A reader responds to our story on Google leaving the radio business (2/13/09 RBR #30):
Google spent millions to learn a lesson that almost any mom-and-pop radio station operator could have taught them over a cup of coffee: some things you just can’t automate.
Radio advertising is about relationships, not widgets. Successful radio ad campaigns are built over a period of time on a foundation of communication, collaboration and creativity, processes not reducible to automation.
Google posted a handful of "success stories" on their website. I suspect most of the individuals or companies whose first experience in radio advertising was to gamble on Google were disappointed with the results.
The advertiser who insists on buying an advertising schedule on the basis primarily of rate or ratings is asking for disappointment. Almost invariably he’ll conclude that "radio doesn’t work." Well, not that way, anyway.
Rod Schwartz
Grace Broadcast Sales
P.S. A day after Google announced it was shutting down its radio ad operation, the Wall Street Journal observed: "Google devalues everything it touches"
