I love Netflix.

It’s a great service and has reinvented the way we all consume video and TV content.

I love it for another reason.

I bought Netflix stock at $218 and it closed over $447 dollars a share yesterday.

But it’s a love/hate relationship.

I never cared for Netflix CEO Reed Hastings who tried to ram Internet service down the throats of snail mail customers a few years back.  It spoke volumes about Hastings.  He almost derailed a good thing.

Netflix arguably invented binge watching and getting into content creation has been a good decision.

Some 30% of all Internet traffic on both TV and computers comes from Netflix and Netflix with Google represent 50% of all U.S. Internet traffic.

Hastings has done what a lot of other greedy capitalists are doing lately – covering his ass at the expense of the industry that made him what he is.

Netflix did a deal with an empire more evil than even Clear Channel, Comcast, to guarantee no slow or pixilated streaming problems over Comcast and soon the monopoly it is acquiring, Time Warner Cable.

Netflix will apparently pay millions a year to Comcast for a multi-year agreement to become the poster child for doing in net neutrality.

That means Netflix will also have to pay Verizon and AT&T the same protection money.

Somehow this all sounds like the mafia to me.

Favoritism at a cost by sacrificing the very medium Netflix has pioneered.

I have heard stories that Netflix movies were getting pixilated on FiOS, the fast Verizon alternative to Comcast.

It’s like having your restaurant storefront window broken by the mob to get you use to their waste management “service”.

These guys play dirty.

My New Jersey home is in Moorestown, a South Jersey suburb of Philadelphia.  Verizon’s superior fiber optic FiOS is service is already in surrounding communities but not in Moorestown nor is it going to be in the near future because Comcast execs happen to live in Moorestown.  Wait until I give them an earful when I run into one of them at the Moorestown hardware store.

It’s always about gaining unfair advantage.

That’s why we can’t get beyond regulators because left to themselves you have Netflix and Comcast, Clear Channel and the other consolidators being given a free pass to monopoly by Congress and the FCC.

The FCC is going to take another bite of the apple called net neutrality by rewriting the regulations now that the courts struck the previous iteration down.

And so the greedy bastards are at it.

There will be another Netflix that comes along that will better and Hastings is quite capable of screwing up again.

If consumers think, good for Netflix – now I won’t have any streaming problems with my House of Cards binge watching session, think again.

Consumers are the ones who are going to pay for it.

Watch Netflix raise their monthly rate.

Watch Comcast increase their cable bill.  What?  You thought that was going down?

All of this to remind radio owners and executives how lucky they are to be broadcasting on free airwaves.  It doesn’t always sound like a good deal in the digital age, but that could change once these media barons ruin the digital landscape, as they will do.

Some day, if we put much better programming on the air, free radio may reengage an audience it lost to digital competitors.

Audiences want radio to innovate again.

Admit it, what passes for radio on most stations is not as good as radio used to be.  It’s a dumbed down, cheaper version across the board.

Last weekend while working on the content for my March 26^th Philly conference, it struck me that we are capable of making important adjustments to what we do in broadcasting, digital, video businesses we should start and social media.

We’re going to brainstorm in person to generate ideas to take advantage of a media industry hell bent on shutting out competition, shutting down innovation and leaving audiences to their own devices.

We’ll focus on these critical issues …

1. Disrupting radio -- Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.  Pandora radio is already killing Clear Channel’s sales in the first quarter of the year in major markets that are off 5% -- ignoring digital competitors will not make this stop.  Disrupt them.
2. Master digital -- as a second stream of free cash flow alongside a reinvigorated air product.  Even Facebook is changing its bet from mass social networking to smaller, more personalized group connection as witnessed by its recent $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp.  Master solutions to transform both your radio and digital power into something that will attract big money advertisers.
3. Starting your own social media -- The first step to starting your stations own social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat or whatever else comes next.  A more sure footed way to grow your fan base.
4. Adapting radio to the digital age -- Solutions to giving younger money demo listeners the radio that they want – a morning show that will take their breath away because no one is currently doing it.  Finally, an answer to how to fill their need for music discovery and your station’s need to gain ratings through repetition of the hits at the same time.  The only contest that will make their dreams come true and it’s not a trip, contest or tickets to a concert.  I’m going to reveal it so you can do it.
5. Getting into video -- The best route to starting your own radio station video business – one that will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll play video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. Attracting younger audiences -- From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the four critical things Millennials expect of media.  This checklist is so valuable, I am using it right here, right now – can you tell?
7. Solving time shifted radio -- Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  It’s not just repurposing your morning show.  It’s grade A content that is irresistible and most in-demand by advertisers.

I sure hope you will join us because 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 Philly March 26^th. 

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

The Rittenhouse Hotel where this conference is being held is almost sold out the night before the Philly conference so please mention that you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference”.

I heard a report on NPR last week that young children who have become used to playing with mobile devices and getting instant gratification are throwing fits when their parents “force” them to watch commercial television.

In fact, these young kids can’t stand the commercials and want them to stop.  Can you imagine?

I can.

Because our radio audiences are a lot older and they are wondering why we think they would want to listen to what passes for radio these days.

For the past ten years I have made it my business to study the patterns of generational media thanks to the time I spent as a professor at The University of Southern California.

I can tell you that the 95 million Millennials coming of age – some as old as 30 and in our money demo – are lost to radio unless we adapt and change.

Baby boomers cannot make radio a growth business again and Gen X, they are a much smaller generation in terms of numbers and, well -- they coined the phrase “radio sucks” – remember that gem?

Younger demos want us to change if we expect them to add radio to their many digital options for entertainment and information.

Bear with me here.

Say you had this idea before radio was ever invented and pitched it to investors of that era.

“We have this technology that can put audio programs into people’s homes and offer music, entertainment, news and local information.  And we can monetize it by running two 9 minute clusters crammed with unlistenable advertisements every hour”.

No one would buy that business model.

And take away the music, entertainment, news and local information as the big consolidators have and what are we offering again?

But I am more than confident that I know the way to reengage this critical audience.

• A way to offer commercials in a more listenable form.
• The one way younger demos would actually like to hear commercials (from my student labs at USC).  That’s right, they would listen and not tune out.  I can promise you, we’re not doing this – yet.
• They want music discovery and we want to prune the playlist to the same repetitive songs over and over.  Bland, no discovery.  But I am going to tell those of you who are in Philly March 26^th for my meeting how to do both from the mouths of this essential audience.  And they will love it.   If you’re in a disrupting mood, this is worth the price alone.
• A contest so compelling to younger demos that they will actually carry your station around and listen live if you’ll give them this one thing that is an answer to their dreams.  Forget the other garbage that means nothing to them.  I’m going to ask you to do just this one thing really well – and I’ll answer all your questions on how to carry it off.

Our conference is only one month away.

It’s about solutions.

My mission is to be in the room with radio people and digital entrepreneurs who are of the mind to innovate.

In addition to the above, there are 7 key areas that I will offer solutions for that will reignite our ability to not just compete but to lead.

1. Disrupting radio -- Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.  Pandora radio is already killing Clear Channel’s sales in the first quarter of the year in major markets that are off 5% -- ignoring digital competitors will not make this stop.  Disrupt them.
2. Master digital -- as a second stream of free cash flow alongside a reinvigorated air product.  Even Facebook is changing its bet from mass social networking to smaller, more personalized group connection as witnessed by its recent $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp.  Master solutions to transform both your radio and digital power into something that will attract big money advertisers.
3. Starting your own social media -- The first step to starting your stations own social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat or whatever else comes next.  A more sure footed way to grow your fan base.
4. Adapting radio to the digital age -- Solutions to giving younger money demo listeners the radio that they want – a morning show that will take their breath away because no one is currently doing it.  Finally, an answer to how to fill their need for music discovery and your station’s need to gain ratings through repetition of the hits at the same time.  The only contest that will make their dreams come true and it’s not a trip, contest or tickets to a concert.  I’m going to reveal it so you can do it.
5. Getting into video -- The best route to starting your own radio station video business – one that will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll play video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. Attracting younger audiences -- From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the four critical things Millennials expect of media.  This checklist is so valuable, I am using it right here, right now – can you tell?
7. Solving time shifted radio -- Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  It’s not just repurposing your morning show.  It’s grade A content that is irresistible and most in-demand by advertisers.

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 Philly March 26^th. 

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference”.

My upcoming fifth annual Media Solutions seminar is March 26^th.

I want to thank all those who have already registered and those of you who are also sending groups of attendees including the delegation from Hubbard and Radio One that just signed up.

This year can be a great one for you if you plan to work in radio and digital media.

So much is changing almost by the month and there are many additional skills sets to acquire to be at your best.

I’m planning to start by laying out the most critical areas we need to work on.

For example, the move to on-demand content consumption when radio does real time broadcasting.

Then, with your permission, I would like to walk you through the future we can choose if we are willing to adapt.

I will share how to program a music station so differently that no one currently does it this way but younger listeners would put down their digital devices and get hooked.

The contest that would make them come back that picked up 700,000 cume over three months on one station that did it.

How Millennials would like you to deal with those unlistenable stop sets – and amazingly how you can do it.

Item by item.

Objection by objection.

We will recraft the radio station that we are capable of doing.

And, yes – the morning show you must have or you will perish. 

I’ll share the 4 values that Millennials audiences adhere to that we can use to make our stations attractive to them and even older listeners.

Jerry Lee will talk with us about how he has increased revenue to be the market leader year after year at More FM in Philly by helping advertisers write and test emotionally packed copy.  And he has promised to share his secret with you.

Sean Hannity is the only talk show host who is attracting the money demo.  The rest are and pulling on unsellable numbers.  Sean will share live and in Philly.

Michael Harrison who is the one industry exec that the consumer press and media turn to when they want to understand today’s radio will help us get out ahead of the next trend.

This conference is worth it.

And you’ll leave with the answers to these 7 critical things we need to be working on now:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

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 Philly March 26^th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference”.

Radio broadcasters are used to building content in a hot clock – an hour of programming with certain elements built into it.

But now, an hour is a long time.

And those elements – music, traffic, comedy, news, contests, commercials – don’t seem to fit in.

Anyone with a DVR knows that all of us want what we want when we want it.

But the 95 million Millennials who make up the next generation – some who are already old enough to be in the money demo – will never respond to the way radio presents its content.

To make matters worse, we aren’t doing the best radio we’ve ever done as an industry and any honest radio person knows that.

It’s about cutting expenses and standardizing programming today.

Who mentions audience?  It’s best practices or right sizing.  No wonder we’re losing our edge.

We want to sell commercials for whatever we can get and dump them into two stop sets an hour.

Listeners want no part of it.

To show you how dumb advertisers have become, they should want no part of it.

We don’t care what the commercials sound like.

Advertisers should care and both of us should care if they work because that is the best way to get renewals.

We do weather.

Listeners have an iPhone.

Ditto for traffic and transit and news in the unlikely case that we do that anymore.

We play only the hits.

But listeners want music discovery and they have the digital tools to get it on-demand.

Name something we’ve innovated in the past 20 years.

Look, Chevy is coming out with an onboard audio DVR that will allow drivers to record 30 minutes of programming.

Record what?

I’m thinking.

Maybe parts of NPR programming.

Not Kiss, not Power, not Amp, no music format. Why would we do that?

So as that misunderstood digital dashboard comes of age, radio is stuck with nothing noteworthy to record.

So one of the things I will challenge those attending my March Philly conference is tell me what you offer that a listener would value enough to record and play back on-demand for 30 minutes.

Not to worry.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I’m going to share lots of ideas you’re going to like and hopefully we will get out ahead of perhaps the biggest story of the year – the compelling popularity of on-demand content.

Even real time broadcasting will have to adapt to on-demand.

The groups and independent stations doing great local content and starting a separate digital revenue stream are already in. 

I’ve got the content divided into 7 critical things we need to be working on:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference”.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

What’s not to like about Jimmy Fallon?

He’s young, clean cut, respectful and funny.

He’s the digital age’s Johnny Carson.

Except, the 95 million Millennials in the digital age have no idea who Johnny Carson was and they aren’t going to turn on a television to see his desk, his studio or an imitation of his show.

Fallon had a big first night as producer Lorne Michaels predicted.  And he’ll have a big night tonight.

Interestingly, Fallon’s first show did not exceed Jay Leno’s last show for ratings clout and to be fair, the Olympics on NBC held up the start time of the show.

I chose to make a dent in House of Cards instead of seeing Fallon’s show live.

What don’t we get about the audience we must have – the next generation?

Radio folks are guilty of this, too.

We are romantically involved with the radio industry.  I left TV to return to radio with few regrets.  Radio people can’t think straight about the changes they are going to be forced to make – eventually.

So Jimmy Fallon will do fine, but he will have to appeal to older people because only older people watch broadcast TV.

Some Millennials prefer the edgier Jimmy Kimmel on ABC but not enough to stop everything and watch every night as Tonight Show viewers did in the past.  And Kimmel’s median audience is still over 50.

This handoff from Leno to Fallon is a big hit with baby boomers – especially the ones running NBC Universal.

But don’t try this at home. 

It misses the point.

The unthinkable has happened.

Even young people can live without TV – not smartphones and tablets – TV.

They binge watch and want to be the program director.

This standoff between baby boomer media executives and the Millennial audience will probably go on for a while.

Millennials will win.

I’m thinking we need to cooperate with the inevitable.

Don’t shut down your radio stations, but if you don’t have a plan B that takes you where Millennials will reside, you’re on the wrong path to survival.

And they’re not coming back to broadcasting.

One of the reasons this is a big topic at my media conference in March is that there are ways broadcast stations can do better on-air with available audiences and attract new audiences through on-demand and time shifted content.

In fact, I’m going to dazzle you with some ideas and I am sure you will hitchhike on them.

Watching NBC foul up its airwaves in the hopes of getting younger viewers is therapeutic. 

There are much better ways.

The conference is worth it.

The groups and stations doing great local content and starting a separate digital revenue stream are already in.  The big three already know everything so this is not for them.

I’ve got the content divided into 7 critical things we need to be working on:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference”.  The hotel says there is only one room left at the special discounted rate.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

You know you have trouble when your wife says at the stroke of 12 midnight Valentine’s Day, “I wonder if we can watch the new season of House of Cards yet?”

Whatever happened to flowers or candy?

As Shakespeare said in The Tempest, we are experiencing a “sea change” in on-demand content.

Binging on content.

Face it, some of you are going to write to me today and say you’ve already watched all 13 new episodes when this piece hits.

And binge watching seems to be transcending generational boundaries.

Everyone regardless of age does it and loves it.

Poor Les Moonves.

He only has so many more years before even he has to make CBS content available when viewers want it.

Poor Barry Diller who thinks Aereo is a winner at the Supreme Court, but I tell you it’s a loser in the court of public opinion. 

Who wants to pay almost $10 a month to watch local TV on your smartphone?

Case closed.

Local and network TV sucks on the wall for free or for whatever cable companies have managed to snooker us out of.  And if Diller wins at the Supreme Court, the old baby boomer media barons will stop broadcasting over the air and go to cable shutting Aereo down before it gets started.

Look, House of Cards is a compelling, well-written, well-acted show and the original version was also good. 

Good content is good content.

But now, we must make content available to our audiences on their schedule – quite a disruption for broadcasters who air content in real time.

Still, on-demand is the future.

No, I’m wrong.

It’s the present.

So I want to discuss ways we can do this in the radio business at my Philly seminar in March.

And it’s time for radio people to take it seriously.

Yet, there are dazzling ways for us to get into the binge content business.  Things no one has ever done before.  And content that I promise you will wake up an audience that wants to be in control.

To be sure, I am not talking about repurposing content that has already been aired.  So consider this a lifeline to new revenue.  And there is a way to tie the station into the on-demand content that makes more sense that even trying to stream your signal. 

It’s better than that.

And I know radio people.  We will hitchhike on ideas that will allow the medium to participate in perhaps the greatest change in content consumption than we have seen before – binging.

The conference is worth it.

The groups and stations doing great local content and starting a separate digital revenue stream are already in.  The big three already know everything so this not for them.

I’ve got the content divided into 7 critical things we need to be working on:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference” to see if they have any rooms left in the special rate block.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

What?

Overpaying for Time Warner Cable to become a bigger monopoly in an industry that Millennials will soon kill off.

What a strategy.

And as The New York Times reports, this deal was a field day for financial advisors who somehow always make their money.

Cable is dead.

I know.  I know.

Everyone else thinks it’s alive and well since Les Moonves snookered Time Warner into paying CBS double the retransmission fees for his network’s programming.  In doing so, CBS gets an extra lifeline for their dead business – network television.

So Brian Roberts gets bragging rights over that nasty cable baron John Malone who originally tried to steal Time Warner Cable for his monopoly, Charter.

Nowhere in any of the coverage will you see anything substantial about the customer.

I hated cable as soon as it was first available.

The installation. 

The service interruptions. 

The classic customer service failures.

But that’s nothing compared to bundling.

Cable bundles everything.

High speed Internet with landline phone service that no one really wants anymore.

And forcing customers to pay for ESPN (and now CBS) even if they don’t watch sports or any of the shows Les Moonves’ aging network has to offer.

I’m telling you – you think I’m wound up on this topic?  Don’t bring bundling on cable up to a Millennial.

Since there are 95 million of them and only a handful (and growing fewer) of cable and satellite operators, cable is a dead man walking.

That never stops radio from attracting venture capital to play monopoly and overpay for its excessive egos, but it certainly has nothing to do with a viable business that customers want.

They want time shifting.

They want cherry picking.

They want content on demand so they can binge on it.

And if you think I’m just talking about television here, think again.

Radio will have to get into time shifting.

At my March 26^th Philly conference I’m going to show you what some automakers have in the pipeline that will allow drivers (and listeners) to time shift radio programming.

Question.

Time shift what?

Nash FM?  KISS?  Michael Savage?

Cut me a break.

Time shifting is here and we had better look at alternatives to make all types of content available on that basis.

Some of the possibilities are dazzling and I know you’ll hitchhike on these ideas. 

Here’s a sampling of the 7 critical areas that matter most to broadcasters and digital entrepreneurs in the year ahead:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference” to see if they have any rooms left in the special rate block.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

The dirty little secret of radio is that they get to define what digital is and determine how much revenue they derive from it.

Even if it is nothing.

It’s kind of like ratings – if Nielsen says you have one million listeners, then damn, it, you have one million listeners.

You may not have any influence over that audience, but who cares, right?

Radio is still paying the bills.

Digital is an add-on and largely not making money unless radio groups can slip some spot revenue and call it digital or vice versa.

Radio has this mentality that digital is an add-on to radio – an add-on they would rather not do and it looks that way.

I mean if I kept doing the same thing year after year and not making any money from it while having to pay the expenses (as radio groups are doing with streaming), I’d do something else.

Quick.

And that’s my point today.

Wait until you see all the exciting “something else’s” that are waiting to be discovered.

In preparing for my March 26^th Philly seminar, I’ve uncovered some alternate forms of revenue that I’m going to do.  That’s how much I want to get in on this.  Willing to share, but I’m not going to be the one to hesitate.

Throw out the old radio/digital formula, it not only doesn’t work, it distracts from doing good radio.

Let’s be clear.

Above all, do good on-air radio first.

And as an industry, we’re not which is why I am going to share the first really new listener radio preferences for the kind of radio they would actually listen to.

Even Millennials – the ones Nielsen would have us believe are happy as pig in you know what hearing Amp and Kiss play the same songs over and over again.

Really?

Let’s stop kidding ourselves and step up.  So, we’re going to disrupt the way radio connects with audiences in the hope of attracting more fervent listeners and more younger money demos.

Next, start separate streams of digital revenue.

Notice I said separate.

Not brand extensions.

Not your morning show “lite”.

Adventurous initiatives that can start a separate revenue stream to make up for any ups and downs in spot radio or add to the profits if you’ve got your radio act together.

I’ve said that I’ve convinced Jerry Lee, the innovative owner of More FM in Philly to come teach at this seminar.  Since I once worked for him, I threatened to go back on the air if he didn’t accept my invitation.

Lee is bringing with him information for all those who attend to do the same things he does in Philly to help advertisers get better results.  Not words.  Testing their commercials.  That’s how he does it.  No need to be replacing advertisers to make your nut.  They will actually spend more which is why he is the market revenue leader with one FM station.

There is so much we could do to make it real and make it profitable.

Here’s a sampling of the areas that matter to most radio stations.

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Join the radio executives and digital entrepreneurs who have already reserved their seats.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, there are now two rooms left (two were reserved yesterday afternoon) and 10 others at full rates.  Mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference” to get the best room rate available.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

The company that now does PPM ratings which records listening that occurs by accident when meters randomly pick up an encoded radio signal is now weighing in on Millennials.

Millennials, an audience that clearly has no use for what consolidators put on the radio these days.

But the big consolidators are paying Nielsen hundreds of millions of dollars to report audience estimates that the company itself admits in a legal statement are not reliable.

Here’s what else is not reliable.

That Gen Y has not abandoned radio.

Maybe they’re paying some meter wearers to walk around and pick up encoded radio signals but no self-respecting Millennial is listening to broadcast radio.

Ask them.

So when Nielsen says Gen Y spends 11.5 hours listening to over the air radio you’re going to have to take it on their good looks.

Go ahead believe it if that works for you, but it isn’t anywhere near true.

Go find Millennials who actually know the name of a radio station they like.

Or anything that might be on that station.

Millennials have iPods, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube (the hit music station for today’s teens) and hard drives programmed with their own music.

And have you listened to a talk station lately?

These kids are not interested in Michael Savage’s personal dislike of his competitors or even politics that emphasize confrontation instead of conciliation.

All news radio?

Why?

Millennials have all the news they need in the palm of their hands – they don’t have to give radio news 20 minutes to get the world.

This stuff and things Mark Kassof is saying is self-serving and wrong.

I like Mark.  He’s done some good stuff but lately Kassof has his head up his butt with this one:

 “We’ve heard all the doomsayers. 'Listeners don’t care about radio,' 'Millennials hate radio,' 'Pandora will kill radio as we know it,' etc. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!"

And you wonder why radio can’t even break even and will never be a growth business again.

But wait.

The locally focused companies, many of which don’t even subscribe to ratings, are posting profits.

Saga for one.

And Hubbard, Bonneville, Cox, smaller regional companies, and independently owned stations.

No ratings.

No bullshit.

Because these local broadcasters know that ratings are an expensive way to have to talk some media buyer into not driving down their spot rate.  When it’s only numbers and not influence, radio stations get beaten up on rate.

More important than ratings or the tripe that is being circulated about how kids like radio is that your new mission is to create influence not emphasize ratings. 

That’s what Jerry Lee does at More FM in Philly.  True, his station is number one but it also outbills everyone else because he spends tons of money to test advertisers commercials and make them work better on the air.  He has a system that no other radio operator uses.

So there’s local radio and everybody else.

The everybody else’s in the industry have their game of monopoly to play where they run up the debt, fire their talented people and rely on Nielsen and others to prop up a dying business.

When I meet with you at my Philly seminar March 26^th, it’s built for local operators who want to do the best radio they can within today’s financial constraints and start a second and separate stream of digital revenue.

Not add-ons or glorified streaming of their signal that costs money and never makes any real money.

New ripe ventures that are worth investigating.

Here are the 7 critical areas we must master this year to remain viable in a changing industry along with the bonus action plans you will receive:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Jerry Lee will be there to give you the edge in helping advertisers do better so they spend more with you like they do with him in Philly.  He’s even bringing valuable handouts that only you will receive. 

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, there are now two rooms left (two were reserved yesterday afternoon) and 10 others at full rates.  Mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference” to get the best room rate available.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

Imagine this.

$3 million a year from a 5-minute weekly video.

Hardly any production costs – pennies.

No staff needed to sell ads because this model doesn’t sell ads.

Not even banner ads.

And no paid subscriptions, either.

I’ve discovered a bright entrepreneur who is doing just this by unlocking a source of revenue the rest of us have overlooked.

So when we get together face-to-face March 26th, I am going to play the short video, reveal the business plan and ask you this question:

“Forget $3 million a year, would you like to make $100,000 without having to give away on-air spots to support digital?”

You know the routine.

Radio stations do Facebook and Twitter-type things and call them digital.

They steal – I mean, aggregate someone else’s content and collect “clicks” and “likes”.

They stream their on-air programming but can’t make any money from it.

Then they have their radio sellers take it to media buyers and clients as an add-on to radio and often wind up leaving money on the table instead.

Those days are gone for you.

I like this model so much I’m going to do it.  So I’ve investigated it carefully and I’m going to tell all.

Radio needs to stop adding on meaningless digital projects that don’t make any real money and concentrate on doing radio that appeals to short attention audiences while simultaneously starting separate new revenue streams like this that can more than makeup for any shortfalls in revenue.

In other words, it’s an insurance policy on your business.

And if you don’t do it, someone else will.

I just think there are enough typical radio conventions, meetings and shows out there to regurgitate the same old ideas.

This conference (our fifth annual) is recognized in the industry for being especially relevant because it focuses on the two most important issues our industry faces:

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

And I can promise you our game plan is specific.

Here are the 7 critical areas we must master this year to remain viable in a changing industry along with the bonus action plans you will receive:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station’s social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Plus, there’s More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee who has long said that his one FM station dominates his market even in recessions because he has a proven system to make advertising work better for clients.  Now, in a rare public appearance, Jerry Lee will tell you how to do it in your markets.

That’s right, Lee believes this is good for the industry and you’ll hear how he outperforms the economy by making advertisers happy enough to spend more – from this mouth.

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference” to get the best room rate.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

Everyone who attends this year’s Media Solution Conference in Philly March 26^th will get an extra, tangible benefit that they will really like.

For each of the 7 critical areas of focus that are most important to radio (listed below), you will receive specific action steps to take back home with you.

This year can be a great one for you if you plan to work in radio and digital media.

So much is changing almost by the month and there are many additional skills sets to acquire to be at your best.

Thanks to those of you who have already reserved a seat at this event.  I can’t wait to work with you in person.

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

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

Here are the 7 critical areas we must master this year to remain viable in a changing industry along with the bonus action plans you will receive:

1. Specific ways to disrupt radio and put an end to digital competitors interrupting your station’s revenue stream.
2. Methods to master digital as a second stream of revenue alongside broadcasting.  Things like replacing your website with something better, eliminating podcasts for a product that will actually attract big money advertisers and a cost-effective, easy way to put your brand on every smartphone in your market without having to stream your station.  Just to mention three.
3. The nuts and bolts of starting your own station social media network independent from Facebook, Twitter or some other flash in the pan alternative.  From there, how to grow your fan base.
4. A well-defined strategy to change the sound and on-air approach of your radio station at one coordinated time.  You won’t want this to get in the hands of a competitor, for sure.
5. What you need to know about starting your own radio station video business – one that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen, will not need salespeople to unlock the revenue potential and that will more than make up for any on-air advertising shortfalls you may run into this year.  I’ll show video examples and reveal the winning game plans.
6. From my work as a USC professor in the area of generational media:  the critical Millennial checklist.  This is what I use as my new business bible. You’ll get it.  Four things that the next generation of listeners must have in order to listen to radio in the digital age.  What they want from you.  On-air content you are not giving them that they would love.  A never before aired “contest” that would enthrall them. 
7. Exactly how you can time shift radio and how not to.  Time shifting is the new broadcasting in an increasingly on-demand world.  Failure to embrace time shifting could prematurely make your stations extinct.  But you will have innovative key strategies to get started with.

Plus, there’s More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee who has long said that his one FM station dominates his market even in recessions because he has a proven system to make advertising work better for clients.   Now, in a rare public appearance, Jerry Lee will tell you how to do it in your markets.

That’s right, Lee believes this is good for the industry and you’ll hear how he outperforms the economy by making advertisers happy enough to spend more – from this mouth.

Sean Hannity will join us live not to talk politics but the opportunities ahead for radio with Millennial listeners.  He is doing some impressive work in this area you probably don’t know about. 

Michael Harrison is the most quoted radio person by the consumer press because he sees future trends before most.  Let’s ask him about the future of radio, digital, talk, news and music. 

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 Philly March 26^th.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, mention you’ve registered for the “Media Solutions Conference” to get the best room rate.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Starting time: 8am.  Ends 4pm.

Ask anyone under 30 and they’ll tell you that radio is not very important to them.

How did we go from starting our listeners’ days and constantly following them around in the car to not very important?

I get that there are many digital competitors and that technology has changed but traditional media companies like radio have been too timid about taking back their listeners and advertisers.

We don’t do well when we try to be digital.

We’d be better to be ourselves and aggressively pursue a strategy of building stations for future audiences.

And simultaneously start additional and separate revenue streams for digital separate and apart from what goes out over the air.

Mobile content will soon eclipse radio advertising.  Radio is at $32.5 billion now and mobile will do $18 billion this year and a commanding $41.9 billion in 2017.

The biggest most powerful radio groups can’t figure out how to make radio a growth industry again.

My March 26^th Philly conference is especially relevant because it focuses on the two most important issues our industry faces:

• How to do great radio when competitors are cheapening the medium.
• Unlocking better digital solutions that create additional revenue streams.

Here are some of the things you will learn at this one-day teaching event.

1. How to disrupt your radio station before a digital competitor does it.  They are already disrupting spot ad rates and stealing local radio buys.
2. What mistake not to make when extending your radio content and brand to digital.
3. Drill down to the one digital initiative that is worth your time and money because it has a big financial reward.
4. How to start your own social media network for pennies that will attract more audience and impress advertisers more than anything you are now doing with Facebook, Twitter, apps or even your own website.
5. How to make targeted, key programming changes in a world obsessed with on-demand content.
6. How to start your own radio station video business for next to nothing and reap big money within 12-18 months.  I’ll show you someone who is doing just that right now.
7. How to attract young money demo listeners by following these four must-have things Millennials want from radio.
8. The best way to time-shift radio in an era when listeners want what they want when they want it.
9. The morning show of the future that doesn’t have any of the usual elements of current shows and why you want to be first to market with this prototype.
10. Why you shouldn’t count on the digital dashboard to save critical out of home listening for radio.  Teen driver license applications are down dramatically in Florida suggesting a better strategic alternative.
11. How to grow ad revenue with the same or fewer number of advertisers than you now have using this unique and tested formula.
12. The one contest that has never been done on radio and that can instantly attract Millennials to not just listen but be glued to your stations.  Better yet, how to get an advertiser to gladly pay for it.
13. For music stations – how to slay Pandora, expose your radio competitors weaknesses and rethink playlists and music rotation in a youth-friendly way.
14. For talk stations – what is going to be the functional replacement for today’s talk radio.

I have several guest instructors who will join me.

More FM, Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee; Sean Hannity live in Philly and radio expert Michael Harrison.

The format is casual and interactive.  We will learn from each other and leave motivated to take advantage of the many opportunities ahead.

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can hardly wait to be with you for the entire day.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, you will want to inquire about availability. Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  Conference starts at 8am with breakfast and ends at 4 pm. 

My upcoming fifth annual Media Solutions seminar is March 26^th.

I want to thank all those who have already registered and those of you who are also sending groups of attendees. 

This year can be a great one for you if you plan to work in radio and digital media.

So much is changing almost by the month and there are many additional skills sets to acquire to be at your best.

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

If you’d like to stay on-site at The Rittenhouse Hotel at special conference rates, inquire about availability ASAP.  Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included. Conference starts at 8am with breakfast and ends at 4 pm.

I’ve always wondered why locally focused companies don’t have a much better strategy for competing against consolidators who fire their local talent to save money and use syndicated programming instead.

I’m working on this module now as I prepare for our March 26^th Philly conference.

But I want to run some ideas past you here with the promise that we build a great game plan together.

Here’s the best information available on competing against a national syndication:

• Immediately hire the best personality your competitor lets go.  But don’t put him or her on the air.  There is an even better way to use this asset once their non-compete is up.  And, it won’t cost you an additional dime.
• Record your listeners saying why they prefer your station and put them on the air.  Resist the temptation to feed them what you want them to say.  This must be authentic and short.  It’s not what you want them to say, it’s what they want to say – warts and all.  So if they say you suck less, put it on the air.  If they say, you stayed on during the snowstorm (as Summit’s stations did in Birmingham), let them say it and run with it.  If you phony it up to sound better, it is not authentic.  You will lose.  Takes some guts.
• Do this strategically potent contest on the air.  As I’ll share with you, the expenses for this will come from sponsors not your station and the contest is so powerful it will even make a Millennial who doesn’t regularly listen to radio listen to you.  Your national competitor will find themselves hamstrung.
• Make your commercials sound better and work more effectively (we’ll have an entire segment on this at the event).  Even one less lousy commercial, makes your station different and better.  And the way I am going to suggest is cost effective.
• Cut your commercial loads.  This is the radio killer.  If stations continue to ignore this listener irritant, even your best programming will not find its greatest audience.  There is a way to do this.
• Reimagine your morning show to take these three elements out and add these powerful replacements in.  For example:  cheap gas instead of traffic reports.  Everyone has traffic on their phones.  We don’t need empty reports that say “no problems with mass transit”.  Tell listeners where they can get the cheapest gas but don’t just use a laundry list, power it up and present it this way.  Remind me to relate two other replacements for worn out radio morning show components.
• Key strategic positioner.  You never say “local” on air.  You always say “live and local”. 
• Eliminate starting and ending times on your key programs.  You are live and local so make the various shows end at different times.  And not just mornings, either.  We are no longer a top of the hour world.  Howard Stern did this decades ago.  If you’re onto something hot, keep it going.  Your canned competitor can’t touch this.  And it accentuates the fact that you are live and local and brand x is canned.

I’m just getting warmed up.

There are also mighty selling strategies that can hurt a competitor that does syndicated programming.   Ask and I will give them to you.

Find a way to get your buns in Philly.  I’ll feed your stomach and give your mind lots of food for thought in these 7 critical areas of radio:

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Conference begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel and ends at 4pm for planning your return flight or departure. 

Breakfast, buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

The only thing I liked about the Super Bowl was that it was played just miles from my birthplace – Hoboken, NJ.

I appreciate Pete Carroll because he was coaching USC football when I was a professor there.  Great guy.  Great motivator.

But I’m envious.

I kept getting this feeling that once – just once – I’d like to see the Philadelphia Eagles in a Super Bowl game where they are leading all the way through so I can text, email and shout about the victory that is coming for four quarters as Seahawks fans could.

With the Eagles – if they made it to the finals – they would have to have a come from behind victory to emerge the winners.  That’s tough on long-suffering fans thus my envy of Sunday’s game.

So that leaves us with the entertainment.

I noticed how the NFL announcer at half time sounded like he was cupping his ear and puking into the microphone.  I’m sure young audiences could not relate if the NFL even cares about young audiences to that extent.

That the Super Bowl is the only big real-time media event left thanks to Netflix, YouTube and our digital way of living.

And that they all look and sound the same as the previous ones and that is going to catch up with the NFL sooner rather than later.

Bruno Mars was an outstanding entertainer and he didn’t really need Red Hot Chili Peppers to bolster the show.  For some reason, people thought Mars was going to suck.  He didn’t.

And then, there are the commercials.

For the most part, they did suck.

It’s like they were done to attract attention to the agencies and creative people who put them together with little focus on being effective for the advertiser.

Sounds like radio, doesn’t it?

My wife was sharing some commercials she saw that I missed but she couldn’t always put the sponsor together with the spot – a problem most in the audience seem to have.

And in a week from now, the ad money will have been wasted and a rare opportunity to get to everyone missed.

Generationally, the Budweiser dog and pony commercial was rated number one by viewers polled because it had animals in it and made people feel good.

The Tim Tebow T-Mobile spot that poked fun at himself fit the now maverick brand of T-Mobile and resonated as one of the best in polls because it was authentic – a big prerequisite of Millennials coming of age. 

The 80’s throwback of the Radio Shack commercial made the top ten because of nostalgia and after all, Radio Shack is just history now.   Their name says it all.

Danica Patrick’s body must have lost that lovin’ feelin’ because even it could not get the once popular Go Daddy spot out of the bottom feeders.

What all of this suggests is that for media experts, we had all better go back to the drawing board and figure out what resonates with our target audience instead of what resonates with us.

What actually sells products or services?

Didn’t anyone test these spots for $4 million they paid for each? 

And who are we to judge – as The Pope would say.

Radio spots are awful.

We junk up unlistenable, long stop sets each hour almost as if we hate our advertisers and our listeners.

Time for some answers.

And we’ll have to become more expert at understanding the 95 million Millennials who are willing their way on the media industry.

This is our mission at my March 26^th Philly conference in less than two months. 

There are 7 critical areas deserving of our attention and discussion:

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Conference begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel and ends at 4pm for planning your return flight or departure. 

Breakfast, buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

Thursday.

Jay Leno goes into forced retirement.

Comcast is yanking him from The Tonight Show after 20 years in favor of the younger Jimmy Fallon.

To the end, Leno won the money demographic that advertisers covet even though he is full of gray hair and over 60.

Comcast, owner of NBC Universal, not only thinks the time is right to get rid of the old man but they are paying him an additional – that’s right additional -- $15 million to step down now instead of September.

Comcast obviously wants Leno out.

And that begs the question all media people struggle with – when do you go younger to attract younger audiences?

Or, do you even turn to a younger performer to attract younger audiences.

Music is a young artists business – I used to tell my music industry students at USC that when they turn 28, they’re officially old when it comes to the new generation of musicians.  And the labels always want the next big – young – thing.

Radio doesn’t seem to care about any personalities or djs because they just want cheap – the next cheaper thing.

But stations that care about audiences if they are to be honest will admit to wondering where the sweet spot is.

It’s worthy of a conversation.

Once Leno cashes his additional $15 million check, he is a free agent for Fox or anyone else that thinks his unique monologue will continue to please the money demo and the advertisers who covet it.

When we meet in Philly March 26^th, I am going to share with you some new research on the four must-have qualities that 95 million Millennials are looking for from media.

Once armed with this list, we can look at talent in a new way.

Age, by the way, didn’t even make the Millennial list so Comcast obviously thinks they know something that Millennials aren’t admitting to.

But you will know and we’ll discuss because there is nothing worse than doing programming well that doesn’t need to be done at all.

Here’s the lineup for our day together. 

Hope you can make it. 

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel and ends at 4pm for planning your return flight or departure. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

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

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

It reacts instead of responds.

But same rules apply.

You win by planning to win.

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

For example:

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

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

But he rarely talks publicly about his strategies.

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

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

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

But so will you.

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

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

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

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

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

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

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

What’s that about? 

And streaming.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

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

Pandora is hurting them.

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

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

And then there are two more developing circumstances.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast/check-in starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

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

I need CPR.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In effect, they have killed live broadcasting.

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

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

They fed the monster.

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

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

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

But it is already done.

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

Content radio can offer for download.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm.   

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

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

It’s chilling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, radio.

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

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

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

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

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

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

Is there a way to finally monetize streaming radio? 

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

Some pretty serious questions, don’t you think?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To be more specific:

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

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

I know what you’re going to say.

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

That everyone loves The World Series.

And, lest I forget …

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

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

Until you see the storm clouds ahead.

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

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

The kids have found other things to do.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This deserves some attention.

Nothing is safe – not even sports.

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

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

There is no bigger tinderbox than social media.

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

What two social media sites are more popular than Twitter?

LinkedIn and Pinterest.

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

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

Is Facebook dead?

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

Think of it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships   

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

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

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

Who cares?

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

Let’s get this right.

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

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

I say it again, who cares?

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

Sounds like an opportunity for radio to me.

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

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

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

That changes now.

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

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

Opportunities.

Possible pitfalls.

A path to profitability.

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

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

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

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

The answer to DVRs.

The remedy for time shifting and binge watching.

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

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

Time-shifted content, binge watching and social media.

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

Are you ready?

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

Not a second of it.

They followed it on social media and skipped it.

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

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

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

Same thing is happening with football and sports.

The event is no longer the main event.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So we need to rethink how we do content.

How we cater to the content and events of others.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

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

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

T-Mobile is a sore loser.

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

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

Radio people, read this carefully.

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

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

This is radio waiting to happen.

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

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

But I can’t wait.

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

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

How? 

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

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

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

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

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

Find ways to give them music discovery not repetition. 

I know.  I know. 

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

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

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

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

I love it. 

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

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

1. Disrupting what consolidators have turned our radio industry into.  We can’t do this by just changing formats.  It’s going to take a nuclear option and I’ve got one for you that is so big it will push your consolidated competitors back with no option to compete with you.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t a product.  It’s a technology.  Every radio broadcaster needs to start a second stream of revenue separate and apart from radio.  Let’s create some content.  There are some dazzling possibilities out there.  I will share.
3. Create your own social media.  If you tie yourself to Facebook, Twitter or even the current rage, Instagram, you’re going down with them.  There’s a better way.  Make your own social network and drive it with content and revenue possibilities.  It’s being done under the radar by some smart people right now.
4. Reinvent radio.  Stop thinking of it as hourly hot clocks and redesign it to be compelling to the very audience we can’t seem to attract – 95 million Millennials.  They dislike radio but they like some things we’re not currently doing.  Interested in providing this content for younger money demos?  It takes an open mind and some creativity.
5. Video. Video. Video.  We’re wasting valuable time.  You must be in this business but it is not what you think it is.  Let me show you real success stories including one entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  I’m going to play it, talk about it and answer your questions.  This is ingenious.
6. The key to attracting Millennials.  There is basically nothing radio has to offer right now that Millennials can’t get somewhere else.  The secret to attracting Millennials is to build your station for them.  I know, that sounds awful, but Steve Jobs didn’t design Apple products for later adopters.  He mastered the early adopters by finding out the “radical” things they couldn’t resist.  We can do this and here’s the plan.
7. Time-shift radio.   Look, if you get nothing else out of this learning session you must become skilled at time-shifting content.  Binge watching is the rage.  Broadcasting is out.  It doesn’t mean the end if we know how to time-shift our content.  I’ll tell you everything I know about this.

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

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

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

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

Pittman wants to be everywhere but radio!

Country iHeartRadio concerts from Texas. 

Pop iHeartRadio concerts from Las Vegas. 

Hell, iHeartRadio content and branding instead of local.

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

The digital dashboard is HD Radio waiting to happen.

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

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

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

What’s more important than the digital dashboard?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top priority is creating great content.

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

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

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

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

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

For everyone else, it comes down this …

1. Disrupting what consolidators have turned our radio industry into.  We can’t do this by just changing formats.  It’s going to take a nuclear option and I’ve got one for you that is so big it will push your consolidated competitors back with no option to compete with you.
2. Master digital.  Digital isn’t a product.  It’s a technology.  Every radio broadcaster needs to start a second stream of revenue separate and apart from radio.  Let’s create some content.  There are some dazzling possibilities out there.  I will share.
3. Create your own social media.  If you tie yourself to Facebook, Twitter or even the current rage, Instagram, you’re going down with them.  There’s a better way.  Make your own social network and drive it with content and revenue possibilities.  It’s being done under the radar by some smart people right now.
4. Reinvent radio.  Stop thinking of it as hourly hot clocks and redesign it to be compelling to the very audience we can’t seem to attract – 95 million Millennials.  They dislike radio but they like some things we’re not currently doing.  Interested in providing this content for younger money demos?  It takes an open mind and some creativity.
5. Video. Video. Video.  We’re wasting valuable time.  You must be in this business but it is not what you think it is.  Let me show you real success stories including one entrepreneur who makes $3 million a year by doing a free 5-minute weekly video.  No commercials, banner ads, product placement or subscription fees.  I’m going to play it, talk about it and answer your questions.  This is ingenious.
6. The key to attracting Millennials.  There is basically nothing radio has to offer right now that Millennials can’t get somewhere else.  The secret to attracting Millennials is to build your station for them.  I know, that sounds awful, but Steve Jobs didn’t design Apple products for later adopters.  He mastered the early adopters by finding out the “radical” things they couldn’t resist.  We can do this and here’s the plan.
7. Time-shift radio.   Look, if you get nothing else out of this learning session you must become skilled at time-shifting content.  Binge watching is the rage.  Broadcasting is out.  It doesn’t mean the end if we know how to time-shift our content.  I’ll tell you everything I know about this.

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

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

Complimentary breakfast starts at 8 am. 

Session begins at 9 am at the beautiful Rittenhouse Hotel. 

Buffet lunch and all breaks included.  

Conference ends at 4 pm. 

NBC and Comcast still aren’t learning their lesson.

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

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

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

And Jay Leno becomes a free agent.

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

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

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

Kind of like radio’s dilemma.

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

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

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

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

Yes, they want that, too but not exclusively.

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

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

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

To me this conference is about two key things:

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital is not a format.

It’s not really an industry.

It’s a technology.

We make the programming. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s a stunner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

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

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included. 

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

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

No speech, just teach.

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

To put it bluntly:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

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

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  

There is a reason Congress is gridlocked and so partisan.

Because our elected officials are largely baby boomers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everyone has short attention spans.

Baby Boomers are defined by the rules.

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

See how fascinating this is – and scary?

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

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

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

There is one very encouraging sign.

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships – send your clients and show appreciation.

Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  

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

New Year’s Suckin’ Eve.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s your father or mother’s Oldsmobile.

Not a BMW or Tesla.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

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

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

Sean Hannity will be in person to join me for the learning event that focuses on great radio and future revenue streams.

Jerry Lee, the successful entrepreneur who owns B-101 (now More FM) in Philadelphia is also on the faculty of my upcoming fifth annual Media Solutions seminar March 26^th.

The coming year is critical because large radio groups are cutting to the bone, damaging their brands and by extension the radio brand.  There are steps that can and should be taken to prevent this.

And it will not be possible to remain viable without betting on the right digital media projects going forward and in my view very few have it right – yet.

So much is changing almost by the month and there are so many skills sets to acquire to be at your best.

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

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

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

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).
2. Master digital.  It’s not brain surgery but believe it or not, no one in radio is doing digital the right way.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Let Facebook and Twitter go, that’s not social media now.
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in, broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?  Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without 80 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time-shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time-shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

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

Early discounting is ending for my upcoming fifth annual Media Solutions seminar March 26^th.

I want to thank all the early-birds who have already registered and those of you who are also sending groups of attendees. 

Next year can be a great one for you if you plan to work in radio and digital media.

So much is changing almost by the month and there are so many skills sets to acquire to be at your best.

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

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

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

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).
2. Master digital.  It’s not brain surgery but believe it or not, no one in radio is doing digital the right way.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Let Facebook and Twitter go, that’s not social media now.
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in; broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?  Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without 80 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time-shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time-shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm and knowledge with you in person.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

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

I want to thank all you early birds who have already reserved a seat for my upcoming fifth annual Media Solutions seminar March 26^th.

And thanks to those of you who are also sending groups of attendees. 

Just one last shout out that the early incentives are about to end so if you’ve been thinking about attending, you’ll want to act now.

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

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

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

1. Disrupting radio before a digital competitor does (they’re already stealing local radio buys and are the largest ad growth sector).
2. Master digital.  It’s not brain surgery but believe it or not, no one in radio is doing digital the right way.
3. Becoming accomplished at social media.  Let Facebook and Twitter go, that’s not social media now.
4. Reinvent radio.  On-demand is in; broadcasting is fighting the new trend, where does that leave radio?   Strategies, ideas and inspirations.
5. Launch short-form video.  Just because you’re in the audio business doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert at profitable short-form video.  I will reveal how some are earning millions from a 5-minute weekly video.
6. Attract Millennials.  No getting around this fact – without 80 million Millennials, the oldest of whom are already 30 and well into the money demo, radio is just spinning its wheels.  I’ve devoted the last ten years to generational media.  You’ll know what I know.
7. Adapt to time-shifting radio.  Miss this opportunity and radio is mired in the past.  How to time-shift on-air programming (there are new rules to this game) as well as digital.

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

This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person. 

You’re the best!   Thank you!

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Inquire about sponsorships

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

If you’re relying on Facebook to reach audiences and build lists, you’re using something that is fast becoming passé.

Don’t turn to media experts, just look to your kids.

Instagram not Facebook.

Facebook is fast becoming just a digital photo album.

Instagram is the next iteration of Facebook, which by comparison looks so primitive.  Fortunately for Facebook that they spent a billion to buy Instagram.  Now watch them ruin it with advertising.

My point is that digital is so volatile – it even rhymes so it should be easy to remember and we’d do well to remember it. 

And social is so trendy, it is in one minute and out the next and yet content providers are getting slammed because they can’t figure it out.

Facebook is only ten years old and now your 25^th class reunion has discovered it.  That’s death to social media for all practical purposes.

SnapChat is the next thing driven by teenagers’ propensity for sending nude pictures of themselves on the service that are only visible for up to ten seconds and then, theoretically, destroy themselves.

We’re losing focus on what is important which is content.

It doesn’t matter how many social sites come along, we need to be on the right ones.

It doesn’t matter how many digital delivery systems come into favor, we need to be available through the most popular sites.

What is not negotiable is creating excellent content but radio is dropping the ball on this, which is not only not helpful but potentially fatal.

The change of focus should be strengthening the content and being an expert at new delivery systems and changing social media preferences.

I’m delving into this at my upcoming media conference in Philadelphia.  You’ll be dangerous when you leave.

Understanding Social Media

• Replace Facebook as your go-to social network with this hot media site (in fact, why you should never even mention “Facebook” on the air from now on).
• Disturbing new research on Twitter (beware if you are banking on it)
• The 2 hottest new social networks you want to be part of
• Easy ways to utilize texting more effectively
• Latest intelligence on social networking to build audiences (we’re actually getting it wrong)
• The killer social network every station should start if they want influence and monetization
• More on how email and Internet search is selling far more product than social media – and how to take advantage of this trend.

Reserve a seat

Inquire about group rates

Act to book an on-site room at The Rittenhouse Hotel while still available at special conference rates.  Breakfast, lunch and all breaks included.  This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.

Netflix disrupts network TV and soon, the movies.

Aereo wants to disrupt local TV affiliate stations by making their content available on mobile devices without paying for purveying the content.  So far, the courts have been backing them up as the networks litigate.

Pandora is disrupting radio, not SiriusXM.

Streaming music services are disrupting music radio stations.

Texting is disrupting talk radio among young money demos.

And Google has glasses, Amazon has drones, SnapChat has found a teen audience that wants to take naked pictures, send them, and make them disappear within ten seconds.

Apple, well – not so much lately, but it arguably contributed the major disruptions that define the media industry today.

I’m not suggesting that drones should take out Bob Pittman’s corporate yacht in the south of France, but I am suggesting that if radio is to remain viable in a world being changed by technology, we need to disrupt radio.

Not change the format.

Not shut down and leave town.

So one of the things we will cover at my upcoming seminar in Philadelphia is what you need to know about disrupting radio.

• How far is not far enough, does it mean risking the audience you already have?
• A totally new way to do commercial clusters, grow revenue
• Best radio programming “hot clock” for the Millennial age
• The new morning show that audiences find irresistible (yes, the one without traffic and often weather – this is disruptive!)
• Fastest way to gain money demo audiences, what they crave
• Boldly fixing listener objections about your station
• Attractive alternatives for music discovery on tightly-formatted stations
• Instant ways to get what you’re doing on-air to go viral without social media

Click to see details on the other topics that will be covered:

Master Digital – What Works, What’s in the Pipeline
Understanding Social Media
Key Strategies To Protect Your Radio Station
Expert Advice On Short-Form Video
Latest Breakthroughs On Attracting Millennials
Tackling Time Shifting Radio

One day – March 26, 2014 in Philadelphia @ The Rittenhouse Hotel (breakfast, lunch and all breaks included).  Registration and breakfast at 8 am, program begins at 9.

Reserve a Seat

Inquire About Group Rates

The 2014 Media Solutions Conference -- Devoted to helping you keep your skills sharp as technology and audiences change

Pope Francis is not attending my conference in Philly.

But I wish he were.

Putting religious differences aside, this Pope has tapped into the essence of what the next generation wants.

It is a blueprint for media outlets if only they would follow his lead.

This is exactly how you change radio to adapt to the 80 million Millennials you must have to continue to be viable going forward.

The Pope’s advice is ironically also much needed counsel for talk show hosts who still think conflict, bloviating, pandering and divisiveness are going to work with the next generation of radio listeners.  Apparently that’s all they know how to do.

Let me be specific.

The two things we see from this media maven of a Pope is that he is all about service and humility.  He even beat out Miley Cyrus for Time’s Person of the Year so there is still hope, right?  Although I get what Miley Cyrus represents to our current culture.

Radio used to be about service but now it has shut down and left town.

And doing service for the community today has changed.  It’s a step beyond what we did so well for years in radio.  You’d probably be invigorated to see the new possibilities.

And humility?

Not on the air anywhere.

We brag, we promise, we lie and we wonder why young people are turned off by radio.

We think it’s that we’re not digital and to some extent that is a factor, no doubt. 

But it’s more that we refuse to change.

We don’t hire people.

We fire them in great numbers even when they are making us money and winning audiences.

We don’t ask for excellence on the job, we hand out three or more jobs – just do them!

Everything is the greatest thing ever on-air, we hype with the best of them.  After all where did Bob Pittman get his chops for hype?

I don’t know if you are aware of the uptick in listener advisory boards that some stations are using these days to get in touch with audiences.

But we’ve done this before.

I’m the PD, here’s my private line, call.

We ask and then we do what we want.

Why have a listener board if you’re not open to cutting your commercial load, because that’s what they’re going to want.

Then they are going to want more music variety.

We’ve been down that road before, too.

Remember in the 90’s the radio liner  – “better variety, fewer commercials, more music” every time we opened our mouths.  All lies.  Listeners didn’t buy it then and won’t buy it now.

When I turned Inside Radio, the weekly printed version into a daily fax back in the early 90’s before the Internet, the research company I hired – a damn good one (and very expensive, too) warned me that we would only retain 15% of our paid subscribers if we switched to daily fax delivery.  Ask Tom Taylor -- he was there. The research surveyed 300 radio executives so that’s that!   

I did it anyway because maybe I’m not that smart but I was obsessed with the idea and it paid off in tens of millions of dollars – in other words, my readers didn’t know what a daily fax was back then or how we’d be writing it and research couldn’t predict that they would like that “silly” idea so much.

Steve Jobs was right when he said consumers don’t know what innovation they want next.

That’s our job.

I want to pick this discussion up at my continuing education seminar the 2014 Media Solutions Conference in Philly March 26^th.

It’s one day -- can you check your calendar?

Cheesesteaks are on me.

You can register any time at the regular rate, but if you want a guaranteed savings, today will get it for you.

Are you doing everything you can to keep your media skills sharp as audiences change?

Together we can channel what it is going to take to become relevant to audiences and come away with great ideas, strategies and the fire in your belly to change.

Thanks for considering attending and I look forward to having you take a seat with the rest of the group. 

By the way, here’s a link to the newly updated conference curriculum.

Did you see Jeff Bezos on 60 Minutes Sunday?

He’s talking about a drone that could not deliver a bomb, but a package you ordered through Amazon Prime in 30 minutes within five years.  That idea is the bomb!  If he can do it.  (See an Amazon video on how this disruption would work here).

And disruption is about forcing yourself out of the same old thinking that allows competitors to erode your business.

We radio people tend to get uncomfortable even when we know it is past due to shake up terrestrial radio big time.

Where are our drone ideas?

I’m not being funny here.

Take John Legere, the oddball CEO who took T-Mobile from the graveyard to success after its merger with AT&T was blocked by the DOJ.

He comes along and makes the other sorry looking mobile carriers look, well – old fashioned and out of touch in a high tech world.

Comes up with a plan to let customers pay for their phones separately and just buy mobile service from T-Mobile.

A new phone after six months.

200 MB of free data monthly for tablets on the T-Mobile plan.

He has turned the weakest company into an “un-carrier” and the only one that is attracting new customers – 600,000 wireless subscribers for the second quarter in a row of positive growth.

Why are we not stoked to do the same thing for radio?

When I talk about disruption people mistakenly believe that means throwing grenades at radio.  As you will discover, that’s not it at all.

Disruption is even better.

I wish I had your problems – terrestrial stations in a digital era.  Imagine the fun I could have disrupting all those poor digital entrepreneurs who have kind of fallen into a rut of their own.  Lucky for them traditional media is too scared to attack themselves.  So, they let digital competitors do it.

That’s why I love to do my annual Media Solutions Conference and why I hope this will be the year you put aside one day to stoke your disruptive competitive fires.

Just us – together. 

I’m not doing panels.  Not letting sponsors waste your time.  We roll up our sleeves and get to work. 

Reserve a seat.  Bring your best people.  Let me help you unlock a future that can include growth and upside potential.

This year I am focusing on 7 strategic areas that should help radio stations rethink their opportunities in the digital world in which we live.

Check it out.

Radio stations think I am crazy for repeatedly saying they should be in the video business.

Not the streaming of their on-air signal that makes them chump change at best.

Not the promotion based manipulation of social media – anyway, they’re focusing on the wrong social media.  Not that it matters since social media is a utility like a mobile carrier or electric company and can’t really be monetized.

I know we’re in the radio business but an entire generation of Millennials is choosing on-demand content not broadcasting.

Radio needs a Plan B.

I have discovered a young entrepreneur who is doing one 4-minute video a week.

She uses social media to get followers to subscribe and she has a huge following.

She doesn’t serve banner ads.

Doesn’t accept product placement.

She doesn’t even do commercials.

Yet her reported annual income from this video business is an estimated $3 million.

Wait until you hear how she makes all that money.

Oh, did I mention that she doesn’t sell subscriptions to her video, either?

This is what radio folks who are serious about digital revenue should be going to school on.

And it’s one of the things you’ll learn at my upcoming 2014 Media Solutions Conference in Philadelphia.

Click here to register now.

Here’s the curriculum for this seminar based on the seven most important areas radio stations must excel in today’s radio business:

1. How to disrupt your radio station before digital competitors do.  It used to be we feared our competitors, now it is technology, an infinite number of alternative content choices and the whirlwind impact of social media we fear.  We need to understand how to really disrupt our stations without damaging them – and I will show you.  You’re going to like it and get good at disruption.  After all, Google and Apple made a fortune doing it.
2. Master digital.  Streaming, websites and fumbling around with social media will not be sufficient.  I will tell you about an entrepreneur who uses video with social media and earns her $3 million a year.  That’s without selling any advertising, no product placement and – are you ready?  No commercials.  This will be my gift to you and since the Media Solutions Conference is never streamed or recorded for sale to non-attendees, you’ll want to be in Philly for this learning module.
3. Shake up social media strategies.  To be honest, the Millennials who drive social media are fickle and they are in the midst of bailing on Facebook and Twitter right now.  Yet most stations are dependent on these social networks as part of their media strategy. Earlier I said we must use our resources more judiciously so wasting time on social media that 80 million people are abandoning is not a good use of resources.  You’ll learn the social media sites to embrace including a few new surprises and the ones to back off of.  Attend this conference and I promise -- your station will not be the one caught trying to be cool when the audience has moved on.
4. Reinvent radio for the digital age.  The big conundrum is where should on-air radio and digital content meet?  What is the new purpose for an FM radio station?  Is there a use for AM for a large youthful audience that is not inclined to like any kind of radio including satellite radio?  How to know what Pandora really is which is not your on-air competitor at all – it’s your advertising competitor and there are strategies to shut them down or out of your local markets.  There is a more effective way to reinvigorate your radio station that is increasingly under attack from digital competitors and you’ll leave Philly with that.
5. Growth opportunities in short-form video.  Let me be blunt.  It doesn’t matter if you’re number one in your radio market; it’s now mandatory that you be number one in video as well.  YouTube is the new hit radio station to teens.  Netflix is the new TV.  Cable is dead with them and bundling will end after a long fight by the cable companies to keep it on life support.  Radio stations are natural content creators for video and I will explain the opportunities, risks and rewards on March 26^th.
6. Engage 80 million Millennials.  Radio talks to itself these days.  Unless we know the things that Millennials really care about then it will be difficult to remain viable in the radio business.  They hate hype.  Respectfully, we are the masters of hype.  Millennials are a very civic generation.  We do a lot less of getting involved in civic pursuits than we used to and nothing near what will get them to give a second listen to radio.  Millennials don’t see color or gender and yet our stations are largely run by men, with too few women on-air and very little diversity.  But there is a comeback plan and you’ll get it.
7. Time-shift radio.  Think about it.  Now we all want to access content when we want to, where we want to and how.  But radio is a broadcast medium, how does it time-shift?  The out of touch think that they just need to podcast some programs or personalities and that would be incorrect.  In fact, learning the exact length of content for the younger end of the money demo will be worth the day in Philly if the other modules are not enough.  Plainly put, we all must learn to time-shift radio.  First in wins.

March 26, 2014 at the Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia.

A few on-site hotel rooms available at conference pricing.

Click here to register now.

Inquire about group rates.

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

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

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

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

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

Reserve a seat now. 

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

Here is the curriculum:

1.  Disrupt Your Radio Station

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

2.  Master Digital

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

3.  Succeed With New Social Media Strategies

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

4.  Reinvent Radio For the Digital Age

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

5.  Growth Opportunities in Short-Form Video

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

6.  Engage 80 Million Millennials

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

7. Time Shift Radio

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

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

Click here to register now.

Inquire about group rates.

Facebook, too.

Talk to teens and you’ll see.

Facebook and Twitter are in a heap of trouble and so is any radio station that relies on them for its digital future.

If the hottest things in social media have peaked, what does that mean for radio?

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

If you’ve been thinking about subscribing and would like to access this story, let me tell you what you will get:

1. The most important thing you need to know about the increasing unpopularity of Twitter and Facebook.
2. Identify what went so wrong with social media – it’s only been around for a decade or so.  Mistakes you will want to avoid.
3. The 2 best up and coming social media sites to replace Twitter and Facebook.
4. When is it time to shut your Twitter and Facebook accounts down.
5. New paradigm:  it’s not the big idea that matters, it’s this startling revelation.

The answers begin here.

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Revolutions don’t last long.

The popular Internet movement took place in the late 90’s and during the past ten years we’ve seen unprecedented disruption to brick and mortar stores, the U.S. Postal Service, the telephone company and, even more dramatically, media – all at the hands of the Internet revolution.  And that’s just a small list.

TV has resisted online connectivity choosing to cater to older viewers.

Radio hasn’t even acknowledged the Internet revolution let alone the growth of social media.

Newspapers are dead in print and online because you can’t squeeze a printed newspaper into a website behind a paywall and call it the future.

Social media?

Peaked.

You know Twitter has hit the wall when Wall Street gets interested in an IPO.

Facebook is declining among teens in such a dramatic way, it probably doesn’t have 5 years before it implodes.  More importantly, all of us who depend on Facebook could go down with it like quicksand.

The Internet is the great disruptor of society and our economy.

And IT has peaked – its best years are behind it.  And everyone else who thinks it’s still the future is in for another disruption of its own making.

The smug media companies who think they can transform online into the new television, radio or print business are in for a rude awakening.

This is not to say that everything will go back to the way it was.

It won’t.

It will go on.

A glimpse of the future without the Internet as we know it driving commerce and communication is breathtaking:

1. Texting is the most essential tool of the future.  If the smartphone is not going away – and it is not – then texting is to a smartphone what calling used to be to a telephone.  
2. After texting, pictures and video will be what the next 10 years will be all about.  We must embrace it or be caught blogging, designing websites that are growing increasingly irrelevant or transferring traditional media to the Internet for no good reason at all.
3. Radio will be all but history in ten years – maybe sooner.  Don’t ask a radio person because most of them are on Kool-Aid.  Just look at the numbers.  Over, 60 – great for radio.  Under 50, bailing on radio.  Under 30, they never had a relationship with radio and will not be getting one which begs the question, what should radio stations do next?

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The terrifying question for established traditional media companies such as TV networks and radio is how to do digital while still reaping current levels of revenue from broadcasting.

Networks are frightened of Netflix, Hulu Plus, HBO Go and on-demand viewing of all kinds.

They’re even afraid of DVRs that allow audiences to time delay their viewing.

One reason is that time shifting diminishes the broadcast model and a second is that you can bet the ranch that no one watching time shifted content is going to watch commercials.

In radio, the issue is how to keep on broadcasting even though digital devices make live broadcasting less attractive. 

Pandora is the new radio – sorry, but it just keeps growing and growing.

And time shifted is the new live.

In radio there are still those who think the world is flat and these folks are holding onto every hope that a smartphone can become a radio.

Not happening and will not happen. 

No digital strategy has emerged for radio and time is wasting.

There had better be a Plan B.

But there is a way to master digital content and broadcasting simultaneously creating two strong revenue streams.

But it takes an open mind and some guts.

1. Don’t do the same thing on the air that you do for digital because you’re killing both off.  Now with this strategy radio gets a new mission at the same time digital is redeployed to be more effective.
2. Live broadcasting must take on a new purpose.  If it resembles satellite radio or Pandora, radio’s goose is cooked.  But there are ways to reinvigorate live broadcasting and giving it a new lease on life and I’d like to share them.
3. Consider using radio stations as preview channels for digital.  It’s not hard to do.
4. I’ve got an outline for a new morning show that a) never makes it to the airwaves; b) isn’t a podcast and c) is so appealing to audiences that crave time shifting, you’re going to wonder why you never thought of it.  If you attend my event, ask me to outline it.
5. Jerry Lee, the successful B-101, Philadelphia owner has it right.  Streaming is a waste of time.  There are more useful ways to redeploy radio assets.  Jerry Lee will be on our faculty when we address a new way to grow revenue without digital.  You’ll kick yourself for not seeing this path.
6. There are three things that must be done to succeed in digital and if one of them is not fulfilled, you will not succeed.  Do you know the three things? You’ll need to.
7. Great news.  You can get listeners to pay YOU even though you are not going to stop running commercials.  They will pay you because what you’re about to find out is their hot button is something you can do.  Cha-ching, a third revenue source after spots and digital revenue.
8. Ask me about how to create a new kind of time shifted radio content that listeners will buy from you like a DVD or better yet, a series of new content that they can subscribe to.

Sit home if you want or rehash the same old ideas from broadcasting conventions and shows.

But if this sounds a little more optimistic than trying to add on streaming and social media to radio stations that are currently seeing a decline in money demo aged audiences, then keep in mind, the necessary skills are already in our wheelhouse.

First, we must be willing to learn about it, teach those around us and oversee implementation without hesitation.

I’ll present the ideas and bring in the experts. 

Will you invest one day to embrace these forward-looking strategies?

Here is the curriculum for the 2014 Media Solutions Conference along with a link to reserve a seat today:

1.  Disrupt Your Radio Station

Blow it up without losing your loyal fans.  Gain audience by attacking all the things digital age listeners hate about radio before a digital competitor does.  Study the plan to drastically alter and destroy the old structure the way Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat and Netflix did.  Innovate the next radio creating new revenue streams and solving virtually every objection digital-age listeners have about radio.

2.  Master Digital

Learn how people you probably don’t know make millions of dollars in digital without running commercials or even selling banner ads.  It is being done right now but traditional media isn’t doing it.  Consider this your game plan.

3.  Most Effective Social Media Strategies

Social media shakeup alert!  Instagram is ousting Facebook.  Twitter is in trouble despite its IPO.  Horror of all horrors – texting with pictures is where you should be but social media is no longer just about staying connected so if your radio station is relying on today’s social media, this is a heads up to get with it.

4.  Reverse The Decline of Radio Listening

Learn the most effective approach to reinvigorating a radio station that is under attack from digital competitors.  The secret is in one paragraph you will want to memorize as your credo.  We will brainstorm together on steps that will guarantee that you will find new radio listeners by outsmarting digital competitors.

5.  Succeed At Short Form Video

No matter what kind of content you create going forward, it must include short form video.  But short form video is no longer your children’s YouTube.  There are new risks, new rewards and endless ways to create video content that is compelling and financially rewarding.  We will cover it.

6.  Engaging 80 Million Millennials

They hate radio.  And use music like toothpaste.  But there is a way to engage Millennials.  I will share my work in generational media that indicates this young and massive audience is available to traditional media such as radio, TV and the record industry but not by continuing the status quo.  You’ll come away knowing their hot buttons and their turn offs.

7.  Time Shifting Radio

All content must be available on-demand – everything.  The audience is demanding it and every medium except radio is responding.  How to create time shifted radio content.  Whether to rely on over-the-air broadcasts for time shifting or create new content.  How to market time shifting as a new stream of revenue. Go to school on time shifting.

One day.

March 26, 2014 at the Rittenhouse Hotel, Philadelphia presented by Jerry Del Colliano with the assistance of clinical guest faculty.

Reserve a Seat

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