iHeartRadio Gaining Ground On Pandora

4-25-13

The marketing power of hundreds of radio stations and the iHeartRadio Music Festical may be paying off for Clear Channel in its battle with Pandora to be the number one music app for the consumer. According to the data compiled by Arbitron and Edison, Pandora is by far the most recognized online music brand. One out of every five people had listened to Pandora in the past week. Seventy percent of those surveyed are aware of Pandora, compared to 45 percent who were aware of iHeartRadio. The good news for Clear Channel is that one year ago, only 31 percent were aware of iHeartRadio showing a big jump in awareness in only 12 months. Twenty-two percent were aware of Spotify in the most recent study.

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(SOCIAL) Gaining Attention In Social Media

4-10-2013

Radio stations will always want to figure out how to be more effective in social media. However, you can?t be effective until you gain real access to the attention of the listeners in your market that you most want to attract, engage, and bring back to your brands. Here are four ways to drill down your content so that you focus on really gaining attention of the listeners you most want to engage with your content on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.

1. Social media VISUAL content is king. Take some time to think about reinventing your social media content with a visual-first presence. This means I am referring to the old saying of ?A picture is worth a thousand words.?  Listeners in social media are much more likely to click on and engage a fun picture, and radio does a lot of fun things. But you can tap other emotions too. These elements play well in engaging listeners to want to know more.  Don?t be afraid to show those visuals pointed to the listener experience and find ways to bring them back to your products through copy or actionable engagement (where they are compelled to act). 

2. Inform & educate listeners. Use headlines in your social media that inform and educate listeners on subjects they care about today. They have less time than ever, but they will stop and engage you if you are truly focused on something that is interesting to them. If you provide information and education in your engagement with them, they will share your content and become more focused on you. That is a win for you in social media and likely for use of your products (which is the only reason to spend time on social media).

3. Promote events with social media. As with all other elements in social media, make sure your event has true interest for your listeners and enough benefit to take up their time. Use visuals to express those benefits along with limited copy so they know who/what/when/where/how. And always make sure that promoting events (or anything) represents only a small percentage of your overall social media engagement.

4. People like funny. Listeners are people. If your social media team is not funny, work to source funny for them so it can be a part of your regular content (by percentage). Having an overall social media strategy that involves humor focused on the audience you most want to attract can be essential to gaining access to the attention you most covet.
You can engage the listeners you most want to attract to your brands and use specific social media content strategy to develop deeper loyalty and actual social media cheerleaders, but you must work smart to do so. As I always do, I recommend you develop a specific social media strategy for content and involve your entire team in understanding your individual station and personality roles in social media for the benefit of the radio station.

Focusing on listener wants and needs and giving them these things in social media will bring them closer to you and your on-air brands. You?ll learn more about your listeners doing it this way, too. Good luck!   

Loyd Ford is the direct marketing, ratings and social media strategist for Americalist and programmed very successful radio brands in markets of all sizes for years, including KRMD AM & FM in Shreveport, WSSL and WMYI in Greenville, WKKT in Charlotte and WBEE in Rochester, NY. Get his radio ? social media blog FREE right on your cell phone or email here:  www.rainmakerpathway.wordpress.com. Learn more about Loyd here:  http://about.me/loydford. Reach out to Loyd via e-mail HERE  Visit his Facebook radio social media page HERE

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Robertson's UberTalk Gaining Traction

11-21-2012

Michael Roberston says real-time Twitter feeds are now available for all major radio shows at his website UberTalk. And he says, 83 of the top 100 radio show hosts are actively using Twitter to communicate with their listeners both during and after a broadcast. Listeners can tune in to those shows atUberTalk.com and experience internet interactions with hosts including links, photos commentary and listener feedback.

UberTalk is a cloud guide to every show on radio in a TV guide layout. The show-centric focus (rather than station) makes it easy to find radio shows which are ranked by popularity. Shows are grouped into categories such as politics, public, sports, news and more and can be recorded. UberTalk with Twitter is available  from any browser. Or listen on the go with free UberTalk iOS and Android apps.

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Is FM Chip Gaining Support in Congress?

8-7-2012

The NAB and FM Chip advocate Jeff Smulyan have apparently gained another ally in Congress. Michigan representative Hansen Clarke (pictured) is calling for another hearing, to talk about the FM Chip, in a letter to the Chairman of the subcommittee on emergency preparedness, Congressman Gus Bilirakis. Bilarakis held a roundtable discussion about the chip back in April and one hearing, called "The Future of Audio" has already been held in Congress.

The NAB and Smulyan have been saying having the FM Chip in all cell phones is a question of public safety. The wireless

industry has not been a big supporter of Congress getting involved, especially if the plan is to mandate the chip into all phones. Clarke says the chip issue, "is a very important issue that could have serious implications for this country's homeland security." He added, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively is critical in times of an emergency. I believe the use of broadcast radio chips can provide consumers with fast and reliable access to both emergency alerts and in-depth emergency information."

Read the entire Hansen letter HERE

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Radio Business Gaining Momentum

It's not often that you hear radio was the strongest performing asset in a media portfolio. That's exactly what Journal Communications reported Tuesday when the company checked in with quarterly earnings. Television and publishing were a drag on Journal and radio was the bright spot. Journal reported a 4.4% decrease in revenue for Q3, more importantly earnings were down nearly 27%.

On the Publishing side revenue for Journal dropped 6%, in Television revenue dropped 6.8% and on the radio side revenue was up 2.7%. Radio highlights from Q3 for Journal include an increase in revenue from the Milwaukee Brewers making the baseball playoffs. Journal broadcasts the Brewers games and CEO Steve Smith says in addition to the revenue from the additional games, there's a "significant cumulative audience" driven by the games to the radio station (WTMJ).

Smith also says "the radio business has gained momentum." Those words are always followed by "visibility is limited" and "the advertising environment continues to be challenged." He did say "October revenue is turning out to be better than we expected and September was up 5%." But, of course, there is limited visibility looking into December.

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Timeless Cool Gaining Traction

Timeless Cool Custom Programming has added 22 new affiliates over the last three months, including a total of 10 in the much talked about Timeless Cool-AC format. New markets have been added across the country from Anchorage, Alaska to Lake Havasu, Arizona, from Providence, Rhode Island to Auburn, Alabama. TCCP?s COOL-AC is a mix of AAA artist like John Mayer, Adele and Jack Johnson along with texturally unique gold artists from Van Morrison to Sting and even an occasional Tony Bennett.

TCCP has also recently added 12 new affiliates of custom formats (Country, HOT AC & Classic Hits), including 5 PPM and one BBM market in Canada. These custom formats include all music scheduling and trademarked PPM techniques that guarantee a 20% increase in ratings within the first six months. Custom format services are market exclusive and confidential.                                                                                             

For more info, visit www.timelesscoolcustomprogramming.com

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