Newspapers Bet Streaming Radio Will Lead to Growth

2-20-2015

Nieman Labs reports on how some newspapers are hedging their bets that on-line radio will give them a bigger competitive edge. The New Canaan Advertiser is part of the focus of the article, a community paper in Connecticut that broke the Brian Williams helicopter story.

The Advertiser is using SoundCloud to, as Advertiser Editor Joshua Fisher puts it, "We're ripping and reading our own stories on air." The Advertiser airs the "Behind the News" show, one of four hourlong shows they are webcasting. But it's not just small print publications, metro dailies like The Boston Herald, have launched online radio stations.

It's a smart move, especially for smaller publisher. According to an Edison Research study, it's estimated 94 million Americans over the age of 12 listen to online radio every week. Integrating platforms for print is timely and cost effective move. Read more Here.

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News/Talk Shows Most Streaming Growth

1-9-2015

Triton Digital released its monthly Top 20 Ranker for October 2014, a listing of the top-performing digital audio stations and networks.  It was good news for News/Talk streamers, as the format had the largest listening gains from September to October, with a 5.3% increase in Average Active Session, followed closely by Sports (5.1%), gains were also seen in Adult Contemporary (2.4%), Classic Hits (1.2%) and Classic Rock (1.1%).

Rankings are reported on the basis of "Average Active Sessions", with "Session Starts" and "Average Time Spent Listening." M-SU 6A-Midnight daypart sessions were up just over 30% compared to October 2013. iOS lead the pack with 32% of the listening taking place on the Apple mobile platform. Android 28%, and Flash Player (likely attributable to desktop listening) was 9% in the M-F 6A-8P daypart.

The markets in the report shake out with Seattle showing the largest listening gain with a 23% percent increase in Average Active Sessions, followed by Atlanta (7.6%), San Francisco (5.8%), Cleveland (3.9%), Detroit (3.8%), San Diego (3.7%) and Chicago (3.5%). Triton suggests that the streaming uptick in Seattle could be attributed to the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, on October 24th.

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EMF Continues Its Growth

10-5-14

Columbia International University has agreed to sell its three Christian radio stations, WMHK 89.7 in Columbia, South Carolina, WRCM 91.9 in Wingate, North Carolina, and WRZM 88.3 in Boiling Springs, North Carolina to Educational Media Foundation. EMF's K-LOVE Christian music network is already heard on over 450 stations and translators throughout the United States. The sale price for all three stations was $10.5 million.

CIU President Dr. Bill Jones says selling the three stations will help both companies fulfill their missions. "CIU will be in a stronger position to focus on its core purpose of educating students from a biblical worldview to impact the nations with the message of Christ,? Jones said. ?Meanwhile, the radio stations will become part of an expanded outreach in the Carolinas with an owner who can continue their growth in the rapidly changing broadcast environment."

EMF President and CEO Mike Novak has expressed appreciation of the opportunity to continue the heritage of Christian music over the CIU stations saying, "K-LOVE has partnered with and been supportive of WMHK, WRCM, and WRZM for years and has seen their impact in the communities they serve. We look forward to working hard to continue the tradition while bringing what we have to offer to listeners throughout the Carolinas."

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The Growth At JVC Continues

5-14-14

John Caracciolo's JVC Media has entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of radio station WSVU (AM) and translators W295BJ and W240CI, licensed to North Palm Beach, FL, from North Palm Beach Broadcasting, Inc. In addition, JVC Media announced that they have entered into an agreement to purchase the assets of radio station WBGF(FM) and WSWN (AM) serving the West Palm Beach area and licensed to BGI Broadcasting, L.P. JVC owns stations on Long Island, and in the Gainesville, Ocala, Florida market. JVC Media CEO John Caracciolo said, ?We are honored and privileged to welcome these great radio signals  into the JVC family. We love this business and we see a huge opportunity to grow in this market.?

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(AUDIO) Is Your Creative Killing Your Revenue Growth?

5-8-14

Now we know what works for Macaroni Grill. Thanks to a detailed study from Marketing Evolution, commissioned by Clear Channel, we know that radio was very effective for the restaurant when coupled with TV. The mix was 77 percent TV and 23 percent radio. Perhaps we have to swallow the bitter pill of the lopsided percentage radio gets, however the good news is that, in the big, data-driven world we live in today, more data proving the effectiveness of radio are better than less data.

Return on Investment is more important than it's ever been for advertisers and the data from Marketing Evolution should be passed around to as many clients as possible to help close every sale. If you can't take the revenue from TV, take more from the newspaper or Pandora or Google. Rex Briggs is the CEO of Marketing Evolution. Briggs has been helping Fortune 500 marketers improve ROI for more than two decades. He's an expert in unlocking marketing ROI profits through measurement.

Briggs is credited with pioneering many digital measurement techniques, including post-click analysis, attribution modeling, online advertising effectiveness, cross-media measurement, social media effectiveness, and the integration of marketing mix modeling with attitudinal measurement. We spoke to Briggs at length about the study his company did with Clear Channel, how important it is for radio's feet-on-the-street to have more data, what radio can do to grab more revenue and why creative is so important for every advertiser. Ripping bullet points from the newspaper or client website and turning that into a radio commercial is a campaign killer. Anyone can say, "We're not a Clear Channel so we can't afford to put together big study's or come up with big data." Nobody can say every commercial on their station sounds great -- and that's a perfect place to start. Here's our interview with Rex Briggs.

(5/10/2014 10:24:01 AM)
That ownership and management has refused to, first, acknowledge and secondly, to address this issue speaks volumes to the integrity of the ownership.

Further, and this may be the most important part - slapping a little lipstick on, otherwise, crippled pigs (the spots) would only add to the expense of production, but little to the affect of any given set of spots.

Copywriting for radio is a profession - requiring knowledge, experience, skills and, if lucky, some talent.

(5/9/2014 9:48:13 AM)
Chris:
Excellent point. I think I need to interview someone else on that. While Rex focuses on R.O.I., helping us with creative specific probably goes outside what his company focuses on. I think I have that person this morning, from the creative side, which I will be posting Monday. Stay tuned.

Ed

(5/9/2014 9:20:42 AM)
Was really hoping to hear a little more on the creative end, and less on the bean counter aspects. The best piece in there is the damage being done by sales departments trying to rush spots to air same day/next day, using newspaper ads as copy info. I've seen a PILE of horrible copy in my years in radio. The general root of it all is selling companies advertising when they have nothing compelling to say. No story to tell. It's giving businesses reasons to say "I tried radio, and it didn't work.
(5/9/2014 8:44:25 AM)
Correct. Excellent creative DOES take a little extra time and a little extra effort. BUT, the difference it makes in the overall sound of a station AND to the success of a client's campaign cannot cannot be overstated.
(5/9/2014 8:12:18 AM)
One very important point about creative. It takes an investment of time by both the sales rep and the production staff. Good spots take TIME to write and produce. Many companies won't give their people that luxury these days, and that is part of the problem.

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Goodman Is Set For Growth

2-10-14

As we reported Friday, Dean Goodman closed today on his purchase of nine Next Media suburban Chicago radio stations. Goodman tells Radio Ink this now gives him 65 stations, with more to come. "We will grow, this is just the beginning." Goodman also announced he has changed the name of his company to Digity, that includes GoodRadio.TV, GoodCo and Palm Beach Broadcasting. The reason for that, he says, "Digity has special meaning for all of our employees as true broadcasters and individuals. Digity is on-air, online, on-demand, on-location, and on-the-go. It connects today?s busy consumers and advertisers with content they want, people they trust, products they enjoy, and local content that matters." 

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Forecast 2014 -- Your Growth Will Come From Digital

The most important part of the article is this quote, "most new technologies enhance the user experience and tend to expand the pie"...but radio does not grow in the digital forum.

What we really need to focus on, internet-wise, is just our on-line presence. We just need to augment our programming with web-based support.

"Listen on-line when you're away from home!"

"See our Facebook page for (cash giveaway rules)"

"Take a picture next to our Banner at (location) and post it on your Instagram with the hashtag (blah) and have a chance to win! Keep listening to (station() for details."

Don't take ears away from the radio for the internet's sake. Build the audience based on their emotional choice of YOUR radio station.

"I love this song!" (emotion)

"I hate that song." (emotion)

"I love this radio station." (emotion)

"I wish they had a F/B page." (?)

People have a lot of choices for their music...plenty of choices for their information...and only ONE PLACE for all of it, the radio.

Have faith in its ability and move forward!

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(SOCIAL) Where Social Media Growth Comes From

9-6-2013

Most people spend their time trying to figure out how to take shortcuts. A lot of people simply don?t want to do the work. They want the spotlight of game day (as they say in sports) without the commitment to working out consistently that makes you a champion. That?s called watching. Not doing. We are in the ?doing? business. In fact, you could argue that local radio is in the ?doing for others? business. So, let?s experiment with social media.

For one month, focus your social media totally and completely on others. No posts about you. Post about others. Comment about others. Do good things for others. Give helpful tips when someone is expressing frustration. Post information that will offer people help in doing things that are important to them.

Consider this:

1. Real growth in social media success comes from realizing that people seek validation. They want to feel they matter. They wish to belong and often our modern society leaves a lot of people out there struggling in their daily lives to belong to anything.

2. You?ve seen those people on Facebook that complain Facebook doesn?t have a dislike button, right? Why do people want a dislike button? Because human instinct drives negativity, but people actually crave positive thought and energy. So give that to them in social media (along with validation) and you will see your social media efforts become much more ?sticky.?

3. You tempt people to follow you by investing in them. Put effort into thinking about your ?target listener? and what can improve their life in your local market. Give it to them with strong visuals and content that makes them feel smart to share with their friends. While you may want to focus on promoting what is important to you, being all about ?them? lights a passionate fire in those individuals that will be rewarded.

4. Resist the desire to think contesting is great content. I am personally not against contesting in social media or driving people directly to your radio station (in fact, I am 100 percent for it). However, I do believe in ?dialing back? to the basics of why people really go on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I encourage clients to hyper-focus on their local market and what the listeners who they most want to attract are passionate about in their format. That?s so much more than focusing on purely trying to get people to listen to your radio station. Give them reasons that matter to them for tuning in.

5. Expose your vulnerabilities and concerns. Making yourself human relaxes others and encourages connection. Without the human element in your social media, you might as well be using a technology trick. I?m not against technology, but people naturally crave authenticity and that cannot be consistently faked even in social media. So, be yourself, be open and try to encourage others and bring real value to your content.

Maybe your social media is on the right track. Perhaps you have a plan that includes vibrant visuals and engaging content that is truly focused on your core target listeners that you most want to attract to your brands. Maybe you have a strategic plan for your social media content that includes specific content goals by percentage of types of content and individual daily assignments, and a voice for each person on your team posting content and engaging local listeners on social media platforms. I hope that is true. But this is fall. It?s a good time to review your goals, your content, your strategy, and to determine the value of your overall social media to your actual brands. This includes the social media strategic plan for your sales department. What? You don?t have one? Seriously. It?s almost 2014.

If you can?t point to the value you receive from your social media efforts, maybe it is time to think about developing a different strategy that focuses on the key to driving your business:  doing for others. After all, there is a lot of local profit in doing for others. Radio gets power from being local and connected.

Here?s to a great connective fall where you strengthen your strategy and results in social media. You deserve it, your listeners deserve it, your advertisers certainly deserve it, and your business deserves it.

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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(SOCIAL) Where Social Media Growth Comes From

9-6-2013

Most people spend their time trying to figure out how to take shortcuts. A lot of people simply don?t want to do the work. They want the spotlight of game day (as they say in sports) without the commitment to working out consistently that makes you a champion. That?s called watching. Not doing. We are in the ?doing? business. In fact, you could argue that local radio is in the ?doing for others? business. So, let?s experiment with social media.

For one month, focus your social media totally and completely on others. No posts about you. Post about others. Comment about others. Do good things for others. Give helpful tips when someone is expressing frustration. Post information that will offer people help in doing things that are important to them.

Consider this:

1. Real growth in social media success comes from realizing that people seek validation. They want to feel they matter. They wish to belong and often our modern society leaves a lot of people out there struggling in their daily lives to belong to anything.

2. You?ve seen those people on Facebook that complain Facebook doesn?t have a dislike button, right? Why do people want a dislike button? Because human instinct drives negativity, but people actually crave positive thought and energy. So give that to them in social media (along with validation) and you will see your social media efforts become much more ?sticky.?

3. You tempt people to follow you by investing in them. Put effort into thinking about your ?target listener? and what can improve their life in your local market. Give it to them with strong visuals and content that makes them feel smart to share with their friends. While you may want to focus on promoting what is important to you, being all about ?them? lights a passionate fire in those individuals that will be rewarded.

4. Resist the desire to think contesting is great content. I am personally not against contesting in social media or driving people directly to your radio station (in fact, I am 100 percent for it). However, I do believe in ?dialing back? to the basics of why people really go on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I encourage clients to hyper-focus on their local market and what the listeners who they most want to attract are passionate about in their format. That?s so much more than focusing on purely trying to get people to listen to your radio station. Give them reasons that matter to them for tuning in.

5. Expose your vulnerabilities and concerns. Making yourself human relaxes others and encourages connection. Without the human element in your social media, you might as well be using a technology trick. I?m not against technology, but people naturally crave authenticity and that cannot be consistently faked even in social media. So, be yourself, be open and try to encourage others and bring real value to your content.

Maybe your social media is on the right track. Perhaps you have a plan that includes vibrant visuals and engaging content that is truly focused on your core target listeners that you most want to attract to your brands. Maybe you have a strategic plan for your social media content that includes specific content goals by percentage of types of content and individual daily assignments, and a voice for each person on your team posting content and engaging local listeners on social media platforms. I hope that is true. But this is fall. It?s a good time to review your goals, your content, your strategy, and to determine the value of your overall social media to your actual brands. This includes the social media strategic plan for your sales department. What? You don?t have one? Seriously. It?s almost 2014.

If you can?t point to the value you receive from your social media efforts, maybe it is time to think about developing a different strategy that focuses on the key to driving your business:  doing for others. After all, there is a lot of local profit in doing for others. Radio gets power from being local and connected.

Here?s to a great connective fall where you strengthen your strategy and results in social media. You deserve it, your listeners deserve it, your advertisers certainly deserve it, and your business deserves it.

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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Salem Continues Its Online Growth

8/19/13
Salem Communications and Xulon Press have created a free book publishing solution for Christian writers. ChristianPublishing.com will provide authors who seek a do-it-yourself publishing experience with a suite of proprietary online production and design tools, access to full-scale print and eBook distribution to over 75,000 retail outlets worldwide, as well as extensive marketing services and opportunities.

"We are excited to offer authors a self-service publishing solution that not only provides the ultimate level of control over their publishing journey, but also dramatically lowers the cost of bringing a book to market," said Chad Nykamp, Vice President and General Manager of Salem Communications' book publishing division. "The new service will bridge the gap between the limited choices of current self-service tools, and other full-service options."

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(AUDIO) Are Salespeople Losing Hope About Economic Growth?

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8-2-2012

According to a new study released by AdMall the expectation that sales will grow in the back half of 2012 is starting to change. AdMall CEO Lee Smith says local sales managers and media reps (across all media) are still optimistic, but slightly less so than they were at the start of the year.

"Going into the year, 88.2% of sales managers and 90.3% of account executives expected revenue gains over 2011. Those projections have been downgraded to 82.6% of managers and 81.8% of sales reps." AdMall conducts the survey two times every year and has been doing so for three years. We asked Smith to give us more specifics about what sellers are hearing from advertisers, which categories are performing well and the impact digital and mobile are having out on the street.

Listen to our interview with Smith HERE

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Stimulate Station Growth in San Diego

12-28-2011
Are you looking for actionable, innovative ways to stimulate your station's or company's economy during these challenging times?  This year's Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference will give you at least five solid ideas for increasing sales when Barry Fischer, COO of McGavren Guild Media presents a panel on the "Three R's: Radio, Revenue and Recession."

This session will delve into questions like: How does Hispanic radio position itself amid the added challenges facing the ad economy today? What's the key to keeping Hispanic radio on the buys, and what are the top five reasons Hispanic  radio's sellers need to give clients and agencies to get their share of the pie in 2012? We'll hear from all sides -- client, agency, and a station that is getting it right.
This year's conference will be held in San Diego at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay on March 21-22.
Visit the Hispanic Radio Conference web site, http://www.radioink.com/hispanicconference/ and check out more of the sessions being planned.  Then go to the registration link and sign up today for a conference packed with solid sales tools, along with information about new media opportunities, pro-active multi platform marketing plans and revenue generating ideas designed especially to serve Hispanic Radio broadcasters.

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The Explosive Hispanic Population Growth

As March 21st quickly approaches, we want to be sure to give you the details on some of the panels that will highlight our Hispanic Radio Conference program. Adam Jacobson is the founder of Adam R. Jacobson Editorial Services. He'll be moderating a panel entitled "The Impact on Media of America's Hispanic Population Growth." This session will discuss some of the latest findings released in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and how advertisers, media buyers, and marketing and branding professionals are digesting the details.

Learn from agency and client-side professionals why Hispanic radio remains vital to reaching all Latinos, why it retains high ROI, and how media buyers should understand how Hispanic radio is consumed. Discussions on America's hottest emerging Hispanic markets will also make this a must-attend session..

The panelists will be:
David Burgos, VP, Millward Brown & Co-Chair, Advertising Research Foundation People Forum
David Gleason, Hispanic Radio Consultant
Arthur Rockwell, VP/Sales, Geoscape
Isabella Sanchez, VP/Media Integration, Zubi Advertising Services

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Pandora Touts Edison Research to Show 2011 Growth

1-22-2012
Pandora says analysis of its listenership by Edison has resulted in big gains in 2011. Pandora claims full year listenership has now reached an AQH rating of 1.0 or more among adults 18-34 in the top radio markets. Edison Research analyzed Pandora data to determine how many listeners tuned in, how long each listened, and then converted that into AQH and weekly cume metrics using industry accepted methodology for metro survey areas.

Pandora says it has experienced 50 to 100 percent growth in AQH ratings in all of the top radio markets for adults ages 18-34 and 18-49, with the largest AQH gains of 100 percent in the New York, Atlanta, Dallas-Ft. Worth and Boston metro survey areas. Pandora posted 44 to 75 percent cume increases in each local market with the Atlanta and Dallas-Ft. Worth areas posting the largest cume gains.

Here is thefull press release

Here are details on how the data is analyzed by EdisoN:
Listeners
Only registered users are counted. Registered users are Pandora users who have created an account, providing their age, gender, zip code and email address. Pandora One subscribers or listeners who are not registered (anonymous users) are not included in the analysis. In addition, no attempt is made to determine if more than one person is listening at a time.

Audience Measurements
Average Quarter Hour
In order to qualify as having listened, a listener must have listened for at least five minutes during a quarter hour. Listening does not need to be contiguous during a quarter hour. Time is measured in seconds. In cases where a listener skips, pauses, changes stations or leaves Pandora before a song completes, the actual time listened prior to the action is counted and not the entire song length. When listening to a song crosses into a subsequent quarter hour, each quarter hour is credited with its share of time.  Any qualifying quarter hour is included in the average quarter hour calculation (AQH).
Qualifying Data
Data sent to Edison are a subset of the same data sent to SoundExchange for reporting royalty payments, information about which is included in our financial statements, which are audited by our independent auditors, Ernst & Young, and filed with the SEC. Only registered users listening in the analyzed markets are included.
Limitations
Edison accepted the validity of the data provided by Pandora.

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The Explosive Hispanic Population Growth

As March 21st quickly approaches, we want to be sure to give you the details on some of the panels that will highlight our Hispanic Radio Conference program. Adam Jacobson is the founder of Adam R. Jacobson Editorial Services. He'll be moderating a panel entitled "The Impact on Media of America's Hispanic Population Growth." This session will discuss some of the latest findings released in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and how advertisers, media buyers, and marketing and branding professionals are digesting the details.

Learn from agency and client-side professionals why Hispanic radio remains vital to reaching all Latinos, why it retains high ROI, and how media buyers should understand how Hispanic radio is consumed. Discussions on America's hottest emerging Hispanic markets will also make this a must-attend session..

The panelists will be:
David Burgos, VP, Millward Brown & Co-Chair, Advertising Research Foundation People Forum
David Gleason, Hispanic Radio Consultant
Arthur Rockwell, VP/Sales, Geoscape
Isabella Sanchez, VP/Media Integration, Zubi Advertising Services

REGISTER NOW

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Myers Predicts Strong 2012 Growth

Forecast 2012 co-chair, media economist, and Media Advisory Group Chairman Jack Myers promises this year's Radio Ink Forecast summit will be "a very different and unusual conference." As the "financial side" of this year's Forecast chair, Jack Myers brings some of the strongest credentials to the post. For more than two decades, he's been among the media industry's leading visionaries and economic forecasters.

Myers has advised more than 250 media companies, marketers, and agencies on business transformation, revenue development, and organizational best practices -- his clients have included Disney/ABC, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Campbell Soup Co., Reebok, AT&T, CBS-TV, Fox Broadcasting, and many more.

In a recent interview with Radio Ink Editor-in-Chief Ed Ryan, Jack outlined some of his vision for Forecast 2012, set for December 6, 2011 in New York. He also made some bold radio revenue predictions for 2012.

Click here to listen.

In addition to comprehensive analysis and insight into radio's economic forecast for 2012, this all-encompassing summit will include:
*Views from interesting companies in diverse categories such as gaming, digital commerce, and online digital video that aren't typically talking to the radio  industry. These companies have some of the best perspectives on where the business is headed in terms of incremental and new revenue opportunities in the near term.
*A solid tutorial on where new opportunities are and how to integrate those opportunities without disrupting the day-to-day flow of business, as well as insights on where the industry is headed and how to optimize revenues in 2012.
*Outlook on political advertising in 2012: How big? How much? Which candidates and issues will lead the way? And how will digital impact the flow to radio?

Forecast 2012 is closed to the working press, and sessions will not be recorded. The only way to learn and absorb all the information delivered at Forecast 2012 is to attend. There are only 200 seats available, so early registration is encouraged.

Forecast is Radio Ink's eagerly anticipated annual radio industry financial conference -- the only one of its kind. Radio owners, CEOs, CFOs, group executives, managers and Wall Street analysts gather to discuss the state of the radio industry and predictions for the coming year. Participants hear about current and upcoming trends and opportunities, and meet the trendsetters of tomorrow.

Each year after the conference, Radio Ink invites the 40 Most Powerful People in Radio to pick up their plaques and join us for cocktails in their honor. The 2011 40 Most Powerful featured more new faces than any time in the list's history, and Forecast attendees will get the exclusive opportunity to mingle with both new entrants and the perennials in New York's elegant Harvard Club. Only registered conference attendees are guaranteed invitations to the after-party. Attendance is limited to 200.

Don't miss your chance to gather with, and learn from, the best in radio at Forecast 2012. Get your tickets today!

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Sirius XM Predicts 10% Growth. Hikes Price.

September 14, 2011: Sirius XM offers financial guidance for 2012, predicting revenue growth of 10 percent, to approximately $3.3 billion for the year. The satcaster is also looking for adjusted EBITDA growth of 20 percent, to about $860 million, and 75 percent growth in free cash flow, to approximately $700 million.

"Our new guidance for 2012 demonstrates our expectation of robust growth next year," Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin said. "Sirius XM's outstanding financial performance in the midst of considerable economic uncertainty will continue in 2012 as we grow our subscriber base and free cash flow and anticipate that our revenue and adjusted EBITDA growth will accelerate."

Sirius XM also affirmed its 2011 guidance, looking for about 1.6 million net new subscribers, revenue of approximately $3 billion, adjusted EBITDA of about $715 million, and free cash flow "approaching $400 million."

Price Hike On The Way

Sirius XM's prices will be going up next year:  Karmazin announced that on January 1, the base price for Sirius and XM Select will rise to $14.49 a month from $12.95, and the company will also "adjust prices on man of our other programming packages."

Karmazin said, "This is the first price increase on our basic service packages since the addition of the NFL, NASCAR, Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, and many college sports to our programming lineup.  Through continued investments in technology, the best and most diverse programming in radio is available to our subscribers in cars, homes, offices, business establishments, on the Internet and smartphones.  We will expand our programming and technology further with the launch of Sirius XM 2.0 in the coming months."

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2010 Political Comps Make 2011 Growth Difficult.

The advertising landscape for Radio the balance of 2011 will be a difficult one. Sometimes there's just no way to put lipstick on the pig. While there are only whispers of a double dip recession, you can tell everything just seems to be in a holding pattern. The fact that radio has always been easy to accept advertiser cancellations, makes it nearly impossible to make reliable forecasts or accept pacings reports anyone put on the table. If we could only write our contracts like a wireless phone carrier does? In a stagnant economy and a herky jerky stock market, many radio companies will probably accept being flat in Q3 and Q4. The big problem with being flat the rest of the year will be the poetical comps from 2010.

Here are some real numbers to chew on. Cumulus, Entercom and Saga detailed political revenue generated in 2010 during their Q2 conference calls. Those three companies own roughly 530 radio stations combined. In Q3 of 2010 they brought in $4.4 million of political revenue. In Q4 they brought in a combined $10.4 million. That's $15 million in radio revenue that does not exist for the balance of 2011. There may be a little issue oriented or primary buys here and there, but for the most part, that money is being raised and saved for next year. The good news is 2012 should be a banner year for radio as a presidential race, house races and issue ads will be very lucrative for radio. Add to that the weak comps you can expect from this year and everyone will look like a hero in 2012. The challenge will be the back half of 2011. The bounce back we started to see in Q1 has fizzled and unless there is some very fast good economic news the rest of the year will be a battle. Watching the stock market drop over 400 points yesterday didn't help the cause.

What is the sense in your market? Send your thoughts to edryan@radioink.com

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The Growth of Online Streaming Versus Cost

June 22, 2011

There has been a lot of talk in the radio industry about how the growth of mobile device streaming is going to be stifled by over-demand and the lack of internet provisioning. The fact is, all of the major bandwidth companies are gearing up for this huge explosion in user demand by constantly building out their networks. According to Gerry Butters, the former head of Bell Lab?s Lucent Optical Networking Group, the amount of data coming out of an optical fiber is doubling every nine months. So therefore, the cost of transmitting over a fiber optical network also decreases by half, every nine months. The availability of wavelength multiplexing is also rapidly bringing down the cost of network transmissions, further assuring lower costs in the future. Could this be the new Moore?s law . . . or Butter?s Law?

As a matter of fact, smartphone and smart device usage has grown by 89% since the 1st quarter of 2010, while the cost of a megabyte of mobile data has dropped 46% in the same time period. A smartphone user today pays 8 cents a megabyte, compared to 14 cents a megabyte a year ago. Nielsen also reports that 40% of mobile subscribers in the US now own a smartphone, and that number is growing rapidly. I can also state factually from my own business involvement with deploying networks over the last 15 years, that we have seen our bulk bandwidth costs also drop significantly as well, especially in just the last few years alone. A lot of this has to do with the huge build-out of fiber networks during the late ?90s.

Also, don?t forget, we are talking about streaming radio here, and even at a reasonable bit-rate in AAC+, we are not talking about downloading apps, watching Netflix, or surfing YouTube all day, which comprise a fair portion of that so-called ?over-demand? that everyone in radioland is talking about. In any event, the rate of capacity will only increase over the next few years, as all the major providers are obviously aware of all the dark fiber left over from the dot-com bust, a market that laterally collapsed in pricing in the years following. Companies like Yipes, C&W, FPL FiberNet and others laid fiber everywhere prior to the collapse. At one point in the early 2000?s, there were over 12 million miles of unlit dark fiber lying beneath the streets of the US of A.

During the period of 2002 - 2006, Google and other companies bought massive amounts of dark fiber and still own it to this day, betting that at some point in the future, there would be a resurgence of demand. Just like every other market bubble before it; railroads, telephone, and tech companies included, the market levels out, and then begins a solid, steady growth over years or decades, providing a profitable, long-term, return on investment to those with foresight. Smart companies and progressive thinkers like Google and AT&T are now starting to capitalize on their long-term investment.

So how does all this affect the terrestrial broadcaster? For one thing, the cost of streaming a station or broadcast has dropped in half over the last few years. The introduction of AAC+ allows you to now stream at double the quality of MP3, using the same amount of bandwidth. More and more of your listeners are looking for you now on their desktops and mobile devices, and as this market grows, so does your ability to reach more people at more times of the day than you could previously without the internet to stream your signal across.

I do not think for one moment that the internet is any threat to terrestrial radio, rather, it is one more way to get your signal to your listeners. Recent studies by PEW Research, Infinite Dial and others show that the traditional AM/FM listener is still listening, just at different times of the day. In fact, internet listenership is up 35% over last year?s April metrics, according to Triton Digital. The majority of leaders in this field are terrestrial groups, led only by Pandora, and only time will tell how Pandora performs over the long run.

Terrestrial radio has many opportunities to benefit from the internet; listeners can follow in the home, car, office, beach, gym, half a country away while traveling . . . you name it. You should thank the stars that the internet is here to help you reach more of your listeners and interact with them. Cater to their needs using all these great tools we have to stream with; playlist interaction, info display, social media tie-ins, embedded players, online chat functions, the sharing of players, advertising delivery and so forth. Just like the song by Blue Oyster Cult, ?Don?t Fear the Reaper,? ?Don?t Fear the Internet? - embrace it and let it work for you. After all, your listeners are, so do you really have a choice?
Kerry Brewer is Sr. Managing Director at Securenet Systems, a leading provider of online streaming services to the worldwide radio industry. He can

be reached at kbrewer@securenetsystems.net or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/kerrybrewer.

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