Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

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.

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