| Have You Mastered Mobile? The invention of the transistor revolutionized radio's portability in the 1950s, and radio has been a portable medium ever since. But unlike the '50s, when pocket-sized transistor radios were with every teenager, today's teen carries a smartphone and mobile is king. In the U.S., there are an estimated 50 million smartphones, and they represent an ever-growing share of handset sales. How can your station capture that mobile audience and make money today? If you're assuming it's all about streaming, it's not. As the smartphone replaces the desktop for a significant chunk of Internet usage, radio's mobile opportunities are vast. As a radio manager or owner, it's hard to know where to focus your attention, what will pay the highest dividends, what is a waste of time, money, and effort, or why your station should even bother. After all, you have radio stations to run and budgets to meet. Yet the opportunity may be lost at this still-early stage if you don't embrace a mobile strategy now. We'll show you how. At Radio Ink's Convergence, you'll hear from experts on the art of "Mastering Mobile Media." Moderator Steve Levy of Vibes Media is an expert in SMS, which is driving the mobile revolution, while Gordon Borrell is the industry analyst who's most tuned-in on what drives local media, online and off. Paul Jacobs has a handle on the generational marketing strategies you'll need to reach the youngest and most active mobile consumers and has extensive experience in mobile apps, and comScore's Brian Jurutka can offer the insights that will help you make the right strategic decisions in this critical arena. A Panel Of Mobile Experts Panel moderator Steve Levy serves as Director of Vibes' radio business, where he oversees the department's business development, client engagement, sales, marketing, and promotions. Before joining Vibes in March 2006, he enjoyed a successful 13-year radio career, including seven years at Emmis/Chicago and six years at ABC Radio/Chicago in various senior marketing, promotion, and programming roles. At Vibes, he's helped nurture and grow corporate relationships with CBS Radio, Emmis, Clear Channel, Entercom, Sirius XM, Bonneville, Greater Media, and others while working day-to-day with more than 100 media outlets and entertainment clients. A tectonic shift is taking place in the advertising industry. We offer Convergence to radio managers and owners as a tool to help you understand the shift, why you must embrace it today, and how that shift is impacting business you won't otherwise get. As the country emerges from the recession, there is evidence that much of the business normally captured by radio and other traditional media will not return. Clients are demanding digital strategies from all media, and your digital strategy had better be more than a website with banner ads, which isn't a real digital strategy at all. This is not an investment in some down-the-road future. This is an investment in remaining a relevant media executive in today's climate. You Might Not Get In Every year our Convergence conference is packed. Last year, when everyone was miserable and unable to spend a dime for travel or conferences, we still sold out. Why does Convergence continue to be strong? Fresh ideas, not rehashing old concepts with the same people. Killer keynotes, brilliant minds from outside the industry, and a place where you can stretch your mind, actually learn new things, and return home with a list of action items you can implement immediately. As the industry starts to see some light at the end of the tunnel, we expect another sellout and anticipate creating a waiting list as we have in previous years. We're limiting attendance to 250 people due to the size of the Microsoft facility. We recommend early registration (which, of course, is also cheaper). Are You The Deer In The Headlights? Look, we think it's great if you want to send your lieutenants to gather information and bring it home to share with you. Yet the comments we probably hear most are along these lines: "There is so much information flowing, there is no way I can translate concepts to my manager. The problem is that, unless she understands it fully, she won't allow us to implement it, and we're missing huge opportunities. Yet when we discuss these concepts with her, it's like the deer in the headlights. This year we're returning with the full management team. Tell other managers not to make that mistake." It Takes A Rebel Imagine you're a manager in 1971, and you're telling management to switch the AM programming to the FM. The people with that vision were rebels and the first to capture the market, and many own those positions today. We look upon them fondly as great visionaries. Most of those successes came out of a small gathering of radio rebels at an early Gavin convention in California, while the rest of the industry mocked them for their foolish vision of FM radio. Convergence is a small gathering of rebels, for those who know the status quo is no longer sufficient to remain relevant, for those who know radio is missing a huge opportunity to capture dollars and audiences with a succinct digital strategy. Those who attend Convergence leave newly invigorated and with their heads spinning with new ideas. People who wish to cling to radio's status quo should not attend. What about you? Gather your team, make the commitment, and meet us in Silicon Valley for Convergence June 3-4, 2010 (and for our pre-conference Radio Tech Summit, with Skip Pizzi, June 2-3). Register now at 516-655-8778 or online at www.radioink.com/convergence . Click here for the complete Convergence 2010 agenda.
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Gordon Borrell is one of the media industry's leading analysts and is ranked in the top 2 percent among Gerson Lehrman Group's 150,000 consultants worldwide. He is quoted frequently in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Ad Age, Forbes, and other publications and often appears on radio and TV to discuss local media trends. Before starting Borrell Associates, Borrell was Vice President for New Media at Landmark Communications, where he worked for 22 years. He started his career as a reporter and editor for Landmark's Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, VA, and in 1989 began pioneering interactive ventures for the company, helping Landmark establish the first TV and newspaper websites on the Internet. Borrell also conceptualized and helped create InfiNet, an Internet access and hosting company now owned by Gannett Co. He's a past president of the Newspaper Association of America's New Media Federation.
Paul Jacobs is a leading radio consultant, specializing in generational marketing, sales development, and research. As the VP/GM of Jacobs Media, he runs the day-to-day operation of the consulting firm as well as its successful mobile apps division, jacAPPS. Jacobs began his broadcasting career more than 30 years ago on the sales side of the business, working at and running radio stations in Dallas and Detroit. In 1991, he joined his brothers Fred and Bill at Jacobs Media, which provides consulting to many of the leading classic rock, rock, and alternative radio stations across America, as well as NPR, Public Radio International, and other public stations.
Brian Jurutka is Senior Vice President at comScore Inc., consulting with companies in the wireless and wireline ecosystems to provide consumer, competitor, and marketplace insights that allow clients to make critical data-driven marketing and product development decisions. As part of his role, he manages the comScore Mobile sales force in the U.S. and Europe, and he previously managed comScore's banking practice. Jurutka came to comScore from Capital One, where he helped expand Capital One Bank's online marketing in addition to overseeing various strategic partnerships. Before that, he served in Capital One's credit card group, managing multi-channel credit card acquisition and account management campaigns.
This year for the first time Radio Ink will present a special pre-Convergence event, the 
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