Hear 2.0

"Talk hosts don't shape political opinions?" What a load....

From the news:

Listeners Vote ‘No’ On Talk Influence

The Benchmark Company surveyed 1,000 talk radio listeners asking what impact talk radio has, if any, on influencing their vote. Over 86% of respondents said that talk radio has no influence whatsoever on their choice of candidates. Another 9% said "very little influence" and 4% said "moderate influence." Only 1% gave talk radio credit for a "strong influence" on their voting decisions.

Conservatives tended to be the listeners who gave talk radio any credit, while undecided voters said radio was not a factor in their decision making process.

“Talk radio is at its best when it entertains listeners, not when it tries to exhort them to change political behaviors," says Dr. Rob Balon, CEO of Benchmark, "Voting is a notoriously ego-involved process and political attitudes are among the most difficult to change." He also says, "Our findings do nothing to damage the credibility of any one talk host; rather, they suggest that preaching from the bully pulpit can be very tedious to talk listeners."

What a load of crap. And here's why...

Ask these same listeners what effect negative TV advertising has on their choice of candidates.

I'll bet they tell you it has little.

The fact is that it has a lot.

The problem here isn't that people are lying, it's that people don't know they're lying. And it's the job of research companies to ask questions which allow listeners to give the true answer rather than the one that makes them look good to the interviewers, their friends, and neighbors.

Just remember....

Nobody buys a product because they saw an ad. Or so they say.

Nobody watches much TV. Or so they say.

Nobody is interested in what Britney Spears is up to. Or so they say.

And nobody believes that the talk hosts they listen to and have a relationship with could possibly shape their political choices in any way, whether or not it's with their full and enthusiastic approval.

Right.

What's the hottest new thing in table radios?

Not HD radio. Or satellite.

As predicted by me and others, the hottest new thing in table radios is...

Choice.

Choice of alternatives to radio, that is. And that primarily means the increasingly ubiquitous iPod docks and (drumroll please) Internet radio:

A tabletop home radio isn’t complete these days without an iPod dock, memory card slots, Wi-Fi access to Internet radio stations and services, or satellite radio reception, a growing number of suppliers believe.

So explain to me again how XM and Sirius merging will diminish choice when choice is exploding all around us?

Now I know these radios are premium items. And I know that table radios are a drop in the bucket of the radio industry. And I know that just possessing Internet radio capability says nothing about its ease of use, which really is critical.

But still, the trend is rising.

When it comes to technology, whether it's HD or satellite or even trusty old terrestrial radio, it's important to distinguish the Betamax from the VHS or - more currently - the HD-DVD from the Blu-Ray.

Fortunes and careers will be made by choosing the right horse to ride.

What horses are in your starting gate?

The power of radio...

for good or evil.

HD Radio is trying to kill the wrong technology

From today's news:

WASHINGTON -- January 29, 2008: HD Radio developer iBiquity Digital asked in an earlier ex parte filing with the FCC that a merged XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio be required to include HD Radio technology in all satellite radio receivers, and now the HD Digital Radio Alliance has made a filing with the FCC in support of that request.

(Isn't this old news?)

The FCC will never, ever do this, of course. You could file all day and in a rainbow of colors and it won't make a difference.

When push comes to shove, this merger will be going through. And it will go through without a "tip of the hat" towards HD radio. But as symbolism goes, it's symbolically symbolic.

Satellite radio is making it tough for HD to find a spot on the dashboard, the argument of the HD radio folks goes, which is probably true.

But what's more true is that the presence of terrestrial radio is really what makes a spot for HD impossible on that same dash.

Get this straight: HD is viewed as redundant to radio. It is the current AM/FM bands that are hogging the spot in which a newfangled HD radio would otherwise sit.

The HD folks are trying to kill the wrong technology.

What Radio Group Head said this....

We need to be everywhere. Our challenge...is to effectively monetize [our distribution ventures] so that we do not end up trading analog dollars for digital pennies. This is the No. 1 challenge for everyone in this industry today.

Following that, the industry's next biggest challenge is to work with our advertising clients to create the next-generation advertising model.

We are building on our 360 sales efforts, with expanded Internet extensions and vertical ad networks encompassing conventional media and the Internet.

We are in the middle of a wrenching analog-to-digital transition, marked by game-changing technological developments and profound shifts in consumer behavior. All of that demands a re-engineering of our businesses from top to bottom.

What radio group head said this?

None.

And that's the problem.

The comments are from NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker in his keynote at the NATPE 08.

In radio, what isn't said speaks volumes.

Clear Channel's murky future

I have avoided commenting on the recent moves by Clear Channel to "tighten their belts" prior to the hoped-for closing of their buyout largely because the whole thing strikes me as so very sad.

Sad because eliminating new hires (including sellers), failing to replace those who leave, stopping all investment in the future, and halting all advertising and research is the equivalent of saying that necessity requires us to strangle the goose that lays the golden eggs, even as the goose is up for sale.

It's one thing to institute cuts. It's another to cut off oxygen.

Say what you want about the challenges of the newspaper industry, which for now are far more dire than what faces radio, but even the print guys haven't gone this far.

"No one anticipated how challenging Q1 would be for us," wrote CCU head John Hogan, who obviously has not been reading this blog over the past year or two. He certainly didn't read my outline of the "perfect storm" facing radio this year (I have yet to pen Part 2 of the "perfect storm" - the part with the solutions. Although I have many in mind and I will spell them out here soon).

So more than anything this makes me feel very sad.

Sad for the millions of listeners who depend on Clear Channel stations every day who will have one more reason to listen to something else.

Sad for the thousands of employees who give their all for their little corner of the Clear Channel empire.

Sad for the shock waves this sends throughout our industry, affecting us all.

Sad for Clear Channel's future, which is likely to include far fewer radio stations and far fewer employees than anyone today can imagine.

Does podcasting increase your on-air audience?

At least one survey says so.

From the UK:

...one-fifth of respondents saying they now listen to more live radio and nearly one-third [say] they listen to new radio shows after sampling them via podcasts.

Only 8% of those surveyed said they listened to less radio because of the availability of podcasts.

Of the 4.3 million who have downloaded podcasts, around 1.87 million people listen to at least one podcast each week.

Two-thirds of podcast listeners subscribe to their favourite shows through iTunes, with nearly half tuning in during the evening.

Of these, 80% listen through their computers and 61% copy the podcasts to their MP3 players.

I'm always skeptical of what people say they do - since that only occasionally correlates to what they really do.

Still, this study suggests that if podcasting's effect is to depress on-air listening, then audiences (in the UK, at least) are not aware of it.

This conclusion makes sense, of course. Since the most important limiting factors to the success of anything on radio are A) Its quality and B) Its distribution.

In other words, stuff has to be good and in the places I prefer to go - and now more than ever, online is one of those key places.

So your job is not just to have content worth podcasting, but to podcast it when you have it.

And then to maximize the distribution of that content across all non-radio channels.

Apple's Steve Jobs on how to run a business

Is Steve Jobs talking about the radio industry?

Is this how your station and group operate?

Listen for yourself.

And have your group-head listen, too.

[thanks to Harve Alan for the audio. Check out his blog!]

Remedial Listener Outreach 101

The average radio station does a very poor job of connecting with its audience off the air, except for those all-too-routine weekly "email blasts."

What if your station had a way to reach out directly to your audience with many more - and shorter - messages that were aimed at people who actually wanted to hear them?

Well this is a lot easier than you think. And the price is...free. One tool is called Twitter. Another similar one is called Pownce. Both are free and simple social networking services that allow users to send short "updates" to friends, colleagues, or - in your case - listeners.

Here are some ways you could use these tools based on my own thoughts and some contributions from David Corts:

1. Weather emergencies? Natural Disasters? Traffic alerts? Keep your audience up-to-date with the latest news - automatically.

2. Program info...who is on the morning show today?

3. What's today's "song of the day"? And when can I hear it?

4. Links back to your station website (note: use "tinyurl's") to introduce new features/content

San Diego public station KPBS has a thousand people following them on Twitter. How many could your station have?

Use your imagination! If you could talk directly to your listeners even when they are not listening to your station, what would you say? What would you want them to do?

(Note: Use this communication wisely. You have their permission. Provide value, not SMS spam)

Put a Twitter or Pownce "badge" on your station's website that displays everything your customers are twittering about. See what they have to say! Let your web audience follow along, start to follow, and join the conversation.

Says David:

Twitter can be tool to extend your brand and your value to you listeners. It can reach them even when they aren't tuned in. It can bring your listeners closer to you and to each other. AND DID I MENTION THAT YOU CAN DO ALL THIS FOR FREE?

Here's the bottom line: Local radio provides tremendous value to its listeners, particularly when it comes to local news, weather, sports, etc. Who said that service has to be exclusively over the air?

When oh when will local radio stations realize that the stubborn insistence to push listeners to the radio to get all the stuff they want will be circumvented by tools and competitors who offer an attractive menu wherever and whenever the audience wants it?

Those ears and eyes are ours to lose.

[Curious? You can find me on Twitter and Pownce. But be forewarned, most of my messaging happens right here]

Barbie and Radio sell cereal

Here's how Barbie uses radio to sell cereal boxes - without advertising on radio.

Now, what makes this offer so valuable?

One part Barbie, one part content.

No parts technology.

What does that tell you about the consumer's relationship to radio? And what does it tell you about our opportunities in the future?

As I've said before, consumers buy clocks and radios come along for free. They buy cars, and the radios come along for free. They buy cereal, and the radio comes along for free.

It is the content that creates the value for radio, not the gadget. That's what happens when your products are free and ubiquitous and easy.

And Barbie is scratching the surface of a trend that has yet to materialize.

In the future you are going to see a lot of would-be advertisers hijacking the value of radio for the own ends - without necessarily participating in the exchange of money with radio. Need and technology will conspire to make this possible, even commonplace.

Yes, I'm being vague. But stay tuned.