1-29-14
Tom Langmyer is now the VP/GM of Journal's Milwaukee cluster which includes WTMJ-AM and WLWK-FM. The announcement was made today by Journal Executive Vice President, Radio, Steve Wexler, who was recently named to his current role and is stepping away from his day-to-day general manager role to focus on Journal?s 35-station radio division. Langmyer will continue to support Journal?s spoken-word stations as vice president of News/Talk programming.
1-30-14
More confirmation the world has gone mobile. In Q4 Facebook made 53 percent -- or $1.25 billion -- of its total advertising revenue ($2.34 billion) from mobile. Facebook said it now has 945 million monthly active users on mobile, which is a 39 increase over the year-ago quarter. Overall, Facebook Q4 revenue jumped 63 percent to $2.59 billion. Revenue for the full year was $7.87 billion, up 55 percent from 2012, and 2013 net income was $1.5 billion.
1-29-2014
In doing social media, you probably think often about contesting elements, morning-show features, personalities (on your air and stars of the format), gossip, and pulling the fun out of your radio station, your format, and your target audience to put ?lifestyle? into your social media. You are likely to have a serious, overall strategic plan to engage local audience and draw them back to your radio station, your website, and your advertisers (because we are in that business). I?m sure you work with your team to be very visual and your constant focus in social media is using visuals and rich format-related content that moves listeners. But when is the last time you spent a little extra time thinking about what is missing locally. Who is not being highlighted? What cause fits your audience, your radio station, and yet isn?t getting the attention it deserves in your market?
When you think about going through a major recession and trying to rebuild, do you think about what has been happening to charities, museums, and other community features that we as ?local citizens? care about (your market)?
Spend some time at the management level looking more deeply at your hyper-local market. Try to see the world as it really is instead of as we tend to ?gloss it over.? Think about this: Most media companies do a lot to make things generic to make ?covering things? easy and less expensive. However, that has a tendency to leave some things on autopilot. If you want an extra edge for your local radio brand, you?ll spend this little extra time looking for what could create galvanizing passion that can propel your brand locally by using your social media power to bring people together for something that is important to your community.
How can you begin this process?
1. Ask questions of leaders in the business community. Ask them about the needs they see in the community. If you do this, make sure you are doing this at the manager?s level and that your market manager is very aware and on-board. Handled correctly, talking with business leaders in your market makes you look like what you are: A responsive, tuned-in local media outlet that cares about the local community (and businesses like theirs).
2. Float the question to find out what important causes the media is not focusing on in your own market. Be authentic, honest, and straightforward about what you are looking to do. You are seeking ideas on how you can engage important local causes that may not be getting the attention they deserve in the community. Everyone understands that sometimes important community values drift out of the center lane in the busy hustle of everyday life. You never know how many people will step up with suggestions or the ultimate positive impact that can only come from asking the right questions. You might find the fuse to light your brand fire by getting behind something beloved but adrift in your community. The kinds of people that make things happen in your market are likely to be the same ones that line up behind your brand if you question, discover, and champion something of value to the community that has lost the public?s attention.
3. Ask for suggestions on your morning show and give listeners a place to react on your website, Facebook page, and Twitter. If you really want to highlight what is happening or not happening in your quest to find the perfect cause to get behind locally, light it up. Ask listeners to engage you by calling with suggestions, by emailing you, and posting suggestions on your Facebook page and in other social media. Send it out as a part of your local-listener email club. Make sure people know you care and you are looking to discover and passionately engage value not being highlighted in the local market and a cause where your brand can potentially make a big difference.
4. Identify someone on your team as the point person once you?ve identified the charity or cause. This is critical because it gives listeners a place to focus and gives your brand what I call a ?personal sticky entry point.? People really identify with people and think other people care more than businesses. If a real person cares about this and is championing it at your local radio station, this must be for real.
5. Make this a ?percentage part? of your overall strategic plan for social media. In other words, this isn?t ?one and you?re done.? Plot out posts and engagement opportunities and strategies for your social media by percentage of content for this. Let your personality lead and make it a visible part of your social media, online and public values.
There are a lot of things you can do in social media, but being local is the biggest opportunity of all. No one is better at connecting with locals and getting them to be active than local radio. You can use this strength against your competitors to build serious and dynamic local advantage. However, you must be authentic and consistent, and you must have a well-defined strategic plan that will mean you provide important and passionate connection to the things that are valuable to listeners in your local market.
Technology changes, people don?t. 2014 is a great time to rotate around on top of social media and see it as an extension of your actual local radio brands. The more you focus on listeners, their lives, and things that are important to them, the more powerful you will become and the more valuable your local brand becomes in your market to audience and advertisers alike.
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist Direct Marketing and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, and WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here: http://about.me/loydford. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here: www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE. Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE.
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1-28-14
Clear Channel Cleveland makes the announcement that Chris Tyler is the new PD for WMMS, WAKS, and 99X. He'll come over from Clear Channel Providence where he was VP of Programming for the cluster, and PD for Rocker WHJY-FM. Tyler began his career in 1998 in Boston where he spent more than 10 years, including a stint as PF for KISS 108 WXKS-FM. Tyler clocks in on Monday, February 17.
1-30-14
A customizable radio station might not be just a "feature" after all. Building upon the theory that local DJ's are becoming extinct, the company Gracenote has created "Rhythm," which they say is a new radio and discovery platform that will provide the right blend of metadata, algorithms and people-power to create the backbone for the next wave of Internet Radio Apps and services. "Back in the golden age of radio, music was delivered to us by trusted DJs ? people who lived and breathed rock, jazz, and rhythm and blues. These guardians of our airwaves had an emotional connection to what they were spinning and helped us discover new musical loves. Unfortunately, today, many of our music experiences are left solely to machines ? emotionless systems that recommend music from bits of data."
Ben Sisario of the New York Times is reporting that Gracenote is working with the company Next Big Sound on a plan for a customizable Internet radio program that would let consumer brands, car companies, and anyone else have their own music app. (Gracenote is a digital music service and Next Big Sound analyzes social-media chatter around music).
Sisario writes, "Gracenote?s Rhythm, could be used by virtually any company to create a radio service tied to its own product or websites on a global basis." Car companies could develop a system to be used in all of their cars around the world." Sounds like more competition in the DASH might be right around the corner.
Gracenote creates, consumes and analyzes billions of data points every day, touching hundreds of millions of music fans and TV viewers. Gracenote is supported by a large source of music and video metadata, featuring descriptions of more than 180 million tracks and TV listings for 30+ countries. The database receives more than 550 million queries everyday and more than 16 billion every month. If you measured Gracenote against a search engine, it would rank among the world?s biggest.
The Gracenote descriptive music metadata focuses on six main categories:
?Genre of the song (Rock, Hip Hop)
?Mood (Rowdy, Somber)
?Era the song was recorded (1980s, 2000s)
?Tempo (Fast, BPMs)
?Origin or region most associated with the artist (London, New York)
?Artist type (Mixed, Female, Male)
Rhythm will be available next month.
(1/30/2014 6:47:27 AM)
I was born and raised on the radio listening to cats like The WolfMan, Hot Rod, Casey Kasem, Fat Daddy and Larry Dean (to name a few). These were some of radio's golden age local and national icons. And while there are some amazing DJs on radio today, I think the coming extinction of local DJs is probably just an evolutionary reality rooted in the fact that younger listeners just don't care about radio personalities and promotions and commercials. They just want the music the way they want it.
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1-30-14
Gary Gauthier is the former host of a show on Tampa radio stations WTBN and WGUL called "It's God's Money." Police say he's one of two men charged with defrauding 38 people, most of them elderly, out of $6 million, according to the St. Petersburg Tribune. Documents say, ?A majority of the victims stated they relied upon the statements made by Gauthier because they were made on a Christian radio station."
1-30-14
As part of his duties as ESPN's SVP of production, business divisions, Traug Keller heads up ESPN Audio, one of the most successful parts of the top sports brand in America. The division formerly known as ESPN Radio has become a leader in sports over the air, but there's also a wildly popular live stream at ESPNRadio.com, a huge library of podcasts in the website's "Podcenter," and tons of on-demand programming from such top ESPN personalities as Mike & Mike and Colin Cowherd, all accessible with just a click or two. And of course there's the free ESPN Radio app in the iTunes store.
At Radio Ink's Sports Radio Conference, set for March 10-11 in San Diego, Keller will give a "State of the Sports Radio Industry" presentation. He'll discuss the transition from a radio business to a comprehensive audio business, and how ESPN became an industry leader, reaching fans across both established and emerging audio platforms with a compelling mix of talk and play-by-play.
Sports is one of the hottest and fastest-growing formats in radio today, and at the Sports Radio Conference, you'll have a chance to hear from someone who's been helping to lead the way for nearly a decade. If you're running a Sports station or considering a flip, this is a presentation you need to hear.
The Sports Radio Conference is the radio industry's exclusive Sports and Sports Talk summit. With an agenda focused on growing audience and revenue at Sports0formatted stations, attendees get the chance to hear from a wide range of experts on topics that include programming, promotions, sales, marketing, and digital platforms as well as local, collegiate, and professional sports teams and events. If your station covers any sports or sports/talk, the Sports Radio Conference should be part of your game strategy.
Register HERE
1-30-14
Looking to garner more revenue from its digital properties, Journal has signed a deal with Internet Broadcasting Systems. IB will help Journal streamline digital ad operations capabilities by performing ad trafficking while also delivering digital ads to Journal stations. The deal includes Journal's 35 radio stations and 13 TV stations. IB CEO Elmer Baldwin says, "Aggressive goals can only be reached by collaborating with aggressive partners. We are thrilled that Journal has chosen to partner with us, and excited to help them achieve their digital sales goals in 2014 and beyond."
Journal VP of Interactive Media Michael Gay said, "With this partnership we combine the strength of Journal Broadcast Group's local digital platforms with the digital sales expertise and infrastructure of Internet Broadcasting. Providing our local advertisers with these new digital capabilities shows our commitment to supporting the growth of local businesses with our company's powerful local media platforms."
Along with its digital publishing platform and content solutions, IB provides a digital agency solution for sales operations and campaign creative. IB delivered nearly 30,000 campaigns in 2013. In addition, the agency provides full transparency of ad performance and ROI metrics, allowing partners to assess each ad campaign they run.
1-29-2014
The analytics we have available for all things digital today are amazing. One analytics vendor amazed me this week with their suite of offerings, so much so that I?m going to invest in their service.
Their algorithms can calculate a ?digital presence? score for any local business, and their competitors, in any market. Their analytics can give a combined digital score for all digital properties from mobile to search and from social to websites, or they can score and rank a business? digital presence on each platform separately.
I see it as a huge tool for media account executives to open the door to new prospects and cement relationships with existing clients by discussing the advertiser?s ratings instead of the station?s ratings.
But here?s the thing. We chose automotive dealers in Cape Coral, Florida, to demo the product. The dealer that had the highest Web presence or buzz was nowhere near the highest volume dealership, and the dealership that had by far the best sales, ranked below several competitors in digital presence.
Now that?s not to say that the high digital presence score for the under-performing dealer might not translate to sales somewhere down the road.
But at the end of the day, the only tally that matters is sales. Top-of-mind awareness or share-of-mind scores do consistently relate directly to sales results. Share-of-mind category winners like McDonald?s for fast food and Campbell?s for soup are also their category sales winners.
In the local share-of-mind surveys we conduct, we?re also able to prove with local data that high SOM (Share of Mind) scores are by far the best SEO (search engine optimization).
Our surveys have proven consumers searching the Internet online or via mobile, have a strong preference for businesses that are top-of-mind in their category.
Interestingly, in the more than 100 markets we?ve surveyed, the share-of-mind winners consistently have a strong radio and/or TV presence in their media mix.
The only exception to that rule is in a market where no business in a particular category uses broadcast. In the absence of competitors using radio or TV, a business can sometimes achieve top share-of-mind by default with a strong street presence or long-time heritage in the market. Of course, those businesses that capture share-of-mind by default are vulnerable if a competitor does start to use broadcast to capture share-of-mind.
Wayne ENS is president of ENS Media Inc He may be contacted at wayne@wensmedia.com
(1/29/2014 8:21:42 PM)
Another genuine contribution ruined by an innocuous, trolling prick. Is this going to be allowed for any length of time....?
(1/29/2014 3:12:17 PM)
Another big yawn for our 1960's hippie wannabe!
(1/29/2014 3:10:49 PM)
Stop power-leaning!
(1/29/2014 12:33:38 PM)
Although an advertiser may be impressed by such a data-dump as much as any rep, and the vendor may prove to be an excellent investment for Wayne and others, there is still that bizarre adage lurking in the shadows.
Still, as Wayne points out - it's still all about generating sales and/or traffic.
Here is the twisted and creepy adage: "Recall is not necessary for behaviors to be generated."
{This is a working concept that applies - almost exclusively - to electronic media.
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1-30-14
Today, Jelli is launching its programmatic advertising platform for the broadcast advertising industry. It's called RadioSpot. Jelli CEO Michael Dougherty says RadioSpot streamlines the buying and running of radio ads. "RadioSpot is a real-time ad server that automates radio commercials on broadcast radio stations. It makes buying and running radio campaigns easy and fast, and enables broadcast radio to be purchased and managed like digital campaigns." Here's more detail on how it works.
Jelli installs a RadioSpot server at every radio station, integrating with any major traffic and automation system that a station currently uses. When it comes time for Jelli to run a commercial on the air, the local automation system will trigger Jelli?s ad server, which will broadcast the ad directly on the airwaves. When the ad runs, a log is created that is immediately recorded in a web-based dashboard called RadioDash that the advertisers or agency use to track their campaign in real-time. This eliminates the need for affidavits, and it enables data to be exported for rapid analysis by the marketer. The audio creative can be reviewed via a playback feature, including actual sound check of the on-air play. After the ad runs, the Jelli server hands back to the local system to continue with the broadcast, until the next scheduled Jelli ad break. RadioSpot automatically chooses which ad should run next based on the specs of the current campaigns in the cloud platform, and other business rules.
This occurs on hundreds of stations for every campaign, with the correct creative copy being trafficked and cached automatically on the right ad servers in the right markets. Due to Jelli's cloud platform, it has real-time control over the audio copy. Change of copy is possible network-wide in only 1 to 2 minutes, versus taking days to weeks with legacy processes, and Jelli can immediately pull ads network-wide at a moment?s notice, if required due to a special circumstance.
1-30-14
Radio managers around the country love to hear positive news about the auto industry. Big auto revenue means heavy Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning spotloads with screaming car dealers urging the general population to get into a new vehicle. Adjusted net income for the quarter was $659 million. Fourth-quarter revenue advanced 24 percent to $21.2 billion. For 2013, Chrysler posted net income of $2.8 billion, up 65 percent from the $1.7 billion annual profit posted in 2012. Adjusted net income for the year was $1.8 billion. Revenue for 2013 was $72.1 billion, up 10 percent from $65.8 billion in 2012.
1-27-2014
Attitude is contagious. A great leader with a great attitude can take everyone with him or her to the top. Attitude is one of the only cutting edges we have in business and especially in sales. Over the years, I have told this story in most of my seminars and to all the sales staffs I?ve worked with. It?s the story of the two Zen monks who were going home from the monastery when they came upon a woman who was standing on the banks of the river crying.
One of the monks went up to her and said, ?My dear lady, why are you crying?? She responded, ?The river is flowing, my dress is long, I am about to be married and I can?t cross that river without getting my dress wet. What should I do??
The one monk said, ?Jump on my back and I?ll carry you across.? After crossing the river, he put her down on the other side. He and his brother monk then continued on their way to the monastery.
About a mile from the monastery, the one monk who had carried the woman across the river noticed that his brother monk had said absolutely nothing to him. He looked at him and said, ?My dear brother, what is wrong, what is troubling you?? His brother monk said, ?You know we monks are to have nothing to do with women.? ?My brother, I put that woman down on the banks of the river five miles back. It?s been you who has carried her all the way to the monastery.?
Wow! What a difference in attitudes. The one monk who simply did what had to be done and his brother monk who probably lost out on some great scenery on the way back to the monastery and was weighted down by anger and frustration. Attitude is really the key here. I think all of us, at some point in our lives, have figuratively ?carried that woman? five miles to the monastery -- lugging her, dragging her, pulling her, when all we had to do was drop her off on the side of the river -- five miles back. I know in my case, I have carried her more than once to the monastery.
Whether we are in sales or in management, we don?t really spend enough time analyzing our own attitudes and saying. ?What does it take for me to change my attitude so I can become a better performer?? I have always thought that in order to change the attitude of others, you first have to change your own attitude.
Some of you might have this hanging in your office, heck you might have it hanging in your home. It?s never left my office. I think it sums up the whole meaning of attitude as written by Charles Swindoll:
?The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude in my life. Attitude is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
?It will make or break a company?a church?a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have?our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you: we are all in charge of our attitudes.?
So it is with us. Whether you are a salesperson, a sales manager, a general manager, a programmer, production director, or a receptionist, we all are in charge of the only thing we have that no one else can affect unless we let them, and that is our attitude. I think everything else is academic unless you have a great attitude. Remember, the ?Liquid Fire? is not your calamity. The ?Liquid Fire? is your cleansing.
Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for the Luce Performance Group International and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com. You can find his new book The Liquid Fire on Amazon.com.
(1/27/2014 6:28:36 AM)
Great article Sean!
The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up.
- John C. Maxwell
1-27-2014
Every commercial is designed to solve a problem. Before you can create a commercial that works, you first need to be clear on what the prospect?s problem is. Once you?re clear, your next steps in the creative process will be easier.
How do you get clear? Turn the problem into a question, in fact several questions. Not the same ones your client brought to you, but questions from different points of view.
Ask the questions your client?s prospect could/should be asking. These can be smart questions, dumb questions, naive questions, impossible-to-answer questions, or rhetorical questions.
Example, if your client has a dental or orthodontic practice:
?Why do I want to keep all my teeth? Why would I want to pay someone to nag me about flossing? Why would I want to have my mouth poked and prodded for an hour and end up with a numb tongue for an afternoon? What?s the difference between a visit to the dentist every six months and the agony of a root canal? How would I feel about being embarrassed to smile because people would see my teeth? What would regular maintenance mean to me if it would give me another 40 years of healthy teeth? What?s keeping me from going to the dentist now? What else do I hate about going to the dentist? How do I choose a dentist??
Ask questions from the points of view of:
? The owners
? The owner?s relatives
? The employees
? Customers ? happy ones, unhappy ones, quirky ones
? Advocates
? Devil?s advocates
? Prospects ? ones who need the advertiser, ones who don?t
? Competitors
? A six year old
? You ? what would make you want to spend your money with the advertiser?
The answers you get to these questions may not be the ones you expect. This is good. They may lead to a unique copy approach. They may reveal little-known benefits. They may suggest a new service for the advertiser to offer. This is also good.
This process will help you define the problem, find a number of innovative ways to introduce it to the audience, give you a path to a solution, and form the basis for a campaign.
To get your very own free copy of ?Hedquist?s List of 226 Cliches,? email me jeffrey@hedquist.com and I?ll send them. Guaranteed to reduce commercial effectiveness.
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1-27-14
The Clear Channel Alternative station announced the new morning show, even though the show does not begin until April 21. It's called The Woody Show, and features Woody, Ravey, Menace, and Greg Gory. They will reunite on ALT 98.7 for the first time since 2009, when they were a top-rated morning show in San Francisco. Since then, Woody and Ravey have hosted a morning show in St. Louis, while Menace and Gory each anchor separate shows in San Francisco.
The 64th annual awards dinner was held Saturday evening. The awards are presented for excellence in radio, TV and Internet broadcast journalism by the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, representing newsrooms in Los Angeles, San Diego and other markets from Bakersfield to the Mexican border. Former KNX reporter John Brooks, who retired in 2013, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 40 years of work on the radio in Southern California.
The KNX 1070 award recipients for work in 2013 are:
BEST NEWS BROADCAST OVER 15 MINUTES
KNX Afternoon News
BEST NEWSCAST WRITING
?KNX Afternoon News at 5pm?
BEST LIVE COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY
?Santa Monica Rampage?
BEST HARD NEWS SERIES REPORTING
?Healthcare Uncovered: A Guide to the Affordable Care Act?
BEST LIGHT FEATURE REPORTING
?You Say San Pee-dro, I Say San Pay-dro?
BEST NEWS SPECIAL
?Healthcare Uncovered: A Guide to the Affordable Care Act?
1-27-14
Jacapps says it will begin offering mobile game apps to radio stations starting today. The games are station branded, and offer stations opportunities for sponsor messages. The company says a new game will be released quarterly. j?capps COO Bob Kernan says "Games create amazing synergies with radio. Radio provides a perfect promotional platform, and its deep relationship with the audience makes it the perfect springboard for driving the kind of social, mobile behavior listeners love. The games are engaging and drive the repeat usage that appeals to sponsors."
This past fall, j?capps produced a game app for Greater Media's WCSX/Detroit to coincide with deer hunting season. CSX Program Director JT Tarrants says, "Our listeners were ready for us to step up and offer them more than the clich?d '10 in a row,' and engage them with an app that hyper-targeted our listening audience. If you truly care about your audience, engage them on several different platforms and they will reward you. The huge success of our CSX deer hunting app is proof." The app was downloaded over 50,000 times in less than 5 weeks and, with sponsor Carhartt (who hadn't advertised on radio before) on board, posted a 3x ROI.
1-27-14
Nielsen is trying to seel its LinkMeter product to comScore and the Federal Trade Commission is looking for public comment on the deal. LinkMeter is a cross-platform audience measuring service. The divesture is required under the proposed FTC order settling charges that Nielsen?s acquisition of Arbitron would lessen competition in cross-platform audience measurement services. Here's what Nielsen had to say about it.
The Nielsen statement: ?Nielsen and comScore have agreed to terms and other requirements in compliance with the terms set forth in the FTC Decision and Order dated September 20, 2013. Nielsen?s agreement with the FTC was intended to preserve the competitive landscape in place prior to the acquisition by effectively enabling the continuation of a cross-platform project measuring media consumption across TV, radio, PCs, mobile devices and tablets, which was announced in Fall 2012 by then Arbitron, in concert with ESPN and comScore.
1-27-14
Curtis Media Group has promoted Lisa McKay to Vice-President of Programming for their Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, cluster. McKay, a regular on Radio Ink's Best Country PDs in Radio list for her work at WQDR, will now oversee WBBB Radio 96.1, WPLW/WWPL Pulse 102.3/102.5, WBZJ 96.9, WQDR 94.7, and WYMY La Ley 101.1. McKay joined WQDR-FM in 2002.
Curtis Media Group Executive Vice President Trip Savery said, "Lisa?s hard work, passion, and dedication over the past 12 years has grown WQDR to be one of the most admired stations in the country. She has further proven her abilities with WPLW/WWPL over the past two years, and is incredibly deserving of this new role supervising our key Raleigh-Durham properties.?
McKay said, ?I'm grateful for the opportunity to join Trip Savery to help make Curtis Media Group the most admired radio company in America. Collaborating with our talented group of programmers here and longtime partners Harker Research to increase listener and client loyalty is an incredible honor.?
1-27-14
Politco says the on-air battle between the two conservative talkers has turned personal. They quote both men taking shots at each other and using the airwaves to air their disagreements. Hannity saying Savage is obsessed with him and the Dickey's are bitter. Savage told Politico, ?My competitor doesn?t have the capacity to go beyond the Democrat-Republican talking points. That?s all he?s ever done. That?s all he can do. He has no education. I?m just going to lay it on the line, I?m not going to mince words.?
Savage went on to say, ?You could say, well, I?m a snob. Well, ok, I?m proud of my doctorate, two master?s degrees, I?m proud of my 28 books, including many in health. And so, yeah, I?m proud of my academic achievements. I believe it?s embarrassing for people to act as experts, even in politics, if they don?t have a rigorous training in anything.?
Hannity says, ?Here?s the bottom line. I love everybody in this business. This guy is obsessed with me, I?m not obsessed with him. And, you know, I understand the Dickeys are bitter because I left.? There has always been a disagreement between Cumulus and Hannity about who left who when that deal came to an end.
Politico also quotes a segment from last Wednesday's radio show, hinting he's talking about Savage. ?Here?s a mystery that we will one day unfold to you. Who is the phony conservative radio host, who is this guy, who once went ? really old man, bitter, angry, pathetic ? that once went skinny-dipping, claims to be, he?s a phony conservative ? according to reports, we?re only beginning our research, we?re going to get to the bottom of it, and then we?re going to have real, real fun.?
Picture courtesy Politico
(1/27/2014 6:55:22 AM)
I think Savage's show is better. The problem I'm finding is that some claimed he would be on in Hannity's time slot, but I'm having a hard time finding him on the air at that time. If he was truly replacing Hannity in the drive time slot on ALL stations around the country, that would be great. And Savage is right. He tells it like it is, and is not party-loyal like Hannity is. I think people are afraid of Savage because they know he has the brains to challenge them one-on-one.
(1/27/2014 6:19:07 AM)
Wow. Conservatives can't go skinny-dipping?
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1-27-14
WMJI's John Lanigan says 40 years is enough. The Cleveland morning man says he will retire after nearly 30 years at the Clear Channel-owned WMJI. His final broadcast will be March 29. Lanigan announced his retirement Friday, by calling into The Lanigan and Malone Show, which he hosts with Jimmy Malone, according to Cleveland.com. "It's been a long time coming," he said. "I've been doing it for a long time and I'm 71 and I've been thinking about it for a while."
1-27-14
Russell ?Russ? Withers was the founder and owner of Withers Broadcasting which owns 30 radio stations and six television stations in Missouri, Kentucky, and Illinois. Withers is also a former NAB Radio Board Chairman. The NAB's Dennis Wharton said, "Russ Withers was a true original. He was a stalwart in defense of local broadcasting, colorful with a quote, and comfortable in the halls of Congress and at the FCC advocating on NAB's behalf. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter Dana and the entire Withers Broadcasting family."
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1-27-2014
If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. -- Arthur Rubenstein
We were having a nice relaxing dinner with friends. The conversation moved from weather to trips to how things are going at work. It was a great conversation, from what I remember. Then my wife, who?s very good at getting me back on track said, ?Are you going to join us tonight??
Without knowing it, I spent half the meal with these friends not really being with them; I was on my phone. My phone kept flashing, buzzing, and beeping and I kept checking it. Really? On a Friday night? What was I thinking?
Admittedly I?m not 100 percent there yet, but my partner Chris Lytle is fond of saying, ?There are rarely training emergencies.? In other words, when the work day is done, stop working. Great advice that can help save your marriage, friendships, and business relationships. Nothing is more annoying than having a person ?check? his phone while in a conversation with you. Nothing says, ?You're not important to me? more than that.
Multi-tasking has been a corporate buzzword for years. In a quest to climb the corporate ladder to stay ahead of peers, we ?have to have? the latest technology. We are proud to tell our bosses we?re available 24/7. What we?re really doing is increasing stress and decreasing productivity.
In my experience, multi-tasking is the single-biggest killer of productivity and personal development. I now believe that a singular focus is the only way to be most productive.
Just this week, in a very personal way, I was slapped again with the reality that I cannot have two goals when trying to affect change. You must focus on one, the one you determine most important. Only when you have accomplished that goal are you prepared to go after the second, third, and so on.
Alessandro Acquisti, a professor of IT, and psychologist Eyal Peer at Carnegie Mellon, constructed an experiment designed to measure the brain power lost when someone is interrupted:
?To simulate the pull of an expected cellphone call or e-mail, we had subjects sit in a lab and perform a standard cognitive skill test. In the experiment, 136 subjects were asked to read a short passage and answer questions about it. There were three groups of subjects; one merely completed the test. The other two were told they ?might be contacted for further instructions? at any moment via instant message.?
During the first test, the second and third groups were interrupted twice. During the second test, only the second group was interrupted. The third group awaited an interruption that never came.
To say the results were troublesome would be an understatement. Both of the interrupted groups answered correctly 20 percent less often than members of the control group, meaning interruptions made them 20 percent ?dumber.?
Here are five ways I?ve found to improve focus:
1. Put down your phone. When you?re with people, focus on the people.
2. Prioritize your ?to do? list. Start with the highest priority and move on only when you have completed that task. Don?t give other tasks mental real estate.
3. Turn off your email. Don?t even have email open if you want to stay focused. Schedule time to look at email when you want.
4. Turn off all notifications. Technology is great, or not. I can get notified (interrupted) when someone posts a new tweet or Facebook post. I can get notified (interrupted) when an email comes in. I can get notified (interrupted) when a program on my computer needs updating. And the list goes on and on. Stop letting your technology manage you.
5. Take breaks to clear your mind and think. Some of my best ideas come at three in the morning. Why? Because I have no other distractions, nothing else crowding my mind. Adult educators will tell you that adults can pay attention for only 90 minutes at a time. Schedule a 5-minute mental break a few times throughout the day to just sit and daydream. You?ll find your best solutions will come at those times.
Want to be more productive? Want to get more things done? Stop trying to do them all at once. Prioritize and do tasks one at a time.
Peter Bregman wrote a book called 18 Minutes. He says: ?We don?t actually multitask. We switch-task. And it?s inefficient, unproductive, and sometimes even dangerous. Resist the temptation.?
For me the struggle comes with my impatience. I want to fix the problem, find the solution, and I want to do it now. As a result, the tendency is to do two or three things at a time. As a consequence, none of these things will get done as well as it could be, if at all. When you do that, you kill your productivity, you allow more stress into your life, and you won?t accomplish the most important things you set out to do.
What are some other ways you?ve found to reduce or eliminate distractions in your day?
If you?re looking for an easy way to focus on your professional development, Chris Lytle and I have partnered with Radio Ink for the The Radio Sales Success Expander webinar series. Click here to find out more and sign up to participate live or on demand.
Jeff Schmidt is EVP and Partner with Chris Lytle at Sparque, Inc. You can reach Jeff at, Jeff.Schmidt@Sparque.biz
Twitter: @JeffreyASchmidt
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/schmidtjeffrey
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1-27-14
Last week we told you about how ESPN Radio and The Fox Sports Network planned to cover the game between Denver and Seattle. Today we get details from CBS and Westwood One. Beginning today, CBS's morning show will be on-site in New York City interviewing athletes, coaches, former players and celebrities. Westwood One, which carries the game, will feature a full schedule of Game Day programming leading up to kickoff of Super Bowl XLVIII. WestwoodOne?s live game coverage features Kevin Harlan, handling the play-by-play duties for the Super Bowl for the fourth straight year, and Boomer Esiason, serving as the color analyst?his 14th consecutive with the network.
Director, Programming, CBS Sports Radio Eric Spitz says, ?With the Super Bowl, the premier sporting event in our country, happening right in our back yard, there was no doubt that CBS Sports Radio would go wall-to-wall covering all of the pre-game stories, news, and interviews. If you can?t make it to the big game, CBS Sports Radio?s renowned personalities will bring all of the live action and excitement preceding the game, allowing listeners across the nation to feel like they are in New York.?
Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey said, "The great tradition of WestwoodOne bringing Super Bowl week to millions of Americans is a highlight of the year. We're excited to partner with the NFL and the 700+ radio stations nationwide that will carry our exclusive programming all week."
1-21-14
34-year-old Mark Porter appeared on Radio Ink's list of Radio's Rising Stars back in 2012. He was hosting a show for Natchez Radio Group on WQNZ in Natchez, MS. This past Friday, Porter informed Radio Ink he launched his own company and purchased his first radio station, KIOX in Edna,TX, near Houston. Back in 2012 Porter said, "If you want to become successful in the radio industry you have to build your own brand. We are all our own individual brand and we must grow that brand just like any other company. Most importantly you must find your own way of creating a connection with your listeners or fan base that can stand the test of time. They need to feel like they know you on a personal level, even if you have never met them before in your life. If you can find that special connection with your listeners you will have a long-standing career in radio." Porter is about to put his theory to the test. We spoke to Porter about his move into ownership. LISTEN HERE
Send a congratulatory note to Mark countryboyinc@att.net
1-22-14
This FCC Notice of Apparent Liability goes to Birach Broadcasting in Youngstown, NY, for failing to enclose antenna structures. When an FCC agent inspected the towers, he observed almost half the fence surrounding a tower was on the ground. When the agent tried to lift the fence they found it difficult because the grass had grown through and around the fence. The agent also found the gate and fencing support posts for the tower had been removed and were lying on the ground. The condition of the fences resulted in unrestricted access to the bases of those antenna structures, both of which had radio frequency potential at their bases.
1-22-2014
Charlie Sislen is a partner with the consulting firm Research Director Inc., which works with numerous radio groups around the country and in Canada on enhancing ratings and revenue development. As the new year begins, I thought it would be a good idea to tap in to Charlie?s 30 years of experience and his perspective on what?s coming in 2014.
The radio industry has had several years where flat is considered good. How do you see 2014 shaping up?
All signs are that 2013 will post flat, and spot business might even be down slightly. Although the economy has picked up, overall radio billing remains well below pre-recession levels. The only sign of significant growth is our digital assets. While still small, there is great growth opportunity here. My hope is that the economy will accelerate. There are already signs that the automotive industry is going to have a strong year, possibly selling over 16 million cars in 2014.
Automotive has always been a crucial part of radio?s success. I cannot tell you how much it infuriates me to see local car ads on television. Are you telling me that it is more effective to sell me a car while I am lying on my family-room couch? How about when I am sitting in my old vehicle with over 100,000 miles on it?
The potential for a good 2014 is there, but we need to act.
If the economy is growing stronger, why is radio billing stuck in neutral?
I think there are several reasons for that. The most obvious is new competition. The audio pure-plays like Pandora and Spotify are going after our business. They are the shiny new toy that advertisers like. However, that industry has not proven itself yet, and will go through a massive transformation in 2014.
It is difficult to impact how these pure-plays position themselves to advertisers, but we as an industry must be vigilant to keep them honest. As a researcher, some of their claims to advertisers appear to be suspect.
More important, we need to do a better job of telling our story. Many of our people on the street no longer believe in what they are selling. To quote Pogo, ?We have met the enemy, and he is us.? Our people, both programming and sales, need to believe in radio and be proud of what they represent.
We all know that radio reaches 90-plus percent of the U.S. population every week. How often do our salespeople remind advertisers of this simple fact? Radio reaches just about everyone.
We also need to better tell the radio story beyond the music. What a typical station does between songs lends itself to a great environment for advertisers. Great local programming and strong relationships with the local community cannot be measured by any cost-per-point.
I am not going to underestimate the value of transactional business, but we cannot grow with the existing dollars on the table. Let?s do a better job of finding those non-radio users and converting them into users. Radio works, and we need to better document this.
Has anything on the research side of the industry impacted radio billing?
The conversion to PPM in the top 50 markets was a definite speed bump. That rollout occurred at the height of the recession. We as an industry were slow to tell the PPM story, and many did not understand that listening did not change, just the way it was reported. It also led to what many perceived as ratings compression, which allowed for a negative reaction. That?s water under the bridge now, and we must move forward.
I started as a local salesperson in 1981 and quickly became reliant on qualitative research. Local tools like Media Audit and Scarborough are more important than before. With ratings compression, qualitative can help differentiate your listeners from those who have the same rating points.
How do you see Nielsen?s purchase of Arbitron impacting the radio industry?
It?s too early to say how it will impact our industry. Nielsen has a strong presence everywhere. Now that radio is part of this tremendous organization, it should be easier to tell our story. Cross-referencing the existing radio-listening data with Nielsen?s other databases may result in better documentation that radio works for advertisers.
The possibility that sometime down the road we could see single-source research combining radio, television, and digital does exist. This would be a win for all involved.
Charlie Sislen can be reached at csislen@researchdirectorinc.com. Deborah Parenti is EVP/Radio for Streamline Publishing. E-mail: parenti@aol.com.
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1-24-14
After reading our story yesterday about NASH FM in New York, Mount Wilson Broadcasting President Saul Levine (pictured) wrote to us that the share numbers at GoCountry in Los Angeles, which Levine owns, quoted by Cumulus co-COO John Dickey, were incorrect. Dickey said, "GoCountry is a 1.5, maybe 1.6 or 1.7 share right now. It lives somewhere between a 1.5 and 2. Most recently , it has been closer to a 1.5 than 2." Levine provided Radio Ink with a Tapscan chart that showed GoCountry had a share of 2.6, 3 and 2.7 over the past three months.
Levine says, GoCountry in Los Angeles has the second highest cume of any country radio station in the USA. Here's Levine's full letter to Radio Ink:
I am responding to the Article in Thursday's edition of Radio Ink about Country Radio. I am delighted that NASH is doing do well in New York City. Success in any market for a country station is always good for the rest of the industry. I do want to make a correction about GoCountry105 in Los Angeles. In the Radio Ink Article, Mr.Dickey used Arbitron Ratings data that is incorrect.
GoCountry105 is one of the most successful country stations in the USA, now in its seventh year in the format. Our ratings are about double what Mr.Dickey quoted. The actual Arbitron Ratings are attached. Also,the latest Arbitron Ratings Book revealed that GoCountry 105has the second highest cume of any country radio station in the USA.
Thank you for making this correction.
Saul Levine
President
(1/24/2014 10:18:37 AM)
There are few remaining like Saul...Passionate about our business and willing to 'stand up and be counted'...
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1-22-14
Kenard Karter will return to Chicago after four years at Clear Channel?s KMEL in San Francisco, where he was APD and midday host. Kennard will take the PD reigns at WGCI-FM in Chicago. Kenard is a Chicago native who began his radio career in his hometown 10 years ago. Director of Urban Programming for Clear Channel Chicago Derrick Brown said, "I couldn?t be happier Kenard is coming back home to Chicago to take ?GCI to its next level of success.?
1-22-2014
By Loyd Ford
Having a plan for social media means more than simply posting contest information on Facebook and Twitter. It means more than having content about the stars in your format or bikini girls showing off for the camera. It actually should mean more to radio stations than just what value it may have for drawing people to your on-air or lifestyle (yes, your format lifestyle). Perhaps we should look at the importance of social media planning in establishing value for your station, cluster, and company in 2014.
1. Your sales department should be a part of your planning for social media because your marketing department for small- and medium-size businesses should be seen as experts in the local market, able to give fresh ideas to existing, new, and potentially new clients to improve their customer flow. Solid social media and digital profiles for your team can expose your company to more local-direct revenue.
2. Development of non-traditional revenue can be encouraged by having your sales, marketing, and on-air teams connect with local events important to your listeners and following up with connectivity ?moments? with those assets on social media, in social media (direct in-box email), and with follow-up calls to further establish your involvement and launch opportunities to connect with those events while also driving non-traditional revenue to your station, cluster, and company.
3. Are you utilizing your on-air team and leveraging their fame for digital or social media dollars on Facebook and Twitter or other social media platforms? Radio is so connective and ? if your on-air team is doing an excellent job of connecting to listeners in social media as well as on-air ? there is no way you shouldn?t plan to gain access to revenue for influence. Others are doing it. If you are not, why are you inactive?
4. Social media planning will allow you to connect your on-air, your website, and your loyal-listener email together with audience, and grow assets that should be generating additional revenue opportunity for you if those opportunities are created in a smart way that works for the audience as well as your advertisers.
5. Radio is visual and you can use visuals on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media to connect a story for advertisers as well as for your station and cluster images. So, ask yourself, are you putting enough value in your social media by making sure visual is a big part of your planning and are you using it to connect audience, advertisers, opportunities, and outreach?
6. Are you exploring other ways to generate digital-only revenue in 2014 to complement your over-the-air revenue and the connectivity tools at your fingertips?
You should value the open channels to grab more attention, create high-quality content, and expand the ways you make money in 2014. There is no time like now to develop your strategy and really put a premium on the quality and focus of how this can impact your ratings, your revenue, and give you additional lanes to evolve your business in the 21st century. If you don?t have a plan or you are challenged in creating one, you should reach out to folks who can be helpful, ask questions, and see how you can engage in the simple creation of a strategic plan for social media that exposes your business to connectivity levels that should mean more revenue for your local cluster this year and growth for years to come.
Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist Direct Marketing and has programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, and WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Learn more about Loyd here: http://about.me/loydford. Get his radio-social media content sent directly to your smart phone or email for free here: www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE. Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE.
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1-22-14
The Recording Academy and WestwoodOne are expanding their partnership for three more years. And it all kicks off with exclusive backstage audio coverage from the WestwoodOne Backstage at the GRAMMYs radio row for two days leading up to the 56th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday, January 26. In addition to offering listeners access to audio coverage of the event, WestwoodOne will provide behind-the-scene interviews with current and previous Grammy nominees and winners that will be distributed through audio, digital, and social platforms. These events will air on 140 radio stations across the country and nine stations internationally.
1-22-14
Former L.A. morning co-host Liz Hernandez has joined Access Hollywood. Hernandez was the long-time co-host of ?Big Boy?s Neighborhood? on Los Angeles? Power 106 FM. She also worked for Clear Channel's MYfm. In 2007, she was working as a correspondent for MTV News. Hernandez will contribute to AccessHollywood.com and will cover red carpet events, junkets, and report on all breaking Hollywood news.
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1-22-14
It's the biggest week of hype in all of sports, the week leading up to the Super Bowl. And this year's game will be held in the biggest city of them all, New York. Well, technically Met Life Stadium is in New Jersey but the New York Giants and New York Jets call it home. Before the game between the Broncos and Seahawks even begins, every detail about the players, the teams, the coin flip, and the wildly overpriced television commercials will be sold. And radio will be there.
FOX Sports Radio will offer continuous coverage of the Super Bowl with live broadcast events during the week leading up to the big game. Beginning Monday, January 27, FOX Sports Radio will bring listeners programming and updates from several locations throughout New York City as The Dan Patrick Show, Jay Mohr Sports, J.T. The Brick, and Steve Gorman SPORTS! broadcast live from the center of the action.
The network?s annual Super Bowl broadcast also marks the national debut of Steve Gorman SPORTS! on FOX Sports Radio, featuring top guests in sports, a Super Bowl preview, and special musical guests including Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer and Super Bowl halftime performer Chad Smith, and rock music legend Meatloaf. Throughout the week, FOX Sports Radio will feature interviews from newsmakers around the NFL, including coaches, players, and analysts, along with listener interaction and expert commentary.
ESPN Audio will provide more than 115 hours of programming and 11 live studio shows throughout Super Bowl XLVIII Week from the heart of New York City beginning Monday, January 27, through Friday, January 31. Coverage will include live broadcasts of ESPN?s national radio shows and extensive coverage from ESPN NY 98.7 FM (WEPN-FM). Mike & Mike will kick off the week from Herald Square, site of Super Bowl Boulevard, with a live broadcast Monday through Friday, 6-10 a.m. ET. Their show is open to the public and free to attend. Mike & Mike is simulcast on ESPN2.
ESPN Deportes Radio begins coverage Monday, January 27 at 6 a.m. with ESPN al Despertar followed by Zona ESPN. ESPN Deportes begins its coverage from MetLife Stadium Sunday, February 2. Coverage kicks off at 3 p.m. ET with a three-hour special Super Bowl preview from the stadium with analysis by Kenneth Garay, Sebastian Christensen, Eduardo Martell, Carlos Arratia, and Marcelo Sandrin. Game coverage starts at 6 p.m. with Garay (play-by-play) alongside Christensen (analysis) in the booth, and Sandrin reporting from the field.
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1-22-14
CBS Radio in Detroit has launched a new HD station called "Detroit?s Boulevard," which will showcase the current pop and rock music originating from Detroit. Using HD Radio technology, listeners can hear the station at 104.3 WOMC-HD3, and online at www.womc.com and www.radio.com.
The new station features Motor City favorites such as Mayor Hawthorn, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., The Ready Set, Blue October, and Mike Posner. National hit-makers such as Kid Rock, Grand Funk Railroad, Bob Seger, Eminem, Madonna, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and Jack White will also be showcased, on a station which aims to give listeners the very best music with roots in Detroit.
PD Tim Roberts says, "The Detroit music scene has always been vibrant, producing Motown legends such as Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross, and rock legends Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, and Jack White. Today's hot Detroit music scene is just as exciting with bands and solo acts filling the local clubs and venues. Detroit's Boulevard 104.3 WOMC-HD3 captures that essence, bringing listeners the best of the old and the new Motor City bands."
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1-22-2014
?C?mon, give me 20!? I was just thinking how my army drill sergeant and the woman who three decades later led my poetry class used almost the same command.
Tough ol? Sgt. Blades at Ft. Benning had me hit the ground for pushups whenever he felt I wasn?t pushing hard enough.
Diane Frank, my gentle poetry mentor would circle one of my ordinary phrases and say, ?Push it further. Think of 20 more ways to say this.?
?Twenty!?! How about five or six??
?No, give me 20. You can do it.?
Drove me crazy. Made me a better writer.
How does this apply to radio? Your audience is awash in advertising messages raining upon them from every possible direction. What could possibly pique their interest?
They?re like fish. Really bored fish.
The words don?t have to be unusual, just unusually juxtaposed. Combine them in unexpected ways to spark interest, to surprise, to seduce. What are you casting into that pond of listeners? A flashy lure that catches the sun, a delicate fly that dances on the surface of the water, or stink bait?
I?ve written before about the importance of your ?audio headline.? Listen to the first few words of your commercial. If they?re ordinary, they won?t capture your audience?s imagination. Time to push it. Come up with 20 more unexpected ways to open the spot.
Set a timer. Give yourself five minutes. You?ll be amazed at the dramatic, shocking, intriguing, or funny approaches waiting below the surface.
You don?t necessarily have to access a thesaurus, although that might help. Think of some twist on the familiar to pull people in.
It?s easy to write, ?At Downtown Jewelers we?ve got just the gift for that anniversary??
But it might take some pushing to write, ?She didn?t think you?d remember. She worried that, after 10 years, you?d lost the spark??
Instead of, ?Dr. Robinson makes your dental visit painless??
How about, ?The loudest sound in the room was my own breathing, I could feel my heart beating, my palms sweating, and that was from just thinking about the dental visit?then I remembered Dr. Robinson at Gentle Dental??
It only takes seconds to write, ?Metro Transit has the solution to your commuting needs??
Push for a few more seconds to get, ?Lost keys, morning panic, phone ringing, half a bagel, sip of coffee, traffic crunch, hair pulling, pressure rising, or?read the paper, sit in comfort, watch the scenery, get some work done, take it easy?on Metro Transit.?
Don?t give up too soon. Sgt. Blades? approach was brutal. Diane?s was much gentler. You can visit her at http://www.dianefrank.net/. I don?t think Sgt. Blades has a website.
C?mon, push it, and pull in your listeners.
To get your very own free copy of ?Hedquist?s List of 226 Cliches,? email me jeffrey@hedquist.com and I?ll send them. Guaranteed to reduce commercial effectiveness.
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1-22-14
Nielsen has been recapping its Holiday book which runs between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The ratings firm says radio?s Christmas music audience has been trending down for the past three years: "Combining the shares for AC and Soft AC?the two formats that devote more stations to Christmas programming than any other?the holiday programming pie was nearly a full share-point smaller this season compared with 2011." Nielsen admits the drop may have had something to do with the shorter holiday season. In 2013 there was a little less than four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 2012 was just shy of five weeks. Here is the three-year trend of Adult Contemporary (6+ share) Holiday listening from the 48 PPM markets.
AC
2011 - 12.8%
2012 - 12.7%
2013 - 12.1%
Soft AC
2011 - 1.3%
2012 - 1.1%
2013 - 1.1%
Combined
2011 - 14.1%
2012 - 13.8%
2013 - 13.2%
(1/24/2014 3:55:11 PM)
Anything from that 1960's hippie wannabe?
(1/24/2014 10:19:13 AM)
What Nielsen failed to also point out is that there are fewer AC stations in 2013 than there were in 2011. There are also 97 more radio stations on the air in 2013(10,870)than were on the air in 2011(10,773). They also do not account for stations outside of these two formats who went all Xmas including those stations who are reported as Hot AC. But don't kid yourself, those stations that do All Christmas right see a jump in both market share and to the bottom line.
(1/24/2014 9:55:00 AM)
Sorry, boys.
As hard as RadioInk tried to make a negative out of a positive, it won't work.
Numbers are in for all-Christmas format:
Portland 15.1, 19.3 share in Salt Lake City..19.3!
Kansas City, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Charlotte and many more with double digit, record shares with the holiday format. Name one market that plays hiphop with those numbers.
You guys really do distort things and spin negative. Anyone ever tell you that, Ed?
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1-24-14
Acting President and CEO of NPR Paul Haaga and American Public Media Group CEO Jon McTaggert have written a letter in support of FM Chips in Cell Phones. Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan has been working on the FM Cell Phone chip project for many years now, most recently succeeding at getting the chips in Sprit phones. Haaga and McTaggert write in Current.org that "Because of public radio?s role as a trusted media and information resource and an essential public-safety asset, we hope all stations will join us in calling upon the mobile phone industry to install and activate FM chips in all cellphones and smartphones."
1-21-14
What's the value of a share point in your market? It's considerable -- yet you may be missing a full 35 percent of potential audience. According to Pew Research, Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the U.S. today. It is also the fastest-growing, with the number of Spanish speakers up 233 percent since 1980. Today, 35 percent of the audience in America is Spanish-speaking, and Pew says that figure will be 37 percent by next year and 40 percent by 2020. (That's 37.5 million-41 million Spanish speakers by 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.) Today three-quarters of all U.S. Hispanics ages 5 and older speak Spanish.
But there is more to the story. The share speaking Spanish after 2020 is expected to decline, and English will become the primary language of about 34 percent of Hispanics by 2020 -- though the Spanish language is expected to remain a part of the culture.
What media companies are realizing is that blended content is very appealing to Hispanic households, which is why you're seeing a trend of mainstream-sounding stations that are presented in both English and Spanish.
What all understand is that the Hispanic culture is such a major part of media consumption that it cannot be ignored. That doesn't mean your radio station needs to be Spanish-language. But you may need to learn to present content that appeals specifically to Hispanic listeners -- or risk losing 30 percent or more of your potential audience. And there are cultural issues that can turn off that potential audience if not handled properly.
Today one in four Americans under 18 is Hispanic. BBC research predicts that the average U.S. Hispanic family will have four or more children, and there will be an explosion in Hispanic births in America the next few years. By 2060, Hispanics will account for one in three people in the U.S., double their proportion in the population today.
What does this mean to radio? A few things to keep in mind:
Hispanic consumers are critical to reach -- for all advertisers.
Hispanic formats will continue to grow.
Blended formats will grow in relevance as more Hispanics use English as their primary language.
General-market programmers can adjust their formats to have strong cultural appeal to Hispanic audiences without driving non-Hispanic audiences away.
Hispanic listeners are more adept at using online distribution platforms; you can learn to capitalize on this.
While 90 percent of all Americans listen to radio each week, Nielsen reports that figure is 94 percent for Hispanic listeners.
How can you learn to capture Hispanic listening? Where can you go to learn about the formats you should be considering? Where can you go to fine-tune your Hispanic-targeted stations and study the latest trends -- and network with the people who can make you money?
Five years ago, Radio Ink watched Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the streets, started paying extra attention to Hispanic trends, and realized that the radio industry needed its own conference focused on the Hispanic market. The Hispanic Radio Conference was born.
Will you be there to help your station or cluster understand what you need to be doing to capture the interest of this booming audience?
Can you capture 25 or 30 percent more audience with some slight changes in your content? It's no longer a question of "should you tap in to Hispanic audiences," it's just a matter of how.
Marketing to Hispanic culture is still often misunderstood, and provides a giant opportunity. For instance, in the general market there are 50-55 brands targeting car buyers, but only 15-17 are specifically targeting Hispanics. But more and more Fortune 500 companies are spending heavily to make sure they reach this important consumer group.
You'll also learn that areas you may think are not big Hispanic markets are growing fast. For instance: Fort Smith, AR; Salt Lake City; Idaho Falls; Rockford, IL; Greenville, SC; Washington, DC -- they're all fast-growing Hispanic markets. Where does your market stand, and what opportunities are you missing?
This Hispanic market opportunities are a long way from being saturated, and this conference is a terrific way to learn how to target and reach this group effectively, and reap rich rewards.
We hope you'll consider attending the Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference in sunny San Diego on March 10-11.
To register, call 561-655-8778, or go to www.hispanicradioconference.com.
PS: More and more clusters are making money by including Hispanic and Sports radio in their mix. Both are hot formats, generating strong top-line revenue. This year we're holding our Hispanic and Sports Radio Conferences
on the same dates in the same hotel. One ticket to the Hispanic Radio Conference gives you access to all Sports Radio Conference sessions and events.
PSS: Remember, Medallas de Cortez nominations are due Friday!
Hispanic Radio Conference
March 10-11, 2014
Hyatt Regency Mission Bay
San Diego
1-24-14
Northjersey.com is reporting that Emmis owned WQHT-FM (97.1) in New York and WPWR-FM (105.9) in Los Angeles are the "exclusive" hip-hop stations for the launch of Beats Music, curating a series of playlists on behalf of its deejays and brand. Beats Music launched this week on all iOS, Android and Windows phones and at beatsmusic.com, for $9.99 per month.
1-22-14
The YES Network has reached a multi-year agreement with ESPN Radio for YES to simulcast ESPN New York 98.7 FM?s The Michael Kay Show live starting February 3 (3-7:00 pm ET). YES Network President, Production and Programming John J. Filippelli, said, "We also thank Mike Francesa for his 12-year partnership with YES. Mike ? along with Chris Russo when they co-hosted our simulcast for the first six years ? played an important role in the launch and growth of YES. We wish him all the best.?
Traug Keller, senior vice president, production business divisions, ESPN, said, ?The team of Michael Kay and Don LaGreca has been a staple of ESPN New York since 2002. We are pleased to work with YES to increase the show?s exposure, allowing New York sports fans another outlet to enjoy compelling content.?
Kay has been the play-by-play man for YES? New York Yankees telecasts, and the host of the network?s CenterStage with Michael Kay interview show, since the network launched in March 2002. He also hosts various programming specials on YES. Kay has won seven New York Emmy Awards and has earned 23 Emmy nominations during his tenure at YES. He began his ESPN New York radio hosting duties in 2002.
1-16-16
Greater Media is bringing Sandra Szoke back to Charlotte as Director of Sales at WBT AM/FM and WLNK-FM in Charlotte. Szoke most recently served as the LSM at Time Warner Cable in Charlotte. Previous to that, she worked as a Senior AE, Assistant Director of Business Development /Marketing and Public Affairs Director when Lincoln Financial/Jefferson Pilot owned WBT-AM/FM and WLNK-FM prior to Greater Media purchasing the stations back in 2008.
?We are thrilled to welcome Sandra back in the role of Director of Sales to the Greater Media Charlotte family,? said Senior Vice President and Market Manager Rick Feinblatt.?Her leadership, knowledge of the market and familiarity of WBT and WLNK made her the perfect choice for the position.?
?I'm humbled and grateful for the opportunity to lead such an accomplished team of professionals," said Szoke. ?I'm equally excited to represent Greater Media, WBT, and WLNK in the community. Charlotte is filled with businesses that have grown and thrived by telling their stories on WBT and WLNK over the years. It's an honor to represent these legendary stations alongside this talented staff.?
1-20-14
The folks at musicFIRST were very pleased to read the article in the Wall Street Journal last week that focused on how radio was cutting down on the number of songs being played in order to save listeners. In a blog called, "The WSJ Exposes the NAB?s Big Lie: They Aren?t
Promoting Music, They Are Playing the Same Songs Over and Over," the group took aim at radio stating, "This saturation overplay obviously crowds out new bands, both because it just doesn?t leave much airspace to gamble on new acts, and because decisions are being made by too few people (often with too little imagination)." musicFIRST has been on a campaign to get radio to pay artists directly for the music. In this blog they say that there is no reason for consumers to purchase the music if they are going to hear it every time they get into their car.In the blog, musicFIRST goes on to say, "Big Radio?s closed-off playlists may be blocking out new artists, but at least its good for the handful of bands who win a Clear Channel Golden Ticket and go into 24/7 rotation, right? Bands like Capital Cities whose song ?Safe and Sound? has been on heavy rotation for two years? Not so much. First, if you hear ?Safe and Sound? every single time you get in your car, are you going to buy it, or just hang around and wait for it to come back around again?"
musicFIRST says bands are not earning anything from airplay on the radio. "These bands earned nothing ? zero ? from this airplay, no matter how many times the songs were aired. AM/FM radio has lobbied its way into a special exemption from these ?performance royalties? ? even though every other kind of radio (Internet, satellite, even cable TV radio channels) all pay for performance.
And finally, from the musicFIRST blog, "I am not here to tell radio how to run its business or whether it is good business or bad to overload playlists like this. But the music creators whose work is used must be paid for the work. And empty promises of phantom ?promotion? won?t do. If Big Radio wants to talk about promotion, the WSJ has put the question squarely on the table: Who?s Promoting Who?"
(1/20/2014 7:45:14 AM)
I find it amusing that rich musical artists are complaining that radio got wealthy playing their music over and over and over.
You want to blame the person who started this all? Don't blame Clear Channel...they were real late in the game.
Blame Todd Storz, who started his stations playing a total of 40 songs over and over and over and over...
1-17-14
Cox Media Group in Miami Radio has launched a new Top 40 station in South Florida called HITS 97-3 (WFLC-FM). The format was a longtime AC station prior to the flip. Market Manager Rob Babin said, ?When we developed Hits 97-3, we asked women in South Florida what they want in a radio station. This feedback inspired our team to design a radio station that plays today?s best hit music and provides an engaged listener experience with live and local personalities.?
1-18-14
KDRP reported on its website that Monroe was rushed to the hospital Friday morning with respiratory complications. He passed away at the hospital shortly after arrival. He will be buried with a private service in Hartford City, Indiana. There will be a public memorial service held in Austin in his honor in the coming weeks. Monroe was a longtime fixture on Austin public radio affiliate KUT 90.5 FM where he worked for 29 years.
1-20-2014
During some of my motivational speeches and my keynote addresses, I will expound on how important team-building inside companies is with a story about Albrecht Durer.
One of my favorite speakers and storytellers that I ever saw in person was Og Mandino, who passed away in 1996. Og overcame great obstacles to achieve his success. Those obstacles came after 30 successful missions in a B-24 Liberator over Germany. One of his demons was alcoholism. We all have our own demons. He almost took his own life one day in Cleveland. Thankfully for his family and also for the 50 million who have read his books, he didn?t pull the trigger that dreary day in Cleveland.
There may be some of you who have never heard of Og Mandino. Maybe some of you have never heard of Albrecht Durer. Just in case you haven?t heard of them -- and for the next time you think all of your achievements came without any help from anyone else -- stop and remember this story. Nobody ever, ever achieves success by themselves. The following is taken from Og Mandino?s book, A Better Way To Live and I reprinted it with permission in my book, Luce?s Leadership Laws. Enjoy!
?Back in the 15th century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with 18 children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost 18 hours a day at his trade and any other kind of paying chore he could find in the neighborhood. Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer the Elder?s children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father world never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the academy. After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin, the loser world go down into the nearby mines and, with is earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, whether with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.
?They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church; Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.
?When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht?s triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with much music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, ?And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you.?
?All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over: ?No, no, no, no.?
?Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, ?No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or brush. No, brother. For me it is too late.? Almost 500 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer?s hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world. But the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer?s works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home of office.
?One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother?s hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply, Hands, but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to this great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love The Praying Hands.?
The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one, no one, ever makes it alone!
Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for Luce Performance Group International and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com. You can get his new book The Liquid Fire on Amazon.com.
(1/20/2014 6:15:20 AM)
Being on of the worlds experts on Albrecht Durer, what you are reciting here is total myth.
However if anyone would like to learn the real truth about what Albrecht Durer was doing in his art, hiding messages and codes in almost all the art, it surpasses the point about determination and perseverance and vision that you relate with the myth.
Feel free to visit http://www.albrechtdurerblog.com. For the truth, better than the myth
1-20-14
Carlos Silva was a regular fixture in the Yankees radio booth, even when he was diagnosed with esophageal and stomach cancer in 2012. Silva's cancer went into remission until this fall and he continued to undergo treatment as he prepared to work with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on Yankee radio broadcasts this spring. Silva lost his battle with cancer yesterday after his condition had taken a turn for the worse within the past two weeks. Silva is survived by his wife and his three children.
1-16-14
John Lund is the new Operations Manager for 92.5 WPAP, Sunny 98.5, 99.3 The Beat, 94.5 WFLA, and ESPN 590 AM, the Clear Channel cluster in Panama City. Lund moves Clear Channel Macon, where he served as Operations Manager for the market, as well as Regional Programming Manager for 22 stations.
1-20-14
1-20-14
As quickly as the musicFIRST blog was posted, the NAB's Dennis Wharton responded. ?If the charge is that local radio plays popular music that listeners enjoy, we plead guilty. Local radio remains the number one source for exposing new music, according to Nielsen's Music 360 Report and EMI's million fan study. Bottom line: hometown radio stations that are free to the listener will continue to cater our programming to a growing audience of more than 240 million people who tune in every week.?
Wharton provided pages of articles and stories from artists and others, "documenting radio?s enduring power as the No. 1 source for exposing new music."
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2013/04/new-research-indicates-musicians-should-seek-traditional-radio-play-while-building-on-the-web.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/11/07/nielsen-study-shows-strong-impact-of-streaming-youtube-radio/3467481/
?I want to thank country radio and also pop radio and also Hot AC and AC radio because the fact that all of those different genres of music played songs off of my album makes me not have to think about genre when I?m writing songs. It just allows me to think about writing songs.?
-- Taylor Swift accepting Country Female Artist of the Year Award at the 2013 American Music Awards, November 24, 2013
?The U.S. has the most dynamic, thriving recorded music industry in the world and we don?t have a terrestrial radio performance right. It?s easy to bash radio and say the U.S. is in the same company as North Korea [and the few other countries without a radio royalty]. But there are a lot of artists and labels that have done very well with the current system.?
- Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosatiformer partner and former VP of business and legal affairs at the RIAA Gary Greenstein, Future Of Music Coalition Summit, October 28, 2013
?We opened up all the windows and let all the fans listen to it, and we just partied. Every time I hear it, I blast it out like I?m the biggest Paramore fan in the world.?
- Paramore frontwoman Hayley Williams on hearing ?Misery Business? on the radio the first time, October 11, 2013
"You can see a direct correlation. If you looked at a terrestrial radio audience chart and at the iTunes top 10 singles chart, I would say 75 percent of it matches up."
- RCA Records Executive Vice President & General Manager Joe Riccitelli, September 26, 2013
Radio "still has massive reach in the local community" and "the top of the food chain" for making hits.
- Island Def Jam?s Steve Bartels, NAB Radio Show, September 18, 2013
?There's nothing else that can bring you new listeners."
- Big Sean, NAB Radio Show, September 18, 2013
?I?m on the radio I can?t believe it! It feels like the first time!?
- Tweet from Lady Gaga on release of single ?Applause,? August 12, 2013
?They?ve [Radio programmers have] been good to me for 20 years. And I got news for you. I got 20 more years to go.? McGraw thanked a local radio station for spinning his tunes. ?They played the (expletive) out of this next song.?
- Country radio star Tim McGraw, Riverbend, May 26, 2013, http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130526/ENT03/305260060/Review-Tim-McGraw-lets-20-years-songs-star-Riverbend
"I was riding around in my truck the other day and ?Cruise? came on. I cranked that thing up.?
- Florida Georgia Line member Brian Kelley, http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144201n
"To get to your fans, you have to go through radio, and this is a fan-based business."
- Thompson Square member Keifer Thompson, http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144201n
"The radio is what you?re always striving to get to?once you get to radio, that?s the top of the mountain?"
- Country artist Dustin Lynch, http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50144201n
"Internet, Twitter and everything else put together doesn't equal what country radio does for us as artists and as an industry."
- Country artist Kix Brooks, Radio Ink, http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2635542&spid=30800
"When you hear your song on the radio, it's amazing. When you get the call that a radio station is adding your music, it's right up there with learning about having a child."
- Glassnote Founder/CEO Daniel Glass, SXSW "Navigating The Waters Of Radio To Your Benefit" panel, http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/116420/radio-s-clout-hailed-at-sxsw
"?believing in me when there wasn't much to believe in."
- Tim McGraw thanking country music DJs Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase for helping launch his music career in 1993, 2013 Country Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony, http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2622761&spid=30800
?While it might not be the only place for listening and discovering, it is still the most important place?We couldn?t have the success that we have without Country radio. There is no way.?
- Big Machine Label Group founder Scott Borchetta, Radio Ink, February 18, 2013
"I want to thank all the people who help us to do what we do, our whole team. I want to thank all of country radio, Southern Ground, all our folks back home.?
-- Zac Brown Band frontman Zac Brown at the 2013 Grammys http://www.theboot.com/2013/02/10/zac-brown-band-grammys-2013-win-country-album/
?Republic is an amazing place to work. It?s a family team. Monte Lipman and Avery provide a platform for us to do incredible things. It starts with radio, but the idea is to develop these artists full circle across radio, video, digital platforms and beyond. We make sure to expand our goals, but we always stick to the company mantra, ?We break new artists?. It is an honor to be a part of that process.?
-- Republic Record Senior Vice President Radio/Video Promotion David Nathan, November 27, 2012, http://rbr.com/recording-exec-on-promo-it-starts-with-radio/
"The first time I ever heard my song on the radio, I thought I was dreaming, but I was wide awake. I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I turned, and I heard my song."
- Usher, iHeartRadio music festival, October 1, 2012
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