Forecasts, Warnings, and Comments

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Forecasts, Warnings, and Comments - 14

Over 18 years of writing these articles my goals were to report digital's impact on broadcast, to aid internet radio, and to help indie artists.

Comments were not based on guesswork. My words come from the trenches, after real-world experience or from research provided by credible companies.

A most important observation: The farther into digital the world gets the less radio executives listen. What follows are a few of the words placed before them to date.

Ken Dardis
President,
Audio Graphics

440-564-7437

Comments from Ken:

June 13, 2011	As the person who introduced the concept of aggregating online radio station audiences for sale to advertisers, in 2002, I'll continue to say that a station's stream by itself is worthless to an agency or advertiser. It's only when you bring multiple streams together in the same sales package that a critical mass of listeners can be reached. Nothing has changed since this aggregate sales concept was first explained.
June 9, 2011	What happens at your radio station when an email goes out to registrants? Is it a silent blast meant only for those whose addresses you already have, or is the email's content publicized on the air as an invite for others to "sign up and receive"?
June 17, 2011	There are many services that offer people an ability to build a radio station online. But there are no classes given on how to make that station a business.
July 6, 2011	In July 2010, we asked 1,043 internet radio listeners to answer this simple question: "Lately, I've been finding most new music on...." Here's how they responded. Terrestrial radio stations using their web site to rebroadcast over-the-air programming are missing a huge advantage. Instead, they should be using their web site to expose new music.
July 15, 2011	For nearly a decade, radio failed at conveying reasons why consumers should try HD Radio. With few exceptions, promises of "new stations between stations" are still unfulfilled. Pounding the audience with commercials for another few years is not going to increase demand, and radio shouldn't embarrass itself by fumbling this football again. Resuscitating HD is not the answer when euthanasia is called for. HD Radio is as dead as AM Stereo and Quad Sound, but broadcast radio is not dead. So, instead of a relaunch, why not try producing better on-air and online product?
July 29, 2011	This isn't the 1980s anymore. To argue that Pandora is not radio, or that the numbers offered by it are not "true" reports of its audience's listening patterns, only falls on radio industry ears. Young media buyers are looking closely at what new media offers, and Pandora is on the top of that heap.
Aug. 11, 2011	Over the past year I have been methodically posting to Facebook and Twitter, tracking those posts back to page visits, and turning those page visits into dollar amounts. Doing some basic math gives a fairly accurate picture of time spent posting to revenue generated from posting, and I'm prepared to say that - as I've been doing it - the return on investment is not worth the effort. Now comes the caveat. Because this past year has been spent setting up a measurement system and a systematic way of posting, I very well may be approaching it wrong. So, to be certain that my hypothosis is correct, my next step will be to alter how I've been doing the posting to see if it will push an improvement in results. *Side Note: 4 years, and three different approaches to using social media have shown there is one efficient way to do social media.*
Sept. 7, 2011	Couponing online is a fast-fizzle fad that will end up making money for only a few companies. If radio station account execs try selling this concept, and it shows the same level of negative feedback as we've seen in the first go-around with companies who are are adept at digital, do you sincerely believe that radio will make this market grow?
Sept. 19, 2011	In today's AdAge article titled "What's the most social of all media?" - they left out "radio." (Free subscription required to read.) For everyone who's bellowing how far the radio industry has come since consolidation, I believe this indicates how much farther radio must go. The absence of radio from the list may be Freudian on the author's part, but it is a very real indication of where radio currently fits into a marketer's plan.
Nov. 23, 2011	Radio industry executives are still trying to mold the internet for their use, instead of finding which of the internet's applications can be best used by radio.
Dec. 7, 2011	Last week we had our cable TV disconnected. The first day was filled with as much angst as when I walked away from cigarettes. By day three, though, the wife and I were watching "BBC News" along with "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Shuffling between the iPad and PC, we started pulling in programs and movies that were formerly found on our cable package (which we were about to be charged $150+/month with the latest increase)
Dec. 28, 2011	With mobile beginning to affect youth's use of broadcast media, radio stations targeting this group will need a mobile presence equitable to what the major mobile players spend dollars to achieve.