Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

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.