Inside Music Media

Big changes coming to radio.

Even if the big boys choose to ignore these changes, you will be out ahead of them.

The pipeline is loaded with game changing strategies that will begin to remake the radio industry to better compete in the digital age.

Take how Lincoln Financials KS1075 has extended the contracts for its morning team “Larry, Kendall and Kathie”.

Good move or mistake?

Read on as we list some of the things that will be changing about radio.

You should never do traffic in the morning. I know. I know. Your station apparently needs to do it more than listeners need to hear traffic. Face it, you want the revenue from the traffic service. Your listeners do not value your morning show for traffic. It used to be that way but is no longer. Let’s talk about what to replace it with that is even more powerful and sell it.
Almost never do weather – and only if you are prepared to do this one thing first. In a smartphone world, we all have the weather before we get to a radio. The days of being the weather station are over. But there is one thing your station can do when weather becomes a big event – and only 1% of all radio stations do it.
The term “traffic and weather together” dates your station. If you want to go down with doing things that listeners don’t need because they get them from their smartphones, at least don’t sound antiquated by saying “traffic and weather together”.
Traffic on the 4’s, 2’s or whatever is an irritant. I know this is tough love because we love our traffic and transit but to listeners this has become a red flag for more radio junk (along with your promos and commercial wasteland). Why shoot yourself in the foot.
Most stations just regurgitate news they’ve aggregated (stolen) from elsewhere. This accomplishes nothing but reminding listeners how tuned in THEY are to what’s happened across the street and around the world and how out of it radio is. All news stations do news. For everyone else, there is something different and valuable.
Never utter the words “likes” or “clicks” to an advertiser again. They are meaningless. It is the equivalent to the digital “mine is bigger than yours” but as we know, big is not always better.
Stop selling banner ads and insignificant Internet advertising along with or even separate and apart from your station. You are wasting time, money and personnel on trivia. Sell radio and never let the conversation take you to digital.
If you have digital video businesses (and most stations don’t), and it’s not worth a separate sales person to you then it is, well – still trivial and watch how buyers turn digital against you by using digital to lower your rates. CBS may use this tactic to compete with lower priced competitors as a way to lower rates, but it is a zero sum game in the end. Video is the future. You need to get into it and I can hardly wait to share great ways to start a new and separate video revenue stream.
Tie up your morning show contractually for multiple year’s just as debt-ridden competitors are firing theirs. A good local morning show is 50-60% of a profitable radio station’s revenue. Even Ryan Seacrest from his homebase in LA is missing in action so that he’s not even there to be local to LA. Can you say, opportunity?
Take your competitor’s fired morning personality and put them on your station in the afternoon. PPM may not be accurate but it shows great listening in the afternoons. Take advantage of competitors in this way. Find a home for the one thing that even young listeners will turn on a radio for – a great personality.
Your listeners don’t have to pick the music on your station. Let Pandora or Spotify do that for them. Your new mission – should you accept it is to facilitate music discovery by bringing new songs and artists to them. I will show you a way to do this and enhance the value of listening to your radio station. And my DNA is program director and I’m still saying, rethink your playlists.
Record labels promote albums. People listen to songs. Avoid mentioning albums on the air. No one even knows the names of albums except record labels. And listeners could care less.

Just a taste.

More things in the pipeline when we get together March 26^th for our Philly conference.

Here are 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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.

Post Views: 54