are sure not paying for them. Even Spotify only has 20 million paid subscribers. Apple Music about half that.

Radio can offer a new approach to music which will take away any advantage millions of songs on-demand can have. But no station is doing this yet. You will at least want to hear about it and be early to adopt if it is right for you.

How to prevent Millennials from being drive-by listeners who tune-in and then turn to their other devices – the digital ones. I’ll give you three compelling strategies that you will love. This will hook even the most skeptical Millennial as you’re about to hear.

Changing time-tested radio formats and go with a “no rules” approach. Millennials hate rules. The hot clock is out but how do you maintain order?

The importance of doing news but not newscasts. And not fast paced entertainment reports with music behind them. The Twitter approach to news – yes, even on a music station. Let me describe the sound and then fire away with questions.

New uses for radio that fit into the Millennial lifestyle.

Let’s be honest, radio hasn’t come up with a new format in three decades.

And new formats alone are not the only answer – a new use for radio is. And before our time together is up, you’ll hear my ideas and contribute your own.

As I said, the hour is late. It’s more than time for some deadly honest approaches to strengthen radio.

How to get Millennials to listen to radio.

Here are 9 other critical issues on deck for the April 6^th meeting:

1. Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity. Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
2. Making money from digital.  Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
3. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
4. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
5. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend. Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
6. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
7. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.      
8. Standing up to a rigged ratings system. Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
9. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.
I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The easiest fix is often the toughest.

Is there any doubt why radio has fallen so far out of favor with audiences especially the young money demo of 18-34 – the first meaningful media Millennial audience.

There is no doubt that Millennials love their phones more than radio but the industry during the 20 years since consolidation has done its best to take for granted the largest generation ever born – 86 million.

But a first start – and a major step in the right direction – is for radio stations to change the way we talk to audiences.

I’ve isolated specific ideas and strategies that can be easily implemented by any radio station, any format, any market and I’m going to spend some time on this at my Philly conference 5 weeks from now.

The problem is that radio is talking to the past.

The personalities (even voice trackers) do not sound like anything the audience recognizes and it unfortunately screams “this radio station is not for you”.

As you will see, this can be fixed.

Many stations looking to save money and pander to PPM which rewards strident music or talking only allow live jocks to talk as few as four times an hour which means what they hear the rest of the time – sweepers, positioners and promos – defines today’s radio as out of touch with audiences.

This is going to be a fruitful dialogue because without spending a single dime, smart radio stations can fine-tune their strategy for changing the way they talk to audiences and for the first time have a chance to win the hearts of younger ones.

How to sound authentic, which is the Holy Grail of the age group, that radio is letting get away.

What to do beyond promos and sweepers to remake the station’s sound and reconnect with listeners.

Teaching jocks how to talk the way they tweet – I’ll show you how so you can return and show them.

How to make the way the station sounds embody the 5 values that Millennials treasure most.

Here are 8 other critical issues on deck for the April 6^th meeting:

1. Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
2. Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
3. Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
4. Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend. Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
5. A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
6. What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
7. Standing up to a rigged ratings system. Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
8. Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

If you want to understand the dumbing down of American politics (if that is even possible – the dumbing down part, I mean), then look no further than Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart.

For years they poked fun at public figures playing and replaying embarrassing videos and taking the brunt of their unorthodox way of reporting news.

All the while they were considered the more reliable news sources compared to traditional TV, cable and newspapers according to polls.

Before Colbert and Stewart, cable news networks re-set the expectations of political candidates, for instance to feed their news cycle.

While their audiences were treated to commercials for Hoverounds and Cialis, everyone else was watching these two firebrands hijacking the news cycle.

So it should be no surprise that a Donald Trump could come along and do the impossible.

No, not be ahead in the Republican primary.

Challenge Roger Ailes and Fox News – and win.

Trump says bat shit crazy things and his popularity goes up every time he does so Ted Cruz and especially Marco Rubio have finally figured it out and they have now gone bat shit crazy (that’s a term South Carolina Republican senator Lindsey Graham used over the weekend).

Then Trump brings in the bully from New Jersey and sics him on Rubio – this isn’t an election, it’s a smackdown on WWE.

Moderates are threatening to bring back Mitt Romney.

Huh?

And everyone is wondering not if there is a Democratic primary going on over on the other side but what Trump will do to expose Hillary Clinton in the many ways that she is vulnerable.

This is better than Keeping Up With the Kardashians.

Our forefathers are turning over in their graves.

Yet we are amazed yes, surprised no.

This was all in the making while media companies were living in their little bubble – the same bubble that has radio thinking it actually has 230 million listeners a week and that talk radio is alive and music radio will never die.

I can’t watch the radio industry go down without a fight. It’s time for some deadly honest intelligence to wake up an industry in dire search of a leader, an innovator – someone to turn things around.

News stations sound like they are from the 60’s – come on, let’s fix that and do something as compelling as Twitter where, by the way, most young people get their news.

You give THEM 20 seconds and they’ll give you the world on Twitter.

Talk is so dead – as dead as the conservative movement, which is being killed off by Donald Trump not the Tea Party (and do you even hear the words Tea Party anymore?).

But podcasting which flops on digital devices at least as a revenue producer is the model for the next talk radio. Wouldn’t you like to hear how to do this?

Streaming music services are consolidating and dying and yet good old terrestrial radio is playing the same short playlist with non-authentic sweepers, no djs and personalities, no music discovery and believe it or not radio stations can’t see that the outcome is going to be ugly.

But radio could offer a very different music service that streamers could not be able to do but they are too scared to even hear about it let alone try to save the industry.

After all, it only takes one innovator to turn around a radio group and save the industry.

So with that in mind, I’d like you to consider putting aside April 6^th and come work with me in Philadelphia where we will address these issues and interact with you and your station’s problems.

I will be my usual shy self and suck up to all the big names.

We will also pave the way for the next generation of digital entrepreneurs if you think your future will take you there – I think so.

Take a look at the solutions that will be offered at this event and see if it makes sense for you and your people to stop doing radio as usual and let us fire up the creative juices that could bring a major turnaround.

5 weeks away.

Outperforming a Slowing Revenue Trend
Learn how to compete against consolidators who are driving ad prices down in desperation to avoid bankruptcy by making it difficult for competitors to get paid what they are actually worth.

Getting Millennials To Listen
Discover the things that 18-34 year old Millennial listeners say they want from radio that they are not currently getting. Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason joins us to help you begin a Millennial Radio Makeover that incorporates these needs.

Making Money From Digital
Learn why there isn’t a radio station in the country deriving significant ad revenue from their digital strategies and where exactly to focus limited resources to achieve a much better outcome.

Programming To Shorter Attention Spans
Learn how to rethink formats that are currently appealing to older audiences by adapting them to younger listeners who are distracted by mobile devices and social media.

Your New Competitor: User-Generated Content
Discover why younger money demos are now insisting on being their own “program director” which explains the popularity of YouTube and social media that allows them to be in charge. Once you know how to translate this need into radio programming, you’ll be riding the next wave.

Reinvigorating the Morning Show
Morning shows should deliver 50-60% of a radio stations total revenue but their chief appeal – personalities, news, traffic, weather – are no longer audience magnets. Learn how to pick up the pace of change for your most valuable asset – the one thing station’s must get right to succeed.

Repurposing 7pm to 5am
Voice tracking and syndication will not be enough to generate the extra revenue needed to stay on the road to success. Learn how these time periods are being used successfully to gain audience and revenue – sometimes in ways that are unorthodox.

Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
Listen to researcher Richard Harker and talk show host Sean Hannity explain the study they did that discovered a majority of actual listening to Sean’s show was not credited by PPM. Engage them directly. Get answers to how to get around a rigged ratings system.

What To Do About Podcasting
Learn why podcasting may have a future as a radio format but not as a standalone business. Go beyond basic podcasting to pod-radio and explore all the details for making podcasting a radio station with all the revenue that would attract.

Finding New Revenue Streams
In a world where audiences click to buy apps (75% of which they never use) and access entertainment and information on-demand, radio now sees a model where paid subscriptions, product placement and other strategies are increasingly an option.

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
Learn how radio can become more relevant to 86 million money demo listeners by sounding more Millennial. You’ll leave with a plan that will enable you to start teaching on-air talent to change the way they talk to their audience.

Eliminating Listeners’ Biggest Objections
Learn what to do to deal with the negatives of long commercial stop sets, repetitious music and morning shows that don’t do it for them any longer.

One day, April 6^th at The Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia.

Not available on tape or by streaming.

Flexible format – you join the discussion.

Continued involvement – the learning and feedback don’t stop here, you can follow up when you return home to maximize what you’ve learned.

Jerry Del Colliano is your program leader – former radio, television talent, program director, author & publisher, speaker and professor at the University of Southern California now in his seventh year of presenting this annual executive media conference.

Consider the impact the Advanced Radio Management Program can have as you advance your career and lead your stations, media outlets or entrepreneurial company towards further success. 

Register here.

Inquire about group rates.

iHeart released its abysmal fourth quarter results Friday so the hits just keep on coming as their $20.6 billion in debt continues to grow out of hand.

Number two radio group Cumulus will announce its bad news March 10^th and by all analyst reports it’s also going to be ugly.

Number three CBS Radio already missed its numbers for Q4.

Number four Entercom is the only one of the top four to report some gains and investors are not jumping for joy about that stock which has peaked after spiking two bucks on the news of modest earnings.

That’s radio’s top four and they own a lot of outstanding real estate. Other companies – some of them good operators – will also report losses before the fourth quarter results are made public.

What’s worse, they’re playing with the numbers.

They routinely pull out political to make the numbers look better and remember, they are working off some comps from the previous year that should be easy to beat now.

When your major owners are grabbing onto any revenue they can get at any price just to mitigate losses, the entire industry suffers.

We have to learn how to compete against consolidators who are driving ad prices down – not easy, but very doable.

We need to create premium inventory that advertisers will want but on which there is no room for negotiation.

We need a new strategy to stop the damn bonusing that drives down radio’s effective unit rate.

We need to be mindful of what iHeart and Cumulus are doing to switch to automated media buying which will have the effect of lowering ad rates even further (that’s what happened in the digital space where automated media buying predominates).

We need to create and sell binge programming that listeners would want – you know, like they binge on Netflix content. This is a source of great revenue and price integrity for radio. And I’ve got an example that will inspire you.

We need to stop trying to turn radio into a digital play and start making digital money from video not what we do on the air.   And then do better programming – live and local – over the air.

How to motivate salespeople to sell in an increasingly bleak traditional advertising environment – Pandora has done it by stealing the best radio sellers.

This is one of the reasons to attend my 7^th annual April 6 media conference in Philadelphia – the refreshingly honest executive learning program that has earned a reputation for providing real solutions to radio problems.

No sponsors paying to waste your time and pitch their services.

Take a look at the other solutions that will be offered at this event and see if it makes sense for you and your people to stop doing radio as usual and let us fire up the creative juices that could bring a major turnaround.

Getting Millennials To Listen
Discover the things that 18-34 year old Millennial listeners say they want from radio that they are not currently getting. Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason joins us to help you begin a Millennial Radio Makeover that incorporates these needs.

Making Money From Digital
Learn why there isn’t a radio station in the country deriving significant ad revenue from their digital strategies and where exactly to focus limited resources to achieve a much better outcome.

Programming To Shorter Attention Spans
Learn how to rethink formats that are currently appealing to older audiences by adapting them to younger listeners who are distracted by mobile devices and social media.

Your New Competitor: User-Generated Content
Discover why younger money demos are now insisting on being their own “program director” which explains the popularity of YouTube and social media that allows them to be in charge. Once you know how to translate this need into radio programming, you’ll be riding the next wave.

Reinvigorating the Morning Show
Morning shows should deliver 50-60% of a radio stations total revenue but their chief appeal – personalities, news, traffic, weather – are no longer audience magnets. Learn how to pick up the pace of change for your most valuable asset – the one thing station’s must get right to succeed.

Repurposing 7pm to 5am
Voice tracking and syndication will not be enough to generate the extra revenue needed to stay on the road to success. Learn how these time periods are being used successfully to gain audience and revenue – sometimes in ways that are unorthodox.

Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
Listen to researcher Richard Harker and talk show host Sean Hannity explain the study they did that discovered a majority of actual listening to Sean’s show was not credited by PPM. Engage them directly. Get answers to how to get around a rigged ratings system.

What To Do About Podcasting
Learn why podcasting may have a future as a radio format but not as a standalone business. Go beyond basic podcasting to pod-radio and explore all the details for making podcasting a radio station with all the revenue that would attract.

Finding New Revenue Streams
In a world where audiences click to buy apps (75% of which they never use) and access entertainment and information on-demand, radio now sees a model where paid subscriptions, product placement and other strategies are increasingly an option.

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
Learn how radio can become more relevant to 86 million money demo listeners by sounding more Millennial. You’ll leave with a plan that will enable you to start teaching on-air talent to change the way they talk to their audience.

Eliminating Listeners’ Biggest Objections
Learn what to do to deal with the negatives of long commercial stop sets, repetitious music and morning shows that don’t do it for them any longer.

One day, April 6^th at The Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia.

Not available on tape or by streaming.

Flexible format – you join the discussion.

Continued involvement – the learning and feedback don’t stop here, you can follow up when you return home to maximize what you’ve learned.

Jerry Del Colliano is your program leader – former radio, television talent, program director, author & publisher, speaker and professor at the University of Southern California now in his seventh year of presenting this annual executive media conference.

Consider the impact the Advanced Radio Management Program can have as you advance your career and lead your stations, media outlets or entrepreneurial company towards further success. 

Register here. 

Inquire about group rates.

Two things we know.

People of both parties and all ages are more than fed up with politicians and government.

Young Bernie Sanders Millennials love socialism because capitalism and its student debt and partial employment opportunities was a poor introduction to it for their generation.

I heard someone say the other day that Donald Trump, as outrageous and offensive as he can be, is like chemotherapy.

He is blasting his toxic approach to the establishment and everything that the electorate would like to see blown up. They are obviously forgiving him for not being politically correct.

Trump is like radio used to be.

As soon as his ratings go down, he resets the programming.

Radio sadly has lost that ability.

The other day moments after he won a big victory in the South Carolina primary, he was testing that Marco Rubio was not a citizen to see if it would fly.

Yes, he throws shit on the wall to see if it sticks.

Donald Trump’s success is ironically because of conservative talk radio, which in its day put forward an epic political movement that was also good for our industry.

Not so much anymore.

But Rush Limbaugh created Donald Trump in a way along with the Tea Party, Fox News, Drudge and others.

All or nothing.

Conservative values or nothing.

Well, with 86 million Millennials 18-34 years old and embracing socialism, conservatism is on the decline as older people phase out and younger people take control.

Trump stuck it to Fox News – you don’t do that. But he did and won.

He’s attacking women and Muslims and Mexicans and on and on but in the process he is the dirty trick artist that some Power Pig radio programmers were.

No one likes radio even if they listen to it these days – it’s vanilla.

Radio has lost its purpose and there are no – like in zero – innovators willing to blow up bullshit and deliver the kind of service that new audiences would actually embrace.

That’s why I am doing my 7^th annual media conference in Philadelphia, April 6^th.

This is for people who want it straight and want to get it right.

Not willing to sit back and see radio take its final bow because the people who run the stations are afraid of innovating.

That would be easy and predictable.

Take a look at the solutions that will be offered at this event and see if it makes sense for you and your people to stop doing radio as usual and let us fire up the creative juices that could bring a major turnaround.

Outperforming a Slowing Revenue Trend
Learn how to compete against consolidators who are driving ad prices down in desperation to avoid bankruptcy by making it difficult for competitors to get paid what they are actually worth.

Getting Millennials To Listen
Discover the things that 18-34 year old Millennial listeners say they want from radio that they are not currently getting. Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason joins us to help you begin a Millennial Radio Makeover that incorporates these needs.

Making Money From Digital
Learn why there isn’t a radio station in the country deriving significant ad revenue from their digital strategies and where exactly to focus limited resources to achieve a much better outcome.

Programming To Shorter Attention Spans
Learn how to rethink formats that are currently appealing to older audiences by adapting them to younger listeners who are distracted by mobile devices and social media.

Your New Competitor: User-Generated Content
Discover why younger money demos are now insisting on being their own “program director” which explains the popularity of YouTube and social media that allows them to be in charge. Once you know how to translate this need into radio programming, you’ll be riding the next wave.

Reinvigorating the Morning Show
Morning shows should deliver 50-60% of a radio stations total revenue but their chief appeal – personalities, news, traffic, weather – are no longer audience magnets. Learn how to pick up the pace of change for your most valuable asset – the one thing station’s must get right to succeed.

Repurposing 7pm to 5am
Voice tracking and syndication will not be enough to generate the extra revenue needed to stay on the road to success. Learn how these time periods are being used successfully to gain audience and revenue – sometimes in ways that are unorthodox.

Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
Listen to researcher Richard Harker and talk show host Sean Hannity explain the study they did that discovered a majority of actual listening to Sean’s show was not credited by PPM. Engage them directly. Get answers to how to get around a rigged ratings system.

What To Do About Podcasting
Learn why podcasting may have a future as a radio format but not as a standalone business. Go beyond basic podcasting to pod-radio and explore all the details for making podcasting a radio station with all the revenue that would attract.

Finding New Revenue Streams
In a world where audiences click to buy apps (75% of which they never use) and access entertainment and information on-demand, radio now sees a model where paid subscriptions, product placement and other strategies are increasingly an option.

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
Learn how radio can become more relevant to 86 million money demo listeners by sounding more Millennial. You’ll leave with a plan that will enable you to start teaching on-air talent to change the way they talk to their audience.

Eliminating Listeners’ Biggest Objections
Learn what to do to deal with the negatives of long commercial stop sets, repetitious music and morning shows that don’t do it for them any longer.

One day, April 6^th at The Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia.

Not available on tape or by streaming.

Flexible format – you join the discussion.

Continued involvement – the learning and feedback don’t stop here, you can follow up when you return home to maximize what you’ve learned.

Jerry Del Colliano is your program leader – former radio, television talent, program director, author & publisher, speaker and professor at the University of Southern California now in his seventh year of presenting this annual executive media conference.

Consider the impact the Advanced Radio Management Program can have as you advance your career and lead your stations, media outlets or entrepreneurial company towards further success.

Register here. 

Inquire about group rates.

The 2016 Advanced Radio Management Program is a one-day learning experience that focuses on the challenges and opportunities ahead for the radio and media industries in a digital and social world.

This year we will be dealing with these issues central to radio’s future …

Outperforming a Slowing Revenue Trend
Learn how to compete against consolidators who are driving ad prices down in desperation to avoid bankruptcy by making it difficult for competitors to get paid what they are actually worth.

Getting Millennials To Listen
Discover the things that 18-34 year old Millennial listeners say they want from radio that they are not currently getting. Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason joins us to help you begin a Millennial Radio Makeover that incorporates these needs.

Making Money From Digital
Learn why there isn’t a radio station in the country deriving significant ad revenue from their digital strategies and where exactly to focus limited resources to achieve a much better outcome.

Programming To Shorter Attention Spans
Learn how to rethink formats that are currently appealing to older audiences by adapting them to younger listeners who are distracted by mobile devices and social media.

Your New Competitor: User-Generated Content
Discover why younger money demos are now insisting on being their own “program director” which explains the popularity of YouTube and social media that allows them to be in charge. Once you know how to translate this need into radio programming, you’ll be riding the next wave.

Reinvigorating the Morning Show
Morning shows should deliver 50-60% of a radio stations total revenue but their chief appeal – personalities, news, traffic, weather – are no longer audience magnets. Learn how to pick up the pace of change for your most valuable asset – the one thing station’s must get right to succeed.

Repurposing 7pm to 5am
Voice tracking and syndication will not be enough to generate the extra revenue needed to stay on the road to success. Learn how these time periods are being used successfully to gain audience and revenue – sometimes in ways that are unorthodox.

Getting Around a Rigged Ratings System
Listen to researcher Richard Harker and talk show host Sean Hannity explain the study they did that discovered a majority of actual listening to Sean’s show was not credited by PPM. Engage them directly. Get answers to how to get around a rigged ratings system.

What To Do About Podcasting
Learn why podcasting may have a future as a radio format but not as a standalone business. Go beyond basic podcasting to pod-radio and explore all the details for making podcasting a radio station with all the revenue that would attract.

Finding New Revenue Streams
In a world where audiences click to buy apps (75% of which they never use) and access entertainment and information on-demand, radio now sees a model where paid subscriptions, product placement and other strategies are increasingly an option.

Changing the Way We Engage Audiences
Learn how radio can become more relevant to 86 million money demo listeners by sounding more Millennial. You’ll leave with a plan that will enable you to start teaching on-air talent to change the way they talk to their audience.

Eliminating Listeners’ Biggest Objections
Learn what to do to deal with the negatives of long commercial stop sets, repetitious music and morning shows that don’t do it for them any longer.

One day, April 6^th at The Hub Conference Center in Philadelphia.

Flexible format – you join the discussion.

Continued involvement – the learning and feedback don’t stop here, you can follow up when you return home to maximize what you’ve learned.

Jerry Del Colliano is your program leader – former radio, television talent, program director, author & publisher, speaker and professor at the University of Southern California now in his seventh year of presenting this annual executive media conference.

Consider the impact the Advanced Radio Management Program can have as you advance your career and lead your stations, media outlets or entrepreneurial company towards further success. 

For more information or to register / Click Here

To inquire about group discounts / Click Here

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6 weeks until my April media conference – See the agenda and reserve a seat here.

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I work with independent, progressive radio companies -- details here.

Talk to Jerry privately here.

Okay, this shit storm is getting out of hand.

Now Trump and Rubio are fighting with the Pope.

Didn’t it used to be that presidential candidates worried about the Catholic vote and now Trump is saying if and when ISIS hits Vatican City the Pope will be glad Donald Trump is president.

Pinch me, but this reminds me of Randy Michaels for president.

The dirty trickster of radio was a man ahead of his time and for many of us who felt his bullying, Randy was this year’s presidential material before Trump, Rubio, Cruz or even Clinton had scorched earth on their minds.

Yes, radio did all this before the current crop of presidential candidates did but it worked in radio – then.

Now, forgive me for saying it again, 86 million Millennials are the difference.

They could care less about religion but they want everyone to get along so calling people liars or hitting the Savior of Socialism with a low blow does not work.

Trump is winning and the more batshit crazy he goes, the more he wins.

Like Marc Chase stealing Big Boy from Power 106 in LA and beating the station up as irrelevant works.

In radio, this is deep in our blood and we’re going to go down with it sooner than most politicians.

Let me be frank.

The audience has changed.

They don’t like things that are irrelevant to them.

They don’t like that radio doesn’t do music discovery but almost every PD thinks if they don’t play fewer than 30 currents over and over again they won’t get ratings.

Or stations that play songs all the way through because of their A.D.D.

And Millennials would love talk stations if they sounded like their generation and moved quickly instead of vitriol from conservative commentators who are out of touch with America’s future.

Demographers warn that whether Bernier Sanders wins or not, the electorate will be socialistic for many decades to come in the U.S.

In other words conservatism wanes as their older audience is replaced by younger Millennial socialists.

I’m generalizing but not without reason.

No one wants to live in the past more than the radio industry. If you don’t go back there with them, you’re a traitor.

Frankly, any radio operator who is not planning to go bankrupt needs to blow up the content they put on the air and start sounding like their audience.

The broadcasters who are signing up for my April 6^th conference will get a full dose of what needs to be done to take a proactive approach to engaging the younger audiences that are rejecting radio.

Radio sounds exactly like it did 10, 20 even 30 years ago but audiences are begging for something very different.

We either change or get left behind.

Among the issues we will tackle:

SUCCEEDING IN A ZERO GROWTH INDUSTRY

IT’S TIME TO MAKE DIGITAL A SIGNIFICANT RADIO REVENUE STREAM

COMBATTING BIG GROUP ATTEMPTS TO CUT RADIO RATES

FIGHTING FOR ADVERTISERS PUTTING RADIO MONEY INTO DIGITAL

IMPROVING MORING SHOWS WHERE 50% OF RADIO’S INCOME COMES FROM

DEVELOPING NEW REVENUE – AFTER 7 PM, PRODUCT PLACEMENT, SUBSCRIPTION FEES, BINGE CONTENT

STRENGTHENING THE WAY WE TALK TO TODAY’S AUDIENCES

RADIO SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE NEXT 20 PLUS YEARS

BEGINNING A “MILLENNIAL RADIO MAKEOVER”

RATINGS & AUDIENCE EQUALITY (Researcher Richard Harker did a study of how much audience Sean Hannity’s talk show lost due to Nielsen PPM. They will be live with solutions).

IMPROVING AVG. ¼ HOUR LISTENING

ELIMINATING THE 3 BIGGEST OBJECTIONS TO RADIO LISTENING

CAREER ADVICE AND NEW SKILLS TO STAY RELEVANT

This event will not be available by audio or video recording or streaming.

Join us Wednesday, April 6 in Philadelphia.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about discounts for groups of 2 or more

Millennials 18-34 have turned to their own devices and away from radio.

If the model Kendall Jenner is any indication (and she has almost 100 million Instagram followers in social media), radio stations need to adapt.

She says she always has to be the DJ in her car.

Oops, radio thinks it has to be the DJ.

Kendall Jenner, like her generation, is obsessed with playlists.

Radio station playlists are short, predictable and repetitious.

She likes an eclectic mix of music not the same thing over and over. A few classics and the newer stuff nobody ever heard.

Radio plays virtually nothing new.

And the so-called “classics” are always within the same genre.

Kendall likes to crisscross musical genres.

KISS and the hits channels stick strictly to the same genre.

She like many other Millennials has no favorite musical genre. I can attest to this as a professor of music industry at USC. Professors are a lot more rigid about their music than their students who are open to everything and almost anything.

Kendall Jenner like her generation doesn’t listen to any song all the way through.

Radio does not want to hear this but it is true and widespread and we need to fully understand how to deal with this.

The reason Millennials 18-34 are so averse to radio is that radio in almost every way reflects what they don’t like, not what they like.

Stations can no longer ignore this and put together even more format changes that do not address the real issues.

That’s why at my upcoming Philly conference April 6^th, former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason and I are going to literally take the words out of the mouths of Millennials regarding their expectations for radio and offer solutions.

You can hitchhike on any part of this but one thing is for sure – you will be closer to offering up broadcasting Millennials can embrace than ever before.

We’ll answer:

• What to do about djs in a world where Millennials want to be the dj. Fire them all or change them?
• How to give that personal playlist feel on a broadcast station for everyone.
• What music to mix together – how far should you or can you stray for your station’s musical format genre?
• Dealing with repetition the thing every programmer believes in their heart of heart is important to getting ratings? Obviously, radio needs to do some thinking about this in light of what 18-34s want.
• Plus that ticklish issue where Millennials almost to a person do not listen to even their favorite songs all the way through and yet stations continue to play them – all the way through. What to do?

This conference is worth the investment of one day.

Among the other issues we will tackle:

SUCCEEDING IN A ZERO GROWTH INDUSTRY

IT’S TIME TO MAKE DIGITAL A SIGNIFICANT RADIO REVENUE STREAM

COMBATTING BIG GROUP ATTEMPTS TO CUT RADIO RATES

FIGHTING FOR ADVERTISERS PUTTING RADIO MONEY INTO DIGITAL

IMPROVING MORING SHOWS WHERE 50% OF RADIO’S INCOME COMES FROM

DEVELOPING NEW REVENUE – AFTER 7 PM, PRODUCT PLACEMENT, SUBSCRIPTION FEES, BINGE CONTENT

STRENGTHENING THE WAY WE TALK TO TODAY’S AUDIENCES

RADIO SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE NEXT 20 PLUS YEARS

BEGINNING A “MILLENNIAL RADIO MAKEOVER”

RATINGS & AUDIENCE EQUALITY (Researcher Richard Harker did a study of how much audience Sean Hannity’s talk show lost due to Nielsen PPM. They will be live with solutions).

IMPROVING AVG. ¼ HOUR LISTENING

ELIMINATING THE 3 BIGGEST OBJECTIONS TO RADIO LISTENING

CAREER ADVICE AND NEW SKILLS TO STAY RELEVANT

This event will not be available by audio or video recording or streaming.

Join us Wednesday, April 6 in Philadelphia

Reserve a seat

Inquire about discounts for groups of 2 or more

Economists predict a recession in the next 12 months.

The stock market is acting funny.

And the U.S. is overdue based on the average lapse between recessions.

What a lousy time to have a recession.

Digital money that used to go to radio is going to that not ready for prime time player. And no radio station has an effective firewall against digital.

Millennials have come of age without an enduring relationship with radio.

Our four biggest radio groups are doing some of the worst broadcasting at the precise worst time.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Independent, locally focused radio groups can follow a plan to make their stations recession proof now in anticipation of what’s to come.

Here are a few thoughts I’m putting together for my New Radio Conference in Philly seven weeks from now.

• The 3 things that will win over any Millennial to radio if your station does it soon and consistently.

• Mastering digital revenue without having to rely on streaming which doesn’t make money for radio stations.

• How to do a Millennial Radio Makeover. Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason will join me in sharing the actual things Millennials want from your station.

• Why you must blow up your present content model and replace it with the one that cooperates with shorter attention spans. Take a look at the radio station of the future that doesn’t look or sound anything like what is on the air now.

• 3 prizes that will even make an 18-34 Millennial keep listening – I’m going to identify them and tell you how to own it.

• Stop selling radio spots for undervalued prices. Go ahead, take the money if you must but create this new class of advertising that starts with a heavy premium advertisers will be willing if not anxious to pay.

• Change the way your station talks to audiences – from something from the past to this approach which is hyper authentic.

• Prevent user-generated content (i.e., things posted to apps and social media by audiences) from competing with your on-air content.

• How to deal with short attention spans. Today’s audiences don’t even listen to favorite songs all the way through. How to deal with it.

• Bring your morning show into the 21^st century.  Fix this and you’ll have a banner year. The morning show of the future does not have traffic or weather (except in unusual circumstances) but if you add replacement features Millennials like, you’re back in the game.

• Learn how to get your air people to talk on-air the way they tweet so Millennials can finally relate to them.

• You’ll rip up your plan from 7pm to 5am when you see what happened when this station went rogue with just one show. It’s like having two moneymaking stations on the same frequency.

• What’s better than podcasting at actually making money for your station.

• Stop losing audience you actually have. Researcher Richard Harker did a study of how much audience Sean Hannity’s talk show lost due to Nielsen PPM. Harker and Hannity will be in Philly to tell you and suggest ways to recapture what you deserve.

• Explore new forms of revenue such as subscriptions and product placement. Digital competitors do this and make a bundle. Here’s radio’s way forward.

• How radio can create binge content that audiences are demanding from content providers like Netflix. You’ll marvel at how this approach is a natural for radio.

• How to compete better against popular streaming music services so radio can take back the music listener and get them to log longer quarter hours listening.

• Eliminate the biggest objections to radio. Identify and fix them.

• How to get audiences to listen longer in a world where attention spans are growing shorter.

• Some day radio will not exist as we know it – how to plan for the future.

Thanks to the groups who are bringing multiple people to this one-day learning opportunity.

It’s fun, totally interactive and full of benefits that can help you recession proof your station in any tough times ahead.

I hope to see you 7 weeks from today at my New Radio Conference.

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What to do?

Is it worth a radio station betting the future on 70 million people between the ages of 50 and 70 or just ignore them and concentrate on Millennials of which there are 86 million?

Radio isn’t big with Millennials so to be blunt, we need them more than they need us currently.

But there are more Baby Boomers than the even younger Gen Xers (about 45 million) and no one seems to want to bet the station on Xers.

It’s complicated.

When creating content in the digital age, it is preferable to target the change makers who in this case are Millennials.

But to do so means changing radio in a way that is so radical, not one radio operator that I am aware of has taken the leap.

Some think they have but they are really radio stations pretending to include Millennials and what it will take is total disruption of what the radio industry has always been.

But, I’ve isolated specific strategies that can be implemented by any radio station, any format in any market and I’m going to get into this at my Philly conference in a little more than six weeks from now.

As you will see, these concepts – the ones Millennials value the most – will never alienate Baby Boomers and will actually please them although ironically many of the things baby boomers still want from radio will drive Millennials away.

One of the 5 things that it takes to meet the needs of the next generation is to be more authentic but radio comes off as one of the least authentic things. Almost nothing about a radio station is authentic. It’s full of hype, commercials, promos and nonsensical sweepers.

That can be fixed.

The other 4 things that young demos require and that older listeners will also welcome are just as important and we will go through them one at a time.

Dan Mason of Cox and CBS is bringing a raw list of things that Millennials want from radio and you will be horrified with what’s on that list.   Wait until you hear them in the listeners’ own words.

This is going to be a fruitful dialog because without spending one single dime, smart stations can fine tune their strategy for not only satisfying loyal hard core listeners but for the first time have a chance to win the hearts of younger ones.

Here are 7 other critical issues at our April 6^th meeting:

1. Competing with streaming music services that along with YouTube are the go to sources for music entertainment for young audiences that make music radio less relevant. Streaming services are in for big trouble that radio can take advantage of. Pandora is for sale. Need I saw more? Someone bigger may buy them. What is radio going to do about this number one source of music competition?
2. Create your own social media. We’re blowing it. Social media is in great turmoil. Younger audiences like Snapchat not Facebook and radio needs to learn how to use the best available social media better – not as a hype machine. Snapchat’s message disappears in ten seconds or less.  A new set of skills will be needed.
3. Video, video, video. Unless you have tons of money to spend on trying to figure out how to monetize digital, let me show you how to create a significant cash stream from short form video on the budget of a Millennial teenager.
4. Your biggest competitor is not the competitor you think. It’s user-generated content. Did you see how Snapchat is competing with news services (old school as well as new) to cover the presidential election in 10 seconds or less. If this sounds alien to you, come join the conversation because if they could create new age content, radio can, too.
5. There is a place in hell for any woman who doesn’t support another woman – did you see how that Madeleine Albright one-liner has set off a debate on gender. Yet, my day job is working in generational media and I’m here to tell you that gender neutrality threatens to alienate radio from even more listeners if we don’t get this thing right. Men and women really blurring the gender lines. Are you ready for this? Let’s learn.
6. Listen to any radio station and tell me if it doesn’t sound like a robot is talking to you. But go to the Twitter page of any of your on-air people and be bowled over by how eloquent they are on Twitter but not on-the-air. I have something for you to take back with you that will change all of this.

A day of information and inspiration where we work together in a positive atmosphere.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

I can’t wait to be with you and share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you.

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If you’d like to stay steps away from the meeting venue at a great price, find nearby hotels here.

1. Not Enough Millennial Listeners
2. Fixing Morning Drive
3. What To Do With 7pm-5am
4. Making Significantly More Money From Digital
5. Competing Against Rate Droppers
6. Understanding Gender Neutrality
7. Changing The Way Radio Talks To Younger Listeners
8. To Podcast Or Not?
9. Competing Against Radio’s Surprising New Competitor
10. How To Identify The Next New Radio Formats?
11. What To Do With 70 Million Baby Boomers
12. How Radio Can Create Binge Content Like Netflix
13. Stopping the Damage From Nielsen & PPM (Sean Hannity and researcher Richard Harker).
14. How To Do A Total Millennial Radio Station Makeover (Former Cox & CBS PD Dan Mason)
15. Eliminating The 3 Biggest Listener Objections To Radio

Independent broadcasters and digital entrepreneurs are invited to my April 6^th New Radio Conference in Philadelphia to have a conversation about these most critical radio issues.

Register Now.

Contact Jerry about the conference and group rates

How fascinating is it to watch the decline of the establishment?

On both sides of the presidential primaries, outsiders are now in. Insiders are out and very few people even understand what forces are really at work.

It’s like radio.

Those damn Millennials are shaking everything up, radio people say.

Well, that, too.

Analysts say the reason the electorate believes Bernie over Hillary is that he is more authentic.

Hey, radio – haven’t we been talking about authenticity for ages and doing nothing about it?   Radio stations are the most non-authentic things around.

That one third of the Democratic voters in New Hampshire exit polling Tuesday said that integrity was the most important thing that helped them decide on who to vote for and 92% of that group voted for Sanders.

Gloria Steinem, a Hillary supporter, got caught telling Bill Maher that young women were supporting Sanders because that’s where they would find the guys.

Ouch, could even Gloria Steinem be out of touch?

Whether Sanders wins or not, these socialist Millennials will not be going away but conservative talk radio will.

And you can blame the kids if that makes you feel better but you would be wrong.

Some of my best friends are conservative talk show hosts but I have warned again and again that Bob Pittman and Lew Dickey did as much to kill the format as Rush Limbaugh and his misogynist mouth.

Dickey and Pittman ran the stations that were conservative talk and they didn’t give a shit what these shows did – just don’t put them on FM. And look what happened? They pandered to their conservative baby boomer audience over 65.

Take optics.

Hillary would stand with baby boomer women behind her during the events leading up to New Hampshire’s election day but Bernie’s kids were behind him. Now, you’ll note, the old folks are out of the picture when Hillary stands at a podium.

Voila, look at the Millennials for Hillary.

We are witnessing a world that rejects bullshit.

That doesn’t want anymore of the same old thing.

That wants you to speak to their interests because, after all, it’s all about them.

As Chuck Todd of NBC News and Meet the Press said on MSNBC after the election, he can easily name what Bernie stands for but he can’t name why Hillary wants to be president – just because she can get things done? Todd suggesting voters may feel the same way.

And my radio friends know that they can’t name what their stations stand for because they stand for cutbacks and cheap programming because they can just do it thanks to digital automation.

When a radio station thinks “Your Hit Music Station” is a compelling reason to listen, isn’t it time to find out what young in demo audiences want not what you think they should want?

And who needs all-news all the time?

A 70 year old, maybe but not anyone with a Twitter account.

When Scott Herman asks his news listeners to give his news stations 22 minutes and they will give them the world, he’s showing how out of touch he really is.

Millennials need just 22 seconds to get the world via Twitter.

In fact, I envision a radio news format that sounds more like Twitter than anything radio currently has to offer.

And the new age radio music stations sound more like Twitter than a traditional radio format.

Some of my readers wrote to me the other day to say they would love to reimagine radio in this way and I think we should continue this discussion at my Philly conference April 6^th.

A Twitter news format.

A Twitter music format.

What’s all that about?

Or this question I get all the time.

I’m scared to make these major changes even though I know it must be done, how is a safe way to get started?

We’ll talk about that more, too. But to stay the same is a death sentence for radio.

Just as it is in politics.

Remain the establishment and some politician is going to lose the election.

Keep doing the unimaginative, non-authentic, older skewing radio that is on the air and the programming will be fit for funeral homes not people who are buying new homes.

This is perhaps a different way to describe the conversation we will have for 7 hours in April. But authenticity and Millennial values are no longer curiosity pieces.

It’s real.

It’s politics.

At work.

At home.

In the radio business.

Take the first step and listen to the future.

Thanks for the independent radio groups that are sending contingencies of their people to attend this timely event.

One station is sending all their employees but one to Philly so they can return on the same page.

This gives me hope that the radio industry will once again be saved from what Bernie Sanders would call the 1% by independent operators.

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Face it.

Radio thinks that a format change, adjustment, new digital or social presence or something they add to what they are doing now will make the industry relevant again.

Nothing that radio can do that it has done before will work now.

Let’s do the math.

70 million baby boomers

45 million Gen Xers

Almost 90 million Millennials now roughly between 18-34.

And probably 70 or more million Plurals (17 and under and still being born).

Music radio has become a computer in the closet airing the same songs, sweepers and far fewer personalities than ever before.

And no music discovery to speak of – the one thing the music loving audience really wants from radio.

Talk radio is dying with the conservative movement as socialism rears its head whether Bernie Sanders prevails or not.

Millennials are just not conservatives nor will they be so. It’s been a nice run but conservative talk radio show hosts and stations should be preparing for the end.

Unless, they’re up for some big changes.

News is dead and died earlier on radio even before Twitter, which is a far better means of receiving news, was born.

Hey, Jerry – I thought you were going to tell me the one format that can save radio.

Okay, let’s start with what is not going to work.

Anything that is on the air now.

If you’re still with me, get a feel for what Millennials would want from the station that could command their attention:

• A station that sounds like them not the baby boomers who run them.

• No rules radio – Millennials hate rules. And they don’t like branding either so don’t call it “no rules radio” or you’ll sound like their parents.

• Commercials that discover instead of preach, teach, lie, irritate or bore.

• No clock.

• No weather.

• No time.

• No traffic.

• No news unless it is not already on Twitter.

• They have all these things – move on.

• A station that is neither all talk nor all music.

• A format that would drive you crazy because it moves so fast that it would feed their short attention spans.

• A station with a cause (bet your station doesn’t have a cause the majority of this new audience can embrace).

• Aim young even if you also want an older audience because young people are the change makers as Hillary Clinton is finding out now.

• No podcasting, it’s suicidal for Millennial audiences but there is something podcasters are doing that can port over to them.  One big thing and it’s not podcasting itself.

• Everything most of us have been taught as the Holy Grail of radio no longer applies so if you want to pioneer you will need an adventurous spirit and a very open mind.

• Odd lengths of shows, which really won’t be shows in the traditional sense.

• What to call your new Millennial station – beware of branding, it will backfire as will mottos, cool phrases and hype.

• And Nielsen is not going to keep up with you because Nielsen is owned by the people who own iHeart and they have no interest in changing radio so it’s up to you – change or follow them.

If you think you can’t do it, think again.

Millennials are in love with a 74-year old Democratic socialist.

They look up to Steve Jobs, a baby boomer.

To be blunt, most (not all) radio people are not up for blowing up what they’ve done all their lives so continue at your own risk. The ratings and revenue predict where this is headed.

Let’s have more of this conversation at my New Radio Conference in Philadelphia April 6^th – less than two months from now.

We’re going to build this new radio station of the future with the help of former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason who will share comments from Millennials that may shock you, make you mad or inspire you.

See the Program / Reserve a Seat

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If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center at a good price, find nearby hotels here.

You can learn a lot about radio when you look elsewhere.

When Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated last Thursday night, they spoke volumes in their own way about what is wrong with traditional media and why Millennial audiences are not understood.

Hillary answers questions about Sanders 70% support by young people which they don’t have to be for me, I’m for them.

That sounds like a parent.

Wrong answer.

Bernie lets Hillary beat him up when he presses her on her vote for the Iraq War no matter how visibly irritated she appears because it’s not cool to get into a meaningless shouting match.

In fact, Millennials dislike confrontation which makes debating before them particularly challenging.

Don’t worry; they didn’t watch the debate on cable. They saw what they wanted to on YouTube.

Hype doesn’t work so Sanders is careful to be humble about his accomplishments while Clinton is more forceful.

Baby boomers between the ages of 50-70 want to see a woman president in their lifetime.

Millennials 18-34 absolutely know they are going to see many women presidents in their lifetime and maybe even an LGBT chief executive. So, while baby boomers only have so long to see their wish come true, Millennials want what socialism has to offer even over electing the first woman president.

Madeleine Albright said there would be a special place in hell for any woman who doesn’t vote for Hillary.

Huh?

Millenials don’t believe in hell.

How did socialism go from a bad word to something good?

Because capitalism has not been good to Millennials who graduated from college to a lousy economy, unemployment or underemployment, college debt, glass ceilings, and the ravages of Wall Street.

But how can – let’s be honest here – an old white man (74) become president with the support he is getting from young people?

Or on the alternative, how did baby boomer Steve Jobs get to be so iconic among this same generation?

Both looked to Millennials as the change makers and then the older generations adopted later.

So Millennial audiences 18-34 don’t hate radio, they hate the kind of radio stations are doing.

They dislike hype, which is epitomized by radio stations.

They crave authenticity in a world of bullshit. Notice how Hillary said she’d consider revealing the transcripts of her $200,000 Goldman Sachs speeches and how young people wonder, what’s there to consider. Just do it.

And she still hasn’t done it.

Radio hasn’t had a revolution since progressive rock in the 1960’s.

It has pioneered precious few new formats after all-news and conservative talk.

Radio needs a revolution if it is to have meaning in the lives of almost 90 million Millennials.

And a voice that actually sounds like the audience it wants to attract.

Or at least saying something that their youthful audience can relate to.

There are many formats that do not exist today that can be created for Millennials.

It doesn’t matter if Millennials are in love with their phones. That has nothing to do with the future of radio.

As I’m writing this I looked up to gaze out of my office window to a golf course where a young man just hit his drive, put his club away and pulled out his phone while he walked 200+ yards to his ball.

The phone didn’t stop him from playing golf (although it might irritate the hell out of older players). He likes golf and his cell phone – both.

In your heart you know that radio is not as good as it was at befriending audiences. If it were, voice tracking would be off the table. Sweepers would be outlawed and meaningless commercials that are the antithesis of no hype wouldn’t be stacked up one after the other for eight minutes every half hour.

I don’t know who will win the presidency.

I do know that an old white man who is admired by young people is worth studying because Millennials have disrupted everything and they are about to disrupt politics in 2016 as never before whatever party wins.

Lying is out (politicians lie).

Boasting used to be a right. Now it’s a bad move. Yeah, I’d like to crow about every prediction I ever made about media that came true but who cares?

Hillary said she believed in the death penalty and Bernie walked it back and said the government should not be killing people. He got the louder applause.

Stand for something or you stand for nothing.

What does radio stand for?

Not much.

Repetition in music, not discovery.

Savings over entertainment.

Abuse of social media for promotional purposes not entertainment or enlightenment.

No news at all.

No one-on-one communication.

Nothing to binge on even over the weekend.

We can do better than this.

Can we name the top five things Millennials value this year?

If you’d like to continue the discussion, reserve a seat at my upcoming April 6 New Radio Conference in Philadelphia.

Stand up to ratings that are inaccurate and killing the business.

Sean Hannity and researcher Richard Harker will be there live to discuss disturbing findings about how certain formats are losing the majority of their audience to PPM technology and ways to deal with this inequity. (Harker did a survey for Hannity’s show that will shock when you see how much audience was lost to PPM). And it’s not just talk stations taking a hit.

See exciting ways to do a Millennial Makeover of your radio station.

Former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason will join me in providing useful ideas that can transform your station from the past to the future.

See the Program / Reserve a Seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center, find nearby hotels here.

All the financial experts agree – flat is the new growth curve for radio.

Putting the consolidators who are staring down bankruptcy aside, there are a lot of good operators being forced to sell in markets where rates have been driven down by desperate stations.

And even the good radio companies are uncharacteristically laying off – Emmis, for example handed out 32 pink slips.

All of this begs the question, how DO you succeed in a zero growth business?

• Give your station a Millennial makeover. If radio keeps fine tuning formats that just aren’t resonating with young money demos, it just keeps stunting radio’s growth.

• Focus on these 6 hours each day to return 50-60% of your profit. No one has resources they had years ago. Now, hyper focusing on the 6 hours that can bring in the most revenue makes sense. But which hours are they?

• What to do with 7pm-5am. If I told you you could start a new radio station somewhere in that time period and nurture it until it is ready to fly on its own, would you believe it? How about learning from someone who did it.

• Avoid podcasting. It’s not your friend. Will not make money to make it worthwhile. Even the latest Serial is laying an egg compared to the first one. Podcasting is for older listeners looking for an alternative to political talk radio. There’s no way to adequately monetize podcasting for radio owners. But there is one thing that podcasters – the good ones – do that can cross over to your station.

• Ditto with digital. No matter how many times we say it, digital by radio stations comes out sounding like, well – radio. With salaries being cut, jobs being shared, people be laid off and not enough potential upside to make digital worthwhile, don’t do it. But podcasting is doing something right that radio ought to steal.

• Cut spots, raise prices and then re-invent the commercial. It’s easier to just take the stuff agencies give us or run spots that our cheapest air talent can produce but that’s not going to get you higher rates. And radio cannot survive as your low cost leader. That’s a loser’s game plan. We asked Millennials if they hate commercials. No, they said … and they shared the kind they would listen to.

Sitting back is not the answer.

No business ever grew by getting smaller.

Millennials don’t care for radio but they are not that wild about streaming music services or podcasting for that matter.

That says opportunity.

So what I am proposing is about funneling resources to the things that are guaranteed to at least bring in more revenue if not tap into a need that even Millennials have for something new and better.

Here are a few other critical issues:

1. What to do with 75 million baby boomers 50-70. That generation is still almost as big as 83 million Millennials. Is it possible to do hybrid formats that cherry pick demos from each?
2. Mastering digital as a revenue source not as part of your radio station. I’ll tell you flat out, it’s video, video and more video, but the rules have changed even in the past year.
3. Gender neutrality. Young girls want to look like boys, dress like boys, wear boy’s clothes and assume “traditional” boy roles. And boys are comfortable reassessing their gender preferences.  This is going to have a major impact on what we are and what we say to audiences.
4. Radio’s most dangerous competitor is user-generated content. Your audience wants to be your new PD. Most stations don’t really get this so they are assuming the traditional role of content creator assuming that audiences are content consumers.  More than ever, this is just plain wrong.
5. Dealing with shortened attention spans requires a major revamping of radio’s format clock, delivery and formatic elements.  This is an audience that doesn’t even listen to songs they like all the way through, how do you work with that?
6. How radio can be like Netflix and create binge content – that’s right, programming to binge on – for audiences that demand it. There is a great example of radio bingeing that few people even in the industry recognize.
7. New forms of revenue such as subscriptions and product placement (“mentions”). Audiences 45 and under gleefully buy apps like it is nothing and most don’t use 25% of them even when they pay. Money left on the table ripe for the picking.

Now, does THIS sound like a dying business to you?

If you’d like to continue the discussion, clear April 6 for my New Radio Conference in Philadelphia.

Sean Hannity and researcher Richard Harker will be there live to discuss disturbing findings about how certain formats are losing the majority of their audience to PPM technology and ways to deal with this inequity. (Harker did a survey for Hannity’s show that will shock when you see how much audience was lost to PPM). And it’s not just talk stations taking a hit.

And former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason will help with the Millennial Radio Makeover – useful ideas that can transform your station from the past to the future.

See the Program / Reserve a Seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center, find nearby hotels here.

If the Republican candidates needed anything to tee off on in New Hampshire, President Obama came through for them today.

Obama visited a mosque outside of Baltimore and basically said this land is your land and this land is my land.

That Muslims are welcome here and that they didn’t have to choose between being a Muslim and an American.

This stuff is so instructional from the perspective of generational media.

Older voters (and radio listeners) may tend to get riled by this one.

Younger voters, the ones who helped elect Obama and from whom he hopes to preserve a legacy are championing his call.

The media business panders the way politicians pander.

How many times have you had to watch advertisers say “I”, “you”, “your way” on commercials aimed at Millennials almost as if the rules don’t apply to them.

Which they don’t, by the way.

And some voters believe that all Muslims are bad people and they shouldn’t be allowed in the country.

Let’s do the math again.

Almost 90 million Millennials some of whom have Muslim friends, love dreamers who should become citizens, want free college, free health care and Wall Street punished for screwing the middle class.

And there are 75 million baby boomers between 50-70 who tend to believe the opposite.

Then there is radio, an industry run by baby boomers who think the world never changed.

Hell, the radio industry ignored the Internet, Napster, social media and streaming music services while busily cutting costs to do a poorer job.

Radio has to be more inclusive if it wants to see a rebirth among the money demo.

• Top 40 radio, progressive and rock radio was a radical idea back in the 50’s and 60’s. What has radio offered in the last 25 years that is equally as radical and compelling?
• Republican candidate John Kasich got in the face of a questioner at a New Hampshire rally the other day and said he was not going to suck up to him with his answer. A reporter interviewing the questioner afterward said he was satisfied with Kasich’ answer. Radio, too, must stop sucking up and start standing for something new and different.

• Radio has it all wrong. Radio must become a community not a computer in a closet playing the same songs over and over and airing meaningless self-serving sweepers.

• Radio must fund itself. I’m not saying use the public radio model and beg for money.  But win over listeners by discovering companies (advertisers) who address their needs, share their values and offer value. Then speak to them authentically and even guarantee the sponsor’s authenticity.  This is a topic I’ll bet you’ll love. Right now radio is running anything it can get paid for as a commercial and no one is listening which guarantees radio will never earn a premium price for what they do.

• Personalities never go out of style. Sorry, iHeart and Cumulus, two radio groups who can’t resist reducing expenses by reducing the number of well paid radio personalities. Look at Cumulus in New York. New “Frickin’ York and they have amateur hour on their Nash station mornings imported from Nashville. Here’s what I’m saying. They should have done an Underground Local country station for New York because most New Yorkers don’t like country but the ones who do could be had by making it a special community.

This stuff is so fascinating and so doable.

We’re going to continue this conversation at my April 6^th Philly New Radio Conference but let me thank the folks who have registered so far and give special props to the groups – many independents – who are sending more people than CBS sent to the NAB Radio Show when Scott Herman was its chairman.

Independent operators are the future of radio – there is no other way back.

If you’d be interested in having this discussion, please reserve the date April 6^th for my one day New Radio Conference in Philadelphia.

See the Program / Reserve a Seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center, find nearby hotels here.

Peggy Noonan, the conservative Wall Street Journal columnist warned the other day that whether Bernie Sanders wins his bid for president or not, socialism may be America’s future.

This is an insightful conclusion about some 90 million Millennials who have not really enjoyed capitalism.

During their young lives (18-34 years old), they graduated from college to unemployment or underemployment.

They have seen the lion’s share of wealth go to the top 1% while they struggle with college loans and work in jobs where they can’t pay them back.

No wonder free college, healthcare for all and fight those dirty bastards on Wall Street resonates.

Sanders may have lost the Iowa caucuses by fewer than 4 electoral equivalents but he won 70% of the young voters.

This is instructive if you are a radio station or media exec trying to make sense of the future.

1. When Ted Cruz quoted scripture in accepting victory among the Republicans, he turned off a great number of young people who are not religious and certainly not Evangelicals. He may have appeased Iowa GOP voters, but religion is a personal thing with Millennials. They may be spiritual but they are not going to church or thumb a bible publicly.
2. Rubio is going to defend gun rights (a no, no for most Millennials) and repeal an entitlement called Obamacare (try it, Millennials will go nuts). He can talk about American exceptionalism all he wants but that’s not how Millennials see it. And getting tough on immigration is not in the future of 90 million Millennials any time soon.
3. Donald Trump may well roar back but he didn’t connect with Millennials not because he wasn’t afraid to be a non-politician but because he seemed to pander to whatever interests would serve his deal-making skills.
4. Somehow Hillary Clinton sounded like something they’ve heard before. Yes, she’ll help make college more affordable but they want freebies. Hillary’s approach is a loser among 18-34s.  Hillary has a coalition of baby boomer women and minorities who want to help her become the first woman president but it won’t happen without the Millennials who flock to Bernie Sanders. Trying to come off as a pragmatist doesn’t seem to fit with Millennials who reach for the sky.
5. The establishment candidates are getting no traction because older people are sick of politicians and younger people are already sick of politicians.

Who knows how this will end, but I suspect Noonan is correct.

We live in a socialist world. Hell, Millennials invented the words “social media”. Any word with social sounds good. It’s not the dog whistle for communism that older people think.

Conservative talk radio attracts old baby boomer men and talk radio is over. Will not last until the next presidential election. But there will be no socialistic Democratic replacement because radio is yesterday’s news to Millennials.

If politicians can’t figure out how to win over 18-34’s, what can we learn from a 74 year old white man in a rumpled suit that would help radio turn it around?

• Be authentic. Radio is lacking this component badly.
• Be humble. Radio personalities must be all about the listeners not themselves.
• Less hype. Can you think of anything that has more hype than a radio station? Okay, WWE. See what I mean?

• Provide dreams. What radio station do you listen to that plays up the fantasy of the mind to cooperate with a generation of dreamers?

• Be civic. Millennials love people who accept others as they are and work together for the common good. Don’t tell them that climate change is not a big issue.

• Monetize with the help of the audience. Sanders keeps raking in record hauls of small donations (average $26 per person) and he has no political PACs. Radio just runs commercial after commercial of garbage that no listener can stand and makes absolutely no connection with the audience. Imagine if radio monetized with an assist from their listeners.  There’s a way, I promise you.

• Be gender agnostic. At my April 6th conference I will present some startling information about young people and their view of sexual orientation. Any station not in alignment with this view will be caught whistling Dixie.

My belief is and has always been, the solution for radio is mastering the next generation the way Steve Jobs did at Apple when they reinvented their company and the world.

If you’d be interested in having this discussion, please reserve the date April 6th for my one day New Radio Conference in Philadelphia.

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If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center, find nearby hotels here.

The average radio station is poised to close out the year down 1-5% from 2015 unless they can hyper focus on three of four bright spots that have been recently identified and confirmed.

Millennials (18-34) are likely to continue to shun FM radio unless stations undergo a Millennial radio makeover, a total disruption of what their stations sound like.

The biggest audience threat in the year ahead is from user-generated content not a radio competitor.

The biggest threat to local sales revenue is large radio groups giving away free spots and dropping rates drastically in order to win the large part of the buy from competitors – but there are at least two solid ways to earn a premium for ads while competitors race to the bottom.

A recession is more likely by the end of the year or early 2017, which would accelerate the bankruptcy of iHeart and Cumulus that would upend the entire business – a contingency plan if you compete against these companies should be prepared.

Morning drive shows will have to be reinvented and surprisingly, some popular current features dropped if they are to account for 50-60% of a stations profit – which they should.

The off hours of 7pm-5am now take on new importance – a “mini” radio station is a pathway to turning dead time into needed sources of revenue.

So what’s hot? Gender neutrality among young audiences that will force the radio industry to change the way it looks, sounds and talks to audience. Short form video as a replacement for the digital projects (websites, audio, apps) that stations consider digital media. New forms of revenue generation, including subscription based products.

And what’s not hot? Podcasting. Podcasting is a popular replacement for politically based talk radio that appeals to older listeners but it is not monetizable and diverts listening from radio. But some of the appeal of non-broadcast podcasting can be captured for a new generation of talk radio stations.

The popularity of binge TV viewing (via Netflix, et al) is causing radio stations to consider adapting bingeing to broadcast radio. Long form, continuous, special programming. You can create binge content that is impossible to tune out and get a premium for ads in it.

Digital is taking on a new meaning for radio stations. The Townsquare model of using air personalities to also produce video, audio and text for sale with broadcast is fading. Digital, separate and apart from what stations are putting on the air, is a better path to additional cash flow.

18-34 year olds hate commercials, right? But there is new antidotal evidence that there is one kind of radio commercial so compelling that even short attention span Millennials cannot resist. No radio station is producing such a commercial, but this will change.

There are still 75 million baby boomers, but they are becoming less interested in radio listening because station owners have been happy to run the same types of formats without innovation in music, personalities or service. In other words, to keep the massive 50-70 year old market, it will require the same type of reinvention that stations must face to attract Millennials 18-34. Note that there are several new options under consideration.

If stations could do only one thing to bring quick revenue into their stations before the end of what will be a challenging year, it would be to master video. There is money in video right now without adding additional expense. Product placement is the secret.

You are invited to take advantage of a special reduced introductory offer to attend my annual New Radio Conference April 6^th in Philadelphia where these issues and others will be explored.

Trustworthy advice to help radio stations survive the tough year ahead and thrive on new innovations, marketing opportunities and related businesses.

Sean Hannity, Richard Harker & former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason will help lead the discussion.

April 6, 2016, Philadelphia for the New Radio Conference in Philly.

Save $200 Today To Reserve A Seat

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Research nearby, value-priced hotels near the conference center here.

They’re predicting another flat year for radio.

And there is talk of a recession possibly kicking in before the end of 2016 or early the following year.

iHeart is out selling multi-million chunks of advertising for one large lump sum, which is good for them but drives down the price of local advertising for everyone else.

So for those of you who plan to be in this business for a longtime to come, what are the options for an infusion of free cash flow?

• Attract more young money demos by giving your station a Millennial radio makeover. This is not difficult if you have an open mind but a warning – your radio station is going to sound real different. Are you ready for that?

• Put the majority of your precious resources into just these 6 hours each day to return 50-60% of your profit. You probably don’t have money to spend on everything these days, so how to focus on what will bring you the greatest return.

• Start monetizing the 7pm-5am time period. It’s a wasteland for radio right now but if I told you you could start a new “mini” radio station somewhere in that time period and generate some serious revenue, would you believe me? How about if we talk about one station that actually did it and started a new franchise – in off-hours, yet?

• Do podcasting on the air instead of on digital devices. You can’t monetize podcasting no matter how you try but by taking a “over the air” approach to podcasting, you have a legitimate replacement for older skewing talk radio. Let’s talk about what this podcasting station would sound like and how you sell it.
• Do digital that is separate and apart from what is on your air. Save the money and wasted time and go right for the one digital project that will give you a stream of income in six to 12 months.

• Re-invent the commercial. I’ve got some research that 18-34’s do like commercials, just not the ones radio is doing. Focus on these and you’ve got something that will earn you a premium with local advertisers.
• Target 75 million baby boomers 50-70. That generation is still almost as big as 83 million Millennials. Don’t just air the same old programming, reinvent radio for baby boomers as well as Millennials. Format options.
• Master video. There is money in video right now and I’m not talking about using your station personnel to generate it. There’s an even better and less expensive way.

• Cash in on gender neutrality. Young girls want to look like boys, dress like boys, wear boy’s clothes and assume “traditional” boy roles. And boys are comfortable reassessing their gender preferences. This is going to have a major impact on what we are and what we say to audiences. Savvy advertisers are already in tune with this change.  Let’s discuss.

• Radio’s most dangerous competitor is user-generated content so get into the user-generated content business for additional revenue streams.

• Create major radio binge content like Netflix does for TV. You can create binge content that is impossible to tune out and get a premium for ads in it. Interested? A blueprint for you.

• Take the step to embrace new forms of revenue such as subscriptions and product placement (“mentions”). Yes, subscriptions. Audiences 45 and under gleefully buy apps like it is nothing and most don’t use 25% of them even when they pay. Don’t stick your nose up at the subscription model. It’s money being left on the table as an adjunct to free radio.

If you can master even just one of the above suggestions for new revenue, it could easily make the difference between a zero-growth year or a growth year.

Would that be a good investment of time for one day – April 6^th at my New Radio Conference in Philadelphia.

Sean Hannity and researcher Richard Harker will be there live to discuss how Nielsen is robbing stations of ratings they’ve earned and the money that goes with it.

And former Cox and CBS programmer Dan Mason will lead a discussion with me on doing a Millennial Radio Makeover – you can bring your own questions or ideas to share in the discussion.

I love doing these conferences because they are for people who love radio and want to do it right.

Reserve April 6, 2016 to attend my next New Radio Conference in Philly – hurry, last days of the biggest early discount here.

Reserve a Seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center, find nearby hotels here.

Reserve a seat at my April 6^th New Radio Conference in Philadelphia to deal with these emerging issues:

• How To Do a Millennial Radio Makeover to Reach More 18-34’s.

• How To Make Your Station’s Budget in Just 6 Hours of Airtime Daily.

• How To Better Monetize 7pm-5am.

• What To Do About Podcasting.

• How To Finally Make Money on Digital.
• Commercials Even Young Millennials Cannot Resist.

• How To Handle the Growing Trend of Gender Neutrality.

• Why User-Generated Content is Radio’s Most Dangerous Competitor.

• Dealing With Ever-Shortening Attention Spans.

• How Radio Can Create Binge Content Like Netflix That Audiences Are Demanding.

• Explore New Forms of Revenue Such as Subscriptions and Product Placement (“mentions”).

• What To Do With 75 Million Baby Boomers.

• The 3 On-Air Prizes That Will Make an Audience Addicted to Radio.

• How Music Radio Can Compete With Free Streaming Music Services.

• Learn How to Talk to Your Audience the Way You Tweet.

• How To Finally Make Money on Digital

• Getting Fair Credit For the Audience That Nielsen Is Missing (Richard Harker & Sean Hannity present a study about how much audience is being lost by ratings services and what to do about it).

• What Real Millennial Listeners Want From Radio Stations (Former Cox & CBS programmer Dan Mason presents a long list of changes audiences demand).

I can’t wait to continue the conversation with you face to face.

Not available by streaming, audio or video.

Final days of pre-registration rates.

Reserve a Seat

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If you’d like to stay close to the Hub Conference Center and score the lowest possible room rates, shop nearby hotels here.