Give me good radio!
(from June's RBR/TVBR Solutions Magazine)
We asked a few on the agency side what radio could do better - on the content side or behind the scenes - to make their clients happier - or they, themselves, as listeners. Continued from Friday RBR 06/16/06 #118.
Matt Feinberg, SVP/National Radio, SVP/Director, Interactive Broadcast, Zenith Media Services:
"In my universe of one I listen to mostly Public Radio, College Radio, and a variety of streamed stations because they provide me the better listening experience. It gives me the news, information and entertainment that I enjoy.
Increasingly my personal usage of commercial radio has decreased just because there is less and less choice out there (though I do like the JACK format). The airwaves are too cluttered and the tightened playlists...I'm a music fan so the restrictive playlists are not appealing. From a professional standpoint I'm always listening to New York radio because I need to and when I travel I always look forward to checking what's on the local airwaves ("love INDIE 103 in LA").
Admittedly it has gotten harder and harder through the years to listen to commercial radio.
If I were to change radio it would all be arty progressive rock, independent bands, newly signed bands (check out the Artic Monkeys), deep cut classics and of course the Allman Bros.' Little Steven would have an early evening slot...that would be cool.
We live in a society of The Gap, McDonald's, of Dunkin' Donuts, of Starbucks - homogenized, restrictive, everything is just spoon-fed to us (by-the-way; I like most of these products they just don't need on be on every block!), and radio is no different, people generally accept what's handed to them. A lot of broadcasters being public companies now are so hard-pressed to make changes that may impact ratings, which could affect millions of dollars. It's tough for them. So I don't blame radio companies per se.
From a content standpoint I think radio is okay. New York radio could do a better job and it's tough - the bigger the broadcaster the tougher it is to do those smaller formats. Regarding Clear Channel's Format Lab, it's a smart move. This brings me to the point that I don't think terrestrial radio is going to change dramatically.
Terrestrially I don't believe you have to reinvent the proverbial wheel, but you should not stagnate and limit choice, i.e. repetitive playlists, or the same old knee jerk reactionary uber-conservative talker. Commercials are not necessarily an annoyance it is the quality and amount of them that's a turn off. To the point of quality I believe agencies, clients and broadcasters all share the same responsibility - better, more creative, production. But this is all easier said than done.
I don't believe the terrestrial component of radio content is going to change a whole lot until HD really kicks in. I think it's going to continue in the same basic formats with tweaks. Broadcasters will try things and some of those things will work, other things will not, but it will still be broadcast radio. However, the real opportunity for radio broadcasters is the Internet. HD radio will take five or six years. In the meantime the interactive media, cyberspace, is the place where radio stands to capitalize on brand new revenue streams... if they understand how to do it. I know many companies nod their head - I know because of the tremendous amount of calls I get on a weekly basis from both small and large broadcasters asking me how this is done exactly.
How to measure it? How it needs to be developed? What I think they should do? Now I'm very much in to it. I've been in this space for ten years and I see a lot of stuff. I can tell you in most cases, radio stations have minimal working knowledge of this space. It doesn't make them bad, but if they don't figure it out they are going to be left picking up the scraps. Stations maybe eager to try and sell web inventory but they haven't thought it through in my opinion.
I believe very few of really see the power of the Internet and realize radio stations must go beyond their core competency. You need to take a long-term view - a three to four-year proposition.
Broadcaster needs to ask themselves "Are we willing to invest in our vision, i.e. investment spend? You're going to have to market yourself a little differently than in the past, or least adjust it to your new audience. You're going to need content partners, you're going to have to understand web usage, how people experience this medium as opposed to other media. How you can take your core business, which is news, information or music, and not just transfer that to the web but go beyond that.
The digital space is where all the promise is and I think very few people have capitalized on that in a big way. Some cable companies really have. I think some the broadcast entities they are probably ahead of the curve, a few print places, a few radio stations and groups. That's where the promise lies and that's where you talk about relevancy and one to one marketing and all these buzz words. This is where it can all come true. Also you have to understand the metrics, how this stuff is analyzed. Because when you talk to media people like myself - after all the sizzle you need to talk analytics.
I think, again, radio has all this opportunity, but first of all they have to stop being radio stations. They must stop being just radio stations, or risk becoming a page in the history books, the one after the dinosaur chapter."
Tomorrow: Kim Vasey, Senior Partner/Director of Radio, mediaedge:cia.
