Liquid Compass Offers White Label Product

9-17-13

Streaming company Liquid Compass announced Monday the launch of its white label, reseller, and affiliate offering for customers. The suite of products allows broadcasters, service providers such as CDN?s, sales houses, and agencies around the globe to enhance their product offerings and develop new revenue channels, while eliminating the time and capital requirements of rolling out such offerings on their own. Founder Zac Lewis said, "We're excited to make available our tools, services, and expertise to broadcasters and organizations who we expect to reinvent the online music space.?

View the original article here

Benztown Offers Products For Barter

8-8-13

Benztown announced today that the company is now offering commercial voiceover and copywriting for barter to radio stations of all market sizes. Stations can choose any of the talents from Benztown?s talent roster, at any time, offering unmatched flexibility for barter. Director of Programming & Imaging for Benztown Justin Case said, ?This is the total package for local production directors to create commercials that sound great, differentiate brands, and work for advertisers and stations?all for barter. For more information go to www.benztown.com/voiceover or call Masa Patterson at (818) 842-4600.

View the original article here

Spotify Offers Feature Similar to iTunes

7-3-13

TechCrunch reports that Spotify?s ?Discover? feature is now available on the iPhone. The news feed offers recommendations, songs and playlists based on current listening habits. The feature is powered by algorithms similar to Spotify?s radio for music discovery purposes, but it?s not limited to recommendations made solely based on your plays. Discover will also alert users to New Releases on Spotify, music that?s popular in their area or popular on Spotify more generally, music shared by artists and others you follow, and more. Read the full TechCrunch article HERE

View the original article here

Country Oldies Show Offers George Jones Tribute

5-9-13

Memorial Day Weekend, Envision Radio Networks? The Country Oldies Show will offer stations a free three-hour tribute to the late George Jones. From his career achievements to his off-stage shenanigans, The Country Oldies Show?s hosts Steve Warren and Debbie Conner will reflect on the life and music of George ?The Possum? Jones beginning with his first record in 1955.

The Country Oldies Show?s George Jones Tribute is available for broadcast beginning on May 22. Stations interested in airing this special should contact Melissa Bachtel at 216-831-3761 or melissab@envisionradio.com.

View the original article here

Morning Man Offers To Buy Plot For Bomber

5-8-13

Chaz, of "Chaz and AJ in the Morning," heard on CMG's WPLR and The FOX in Connecticut, has offered to personally purchase a burial plot (up to $1,000.00) for Boston Bombing Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev as long as it is not in the radio personalities' home state of Connecticut or in Massachusetts, the state in which the bombing occurred.

Chaz said, "We've been through enough in this state, I can speak for most Connecticut residents when I say we REALLY don't want him here. We've had some historically horrible things happen recently, we don't want Connecticut to be known as a final resting place of a terrorist."

Paul Keane, owner of a burial plot in Mt. Carmel Burying Ground, came forward offering his spot up in Hamden free of charge. He said he was doing this in honor of his mother. Chaz and AJ fielded hundreds of calls from angry residents, many whom have loved ones buried throughout the state. Chaz and AJ asked attorney Norman Pattis to represent families who have loved ones buried in the proposed Hamden cemetery. Chaz stated, ?This is where I draw the line. Not in my backyard.?

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

VIDEO)Glaser Offers Digital Ideas For Radio

This week at Convergence Internet Pioneer Rob Glaser unveiled his latest company called Sidecar. The Sidecar app is now available at the Apple App store. Glaser shared his ideas of how both Sidecar and Rhapsody can help radio stations improve their digital product and enhance the user experience for listeners. Watch our video interview with the founder of RealNetworks Rob Glaser.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

VIDEO)Borrell Offers up Shock and Awe

June 5, 2012

Gordon Borrell came to Convergence fully armed with stunning statistics, as he usually does. He told Convergence attendees that in about 18 months digital advertising will take a 30% share of local ad dollars, surpassing newspaper as the number one medium. With radio taking about $303 million in digital dollars, that equates to less than 2% of the market -- and Borrell said with the second largest sales force in the country, radio should be getting a much larger share. He adds that if radio focused more on R.O.I. and less on entertainment, it could make big digital gains. We interviewed Borrell after his Convergence presentation to get more detail.

(6/7/2012 10:07:56 AM)
Excellent distinction, Gordon. It's like music radio is casually trying to boat a tuna (Programming) into a 12-foot dinghy when - without notice, by the way - a 10-foot shark (new online responsibilities) jumps into the vessel. So, everybody on board is freaking out about the man-eater and forgets about the tuna.

The correct and necessary strategy is to, somehow, get the shark out of the boat and the tuna in. They can come back for the shark when they have a bigger boat.

After all, it's only the tuna they can eat. Otherwise, the shark wrecks the boat and the fishermen starve. Or worse. They end up in the water with the shark. Thus endeth the analogy.

(6/6/2012 10:47:49 PM)
Interesting comments, but some of them here really underscore the problem. So many in the industry can't seem to grasp the fact that the Internet isn't about their stations. It represents a completely NEW opportunity that allows you to leverage your station's strengths (like airtime promotion and sales forces) to get into new products....like online directories, couponing, deals, classified ads. It's a difficult concept to grasp for those who continue to believe the Internet is merely another marketing channel for radio.
(6/6/2012 6:37:34 PM)
Management are climbing all over each other to make their online presence worthwhile. I've had GM's tell me it (online) was going to save their bacon. It hasn't and it won't.

Until Programming is addressed, all of this is an exercise in futility - and a time and talent draining, expensive one at that.

What, I wonder, is it about Programming radio stations that terrifies these folks?

(6/6/2012 2:12:13 PM)
I think what he's saying is that we look at it as brand extension but little else. Focusing more on not only our own ROI but that of potential advertisers and going after some of that business that is out there is not widely being done.

Not that WE shouldn't be entertaining, just that we shouldn't look at it only as another place where our peeps can get their entertainment or whatever else we offer.

That's MY take. I could be all wrong.

Having said that, when a station is a minor player in its market because of a specialty format or other similar reason and its on-air ratings are already small, adding another 10 listeners by way of an audio stream (and 5 of them are in Central America) it hardly seems worth the effort at that level.

And I'm not kidding about 10 listeners. My smaller station that streams regularly tops out at 10, about half that on weekends. My FM music station tops out daily at 100 (although I have seen it as high as 200 during the Christmas season) and about a fifth of that on weekends. Is this really worth all the effort? Think Sound Exchange, technical setup for spot replacement, sales' time spent chasing quarters instead of dollars?

(6/6/2012 11:05:50 AM)
He (Borrell) adds that if radio focused more on R.O.I. and less on entertainment...

Righto. Who wants radio to be entertaining? Certainly NOT the listeners.... That's the problem with the industry today; more concerned with Return of Investment than Return of Listeners.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Pandora Offers Better Solutions For Advertisers Than Radio

5-23-2012

Staying committed to his game plan to pickpocket your wallet, last night CEO Joe Kennedy told investors why Pandora will "disrupt the $17 Billion market for radio advertising." Without wavering, Kennedy said Pandora "brings dramatically better advertising solutions than those that are available from broadcast radio. Unlike traditional radio broadcasters, we offer targeted and interactive ads which transform the efficiency, effectiveness and measurability of radio advertising." Kennedy then used Planet Honda, who we have featured, as a shining example of a client who turned his back on traditional radio.

Kennedy says Planet Honda started out spending $10K in January and now spends $20K every month with Pandora. He added, "In the traditional radio world, our share and scale have made us highly relevant and increasingly difficult for advertisers not to consider. With just under a 6% share of radio listening, we are already larger than the largest radio station in many markets. We are on track to be the largest station in most U.S. markets by the end of this year. For national network radio buyers, Pandora is already the largest network in the U.S. in the key 18-49 demo. We have the audience and the ad products to massively disrupt this market."

Kennedy said two more things need to occur in order for the disruption to consider. The first is a reliable third party measurement system. Last week, Pandora announced a deal with Triton to measure both locally and nationally. And, for Pandora to be more integrated into the system so that when a radio buy comes up with an ad agency, Pandora is on the list. In other words, Pandora would be considered "radio" by everyone.

(5/24/2012 8:50:05 PM)
And time well spent, Smitty. At least, it was with somebody who liked you. Ain't Theatre of the Mind terrific?

Meanwhile, I wonder why anybody in radio cares about Pandora. There's nothing any of us can about what they do. In the meantime, we suck. Our Programming sucks. Our Personalities are, for the most part - nonexistent and our commercials suck.

I'm thinkin' our (music radio) agenda is, pretty much - set.

(5/24/2012 6:36:10 PM)
@Ernie: Well, I masturbated to Internet porn this morning.
(5/24/2012 5:52:56 PM)
Yak, yak, yak. Don't you people have something to do? Joe Kennedy is just as full of crap as Lew Dickey, and so it goes. Why don't we, radio and/or Pandora get out on the streets and work our tails off to get results for the customers. Let's stop buying sushi for uninformed "planners" that will always chase the shiny new thing anyway. Why don't stop the debate, get off our butts and go create new customers. When we meet for a beer, we'll see who won.
(5/24/2012 5:28:48 PM)
Earth to Mary Beth-

I don't mean to be too personal but it is painfully obvious, every time you open your mouth, that you aren't under 40 and I doubt you are under 50 even. Your data doesn't matter because if you actually ask people in the sweet spot age group they'll tell you they are listening to Pandora. They'll also tell you they are listening to Spotify (who's raising $100M in VC funds to expand) and they'll tell you they are watching video's and getting music from a bunch of other cool sources. They listen to the radio too- it just isn't the lifeline to music it once was.

The public knows that local radio has been gutted. Most stations don't have much in the way of personality anymore and those that do have the exact same playlist that every other station of the same genre has.

I hate to break it to you but kids don't listen to the radio anymore to hear a new song. (They watch YouTube. Those are videos that the labels put on the site that Google pays them for.)Very few kids could name a DJ and mostly they just want the DJ to stop talking.

(5/24/2012 4:42:20 PM)
The attack on Mary Beth is unwarranted. She speaks the truth and knows what she is talking about based on facts.

The BS campaign from a jukebox called pandora
is just that.

pandora wants to be radio but it is not and never will be.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Local Offers, Local Databases Add up to Big Success

By Ivan Braiker

One of radio?s intrinsic benefits has been its ability to garner a sense of community through its local ties. This makes radio an ideal advertising medium for small local businesses. Mom and Pop shops drive local economies, but often lack the necessary funds to embark on big advertising campaigns. By including a mobile call to action in local radio ads, small shops can build re-marketable databases that add up to huge success.

Here are a couple great examples:
A local grocery store in a small market was looking to build its own opted-in text club from which it hoped to push out weekly coupons and offers to its customers. The store promoted the text club in three ways:
? Two of Hipricket?s local radio station clients promoted the store?s text club through its local database.
? The store aired spots on each of the radio stations promoting the club.
? The store advertised the text club in its weekly circular.

For a fairly low upfront investment (the store was already advertising on the stations, and it paid nothing to advertise in its own circular) the grocery store was able to garner more than 8,600 members to its text club, and that number continues to grow.  Perhaps an even better indicator of the program?s success is that members of the text club have shown a redemption rate of between 25-30 percent for coupons they have received.

In a second example, an Italian chain restaurant was interested in building in an opted-in database of local customers in a small (100+) market.  The restaurant chose to advertise a Text 2 Win contest on its local radio station. The offer was for one lucky listener to win free pasta for a year. Advertisements asked listeners to text the word ?FREE? to a short code to be entered to win. The contest ran between August and September and generated 905 entries from 722 unique listeners.   Once entered, listeners were asked to join the restaurant?s mobile club to continue receiving offers. The restaurant had astonishing success with 274 people (38 percent of those who entered the contest) opting into the club. Not bad for a small market!

These are just two examples of how combining local radio stations with mobile marketing can create a winning combination for small businesses. I urge small market stations everywhere to share these success stories to boost their own ad dollars and bolster local business and community.

Ivan Braiker is a former radio CEO who still loves the radio business. He's now the CEO of HipCricket and can be reached at ivan@hipcricket.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Slacker Radio Offers Personalized ESPN Radio Content

ESPN Audio and Slacker have teamed to launch interactive ESPN Radio content which is now available to Slacker Radio listeners. Listeners using the free Slacker Basic Radio service now have access to an interactive, programmed ESPN station. Senior VP for Production Business Divisions at ESPN Traug Keller said "Offering new and different ways for sports fans to access ESPN Radio content continues to be rewarding and exciting. This new relationship puts the fan more in control by providing customizable ESPN content."

Slacker Radio Plus and Slacker Premium Radio subscribers now have unlimited access to the ESPN Radio integration, including an ad-free programmed station with unlimited skips and the ability to create highly personalized, myESPN Radio sports stations based on favorite sports, teams or ESPN programs. Subscribers also have the option to add hourly SportsCenter updates to any Slacker station.

Slacker is the first radio service to feature ESPN Radio in a personalized context, with up-to-the-minute coverage of all major sporting events and top news stories on both a local and national level. The interactive ESPN Radio station also offers access to content from multiple ESPN programs and platforms, including Mike and Mike in the Morning, SportsCenter, The Herd with Colin Cowherd and more.

The agreement between the country's largest sports radio network and the Slacker personal radio service now creates the most comprehensive and most personal listening experience for sports and music enthusiasts alike. ESPN on Slacker Radio is now available on the web, on home entertainment devices and on leading smartphones with optimized ESPN station creation on Android devices and the web. An updated Slacker app with ESPN for iOS has been submitted and will be available pending Apple approval.

The complete Slacker Radio experience includes expert-programmed music stations, ABC news, comedy, custom artist-hosted showcase stations and leading music festival stations along with the ability for listeners to create their own personalized radio stations. Slacker Premium Radio also includes on-demand access to the entire Slacker music library featuring over 8 million songs. The addition of ESPN to its increasing line-up of stations and services reinforces that Slacker Radio has the most varied and compelling range of customizable content offered by any radio service, while maintaining the most personal listening experience.

Go to www.slacker.com for more information

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

Burns Offers Up Some of his own Research on Pandora.

Respected radio consultant Alan Burns released more data from his study of female listeners yesterday. Thursday Burns will go into more detail on the data during another free webinar. The most recent piece of information will focus on Pandora. Burns says women who cume AC radio and listen to Pandora rate the music they hear on Pandora only 1.5% higher than the music on their P1 radio station. ?So even though women who use Pandora and other customizable streamers rate personalization and the ability to skip songs as very desirable, the bottom line for them is that the resulting music on the streamer they use most is not significantly better than on their favorite radio station. When the differences that emerge then, according to these women, is that compared to radio streams, customizable streamers don?t play as many commercials or play the same commercials or PSAs over and over.?

Burns notes that for all women 15-54 the music rating gap between Pandora and P1 stations is slightly larger at 5.0%. Alan Burns and Associates is releasing the final quarter of results from its second annual national study of female radio listeners this Thursday at 2pm Eastern in a webinar presented by DMR.  To register for the webinar, click here.  https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/369443800 or call (251)980-7070. You can also e-mail Alan at  Alan@burnsradio.com. 

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here