JacoBlog - Jacobs Media's Blog

Shuffling The Deck

As we become more attuned to analyzing PPM numbers, it's looking more and more that well-branded and well-positioned Classic Rock stations should do very well in a metered world.  Of course, many operators of Classic Rock stations have experienced two decades of pretty consistent success, playing the best rock from the '60s, '70s, and '80s.

But there are some stations that do an especially good job of repackaging the music to create memorable special programming.  I call this "shuffling the deck" because it involves playing many of the same songs but in a different format.  The now-famous "Classic Rock A-to-Z" is a good example, as is the ubiquitous "Top 500 Countdown," typically scheduled over Memorial Day Weekends.

One station that always seems to come up with clever specials is Entercom's Eagle in Sacramento.  Curtiss Johnson, Brian Lopez, and their veteran staff have become experts at melding Classic Rock with a little old school theater of the mind.  This week, they're taking another "Classic Rock Road Trip," cruising across the country (forget those high gas prices) to feature music from many different cities and towns.

Maybe this all sounds simple, but the reality of putting together something like this (and doing it well) is that it takes several staff meetings and brainstorms, storyboards, show/prep scripts for each state and city on the tour, and a great bit of writing and production that makes "Classic Rock Road Trip" come alive.  The feature generates a huge audience reaction, fueled by the fact that many Eagle listeners moved to Sacramento from somewhere else.

My favorite Eagle stunt, however, is "Woodsquawk," a virtual/fantasy music festival that is always entertaining, colorful, and enhanced by great personalities like Bob Keller, Tom Nakashima, Charlie Thomas, Kat Maudru, and even syndicated hosts, Mark & Brian.

Download an Mp3 Of The "Woodsquawk" Aircheck

If you ever wonder about the value of having knowledgeable, respected local jocks, look no further than Entercom Sacramento.

Your Wildest Streams - Part 4

Now that AOL and CBS Radio have hooked up in what CEO Dan Mason says is a merger that "has instantly doubled our daily audience of listeners," it's another victory for strong brands.  For years, AOL has offered generic streaming radio stations that were as exciting as wallpaper.  Now with 150 CBS Radio stations to choose from, AOL-goers can actually find a better radio listening experience - or can easily find a radio station they've heard from during their travels around the U.S.

The player (shown below) is nice looking, and provides album art in-sync with what's playing, the chance to rate and/or buy the song (or the album), as well as designate the station as a pre-set or share it with someone else.  On the left is a list of the CBS stations available.  Of course, there are no fewer than 8 Jack-FM stations on the list, and it's not always easy to find a station that you're searching for.  (Maybe list them out by markets - or at least offer that as an option, so the user can look through NYC stations, for example.)  The stream sounds good technically, and as we've discussed in this space, that's not always the case.

Overall, this is another indicator that big streaming brands will easily best "generic radio stations."  With its personalities, production, and elements that you could only get from a real radio station, this plan should be a big winner for both AOL and CBS, especially if it can generate significant web revenue.

CBS is positioning its terrestrial radio stations for the future by offering them up to a much larger web audience.  This bodes well for traditional broadcast companies as they seek out smart alliances moving forward.

Competing Against Everyone

There was a time only a decade or so ago in Rock Radio where we had it all to ourselves.  We controlled our music and our pop culture.  Sure, some of Rock's featured bands would appear on Saturday Night Live, and there was always the competition from MTV.  But for the most part, if you worked for a big Rock or Alternative station - even in a smaller market - you controlled the agenda for how music and concerts were exposed and promoted.

Today, you're competing with virtually everyone.  Wherever you look - on and off the Internet - Rock is being marketed in a multitude of different arenas and venues - and I'm not just talking concerts.  NPR does a better job of interviewing our bands and marketing our core product than we do.  Case in point - a Raconteurs concert that was recently broadcast via NPR.org.  And it seems like every week, "Fresh Air's" Terry Gross or their big news magazines feature interviews and music from artists as diverse as Springsteen and Coldplay.

Of course, Internet sources from iTunes to Pandora expose new music and provide information, background, and free samples.  Artists have their own websites, enabling them to independently market their own music and merchandise - without radio's help.  And fan sites are abundant with their own homegrown coverage of their favorite bands.  In response, most radio station websites provide bare bones music coverage, opting instead to hype station contests and events.

And last week in USA Today came this featured question:  "What's your most treasured concert T-shirt ever?"  That's a fun, highly relatable question that is sure to spawn many listener photo entries.  It's a great example of letting listeners get in on the act, sharing their emotion and energy in a highly visible place.  It's the essence of CGM - consumer-generated marketing.

And it's something that we should have thought of first.

Too often, if you ask a programmer who he's competing against, he tells you it's Q96 or Eagle 94 or Rock 107.9.  But that's the narrow, "too close to the trees" answer that has hurt radio and caused more of the myopia that stunts our business.  In the real world, Clear Channel isn't competing with CBS, and Citadel isn't going at it with Cumulus.  In reality, the radio company you're working for is up against Apple, The New York Times, MSN, Amazon, Starbucks, and Electronic Arts.

The pop culture/media stage has expanded exponentially.  But too often, Radio is content to sit in its little corner in the back of the room.  And that makes no sense if you consider that in a recent month in New York radio, PPM tells us there are 20 stations with weekly cumes over a million people, and 6 stations topping the 3 million mark.  In a Philly PPM month, 6 or 7 stations have cume audiences above a million.  That's a lot of people still being impacted by radio programming, and it provides the industry with a big pulpit for delivering entertainment and information.

The challenge of reimagining, reshaping, and fulfilling our future is immense.  Yet, if we're going to be players in this new game, we need to answer that difficult question: "What's the digital strategy?"

A JacoBlog Quiz

Take a good look at the three pictures, and guess which one is the pirate:

If you picked "C," you're on the same page as musicFIRST spokesperson, Martin Machowsky, who was quoted as saying that broadcasting music without payment is "a form of piracy."

So, first the RIAA goes after 14 year-olds who download music.  Now, radio is a form of piracy?

These guys are getting more desperate and illogical by the day.

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

The Next Radio Tsunami?

Today's guest blog comes from Paul Jacobs, who provides insight on the challenges of radio's listening audience:

Like all media, radio faces significant consumer and technology-based challenges that have been well-documented in this blog and others.  But there is a potential macro event taking place that radio requires awareness and action.  This is because a major portion of our listening base - the in-car environment - is being challenged.

We know from "The Bedroom Project" and other research that radio's stranglehold on "portability" has been compromised.  Gone are the days when listeners carried a Walkman radio around with them.  For many Americans (especially young ones), even the existence of a radio in their homes is a thing of the past.  Today, in-car listening is the last bastion of radio dominance.

But what happens when people abandon their cars and take the bus, the train, or the subway?

That's right, with gas prices above $4, a recent article in USA Today shows that mass transit ridership increased 3% in the first quarter compared with a year ago - the highest levels in 50 years.

And it's likely that a large portion of these consumers may be no longer listening to the radio on their way to and from work.

So we have two choices:  we can sit around and lament our bad fortune, or we as an industry can aggressively fight back.  In big mass transit markets, could deals be cut with Sony or other providers to purchase portable AM/FM radios and hand them out at train stations?  Can the NAB take the lead here?

Should radio buy transit advertising promoting listening to the radio while riding?

Let's not sit back and let outside forces impact our destiny.  Morning and afternoon drive is the lifeline of many of our brands, and the dayparts that traditionally drive ratings.  We have to adapt to changing conditions, and stay relevant.

(And you thought I was going to talk about iPods in cars, right?)

Music Discovery

In the midst of this musicFIRST fiasco, radio's role in breaking music and artists continues to be minimized.  Of course to those of us in radio, this nearly "1984" spin about the truth is mind-boggling.

But now, consumers weigh in on the topic.  A new Pew study - "The Internet and Consumer Choices" - reveals what radio people have known since Alan Freed.

Here is a sample from the Pew report:

- The Internet is a great tool for connecting consumers with artists and music info, "But it doesn't strongly influence how they buy."

- 56% of music buyers say they find out about music through online sources (a band's website or streaming samples of songs).  But more than half of music buyers say that online information had no impact at all on their purchasing decision.

- Yet, 83% of music buyers say they find out about music "from hearing a song on the radio."

So, it makes you wonder why the marketing "strategies" on the label side continue to veer away from broadcast radio.  An artist interview on a satellite radio may not reach any more listeners than the cume of a Boise radio station, but that's what excites them.

This is more proof that radio is still the prime source of how consumers discover music.  Too bad the music business isn't doing research, and instead is letting their anger and emotions dictate policy decisions.

iPods & Cars

Our Tech Poll clearly shows the impact that iPods are having on the driving experience.  While iPod ownership continues to soar, more than half of these consumers say they can connect these devices into their cars.  It's more proof that radio continues to fight a difficult "location war," especially in its long-time bastion - the car.

*Among iPod Owners

But radio isn't the only one suffering from the iPod in-car explosion.  It turns out that in-dash audio aftermarket sales are down 21% for the first four months of '08.  A new article in Brandweek discusses how companies like Pioneer and JVC Mobile are combating this trend with new campaigns.

Pioneer is going to shoot older (and away from the iPod super-target), while focusing on devices that include GPS to Bluetooth to iPod connectors to voice recognition.  JVC is going in a different direction, using the Internet in a campaign that features rock bands Buckcherry and Papa Roach to promote El Kameleon, a device that has Bluetooth, video, and a proximity sensor.

Meanwhile, neither HD Radio nor satellite radio are even mentioned in this article as gadget come-ons to lure consumers back to the in-car audio aftermarket.  Wonder what that means.

For Those About To Rock... Go To Wal-Mart

At long last, a new AC/DC album is on the way (untitled), and the big news is that it will only be available at Wal-Mart stores.  This is more evidence that distribution paradigms are rapidly changing, and that the labels continue to lose control over their domains.

This news comes on the heels of the news that new 3-disc Journey album, Revelation, sold over 45,000 copies in its first three days in another Wal-Mart only distribution strategy.  According to the New York Times, Front Line Management's Irving Azoff is predicting one-week sales of 80,000.  As he pointed out, "With the downturn, the labels couldn’t match the marketing commitments that Wal-Mart could make.  It was well in excess of anything a label could do.”

Some are saying that price is a big driver here ($11.98 for Revelation), but most of us know better.  Journey (like the Eagles and AC/DC) is a venerable Classic Rock brand with legions of loyal fans.  And as importantly, the traditional relationships between artists-labels-radio-distribution are undergoing major change, allowing this new plan to be very successful.

Sure hope AC/DC's album art conforms to Wal-Mart standards, because the sales numbers will most definitely be strong.

Buffalo's #1 Controversy

What is on the minds of Buffalonians these days?  It's not the economy, the war, the weather, or even a quarterback controversy.  Instead, it's why 97Rock chose "Sweet Emotion" as the #1 song in the station's annual Memorial Day Weekend "Rock N' Roll 500."

For one of those "evergreen" promotions that programmers often tire of, but listeners always enjoy, the "500" has become more audience-focused.

Stations have become more adept at integrating audience requests, but 97Rock has taken this to the next level by giving listeners a chance to sound off at the station's top choice.  Not only does programmer John Hager learn a little something about this feature and how his audience enjoys it, he can see the tangible emotions and passion that have propelled his station to top ratings in Buffalo for the past two decades.

But, hey, I couldn't have said it better than 97Rock listener Joe Kessler:

"Thank God we have a new number 1 song... the suspense was killing me! LOL"

A Musical Response To musicFIRST

So, musicFIRST in their "humorous" effort to extract pay performance fees from broadcasters is sending the following songs from iTunes to the NAB:

1. Springsteen's "Pay Me My Money Down"
2. Steve Miller's "Take The Money And Run"
3. McCartney's "Back in the U.S.S.R." (huh?)
4. Sheryl Crow's "A Change Will Do You Good"

Maybe David Rehr can respond by sending musicFIRST his own foursome:

1. Godsmack's "Greed"
2. Aerosmith's "Dream On"
3. EMF's "Unbelievable"
4. Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot"

Maybe there's a special weekend here somewhere.  (Please post any suggestions you have below.)