Classic Hip Hop Gets Love From NY Times

12-15-14

The format we see spreading around the country has made its way to the pages of the New York Times. In a piece called "Classic Hip-Hop Is Spreading on the Radio Dial," Times writer Ben Sisario calls Classic Hip Hop radio's hottest new format. The new format idea was launched by Radio One in Houston when the company determined an all-news station wasn't going to make any money. It's been added, some might say copied, by several other companies.

Radio One's Programming Executive Jay Stevens tells Sisario ?Listeners who grew up on this music, in the late ?80s and into the ?90s, are now 40 years old. You still love this music, but it wasn?t being exposed on a regular basis at any radio station. So now you?ve found a home.? Cumulus' John Dickey said in the piece, ?This is a format that I believe in. It?s here to stay. It has legs.? Cumulus plans to offer stations the Classic Hip Hop format through Westwood One.

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Pittman Talks Debt With the Financial Times

6-9-14

In a piece entitled, "Clear Channel Chief Gambles on Wrestling its Debt," The Times writes that if CEO Bob Pittman is making any progress fixing Clear Channel's debt problems, it's been very slow. "Its radio revenue was up just 4 per cent in 2013. Pittman expects growth to accelerate, but even more important to averting bankruptcy has been a series of debt restructurings that have taken advantage of yield-hungry capital markets to push back a looming wall of maturities."
A recent $850 Million refinancing (with a 10% interest rate) pushed repayments back from 2014 and 2015 to 2018. The Times points out that Clear Channel?s expected interest expense of about $1.6bn in 2014 is about equal to its free cash flow. "The debt burden gives him little room for error, but like an experienced radio pitchman, he sounds confident that his $5m gamble will pay off. If the company?s not going to grow I?ll get no money back,? Pittman said, adding that because Clear Channel has so much leverage, it ?supercharges? any upside. His return, on a $5 million investment would be  ?50:100 to one if it works?.

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Emmis' Texas Monthly Sues New York Times

4-12-14

Bloomberg has the details of the lawsuit which says Texas Monthly sued the paper for $1 million over the hiring of its top editor to join the newspaper?s magazine division before his contract expired. According to Bloomberg, Ian Arnold, Emmis?s general counsel, told Times managing editor Dean Baquet that ?Texas Monthly expected to be compensated? for the cost of finding a replacement editor if Jake Silverstein was hired away before his contract expired in February 2015. ?Despite Baquet?s assurances,? the Times didn?t notify Texas Monthly and the magazine learned of the hiring from Silverstein just before the newspaper announced it on March 28, according to the lawsuit.

Read the Bloomberg story HERE

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NY Times CEO Says Pay Model is Working

5-21-13

In a commencement address to business students at Columbia University, New York Times CEO Mark Thompson (pictured) told graduating students companies like the New York Times can be reinvented. The Times uses a metered paywall for online content to try to make up lost advertising dollars that has plagued the newspaper industry for years. Thompson says, "The launch of the pay model is the most important and most successful business decision made by The New York Times in many years. We have around 700,000 paid digital subscribers across the company?s products so far and a new nine-figure revenue-stream which is still growing."

Thompson said taking risks is part of being successful. "We will not secure the future of The Times without the kind of bold innovation ? in products and services, in business-model ? which is intrinsically and necessarily risky. The consensus among the experts was that it wouldn?t work, was foolhardy in fact and not needed. People just weren?t prepared to pay for high quality content on the internet and, besides, wasn?t digital advertising enough ? wouldn?t it grow until, just as with print advertising in the golden age of physical newspapers, it alone was enough to support America?s newsrooms? Much of the rest of the US newspaper industry is now following suit. And developing this pay model, launching a suite of new subscription products to attract additional new subscribers, is central to our plans for the future."

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Slacker Attacks "P." Gets Love From The NY Times

2-13-2013

The paper points out that Slacker will be spending about $5.5 on media in 2013 to help raise brand awareness. In an online only add (SEE IT HERE) Slacker attacks Pandora by pointing out how one "annoying song" will play over and over again using Pandora's Music Genome technology because of Pandora's "small music library." Slacker boasts it has 10 times as many songs that are programmed by real people. Read the full article HERE.

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(HIRING) The Radio Times Are A-Changin'

1-25-2013

This is a significant year for us as it marks our 20th anniversary! Through two recessions, consolidation and many other changes, we are happy to still be serving the advertising industry.

As I reflect on changes I have seen since 1993, here is what the radio industry was like then:

o   Consolidation was creating cluster selling. There were lots of bumps in the road for managers trying to figure out how to put together teams from sellers who used to compete and came from different cultures.

o   There is still a line out the door of people wanting to go into radio sales.

o   Hiring was much more "gut" oriented; we didn?t have the tools to profile or know about effective interviewing, needless to say, turnover was high but that was ok as there were more where that came from!

o   Cell phones were scarce, the size of a shoe box and primarily in cars.

o   The Internet was for geeks and you needed codes and patience to connect.

o   Messages were on pink slips.

o   "New Media" was Cable.

o   "Out of Home" meant tabletops at bars and restaurants.o   There were numerous rep firms.

o   "NTR" was either co-op or vendor money and, by the way, we were being trained in how to go after those dollars.

o   There were multiple "sales assistants" on staff to type presentations.

o   Information was faxed or delivered in person! Sellers picked up creative!

o   People accepted that they would relocate at least once to further their career so relocation was not an issue.

o   Media companies only wanted to hire "one of their own"; it was very difficult to move from one platform* to another (* we didn?t call them platforms either!)

o   There was lots more travel and airline tickets were in carbon and on paper!

o   Suits were a given! Casual was a bonus for some on Fridays and meant an open-necked shirt without a tie.
Lots of changes. But through it all, radio remains a strong, viable "platform" in which to work, to educate and to offer community assistance. There can still be rewarding careers and room to grow. But as with everything, change will continue and we all have to be on top of it to survive.

Laurie Kahn is Founder and President of Media Staffing Network and can be reached at 480-306-8930 or via e-mail at laurie@mediastaffingnetwork.com. Visit the Media Staffing Website.

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CC: "iHeartRadio Downloaded 135 Million Times"

11-20-2012

Clear Channel says its iHeartRadio app has now been downloaded over 135 million times. The company also says it now has more than 20 million registered users. iHeartRadio has over 1,500 live broadcast and digital-only stations from 150 cities, plus user-created custom stations. iHeartRadio includes all the Clear Channel stations and also stations from Univision, Cumulus, Greater Media, WNYC, EMF?s Contemporary Christian Air1 and K Love, college radio, Cox, Emmis, and others.

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(SOCIAL) Changing With The Facebook Times

10-31-2012

We?ve had a good amount of time now to get used to the idea that there are these social media platforms (led by Facebook) that allow you access to opportunity (if you are willing to give up some of your 20th Century ways) to grab onto new ideas that will help your radio station in the seemingly new ?If it's free, it?s for me? environments like Facebook.

Now the Facebook team has essentially taken all groups and brands and moved them to the back of the connectivity bus (unless you are purchasing advertising on Facebook). Where you could post content to be seen by most or all of the people in your ?group? on Facebook in the recent past, that is now not even close to true. Now only about 10 percent of your ?fans? or ?likes? will see any content from you whatsoever. Those in radio who have not been listening as relevant social media ?types? talk about having a specific real strategy are falling farther and farther behind. Still, it?s not too late to catch up, but you better kick it in the butt because the social media train is leaving the station and it isn?t coming back for old people who don?t get it. The days of depending on Facebook to do your social media for you are gone. In fact, they never really did do it for you if all you were doing was ?phoning it in.?  No game = no benefit.

What can you do to really start winning in social media now? Elevate your game and get off of the old ?post a little bit and forget it? philosophy. Don?t see Facebook as the center lane of your social media strategy for 2013 and going forward. See Facebook as one part of a larger puzzle. Really engage and commit to local relationships that matter to your brand and your listeners. Here are some basics that you must begin working on now unless you want to be left in the past:

1. Seriously develop a social media strategy that involves your goals (what you want to achieve and how you will judge your efforts). Make sure you have a plan that includes why you use Facebook, why you use Twitter, and why you use other social media platforms (and for what). Put real effort into developing the actual ?plan? before executing anything. This plan should deal with individual ?high-profile? personalities on your radio brands and their content in different social media environments, along with very specific content strategy so that you have a balanced approach to creating high-quality social media content that engages the passion of your target listeners (those you most want to attract to your brands). You should have a strategy set where everyone on your team knows what kind of content they are to post by percentage and when they will be responsible to post daily.

2. Challenge your team to engage listeners on their content and encourage them to have back and forth conversations as well as sharing with others they influence. This might seem difficult at first, but it won?t be as difficult if your focus is truly on building actual relationships from social media and bringing listeners to your actual online and on-air world. If the newest changes on Facebook indicate anything, it is that investing in Facebook for the purpose of ?living on Facebook? is the wrong philosophy. Sure, your goals should involve high-engagement on Facebook, but you must include drawing them to your owned-media (online and on-air). Attracting and drawing listeners should be the strategy; not attract and play with listeners on Facebook.

3. A picture says a thousand words. Nope. It?s more like a million in social media and specifically on Facebook. Listeners (Facebook consumers) are drawn to photographs and our lives are filled with them (listeners? lives and the lives of your radio brands). Your station staff not taking photos of events, concerts, and ?happenings"?  Shame on you. Invest in a digital camera. They?re cheap. Think about what your radio station stands for, how listeners you most want to attract use radio and why. Then, give them the visuals on Facebook (and other platforms) that tease and by purpose draw them back to your brand.

4. Have your on-air personalities blog on your website. Talk about those blogs on-air (and sponsor them, please). Give personalities purpose in content. This means make sure your personalities stand for something that reflects well on the on-air brand and draws specific types of listeners to your brand. Work to link these personality blogs with bloggers in your market and entertainment-based sites so that they draft listeners toward on-air content. Encourage them to ?get sticky? and engage listeners to share, participate and educate others about their blog and causes they share with the personality. Your personalities can?t write? That?s so 2008. Today is about engagement; that starts with having something to say that reflects interests of the listeners you most want to attract on-air and off.

5. Use YouTube and other resources to explode sharing. Of course, nothing will happen to any of your content unless it is rich and targeted to the listeners you want to attract. Get creative and share things listeners will want to share with friends, family and others. Do this and your social media influence will explode.

6. Go back to the school of hard knocks. Invest in knowledge and learning new tricks. Great radio always reinvents itself. Learn how to use new knowledge to bring what is fun, hip, cool, valuable, and relevant to your attractable audience every day in social media. And always focus on luring listeners back to the website and on-air that you own because that is the true measure of success in putting social media to work for your brand.

Times are changing. They really are. If you bend, you won?t break. If you are rigid and refuse to adjust with the changing times, you will be run over and left behind.

Now is your time. Embrace the future because it is here today with social media and digital solutions that can be used by radio to grow our future.

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. 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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WNYC Radio Hires NY Times Vet as VP of News

6-24-2012
WNYC Radio in New York says Associate Managing Editor at The New York Times Jim Schachter will become Vice President for News beginning July 9th. It's a newly created position which puts Schachter in total control of the WNYC Radio news brand, including editorial decisions. Schachter spent 17 years at the Times, ?WNYC?s talented staff, enterprising spirit and public-service mission make it an incredibly appealing place to practice high-impact journalism. I?m delighted to have the opportunity to join an institution that I have long admired, and humbled to be leading a newsroom that has such deep respect for the intelligence and engagement of its audience.?
New York Public Radio CEO Laura Walker said, ?We are thrilled that Jim is bringing his extraordinary editorial skills and track record of success to public radio. He has a vibrant vision, an appetite for innovation, and a keen understanding of engaging audiences. This will bolster our ambitious plans to grow our news content and increase our reporting capacity across all platforms. We?re delighted that he is joining us at a moment when the need for serious journalism has never been more urgent.?

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