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Thoughts About 2011

Many years ago, I received some advice from a mentor that I have always cherished.  He told me that at the end of each year, it’s a great time to take your “career inventory” by asking yourself some key questions:

“In the past 12 months, did you learn new skills, were you challenged, did you grow in your job, did you develop as a professional, and did you bring anything new to your current place of employ?”

And he went on to counsel that if you have trouble answering “yes” to these questions and/or you're at a loss to quickly think of good examples, you may be in a career cul-de-sac.

Now I totally understand that for many over the past couple of tough economic years, a goal has been to preserve wealth, maintain one's job, and simply stay intact.  But even if "maintenance" is paramount for you, it doesn't mean you have to stagnate in your current job.

So, as we head into a new year and a media business that is going through more gyrations since Gutenberg invented the printing press, this is a great time to assess, reevaluate, and plan ahead for a strong 2011 - even if you're feeling a little stuck in your job. 

Here are some suggestions about how to enhance your career and your business in the new year – advice, by the way, that we are dodng our best to employ at our company:

1. Read as much as you can about new media, new technology, and what traditional companies are doing to integrate digital.
2. Subscribe to web emails about social media, mobile, digital, and other areas that are new or foreign to you.
3. Set up profiles for yourself on social media sites beside Facebook.  If you’re not on Twitter, sign up.  Same with Foursquare, and keep your eye out for other new sites that look promising.
4. Spend time on Mashable.com, a great site that provides training and information for new digital tools.
5. Hire a college student, start an internship program, and/or find a way to integrate youth into your operation.
6. Work on something new and exciting for your station (or yourself) – a new project that even if it never sees the light of day, can stimulate and perhaps lead to something else.
7. Attend a non-radio convention at some time throughout the year, preferably a conference that is digital in focus (140 Characters, BlogWorld, CES, etc.).
8. Attend an actual radio/broadasting conference this year to reconnect with your industry.  If your station doesn’t sanction this or won’t pay for you, find a way to take off time and pay your own way.
9. Schedule at least two off-sites for your staff during the year – a chance to hang out, brainstorm, and simply spend time with one another.
10. Make sure you use your vacation time this year, go somewhere different, and don’t just spend your time off puttering around the house or apartment.
11. Thank the people around you – those you report to and those who report to you – for the work they do throughout the year.
12. Find a way to connect your business or station to a community service project or campaign of some type.

That’s a healthy to-do list for 2011.  And I’m sure I’m missing some important things, but hopefully, this post will spur some ideas and thoughts for how you can make this coming year better for you, your family, and those around you.

Getting through a difficult recession and media tsunami has been challenging for everyone, from the entry level to the corner office. But I predict that despite the speed bumps and often daunting missions we all face. we will look back on this era as a time when innovation, risk-taking, and stretching one's boundaries were very much a part of the mix. 

We look forward to exchanging ideas via this blog with you in 2011, and wish you and yours a great new year.

Best Of JacoBLOG – Buggy Whip, My Ass!

For the past couple of weeks, we have gone back into our JacoBLOG 2010 archives to highlight some of the most-read and/or most-talked about posts.  And so we end the year with the post that introduced us to the Consumer Electronics Association’s CEO, Gary Shapiro.  In “Buggy Whip, My Ass!” we discussed the need for radio to create viable mobile strategies, whether or not the NAB is successful in mandating FM chips into cell phones.

On the day it was originally posted (August 18th), Gary picked up the phone and called me.  We had a nice back-and-forth conversation about the NAB’s proposal and Gary’s reaction to it.  He left a lengthy comment that I am including at the end of the post.

From that exchange, we later invited Gary to appear at Summit XV earlier this month, and it proved to be one of our best sessions.  Paul and I will be heading to CES in Las Vegas next week to peruse the new toys and technology, and we will report back to you in this blog and on Twitter (@fnjacobs, @pauljacobsmedia). Maybe we'll run into Gary.  Meanwhile, an end-of-the-year inspirational post runs tomorrow, and then we’ll see you right back here on January 3rd.  Here's "Buggy Whip, My Ass!"

I’ve heard some tough schoolyard taunts in my day, but the assertion that radio (along with the music business) is a “buggy-whip industry” by none other than the head of the Consumer Electronics Association, Gary Shapiro, is painful.  Here’s his quote, published yesterday in Inside Radio:

“Rather than adapt to the digital marketplace, NAB and RIAA act like buggy-whip industries that refuse to innovate and seek to impose penalties on those that do.”

What are handset manufacturers thinking?  A trip to an AT&T store will tell you what they’re focusing on:

Rather than criticize the NAB for valiantly trying to turn those iPhones into digital Walkmans, we should take an objective look at the mobile space and how radio fits in.  The NAB deserves thanks for its efforts to mandate FM radios in cell phones, but it seems that there’s very little appetite among handset manufacturers to play ball. 

So whether the NAB is successful in their lobbying effort - or not - what are the steps broadcasters could take to become viable media players in mobile?

Start innovating again.  Radio is at its best when it is developing controversial, humorous, or intensely local personalities, creating exciting new formats, and dreaming up bigger than life events that connect with communities.  Those are pathways that can help radio re-earn its place in the growing menu of consumer entertainment choice. The best app means nothing if the content is mundane or not very special.

Ask the right questions.  Radio needs to start researching what people are looking for - not yet another referendum on what we're programming.  What do consumers want and expect when it comes to news and entertainment, on-demand delivery, and greater accessibility?  

Think about great brands.  While the mobile space is open to everyone, great local stations have a distinct advantage.  If station brands are strong, the chances of winning in this space distinctly improve.  This is why when you look at the desktop of most iPhones, Android handsets, iPads, etc., you see familiar, comfortable icons (brands) that you know and usually trust.  (I took a screen shot of just one of the pages from my iPhone at random, and you can see for yourself.)

 

Then use great branding techniques.  A smart move would be to stop jamming hundreds of stations inside “umbrella apps” and hope that a mass audience will somehow find yours amidst all those choices.  Coca Cola doesn't market Diet Coke, Coke Zero, TaB, Hi-C, and Nestea together.  They are all strong brands, deserving of their own marketing plan and strategy.   If you have a great brand and a viable mobile strategy, develop a compelling individualized app that showcases your station and its unique benefits.  Or better yet, create several apps that enhance your special programming and features.  And even micro apps that loop in your advertisers to the exciting mobile space, so they can participate in coupons and geo-location, and as media thought leaders, radio can help them lead the way.  

Use the power of your cume.  By acting like a client, radio can take advantage of the medium’s amazing reach to make consumers aware of new content, new platforms, and new innovations.  Create an app that’s fun, entertaining, does more than just stream, and reflects the emotion and passion of your brand.  Then tell the growing legions of smartphone owners inside your cume about it.  Acknowledge that there’s a device in their pockets and purses that is a lifeline and a connection to friends, family, and clients.  And become a part of that world.

Make it easy for consumers to find, enjoy, and access your mobile content – and make sure you devote enough time and attention on the air to drive downloads.  After nearly two years of app design and development here at jacAPPS – and nearly 275 apps and 4 million downloads strong – the metrics clearly show the download difference.

We now develop apps for brands that have nothing to do with radio, so we can see the struggles these non-radio companies endure to effectively get out the word to their consumers, members, and constituents in order to generate app downloads. 

In radio, it’s a matter of scheduling promos and coming up with reasonably clever and compelling ways to tell the audience that you now have prime space on the best beachfront property of this new millennium – Apple and Android devices.  That’s what a healthy cume and a trusted brand can do for you in the mobile space. 

If we act like a buggy whip industry, we deserve the put-down by a guy like Gary Shapiro.

The best way into mobile devices is to create content consumers want and then distribute it through mobile apps.  In that way, the “voters” decide who’s worthy and who is not. 

It’s time for radio to walk the walk and send Shapiro, Congress, and the American public a message:

Buggy-whip, my ass.

And Gary’s comment:

Thanks for the commentary and the great advice for radio broadcasters -

But you totally missed the point about why radio is now a "buggy whip" industry!

It is a "buggy whip" industry simply because the NAB is seeking a government handout for radio. Asking Congress to require a FM tuner in handheld devices is an admission of irrelevancy. Kind of like if a century ago buggy whip makers went to Congress and required a horse be put in front of every car!

But hey why stop there? Why not require FM radios in pillows, bicycles and computers?

Now maybe Congress will focus on the fact that radio is using borrowed public spectrum and most radio stations are unmanned and can't respond to a local emergency!

We will oppose any FM antennae and chip mandate but if it gets any movement at all in Congress we will insist the royalty be doubled and the wireless industry be paid directly by the radio broadcasters. Fair's fair.

Radio may be about sound - but the broadcaster demand of Congress is deaf to the reality that Americans do not want Congress mandating. Have some fun and google the blogs that wrote about this proposal this week and see all the consumer responses. In a slow news August, radio is becoming the laughingstock of the blogosphere.

The NAB demand that FM be mandated simply makes radio look like a desperate dying industry that needs a government hand out.

Man up radio! Stop whining and start competing!

Best Of JacoBLOG – You Know More Than You Think

It’s never been harder to navigate all the new media innovations and gadgets.  And to make matters worse, you’re not just a consumer.  Many of you reading this blog are media managers and programmers, tasked with not only keeping up, but assessing how it all fits together and affects your brand.  In this last week of 2010, we are replaying some of this year’s most salient posts. In “You Know More Than You Think,” we talked about how the instinctive knowledge and strategic moves you’ve cultivated during your media career have set you up nicely for some of the key decisions you’ll need to make moving forward.  Whether you realize it or not.

Sometimes, all the digital talk filled with "experts" telling you what's what and what's new can be a confusing mass of conflicting, confusing information.  Coming from the simplicity of radio, new brands, new technologies, new advertising platforms, and new gadgets can be overwhelming.  But I'm here to tell you that your radio background has prepared you for the revolution, and I'll tell you why.

Much has already been written about the Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff cover story in Wired, “The Web Is Dead.  Long Live The Internet.”  It’s a great think piece that provocatively defines the changing media environment.

Anderson and Wolff make the point that the Internet has enabled all of these incredible applications – Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and NPR.org – and those are now the access points that we favor.

Do you remember the early days of the World Wide Web where you’d go to a search engine like Yahoo! or Lycos and just start surfing around?  You could get lost in the Internet.  It was a fun, exploratory, and even educational journey that you’d take when you had a little time and not much to do.

But today, that’s not how we live.  We don’t have time.  And we have a lot to do.  And so we do less random journeying and head directly to destination points that we know, trust, and use the most.

The authors point to the iPhone as the “change agent” for how we utilize content now.  We’ve gotten away from search and have moved firmly to simple, well-defined access points – or apps:

“It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule. And it’s the world that consumers are increasingly choosing, not because they’re rejecting the idea of the Web but because these dedicated platforms often just work better or fit better into their lives (the screen comes to them, they don’t have to go to the screen). The fact that it’s easier for companies to make money on these platforms only cements the trend.”

Single-purpose apps are where consumers have gravitated, largely because of the rise of mobile.  In the Wired article, they use Morgan Stanley’s projection that the number of users accessing the Net from mobile devices will pass those who access it from computers – in less than five years. 

Thus, the convenience, accessibility, and brand essence of apps is where the Internet has moved.  I have been in a sort of running debate with a smart digital pundit for the last year or so.  My contention is that the iPhone (and similar smartphones) are essentially branding devices, enabling companies, services, and brands to have access to consumers on a convenient basis.  He claims the iPhone is simply a phone.

Think about it - your experience in radio tells you otherwise.

If you worked in radio before there was an Internet, you've had a role in this movie before, and you have the knowledge and mentality that fits so well into this digital mindset.

The best example is the pushbutton car radio.  It, too, was a device that favored strong brands.  Most of the time, listeners didn’t grab the right hand knob and start wildly tuning around to select a station.  That’s the search engine mentality.

Instead, the best programmers understood that the way to derive the greatest benefit from in-car listening was to get consumers to lock in your brand into a pushbutton preset.  If you could become one of someone's five (or ten) presets, the odds were good that you had a sustainable brand, as long you continued to provide consistent, quality content that met a listener’s needs and expectations.

That’s what apps are about today.  You first have to create one that best reflects, enhances, and even expands your brand.  Then you have to market it to ensure that your target audience will find it, “lock it in” on your smartphone desktop, and then return to it.  (Forget about the “ripping off the knob” part.)

It’s why a brand's iPad app that is well-designed will out-perform the experience of using Safari to find that same brand's website.   At a panel I moderated at the NAB in Las Vegas last spring, NPR’s Kinsey Wilson was showing off his new iPad app.  When asked why NPR even bothered to invest in creating this desktop icon, Wilson noted that apps are more reliable than browsing to a web site, and ultimately provide a more rewarding, personalized experience.

And then there’s accessibility.  As Anderson and Wolff point out, choice and openness are wonderful, but “at the end of the day we favor the easiest path.”  You stick with the brands you know and trust, and the easiest ways to access them.

“Every time you pick an iPhone app instead of a Web site, you are voting with your finger,” conclude the authors.

That’s the way it worked with the pushbutton radio.

We know how to play this game.

Best Of JacoBLOG – It’s The Research, Stupid

2010 is drawing to a close, and many media outlets have already gone through a tough budget process for the new year.  I’m betting that many of you will be challenged to do more with less.  And so today’s “Best of” post talks about how to best utilize the research resources you have – whether it’s that big perceptual study, a set of focus groups or Listener Advisory Groups, a music test, or even just an email database survey.  They’re all valuable, and there’s a way to use them to connect with your audience.

I was sitting in a perceptual research session a couple weeks ago reviewing a mega-telephone study for a cluster of stations we consult.  For the Classic Rock station in the group, the research pointed the way to some important action steps:  play more '80s, start a commercial-free sweep to kick off the workday, and make a line-up change at night.

From there, the typical conversation ensued.  We'll make those changes, of course, but then we’ll wait until we hopefully see some ratings indications that the new strategy is working.  Or perhaps we’ll wait until we're sitting around the same conference room table next year with a new set of research to check out in order to determine whether the audience ever figured out our action steps.

Then I flashed on a research study that we were a part of for Entercom's KNRK in Portland.  After a particularly telling set of focus groups and follow-up survey, programmer and strategist Mark Hamilton made his moves.  And then he did something rather novel – he launched a major, multi-platform campaign to promote the research and the changes they spawned:

KNRK took to the air, to the database, and to social media to trumpet these improvements, and instantly engage the audience.

Meanwhile, Michigan Radio – the public radio news station here in my hometown – has gone through a similar process, using research to set up and stage important changes they’ve initiated.  It’s honest, transparent, and it positions their moves as audience-driven – which they were.  Programmer Tamar Charney personalized this messaging as you can see by the email below:

What does all this accomplish?

First, it gets the word out.  Nothing subtle here, and why should it be.  If the research indicates an action is a positive step with the audience, and the strategic team agrees, then why not announce it to the world?  So often in radio, we make our changes, rewrite our promos or positioning, and then hope listeners figure it out.  But this assumes they’re carefully listening and they care.  Hamilton and Charney used their air, their databases, and social networking tools to boldly announce audience-generated improvements.  In the busy lives of most consumers, boldly announcing these changes helps connect the dots.

Second, it accelerates the perceptual process.  Programmers don’t have to sit around and wonder whether they’ve noticed anything different about the stations.  The moves are out in the open, clear, and transparent. 

Third, the process integrates the audience into the decisions and gets their buy-in.  This is a great example of what we at Jacobs refer to as "research is marketing."  If you're going to invest the money and time in conducting research, then why not get some credit for consulting the audience about your station, and give them a sense of ownership about the decisions?

Finally, social media is part of the engine that makes the process conversational and interactive.  Hamilton took these steps right to the station’s Facebook Fan Page.  And guess what?  A discussion broke out as listeners debated and talked about the station's moves.  Not everyone loved them, but listeners were certainly engaged and energized by the process.  By participating in this conversation, Hamilton was able to directly connect with activist members of the audience.  And by monitoring these comments, he was able to better learn how they were being processed and perceived by core listeners.

As a guy who's been doing broadcast research since the '70s, I am often dismayed about how little progress radio research has made during the past three decades.  Not only are we asking questions in essentially the same way we did back then, we are implementing the results with similar '70s sensibilities.

The world has changed.  The audience is plugged in, forming communities, and feeling very empowered.  They enjoy having a hand in their entertainment outlets, and they are often easy to engage.

Tapping into that and utilizing it as a catalyst for awareness and change is all part of how programmers – and brand managers - need to start thinking - and acting - differently.

Best Of JacoBLOG – White iPhone

As we wind down the year, our blog is looking back at some of the better posts, based on page views and feedback.  It is interesting that this month, “Black Swan,” is a hit movie.  And last summer, we posted a blog about the White iPhone (now supposedly coming out in the spring of 2011) and the importance of building interest in brands, shows, and products.  As we pointed out in that post, the White iPhone is actually a Black Swan.  Read on, and enjoy the last week of the year.

Apple has announced that its highly anticipated white iPhone’s release has been delayed.  It is fascinating how this company can create demand in so many different ways.

What is so different about the white iPhone besides the obvious? 

No one knows.  And that’s what makes us curious.  That’s what makes us want one.

White iPhone.  Black Swan.  Purple Cow.

Those are the things that stand out and get noticed.  Every time a new and exciting gadget comes out, its bleeding edge owner enjoys a few days or at most, a couple of weeks of “Oh wow, you have a new i___?” before the novelty fades into the reality that you actually know lots of people who stood in line at the Apple store to buy the new new thing.

But the lesson here is that something truly different stands out.  That was the essence of the Seth Godin book about the remarkability of a cow that is purple, and its truth is even more poignant in today’s fast-moving, highly volatile marketplace.

For marketers and brand managers, the need to be different and to stand out is often at odds with counter marketing messages that urge consistency and safety.

Such is the case with PPM and radio.

Programmers can focus on viewing their radio stations as leaky buckets, plugging as many holes as often as possible to keep meters locked onto their encoded signals. 

But what is the downside risk of creating those black swans or purple cows in an environment where most PDs are trying to excel at “minute-by-minute programming?”

Gord Hotchkiss, president of Enquiro, wrote about Black Swans in a recent MediaPost article, and the book by the same name by Nicholas Taleb.  It was the topic of one of our posts just over a year ago (7/14/09) because of its importance in the overall media/marketing explosion.

The Taleb book states that Black Swans have three important qualities:

1. They have to be outliers, falling outside of our expectations
2. They have to carry maximum impact
3. They force us to change our views in order to understand and explain them

In radio; Black Swans have been with us for decades. Christmas music, Jack-FM, Howard Stern, Classic Rock, Rush Limbaugh.  When they first came on the scene, they were met with skepticism, doubt, and amazement.  But they were all noticed.

And as they became successful and proliferated, they became part of the accepted norm, forcing broadcasters to continue to create new ways to get the consuming public’s attention.  From Black Swan to mass appeal.

But when you think of it, what was the last Purple Cow in radio you can recall?

What Black Swans have suddenly appeared over the last decade?

When have you totally felt your world rocked by something, someone – a format, a personality, a promotion, a tactic – where it forced you to rethink all those “givens” you learned earlier in your careers?

That’s why a balance is needed in radio circles, and why broadcast companies need to continue to exhort, cajole, and motivate their brand managers, market managers, and programmers to dig deep to dream up and imagine those Black Swans.  And give them the freedom to try something new, even if it ends in failure.

Making fewer mistakes is not a recipe for success, nor is taking fewer risks.  Wayne Gretzky reminds us that “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” 

Playing “Jet Airliner” one more time may be smart for PPM maintenance.  And that next tactical - but boring and unimaginative -  $1,000 giveaway may create another listening occasion.

But they will do nothing to give an increasingly fickle public the sense that radio can still hit the long ball, that radio still matters, and that the medium still can excite, delight, thrill, and surprise.  Consumers need to know that radio can still make magic.

And create a Black Swan.

Or a white iPhone.

The Spirit Of The Digital Holidays

It is indeed that time of year.  And what’s better than a viral video that captures the spirit and perhaps the insanity of our modern times?

Thanks to Tom Bender, who truly combines the best of digital and devotional, for sending me this video:

 

>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW DIGITAL NATIVITY VIDEO<

And we’ll be back on Monday with more “Best of JacoBLOG.”

Best Of JacoBLOG - You Don't Know Sh!t About Your Audience

We sincerely hope you are able to enjoy the holidays with friends and family, while refueling for the challenges ahead in the new year.  As we wind down our blog for 2010, we have pulled out some of the more talked-about posts from this past year.  Today’s entry goes back to last May, and a speech that media pundit, Bob Garfield, gave to a broadcast conference in Canada.  We called our post “You Don’t Know Shit About Your Audience” – a direct quote from Bob’s presentation.  We hope it provides some food for thought as we wrap up the year.

At the recent British Columbia Broadcasters Association conference, Mark Ramsey captured a few snippets of media pundit Bob Garfield's brash explanation for why broadcast media is in trouble (Bob used a more graphic term). 

The line that caught my ear:

"You don't know shit about your audience."

While Bob went on to offer something of a prescription for broadcasters, the reality is that on that point, he is correct.   I'm not crass or smart enough to tell you what you need to do in order to win in this new environment.  But I do know this - most broadcasters simply do not have the necessary information to craft out viable strategies in this crazy environment.  And because the competition has now expanded exponentially, knowing what consumers are thinking is the most valuable commodity of them all.

The radio industry spends millions of dollars on ratings to simply tell us who's listening and when.  Today's Media Monitors married with PPM data now graphically show us when meters are migrating based presumably on what a station is doing at that precise moment in time.  But if most of what you know about your audience is coming only from Arbitron and Nielsen...

You don't know shit about your audience.

That's because ratings merely tell you who and what but never why.  The understanding comes from learning the perceptual and behavior reasons why consumers tune in (and out) stations.  Is it the brand, does it make them happy or angry, does it make them smarter, or is it just fun?

If you're now hooked on the immediacy and accuracy of streaming data from sources like Google Analytics or Ando Media...

You don't know shit about your audience.

It is not enough to know how Pandora has lapped the field or whether your mobile app has been downloaded more often this month than last.  If you don't understand the motivations that are driving these behaviors, you're missing the rationale and emotion behind these usage patterns.

If you're continuing to traipse to Hiltons and Marriotts to play 600 hooks to 90 people in a meeting room, you're testing lots of songs, but...

You don't know shit about your audience.

The challenge goes well beyond what songs they like.  We're now dealing in choice, access, variety, and the barriers (commercials, fees, etc.) that consumers must wade through in order to get the music they enjoy.  Anybody can learn that "Won't Get Fooled Again" tests while "Slip Kid" doesn't.  It's the rest of the information about how music is discovered and consumed - as well as where - that is the Holy Grail.

Much of the perceptual work that stations commission merely scratches the surface of true listener tastes.  That's because we continue to ask the same questions:

Which station plays too many bad songs along with the good ones?

Which station is the concert authority?

If WAAA went off the air, which station would be your next choice?

If those are the questions you're continuing to ask in those $30,000 perceptual studies...

You don't know shit about your audience. 

Learning about what consumers do when they're not listening to the radio - assuming they still are - is just part of solving the Rubik's Cube that is media behavior.  The digital and entertainment worlds have rapidly expanded and in the process, have become more complex.  Just as consumers aren't enjoying the same media and gadgets as they did twenty years ago, using the same old research tools can't possibly measure the scope of what they're using now.  And instead of asking the questions, we would all do well to listen to consumers tell us their stories about how media and technology are changing in their lives.  And how we might be able to still make a difference and provide something additive to the experience.

Learning the motivation behind behavior is key.  That's why many of the free, open source studies that are conducted in and around the radio industry are important, especially when they tell us more about why consumers do the things they do.  "The Bedroom Project" that we conducted with Arbitron is a great case in point.  While three years old, that study clearly showed where the puck was moving, using breakthrough ethnographic research instead of the usual Q&A format. 

Similarly, those Arbitron/Edison "Infinite Dial" studies longitudinally tell important stories about trends relating to media, gadgets, and how consumers feel about them.  Like our Technology Surveys - now in their sixth consecutive year - they are designed to help broadcasters understand the lay of the new land, going well beyond their favorite morning shows and prizes they want to win.  Say what you will about Arbitron - they have funded much of the research that benefits all of us.

It is difficult for programmers and managers fighting the ratings and sales battles on the streets of cities and towns everywhere to be able to think big enough to have this perspective.  So it becomes the onus and the responsibility of broadcast companies, the RAB, and the NAB to make these R&D investments that can inform their employees of the mega-trends that are impacting radio and the rest of the media pie. 

The pundits, know-it-alls, frustrated cynics, and false prophets don't have any more answers than you do.  If you want to learn about your audience, you have to invest in information.  And you have to ask the right questions.  

It has never been more important that you DO know shit about consumers, whether they're still listening to the radio or not.

The truth is out there.

Best Of JacoBLOG - Snakes

During the holiday season, we are going back into this year's archives and pulling out some of the more interesting, provocative posts.  Back in March, we wrote a blog that was devoted to radio sales, and some of the challenges that stations are facing in the new media environment.  It's called "Snakes."

Do you remember that old story about the snake?   

A little kid is walking home from school, and sees a snake.  The snake looks up and says, "Hey, would you play with me?  It's lonely here just lying in the grass.  Don't worry - I won't bite you."  The kid thinks about it.  The snake looks and sounds sincere, so they start to play.  And after a few minutes, the snake coils up and bites him.  The kid is stunned and says to the snake, "What happened?  You said you weren't going to bite me."  And the snake replies, "Kid, I'm a snake. That's what I do."

Now don't take this the wrong way, but that's pretty much how it is with media buyers.  No, they're not necessarily snakes, but they are media buyers.  They'll let you buy them lunch, take them to the big game, and do them favors.  And they can be charming and friendly throughout.

But when it comes down to transacting business, their main job is to buy your station for the lowest possible rate, and get the best deal they can negotiate. 

They'll do and say whatever it takes to get that mission accomplished.  And in the process, they'll pick at all your station's weaknesses.

They're media buyers.  That what they do.

So, if you're the big all-news station in town, they'll tell you that your audience is too old.

If you're the rock station, they'll tell you that you don't appeal to women.

If you're #1 Men 25-54, they'll tell you they buy Adults 25-54.

If you just had a good book, they want to see a 4-book trend.

If you just had a bad month, that's all they want to buy off of, so put away your 4-book trends. 

If you're the alternative station, they'll tell you your audience is too young.

If you're that hot new station, they'll want to see another book before they jump in. 

And if you're the jazz station, they'll tell you that no one will hear their spots because everyone's listening in the background.

These things will happen whether you're top-rated, back in the pack, or somewhere in the middle.  And it will happen regardless of your format and your target demo.  

That's because for every strength a station brings to the table, there's a corresponding weakness.  And media buyers are paid to focus on the latter.

They're media buyers.  That's what they do.

Now there's nothing inherently wrong with all that as long as the account rep understands the process.  The media buyer, after all, is just doing her job.  Like the snake, that's who she is. 

But where things go wrong is when that same account rep marches back into the station, armed with the media buyer's reason for either not buying or not paying the desired rate, and starts questioning the station's guiding strategy.

"The buyers are complaining that we're too male-heavy."

"....too old." 

"...just a one-book wonder."

You get the idea.

Since when did the negotiation become an excuse for questioning a station's music, slogan, or strategic plan? 

We start running into serious problems when we let media buyers begin to dictate our brand strategy.  And trust me that this is happening all over the country.  

Somehow, just about every station is unviable in the eyes of buyers.  And instead of championing their format, accentuating its value and its assets, and making a strong case that their station can get results for the client, too many account reps are apologizing, knuckling under, or worse, questioning the basic fundamentals of the stations they've been hired to sell.

In the old days, when great ratings were all you needed to be successful, this didn't matter all that much.  But today, when a top 5 ratings performance in a target market often isn't enough to get on the buy, account reps are questioning everything.  

And management is often listening. 

Many years ago, we were hired by a certain men's magazine that was known for featuring plenty of nudity.  But on the other hand, there was also excellent editorial content, and very loyal readership.  We conducted focus groups among buyers and planners in order to learn more about their psyches, and how decisions were being made.

And not surprisingly, some told us that even though this was a great, respectable brand, complaints from customers about advertising in the publication could become problematic.  It was a lot like buying Howard Stern.  You were getting a quality audience, but you also opened yourself up to all sorts of complaints from consumers and advocacy groups. 

In the "client room" after the groups, the management team began to discuss what they had just seen and what it meant.  And the head of sales actually asked, "It sure would be a lot easier to sell ads if we didn't have so much nudity." 

Right.  But then you wouldn't have much of a brand left, would you?

So in these challenging times, how does a rep work successfully around these complaints, assertions, and accusations about station "weaknesses?"

First of all, so much of so-called "sales training" deals with CRM and other generic concepts.  Too many account reps don't have to learn what's really important - understanding and appreciating their own product, and learning how to convey this value to advertisers.

So in the spirit of trying to help solve what is becoming a chronic problem, here's my list of things that AEs should be doing in this tough climate:

1. Learn the brand - Too often, account reps don't listen very much to their own stations.  Become a P1, get to know the station inside and out, and start to determine for yourself what works and what is effective.

2. Understand the audience - Show up for stations events, whether they're for your client or not.  Gain an understanding of who's in attendance, how they look, how they talk, and even what they have to say.  The more you know the audience, the better you can market them back to advertisers and deliver the desired results.

3. Get hard data - Between Scarborough, audience ratings, and even internal web polling and perceptual studies, there's a lot to be learned about the station and the audience.  You won't get to see everything, but you'll be able to fill in some of the blanks and put together a picture that can help build successes. 

4. Get to know the programming staff - Chances are good that you're working with dedicated professionals who truly care about how their station sounds.  Work with the PD to accomplish your shared goals, and gain an appreciation of the folks on the air who are charged with appealing to the audience.  Solid relationships with them will lead to better results for your clients. 

5. Find something cool to sell - The ratings will only get you so far.  And when they're bad, what do you have to sell?  Every station has hidden jewels that no one bothers to champion.  It could be that acoustic show on the weekend that has plenty of unsold inventory.  It could be that studio webcam that is generating mega-page views but hasn't ever been sponsored.  It could even be "Two-Fer Tuesday," the audience's favorite feature each and every week that has never had a title sponsor.  

6. Stop the whining - Your job is difficult no matter what.  When the station has lousy ratings and has to claw back from the depths, it's not fun.  But when the station is on top and management's demands go through the roof, that can be even tougher. But that's just the way it is.  There will be good books, bad books, crappy weeklies, and surprising monthlies.  The morning guy will go into rehab, and you'll be attacked by the big conglomerate across the street.  It will rain on your outdoor festival.  In the face of inevitable adversity, build value for your station in the collective mind of your clients, and the roller coaster nature of the ratings and life's events won't be so difficult and daunting to overcome.

7. If you don't like the station, get out - I know this sounds blunt, but it's hard to imagine anything less fun or fulfilling than selling advertising for a station that you don't believe in, don't like, or don't listen to.  If you simply cannot get your sales head around the station, do everyone a favor and find a format or a station that you can embrace.  You don't have to love the music or the morning show, but gaining an appreciation of their appeal and their ability to sell product and put butts in seats is really what this game is all about. 

And watch out for those snakes.

Best Of JacoBLOG - Local Schmocal, Part 3

As we highlight some of the more popular and/or discussed blog posts from 2010, I went back to a 3-part series from March called "Local Schmocal."  It was all about the importance of radio harnessing its local assets in an exploding global media environment.  Here's part three from that series:

Over the past couple of days, we've talked about this whole concept of local, and how radio stations should be focusing their efforts and resources in a changing media environment.

If you're buying what I'm selling, you have hopefully reached the conclusion that local market radio stations need to be victorious in the battle they can win - on their home court.  While streamlined music and less talk may be a formula of success in PPM this month, it is unlikely to be the winning strategy that will serve you over the long haul.

Pandora, Accuradio, Slacker, Rhapsody, and the many commercial-free music services that exist now and will be created in the years ahead have the capability to create a better, more listenable music product than what most local stations can deliver.  And whether the listener selects the music or it's done by recommendation or algorithm, the fact is that global streaming radio provides great choice and variety for a growing number of consumers. 

And as the hardware for accessing the Internet becomes even more readily available at home, at work, and in the car, a bland, music-intensive local market radio station is going to be hard-pressed to compete with global streaming brands. 

So, how do you compete with big brands for listeners, for revenue, and for survival?  

The answer is to do local better.  Pandora Chicago may one day exist, but the folks at The Drive, B96, and XRT know the geography and the people much better.  Or at least they should. 

As stations like WMMR, WDVE, KQRS, 97Rock, KISW and many others have proved over the last few decades, there is value in having local roots, strong personality, street presence, and a sense of what people care about in their markets.

But as the recession has deepened and broadcast companies have become more desperate, some strategic decision-making has moved from questionable to just plain dumb.  Cutting loose some of the best local personalities only genericizes radio, diminishes presence with advertisers, and erodes the sources of loyalty between the stations and its listeners.  It may be "cost effective" to throw some dollars to the bottom line by throwing heritage personalities out the door, but it's a short term strategy that will only hurt radio's ability to fend off big brands that decide to pitch their digital tents in your hometowns.

Local matters.  While consumers may enjoy renting movies from Netflix, buying toaster ovens from Amazon, bidding for cars at eBay, or creating custom music channels on Pandora, that doesn't mean they've lost interest in what's happening next door, down the street, and in the heart of where they live.

When your morning show talks about local politics, it matters.

When you set up online voting for March Bandness, it matters.

When your afternoon guy champions a local band, it matters.

When you support a local charity or cause, it matters.

When you throw a concert or event, it matters.

When you put together a great promotion with a couple of local advertisers, it matters.

When your night jock speaks at the local high school, it matters.

When you get a group of listeners backstage for a meet-and-great with a major act, it matters.

When you organize a rally for a winning sports team, it matters. 

No one knows the local market like you do.  If you still have some assets left, and a CEO and a cluster manager who truly value what local is all about, you have the foundation to rebuild and/or grow your local franchise - especially if the other stations in town are taking the easy way out.

Remember what got you to the dance.

Local matters.

Best Of JacoBLOG - Two Fronts

Until the end of the year, we'll be reposting some of our most-read and tallked-about blog entries from 2010.  This first one ran nearly a year ago, back in January, not long after I returned from the Arbitron Fly-In.  The theme that radio is fighting two simultaneous wars was referred to throughout the year, and I believe is still very much a challenge as we move forward into 2011.  So once again, here's "Two Fronts."

It is a basic rule in military strategy that cautions against fighting wars on two fronts.  Of course in history, it has been done, but it is indeed a difficult task especially in a climate of diminishing resources.

When we advise client stations that are surrounded by music competitors on both sides, our response is to try to pick one battle that is winnable. 

That is why the current dilemma facing radio programmers, managers, and owners is so challenging.  And I'm not talking about the difficulty of programming two stations while also having an airshift, or overseeing an entire cluster.  

The challenge at hand goes well beyond the familiar day-to-day "radio wars" in which we've all been well-trained.  The tough nut about today's environment is that so many managers are often oblivious to the larger war they're fighting - and yet rarely acknowledging. 

I was sitting at Arbitron's "Programmer Fly-In" last month, observing the well-attended conference's rabid attention on PPM.  As this new methodology is rolled out in more and more markets, interest in figuring out "How to win in PPM" has never been higher.

Here were 200 attendees, intensely focused on gaming PPM, determining how to best construct clocks and stopset strategies that might beat the system, and gain an edge on the station down the dial.  For decades in radio, that's been the mission - beat the other guy.

Most programmers have been schooled in these hand-to-hand tactics, made famous by brilliant tacticians like Randy Michaels, Scott Shannon, and others who looked for every angle that would drive the competition crazy - and out of format. 

But while so many in radio are focused on these time-honored traditional battles, a larger war has been raging for more than a decade, and it has nothing to do with call letters or clocks.  In fact, like rust, it is insidious and easy to ignore, as it steadily erodes radio's once dominant position in the media hierarchy.

Today's PDs - and more importantly, the captains of the radio industry - are saddled with a two-pronged threat: the station-to-station battles as well the new media competition.  The latter is a far greater threat to the industry's welfare.  

Yes, it's still critical to achieve the highest possible target demo rank in Arbitron.  For the purposes of revenue maximization, especially following radio's worst year ever, ranking as high as possible to accrue the largest share of declining dollars is still an important goal.

But the other front is all about the revenue erosion in radio, accelerated by the leakage of consumers to other entertainment and information options.  It is no longer just a matter of what comes out of the speakers in your hometown.  The larger struggle is maintaining radio's importance in the array of media choices, keeping content relevant, and engaging a very fickle consumer base.

That second front is about your digital presence, your community engagement, your audience networking, your personality lineup, and integrating consumers into your brand in ways that generate loyalty and word-of-mouth.

That's a lot more difficult than tactically moving stopsets, strategically burning out the competitor's gold library, and nest marketing efforts that may stimulate people to tune in at work.  

But it is more comforting to continue to wage the easy, familiar and convenient war - the one in which we've been trained, and many of us have experienced success, in some cases, for decades. 

If bumperstickers were still in vogue, we would not be seeing very many for The Eagle, Z98, or The Fan.  It would be far more common to spot stickers with messages like "I ♥ my iPod" or "Got Pandora?" or "What's your favorite app?" 

Radio's battleground has changed, and as companies regain their financial footing this year, either through economic recovery, planned bankruptcy, or whatever is necessary to remain solvent, focusing on "the other war" isn't just a good idea.

It's the only idea.

The Facebook Moment

As social media has grown by leaps and bounds, many of us have had that seminal moment on Facebook - an incident that might cause you to exclaim, “HE’S on Facebook?!”

Well, that moment happened for me last year when my 81 year-old mother tried to “friend” me on Facebook.  For me, it wasn’t so much a privacy issue (she has a pretty good idea of who I am and what I'm about).  It was more of a principle thing – whether your mom should be your “friend.”

Now, thanks to Mashable, we can walk through Mike Newman and “Cool Material’s” fabulous flowchart to help you make that determination.  OK, it’s probably geared more to Gen Y Facebook fans, but you’ll quickly get the idea – and a few laughs along the way.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you next week as we end the year with our second annual “Best of JacoBLOG” feature, and some seasonal posts to help keep you in the right frame of mind.

A Public Radio Challenge

Recently, a good friend, Art Timko, retired as station manager of public radio station, WEMU, in Ypsilanti, Michigan.  Art held that position for four decades, and at his retirement party made the statement we've posted below.

From both a public radio and journalism point of view, Art's thoughts are worthy of your time.  I have found over the years that many professionals in commercial radio don’t always have a great handle on public radio and its impact.  Art’s comments are very informative and provocative. You may not agree with his POV, but his views will get you thinking.

This has been a strange couple of months for public radio, due in part to the Juan Williams incident, which Art addresses.  And in light of political action that may loom on the horizon when the new Congress is sworn in, Art’s “take” is worth your time.  And of course, I am looking forward to your comments – both pro and con.

Best of luck to Art.  He has served his station, Eastern Michigan University, and the community with dignity and class.  We wish him well.

Somewhere along the trail of the past 39 years, I came to realize that I was not working in the radio business.  While the vehicle is radio, what I was actually doing was public service.  That is true of others at WEMU and throughout the public radio industry, as well.  Everyone at WEMU is focused on service.  Whether the person is Arwulf with his passion for the early days of jazz, or the award winning Linda Yohn with her efforts to do whatever she can to make your day a better one; or Bob Eccles with his moral center and sense of right---who was fired from a commercial station for not sticking his microphone in the face of a police wife at the height of her grief on the day she was widowed, service to you is always preeminent.

While my commercial brethren are in the business of providing programs to make money—an honorable enough profession, those of us in public broadcasting are in the business of raising money to provide programs—to provide a public service, to improve the quality of life of our community, to, in fact, foster a sense of community.

There are others, however, who subscribe to the philosophy that a primary domestic concern of our government and our society should be…money and the acquisition of power.  You can hear it in what they say, how they say it and the policies they propose.  Money—who gets it, who keeps it, how it’s spent.  Power—how to acquire it regardless of cost, how to retain it, how to use it to promote an ideology.

There are others who subscribe to the philosophy that people come first, that money is a means to improving life, not only for oneself, but also for others in our community regardless of financial circumstance.  Money and power are used to lift up the community.

These are two very important and different perspectives to consider, because the domination of one over the other will dictate how we live and the kind of communities in which we reside.

More directly, I believe that in the coming session of Congress there will be a significant effort to eliminate funding for public broadcasting.  It will likely be stated as an effort to reduce the federal deficit.  However, the more significant truth is that there are those who object to public broadcasting running counter to their single-sided view of the world.  They bristle at efforts to present balanced reporting, looking at all sides of an issue and bringing truth to bear.  They oppose the Fairness Doctrine, a former FCC policy requiring balance in the discussion of significant issues.

They oppose this approach not because it limits freedom of speech, but because it destroys their business model built on ideology, one-sided opinion, inciting action through misinformation and misguiding a community of ill-informed people.  Ideologues will wave the flag and talk about denying an analyst, Juan Williams, freedom of speech, while the real issues were insubordination and violation of contract.  They will do this in an effort, in fact, to stifle freedom of speech and the independence of public broadcasting.

It is not only appropriate that the beneficiaries of public radio’s service should participate in the funding of this system, but it is also a partial guarantee of its independence.  Funding from all sources, from all who benefit, including the federal government is critical to the survival of stations across this country.  Universities who hold licenses benefit from their stations, businesses who underwrite benefit, listeners who enjoy the programming benefit and the federal government benefits by supporting a system of balanced journalistic reporting for the good of its citizens, especially in an era of opinion passed off as journalism.

1. The system of stations that comprise National Public Radio is the only electronic journalistic medium that is inter-national, national, in-depth and balanced.
2. It is the only system of stations who invest more in their communities than they receive.
3. It is the only system whose primary mission is reporting, not opinion.
4. It is the only system whose motive is service above money.
5. And stations like WEMU are the only stations where passion, programming and partnership transcend the interests of self.

As this next Congress convenes, there will be a battle and the only way YOU will win is to engage it aggressively.  If funding is curtailed, YOU will lose.  Stations will be limited in what they can provide.  Not only will news be crippled, but so too will the cultural contributions to local communities and their quality of life.  While we must be fiscally responsible, please do not be blinded by duplicitous arguments.  This is a challenge to balanced journalism, public service and quality of life.

The question is fundamentally:  do you want a source of free speech and free exchange of ideas as imperfect as it may be or do you want to be fed by either a commercial media too weak to provide comprehensive, community-building programming or commercial media, more interested in income than in ethics, opinion more than fact, and power more than helping this country grow stronger and together.

The choice is yours.  Please answer the call when it comes, public broadcasting needs you more than ever and you need a strong, informed country and electorate more than ever before.

Falling Behind

As invigorating and forward-thinking as Summit XV turned out, I couldn’t help but get the feeling from many of our presenters that radio needs to move faster in order to keep up with the changing way in which consumers are accessing and enjoying media.

We’re not alone.  Last week’s story that The New York Times was dropped by the S&P 500 in favor of Netflix pretty much says it all.  While many “new media” companies (Daily Beast) are integrating “old media” stalwarts, and even some of their strategies (Newsweek), the fact is that heritage media brands are being profoundly challenged.

While many of our Summit sessions provided great ideas for how stations can more effectively create content, use new platforms, and try different things, I think that many attendees came away with a sense of anxiety, too.

And who could blame them?  Is radio falling behind?

Val Geller pushed attendees hard to focus on great content – before getting too hung up with social media.  Without “powerful radio,” all new platforms, archiving, and fan pages don’t matter much.  Consumers won’t share and recommend shows and material that don’t make the cut.

CEA’s Gary Shapiro challenged radio to step it up, and see the bigger picture that is consumer electronics.  Acknowledging radio’s inherent in-car advantage, he let the room know that Wi-Fi in vehicles would be commonplace in three years.  As he told a packed room, “Wireless internet means you can not only get any radio station in the country, but any music service you want.  There will be thousands of (services) trying to get in the car with their compelling content.”  Like Ford's SYNC (pictured).

Stephen Clark’s “Backchannel” proved to be an exciting concept because it takes an outside-in approach to TV news.  By giving the audience a voice, Clark is reinventing the news here in Detroit.  So, how many radio stations are bold enough to do something as innovative and risky?

WTOP’s Joel Oxley and NPR’s Michael Yoch are trailblazing at their respective brands.  Becoming more platform agnostic, both WTOP and NPR have dropped the word “radio” from their identification.  So, they’re way ahead of the game, right?  Not really.  As Oxley told the room, “It’s great that we’re doing really well in radio, but honestly, I feel we’re behind.  We need to do more online and with social media.”

Social mediologist Jessica Northey laid out her G.R.A.S.P. plan for integrating brands with tools like Facebook and Twitter.  Many of her ideas and techniques that have enabled her to hit the 100,000 follower milestone are concepts that simply aren’t being done at many stations.  Many continue to simply promote contests and bits, missing out on the engagement, conversation, and integration that are so critical to social media success.  Not to mention the gap at most stations where there is simply not a go-to staffer in charge of the overall messaging and strategies.

And finally, radio legend Lee Abrams.  After the Tribune war stories were told, Lee got down to the business of radio.  On the one hand, he noted that “radio is in a tremendous position of strength.”  On the other, he told the room, “I don’t see a lot of swagger and confidence…There’s a lack of balance where creative isn’t seen as important as revenue, operations, or digital strategy…Digital is seen as the magic answer and what suffers is our core product.”

Interestingly, the morning started with Gary Shapiro yearning for more American innovation.  And it ended with Lee Abrams wishing for the very same thing.

As radio looks to the future and contemplates its current reach, simplicity of use, and its historical assets, will it take the bold, innovative steps that so many our speakers from all walks of media life urged?

Or in 2011, will we fall further behind?

On The Backchannel

It’s hard not to have a little glow about Summit XV last week.  While many of the headlines concerned CEA’s Gary Shapiro, one of the most talked-about sessions was WXYZ-TV’s Stephen Clark, telling us all about “The Backchannel.”

I first met Stephen at the 140 Characters Conference here in Detroit back in October.  I knew then that “The Backchannel” would make for a great session at our Summit.

We’ve talked about “The Backchannel” in an earlier post, but at Summit XV, Stephen outdid himself with a great presentation and a fabulous video (below) that cleverly explains what “The Backchannel” is all about.  He then went to a live Twitter feed of “The Backchannel” in action, tweeting to his online community while the video played.

>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW BACKCHANNEL VIDEO<

As he explained to an attentive audience, TV news (like radio) has been known for its “We talk – you listen” approach.  “The Backchannel” turns that relationship on its side, and it is working for Clark and Channel 7 here in Detroit.

As I had hoped, many of the room agreed that there’s no reason why many radio stations and personality shows couldn’t adopt a similar approach.  Stephen makes tweeting and reading the news sound easy, but the fact is that while “The Backchannel” has invigorated his career and his approach, it requires a great deal of focus and energy.

He’s a guy who truly has both.  After having dinner with him and other Summit guests on Wednesday night, and observing him being on hand for every session from beginning to end, Clark exudes that “all in” approach that is so critical to success in our rapidly changing media environment.

We once again appreciate the lengths to which Stephen went to produce this great video, which helped him instantly connect with the Summit crowd.

The idea of giving the audience a seat at the table, allowing them to have a little control of what they see and hear, while giving them the chance to interact with talent is what “The Backchannel” is about.  And the real-time nature of Twitter provides the community with a conduit that is enabling Channel 7 Action News to connect with an engaged, younger audience.

A few radio shows that I’m aware of have dabbled in this type of audience communication idea, but aside from using Twitter for comments or two, how many shows and stations are really connecting with their communities? 

So watch the video, check out the action on Twitter with #backchannel, and then let me know whether you’re ready for “The Backchannel.”

Beyond The Buggy Whip

CEA’s CEO Gary Shapiro’s appearance at last week’s Jacobs Summit has hit goal – to stir the pot and bring a different and viable perspective to the conversation.  That’s what the Summit has been about for these past 15 years, from Jason Calacanis to Little Steven to Harry Shearer.  I know some in radio may be questioning “Why Shapiro?” because of their belief that he is “anti radio” and that his comments are detrimental to the progress the medium is making.

 

First and foremost, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association is an important player in the overall spheres of media, entertainment and technology.  This is the guy who oversees the largest trade show in North America.

And last time I checked, radio falls under the heading of “consumer electronics.” (Gary reminded us that CEA was once called the Radio-Electronics-Television Manufacturers Association as recently as the late ‘50s.  There is radio in the DNA of his association.)

Radio is indeed part of the rapidly expanding gadget/media/entertainment consumer electronics sector, and we need to better understand the trends, the changes, and the new technologies.   For that very reason, Paul and I will be attending CES next month, and blogging/tweeting news and highlights.

Second, the trades did a very nice job, by and large, covering my interview with Shapiro. But some reports gravitated to the vitriol – and Gary is very accomplished at dishing that out.  In most cases, if you scrolled down a bit, you read other key comments from Shapiro that were noteworthy.

Yes, he said that the move to mandate an FM chip in cell phones has an “unintended effect…that it makes radio look weak and desperate to have the government intervene in its industry.”  And by the way, the implication of his comment is that radio acts like “a buggy whip industry” – not that it is one.  Maybe that’s semantic, but I believe that’s how he sees it.

Here’s what else Shapiro said:

• Radio is the dominant in-car medium, but the competition will intensify as Wi-Fi makes its way into vehicles in force over the next few years.
• He is not against radio, but he views  the idea of mandating an FM chip into phones as a “government handout” – and as a free market proponent, he is against all such government support of industries.  That’s a big, macro issue with him.
• He noted that HD Radio “looks promising.”
• He was an early believer in RDS while acknowledging its flaws here in the U.S.

And here’s another piece – inviting Gary to the Summit also exposed him to a room full of passionate, engaged, professional radio people.  He watched Val Geller’s presentation “It’s The Message That Matters” intently, and commented during our interview that he was impressed with the complexity of creating great radio content.

And in context with many of our other speakers – WXYZ-TV’s Stephen Clark, NPR’s Michael Yoch, WTOP’s Joel Oxley, social mediolgoist Jessica Northey, and Lee Abrams – there was a consistent thread:

Radio has many great strengths but needs to step up its digital and content games in order to remain competitive over the long haul.

Reporters like Tom Taylor, Paul Heine, and Leslie Stimson – all of whom covered the Summit – did a great job reporting on these sessions.  But even they would tell you that there’s no substitute for being in the room, sensing  the atmosphere, hanging out with attendees, and appreciating the larger context in which comments and discussions occur.

There were will be a Summit XVI and whatever the big, and even controversial issues are at that time, you can count on them being a part of our agenda.

We hope to see you there.

You Had To Be There

Here’s a short post for this morning that simply thanks so many people who brought so much to Jacobs Summit XV in Baltimore, partnered this year with the Arbitron Client Conference.

Our speakers totally rocked, from CEA’s hard-hitting CEO Gary Shapiro, talent coach of the stars Val Geller, social mediologist guru Jessica Northey, the incomparable super-anchor and “Backchannel” star Stephen Clark, to our total pros NPR’s Michael Yoch and WTOP’s Joel Oxley, and the incomparable legend Lee Abrams.  In the picture below (courtesy Radio World), you can see me presenting Gary Shapiro with a commemorative buggy whip.

Arbitron proved to be a wonderful partner and their Client Conference provided great content.  And we enjoyed the chance to debut the “Director’s Cut of Goin’ Mobile,” put together by Paul Jacobs and Tim Davis at their lunch on Wednesday.

And to all of you who made the trip to Baltimore to invest in your careers, companies, and educations, thank you.  We had a great crowd that was enthusiastic and engaged all morning long.

We’ll be reporting on some of the highlights of Summit XV next week.

 

Rock Band

This morning’s post is courtesy of 96rock/Raleigh PD Jay Nachlis who is involved in a great promotion with a local retailer.  I thought you’d enjoy this story about how every once in a while, it all lines up and programming, sales, and the client create a win-win-win.

You’ve sat in a sales/promotions meeting so many times, the rhythm clicks in your head.  Sales rep brings up client, finds out about the product, asks what the USP (unique selling proposition) is, spits out ideas.  Repeat.

We’re so used to generating ideas for the client, it could be pretty easy to miss a good idea coming from the other direction.

96rock/Raleigh hosts the “96rock House Band” competition each spring, which is a twist on the standard “Battle of the Bands” template.  Hearing this promotion gave the proprietor of a small recording studio – Ellington Studios in Angier, NC - a thought.  Did any of the 96rock jocks play an instrument?  He called the request lines and wrote a few e-mails and found out that in fact, none of the jocks could play anything.  He claimed that with lessons at his studio, not only could he make us into a band, we would be playing Classic Rock songs within 30 days.

We talked about it amongst ourselves, but then didn’t follow up on it right away – in part, I think, because we thought he was joking.  Then he posted a challenge to us on the station Facebook page and we decided it was worth at least investigating.

Deciding who would play what was easy – our night guy Adam-12 was the consummate “air drummer”.  Midday jock Alli Morgan would grab the bass.  And morning guys, Salt and Demetri, had the attitude for lead and rhythm guitar, and I, the karaoke connoisseur, would rock the mic.

Since then, we all took lessons once a week, mostly individually since our schedules are so different.  Once a month, we jam together at the studio and on December 16th we’re playing a couple songs as part of a holiday concert at Campbell University.

96rock’s coffers will not be filled by a small recording studio located 40 minutes south of Raleigh.  But:

1. We have a new solution for the calls that inevitably come from clients looking for a cover band every few months.  We’ll hire ourselves.
2. We created web and Facebook content from which listeners can follow our progress.
3. We found a great team-building activity that we all enjoy.
4. A small local company is seeing his business grow.

Here’s our band after 30 days:

 

>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW 96ROCK AFTER 30 DAYS< 

Here we are playing together as a unit for the first time after only 60 days:

 

>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW 96ROCK AFTER 60 DAYS<

Good thing we called him back.

The Endangered List

The Internet has taken its toll over the last 15-odd years on all sorts of businesses, saving companies money, but also changing the nature of jobs, industries, and efficiencies.

And smartphones are in the process of doing the very same thing.  We saw the beginnings of this in “The Bedroom Project,” and it was amplified by our 18 smartphone owners in “Goin’ Mobile.”

You had to look past what these respondents were saying to understand what was often missing or diminishing in their lives:  GPS units, computers, and cameras – and that’s just for starters.

A recent New York Times article makes this same point for point-and-shoot cameras, another gadget where sales have dropped 16% since 2008.  That’s because improvements in smartphones, coupled with photo apps, make it redundant for even some serious photographers to drag along a camera.

But that’s just the beginning.  Here’s a list of gadgets that may diminish, if not begin to disappear as that image of smartphone as Swiss Army knife becomes more of a reality:

• GPS
• Wristwatch
• Camera
• Camcorder
• Alarm clock/clock radio
• Mp3 player
• Laptop/desktop computers

Of course, those are the obvious ones.  The issue is whether car radio usage will begin to erode as in-dash systems like SYNC and plugged-in smartphones become more commonplace in vehciles.  And of course the Walkman was already on the way out, and is already no longer being manufactured by Sony in Japan.

Smartphone technology in other parts of the world is far ahead of ours.  The Japanese term, osaifu keitai, which translates to eWallet, describes where the technology is headed.  We were fortunate to do some research in this space late last year, and what’s coming around the corner is nothing short of spectacular.

As we’re already seeing with boarding passes, your smartphone will be your transportation pass, your credit card, your remote control, your keys – and yes, essentially your wallet.

As we have observed in the past, the phone function of your smartphone is rapidly becoming just another “app.”  The iPhone could have truly been originally marketed as a MiniMac, and the reality is that it will soon do so much more.

What items and gadgets do you think will be on the smartphone’s endangered list?

Tech Beat

If you saw David Pogue at the NAB Radio Show a couple years back, you saw a guy who is not only a smart observer of all things tech, but someone who has the consumer’s back as well.

Pogue is celebrating his 10-year anniversary as tech writer and gadget reviewer for The New York Times.  His perspective and pragmatic wisdom are always worth the read.

I’ve linked his entire anniversary column here, but there are a couple of his lessons that are worth discussing in this post.

Things don’t replace things; they just splinter. This is a lesson for broadcast radio as Pogue takes a shot at all the so-called “tech killers.”  Remember how such and such a phone was going to kill the iPhone?  Or how satellite radio was going to kill terrestrial radio?

As Pogue notes, “things don’t replace things; they just add on.”

Sooner or later, everything goes on-demand.  Another reason why Sirius XM finds itself in the same boat as broadcast radio.  And it’s a reminder that archiving content (go to NPR.com to see how it can be done) and providing podcasts (OK, go back to NPR.com again) caters to the ways that consumers use and enjoy media.  Of course, you have to have content worthy of archiving. 

Finally, nobody can keep up.  And that’s a truth that we all face.  If David Pogue admits that the spate of new gadgets, websites, social media tools, and new innovations are “almost too much for me, too,” then you know you’re not alone.

Most of us grew up in radio at a time when innovations were as infrequent as CDs in the early ‘80s, fax machines in the late ‘80s, and personal computers in the early ‘90s.  It was that slow and methodical.  Every few years, something of note happened in the world of tech.

Now, it’s every day.

So as you power down a bit over the holidays, and wander through your local Best Buy trying to get your head around all of the new technology that may be overwhelming you, take solace in the fact that David Pogue feels your pain.

And he does this for a living.

Everybody Is A Star

Maybe it’s the long-term effects of a society that’s been pelted with Reality TV for more than a decade now.  Or maybe it’s just the impact of social media realities coming home to roost.

But whatever the case, it is becoming abundantly clear that in the worlds of Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites, just about anyone can rise to stardom.

Recently social media maven Jay Baer tweeted about an article by ExactTarget’s Dawn DeVirgilio (pictured).  Dawn talked about social media myths, and the one that jumped out at me is “Twitter’s success hinges on celebrities.”

Dawn explained that while Twitter became popular because of the attention stars like Ashton Kutcher generated, “anyone can be a Twitter superstar and fan his or her own fame 140 characters at a time.”

She also notes that Twitter reports 370,000 new sign-ups a day.  How’s that for rapid cume growth?

I am seeing this happening every day on Twitter as smart, innovative “social mediologists” are making a name for themselves, and in the process, carving out careers.

Jessica Northey is a case in point.  Her Finger Candy Media advises radio stations, personalities, and other entities about how to “tactegically” use social media.  And she is walking that walk every day and night on Twitter.

Jessica recently passed the 100,000 follower threshold.  She is a relentless communicator who has instinctively mastered the art of connecting with anyone and everyone in short, clever bursts.

And she’ll be on hand Thursday at our 15th Jacobs Summit in Baltimore to share her secrets and help our broadcasting attendees better use social resources to connect with listeners and communities.  140 Conference founder Jeff Pulver calls Jessica “a force of nature.”  And that’s coming from a guy who totally gets what Twitter can do for personalities, business, and communities.

Our goal at these Summits is to bring in outside experts and personalities who you just don’t see at the typical radio conferences and conventions.  Jessica is that kind of cyber celebrity, and along with a great cast of other presenters and panelists, we are excited about our lineup on Thursday.

Arbitron’s schedule rocks, too. I am especially interested in meeting and hearing from their CEO Bill Kerr who is making a difference every day for this company and for radio.  His experience at Meredith Corporation is impressive, and something that all broadcasters can benefit from. 

In the book “Lessons From The Top: The Search For America’s Best Business Leaders,” Kerr is highlighted and his big quote truly resonated with me:

“We have to keep earning the trust of our customers.”

From what I’ve heard from many radio managers and owners who have spent time with him, that’s precisely the winning philosophy Kerr has brought to Arbitron.

And I hope you’ll be there to see our “Special Edition” of “Goin’ Mobile” during lunch on Wednesday at Arbitron’s Client Conference.  We’ve got new segments about multitasking and radio listening locations to show you. 

But the big highlight is a part of “Goin’ Mobile” that no one knew about – our respondents carried the new PPM meter for a week prior to our interviews with them.  We’ll show you powerful segments about their impressions of the meter, what it’s like to carry around, what others said about it, and a host of other observations that has helped Arbitron’s refinement of PPM, and can help you better understand the process.

There’s still time to register and hang out with some of radio’s best and brightest.  Click here to register, and hopefully, we’ll see you at the Summit.

The Anatomy Of A Controversy

I learned something about the Internet last weekend.  And it wasn’t good.

We found ourselves embroiled in a story about Apple reportedly banning single-station iPhone apps in their iTunes Store. Of course, it turned out to be untrue.

But that didn’t stop the Internet journalism machine and scores of bloggers from continuing to reprint the same wrong story – again and again.

Here’s how it happened:

Jim Barcus who owns DJB (Digital Jukebox Apps) sells smartphone applications in bulk.  After apparently being told by Apple that his apps were no longer welcome in their iTunes Store, he wrote an emotional letter to the editor to Radio magazine (“The Radio Technology Leader”) on November 22.

The headline in Radio was “Apple Rejecting Radio Apps for iPhone.”

In his letter, Barcus described his company’s recent experience with Apple where his apps had been rejected because of “spamming” the App Store with many versions of similar apps.”  And he went on to say that as a result of Apple’s policies, “They are basically forcing all radio stations onto one app regardless of genre, age limitations, etc.”

Barcus also said he wrote Steve Jobs personally, and that the Apple CEO wrote him back with a “Sorry, we’ve made our decision” response.  Barcus urged radio broadcasters to call Apple to complain and/or to send an email directly to Jobs.

Things started to hit the fan on Wednesday, November 24, fueled by bloggers and one of the second-tier trades who simply printed Barcus’ letter as if it was a factual report on an Apple policy.  In short order, the Internet was full of similar stories, duplicate blogs, and angry comments lodged at Steve Jobs and Apple. 

All of this was exacerbated by the long Thanksgiving weekend during which time it was impossible to check in with representatives at Apple for clarification.  But that didn’t stop the Internet beast.  It needed to be fed.  So the stories, blogs, and coverage continued unabated as various organizations and sites simply reprinted what was out there without bothering to check the facts.

Here’s a sampling of the “coverage” that filled the Internet over the holiday weekend:

And this one:

Note how some of these are from entities, writers, and blogs that perhaps you actually read and trust:

And the hits just kept on coming:

This one looks official:

I’m almost done:

Wow, somehow even Geeky Gadgets got it wrong:

Notice how most of these simply duplicated each other’s copy on the assumption that it’s all true.  And also note how what started as a question became a statement of fact.

In the process, serious broadcasters and many of our app clients started to get justifiably concerned.  We did a little research in the iTunes store (which any blogger or reporter could have done) and saw that since November 10th (the day when Barcus’ apps were rejected), our jacAPPS division had several apps and updates approved by Apple.  And we also saw other developers of single-station apps having similar experiences.

But the questions, angst, and concerns continued online.  To the credit of a number of industry trades and reporters – including All Access, RAMP, RAIN, Radio Ink, Radio-Info, FMQB, Inside Music Media, and Daniel Anstandig – many took the time to call us to hear our “take” on this issue and we have to presume checked other sources as well.  Brida Connally of Radio Ink, Keith Berman from RAMP, Pat Gillen of AllAceess, Tom Taylor from Radio-Info, and Paul Maloney at RAIN all contacted us or did their own digging.  Paul Heine at Inside Radio concluded it was a “non-story” and didn’t print a thing.  We found it interesting that the radio trades – by and large – did a better job of getting to the bottom of the story than did the web-heads and bloggers.

The only notable exception was one of the secondary trades I alluded to earlier in this post.  They ran with the story on Wednesday, November 24, and despite several emails from us, pointing out the truth – from other trades and from iTunes screen shots – they persistently ran the “story.”  And as of early this morning when I hit "save" on this post, it was still prominent on their website – even in the face of clarifications from Apple.

So, what does this all mean and what lessons can be learned (besides sometimes long weekends don’t always live up to their expectations)?

First and foremost, when you read an incendiary headline, check to see if the most important sources are quoted.  And second, don’t jump to conclusions when you simply see the same story repeated numerous times without additional perspective or comment.  Finally, determine which news providers can be trusted to provide you with the facts and not just opinion or hyperbole.

But looking at the bigger picture, I’m afraid that the end of journalism as we’ve known it is getting closer than I thought.  And I’m not exaggerating.  The Internet is a wonderful thing.  It brings information and access to millions.  In some ways, we are more informed because of all this data flying through the big pipe.

But in other ways, we’re getting hosed.  At established media outlets – and they’re fading fast – the money and resources aren’t there to keep what were once buttoned up news operations well-staffed.  There were standards that the Fourth Estate adhered to, and they were non-negotiable.

Great reporting exposed Watergate, ABSCAM, and Kwame Kilpatrick right here in my hometown, Detroit.

But the Internet has ushered in an era of copy and paste, punctuated by bloggers (yes, I realize I’m writing a blog and you’re reading it) who just want filler and love a juicy story when they see one.

Whether it is true, or not.

What IS Radio?

These days, that’s a good question.  That’s because more and more broadcasters are realizing that we’re in the media content business and not just “doing radio.”  But the attachment to towers and transmitters is is a hard one to break, as is the long-held notion that “We’re in the radio business.”

As analog moves full-scale into digital, traditional media outlets are grappling with their missions and the nomenclature they use to describe them.

That’s why we’ve devoted an entire session at Summit 15 (December 9th in Baltimore) to tackling this issue with some of the best and brightest media mavens.

Bonneville-owned WTOP is a case in point.  It is a monster in the D.C. market and the primary voice for many movers, shakers, and real folks in the nation’s capital area who need news and perspective when they want it.  Led by their Senior Regional VP, Joel Oxley, and operations whiz Jim Farley, WTOP decided early this year to drop the “R-word” from its media definition.  In the process, they made headlines in all the radio trades, generating lots of board room discussions. 

WTOP is radio in the traditional sense, but it is so much more.  The station’s web and digital content is its future, and Joel Oxley will be one of the key players on this panel.  We’ll hear directly from him the thought process behind their decision – and what it means to you.

In addition, we also have Michael Yoch, NPR’s Senior Director of Product Development.  Like WTOP, NPR went through its own branding change in 2010.  No longer called “National Public Radio,” one of the nation’s most credible news, information, and entertainment outlets is now just known as NPR.

NPR has played the digital game exceptionally well, and has amped up its efforts during the past couple of years with the addition of Kinsey Wilson to its management team.  As you may recall, NPR has led the way in podcasting, while being one of the first media outlets to develop a dynamic app for the iPad.  We are looking forward to hearing Michael's views and window into the NPR world. 

And to round out our panel, none other than the Radio Advertising Bureau’s CEO, Jeff Haley, to provide us with the perspective that only comes from interfacing with sales and management teams from all over the U.S., markets big and small.  Jeff is on the front lines of the debates and conversations about the marriage of old and new media.  And he will talk about monetizing, packaging, and platforms as part of our panel discussion.

This is a conversation that is long overdue in radio, and where else but the Summit for it to take place.  These last few years have presented unique challenges to our business, and this is yet another area that requires difficult, smart decision-making.

Along the way to writing this blog, Jeff sent me a recent Wall Street Journal think piece written by L. Gordon Crovitz, whose experience includes MarketWatch.com.

Crovitz talks about the Beatles/iTunes marriage, seeing the music business as a “test case” for the transition from analog to digital.  He notes that the Beatles have launched tech-orientedl initiatives before, including their Rock Band videogame.  And he firmly believes that the key to success in the digital age is providing consumers with more choice and when and where they wish to enjoy their content.

And here’s Crovitz's key quote – the one that should get you thinking and is part of the impetus for our “What IS Radio?” panel at Summit 15:

“If the music industry can learn new tricks, there’s hope for all the other industries that are being transformed as technology continues to give consumers more choices.  The best alternative for smart industries is to take the advice of the Beatles song 'Let It Be' – make the most of technological progress, and recognize that certain things are beyond anyone’s control.”

It’s about new tricks and we've got panelists who are walking that walk.  We’ll get the conversation going in a big room filled with engaged media professionals next week.

There’s still time to be a part of it, while furthering your career and bettering your company.  Join us for a couple of days of learning in Baltimore at the Summit and Arbitron’s famous Client Conference.  Click here to register.

See you at The Summit.

It Was A Dark & Stormy Night

OK, so this blog post has a lame title, but it really was an ugly,rainy, bone-chilling November night.  And still a couple of hundred people showed up at a suburban Detroit area bar for a tweetup for “The Backchannel.”

What’s going on here and what was so big a deal that a local TV anchorman’s pet project could somehow attract more consumers than most local radio stations?

It’s “The Backchannel,” the brainchild of WXYZ-TV anchorman Stephen Clark, who was simply trying to figure out if Twitter had any application to TV news.

Today, “The Backchannel” – or #Backchannel as it’s known on Twitter – is alive, robust, and interactive.  It is connecting Metro Detroiters (many of whom were probably not watching any TV news) with Clark, Channel 7, and other members of the Action News team.

It’s one part crowdsourcing and another citizen journalism.  And I believe that it is a new model for News and Sports/Talk radio, as well as for any personality show with the stones to connect and engage with its audience.

Here’s a clip from the tweetup where all those #Backchannel members came to hang out, meet, and engage with one another.  Stephen Clark isn’t just in the process of redefining the way that consumers process and interact with local news; he is emerging as a 2010 media star – different from what we’ve been accustomed to traditionally from TV anchormen.  This new model is accessible, engaged, and conversing with the audience. 

 

<EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW BACKCHANNEL TWEETUP<

Anchors have always been somewhat removed, aloof, and on a pedestal.  They generally do their news and go home, with little connection to the thousands who watch their early and late newscasts.

But as we know, fewer and fewer people are making that appointment at 6, 7 or 11 to watch local news.  And Clark, realizing that audience erosion is taking place, is reigniting the passion for community activity and news gathering.  In the process, his viewers are turning him onto news topics and stories that Channel 7 might never otherwise discover.

Stephen is one of our featured speakers at the Jacobs Summit in Baltimore (with the Arbitron Client Conference on 12/7-9).  I believe that his presentation will be groundbreaking for many radio professionals, and I hope you can be there.

There’s an incredible backstory to be told about “The Backchannel” and you’ll hear it at The Summit.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.