There’s Content and Then There’s the Right Content.

I was scrolling though my Facebook feed this morning…as many of us do…and noticed an update from a radio station that I use to program in Des Moines. It was what I consider a pointless status update, more of a commercial than an update really. I’m sure most would just scroll by or delete it. Being in the content building business, I headed to their page. Oh boy…

A quick bit of  background here: 95 KGGO is a Rock station that, over the past 35+ years has evolved into a Classic Rocker. They’ve always been a monster in the market and set the tone for rock in central Iowa for years. Personally, my 13 years there as Promotions and Program Director generate some of the best memories I have of my days “in radio.” Like many stations it has become less local and live staff has become scarce. I’m sure a favorite station of yours “isn’t what it use to be.” But this is not about whining about the “good ol’ days” of radio. The fact is, the way the business of broadcasting is done has changed. However, the need to build audience and create fans has not.

That brings me back to their page. It does little if anything to make anyone care about KGGO. It does little to tell me about what and who they are. It does little to make me love them. It does EVERYTHING to sell me something. And that is exactly why they are failing in taking advantage of Facebook as a way to create passionate, lasting fans.

I’ve noted the problem areas in the screenshot on the left. (Click on it to open a larger version)

  1. The ‘About Us’ doesn’t tell me about them. It offers a phone number that, when called, went unanswered. This station has heritage (note 35+ years of it above), is there really nothing you can tell me about?
  2. The “Listen Live” image/link takes me to a page that has no audio and no information listed. If you’re going to have a “listen” link there, I really ought to hear something.
  3. There is soooooo much content dedicated to “pimping” the station and contesting. For years, the effectiveness of “caller number nine” contests on radio has proven to be nil. Why would anyone think it would be great to promote it on Facebook?
  4. Holy crap! Some actual personality content. I love the South Park version of on-air guy, Clutch. There’s an actual attempt at interaction with fans. Sadly, it goes no further than one question. There’s no conclusion. The photo of the guy with the hat (on larger version) is hilarious. While I’m sure the first reaction by the station brass is that they would not like this guy to show up at a client. However, the thing to do is embrace him. Make this guy the Fan of the Week. Too much fun is possible here.

What kind of content creator would I be if I didn’t offer some additional ideas on what to post that someone would really care about, keep them coming back and (shocker) actually listen to the station. Okay, along with what I’ve already mentioned, here you go:

  1. Involve your fans. Why not check out some of the pages of your fans and share something they are sharing. Keep it light-hearted and don’t get personal. If their sharing a link to something the station is known for, share it. Don’t share personal tragedy or hardship. You want them to like you…
  2. More photos of events…with fans.
  3. Snippets of on air audio.
  4. Comments from the staff. In this case Bob and Tom, a syndicated show, isn’t in house and can’t comment on every affiliate’s page. But, they are commenting on their own page. Share it.
  5. Video, video, video! Create your own, share music videos, comment on Youtube.

So, who’s’ going to do all this? Start with the person that seems to have plenty of time to post ads and promos for contests now, but also involve everyone of the people at the station. They’ve probably got more ideas! By the way, have they all “Liked” your page?

Sadly, KGGO is not alone here. It’s a challenge each and every day with each and every project to keep fresh and compelling content coming. It’s not easy and it’s really not free but, it is worth it. so, Do it for the fans!

Dave Does Digital: A Morning Show and Social Media

How a Twin Cities morning mainstay, The Dave Ryan Show, is using social media.

I admit it, I listen to commercial radio quite a bit…yes, even Top 40. I know this is hard for many to admit. There is this pressure that if you don’t listen to NPR all the time you’re some how less of a person. I have my public radio favorites and still love to dig for new and more independent music, but I like hearing the “hits”. It’s the way I was brought up. Whether they be current or more from my formative years, I listen to rock, alternative, country and pop stations and the “hit” music they play. Besides, with a pre-teen and teen in the house and car it’s pretty much a given that I’ll be hearing my fair share of Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift.

It’s for that reason that I noted and was impressed with how one of Minneapolis’ local shows was using interactive and social media tools. What was also impressive was how they were integrating it into their on-air presentation. They often noted that more and sometimes exclusive content could be had online…a practice all too often avoided by stations and personalities.

As I have commented here on RemainComm, commercial radio as a whole has  been slow in adopting and investing in the new forms of media that allow the growth of relationships with their listeners. OK, some just plain suck at it. KDWB’s Dave Ryan Show is an exception. Dave and his cast have done some interesting things and I had a chance to chat with him about his interactive pursuits. [Read more…]

Mel Reveals the “Magic”

Mel Karmazin. Mention that name to a broadcaster or business pundit and you’ll trigger a vast array of words, phrases, and emotions, many I won’t say here (mostly to avoid triggering of any parental controls on your browser). Brilliant, bastard, visionary, cheapskate, anger, respect, love, hate…are just a few of the words that might be associated with Mel. I myself arrived at CBS Radio just after Mel left and the “burn the furniture” era (supposedly) ended. The phrase that is probably the most consistent across the board would probably be “outspoken”.

In this December 30, 2009 interview with Charlie Rose, the former CEO of CBS and current CEO of XM Sirius Satellite Radio, as well as the man responsible for making Howard Stern (second only to Howard himself) insanely wealthy, commented on many issues that face the media business today. But, in his outspoken style, he also reveals the “magic” ingredient of the business model for what is now known as “traditional” media and why it no longer works.

You can see the full interview by clicking here and entering the word “Karmazin” in the search box. Sorry, but Charlie hasn’t made this video shareable as of this writing.) You can also get a copy of the transcript. [Read more…]

Radio: Welcome Back Your New Audience

Attention radio: Today Steve Jobs is offering up a whole new audience to you. OK, it’s not a new audience, it’s an audience that has been lost to downloadable music…the parade of internet sites, streams and mp3 players. The leader of which is the iPod. Since it came out so many millions of units sold ago (100 million Nanos alone.), Apple has steadfastly refused to include an FM radio with it…until today.

During the Apple “It’s Only Rock and Roll” event a healthy and reinvigorated Steve Jobs made the announcement along with others including the release of iTunes 9 and iPhone OS 3.1.

The new generation of iPod Nano now comes with an FM radio and a video camera. Radio Rejoice! I’ll let others spend time on why they think Jobs has changed course.

Most importantly, radio, here is your challenge…welcome these disenfranchised listeners back with content that they will love and spend time with. Think about it! The single most popular device that has kept listener’s ears away from your radio station now includes your station as a choice. Now those iPod users that are tired of listening to their library, are tired of hitting the skip button, and don’t have time to download anything new can listen to your content…without removing their ever-present ear-buds.

I believe the course is clear! Make sure your content is something they can love.

Expectations: DENIED!

My 11 year-old daughter asked me to “hurry up a little” as we drove home from her 3 on 3 basketball game where, I might add, she totally rocked on defense! But I digress… The reason she wanted to get home was to watch a new show she likes on the ABC Family network. If you have a tween or pre-tween you may know of the show of which I speak…Ruby and the Rockits. Yes it’s another ‘ordinary girl with incredible vocal talent living life where madcap situations arise each day with plenty of chances to sing a song’ premise.  Anyway my daughter liked it and wanted to see it.

I‘ve seen the show once or twice. Hey, who of my generation isn’t curious what David Cassidy is up to these days. In fact, Ruby and the Rockits gives you an update on all the “Cassidy boys” with brother Shaun producing and half-brother Patirck co-starring. (In the ‘old’ days, that would have been a lot of hair and hip-huggers…now, not so much.) Together with my expectations of a network with the name ABC ‘Family’, my impressions of the one episode I had seen, and the fact that the show rating was well within the parameters to avoid being block by the parental controls, I figured it a go for 11 year-old viewing. Um, yeah.

As I sat working on my laptop I was startled to hear a scene in which one of the younger characters voiced the line “ass-kisser” disguised in a sneeze. Huh? Not five minutes later another young character looked at the sneezing character and promptly shot a “bitch” across his bow. What the…? Hey this wasn’t what I had signed on for. Expectation: DENIED!

We’ve all come across these contradictions in brand on plenty of occasions. Remember the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”. That brief bit of exposed portion of breast was extremely tame by today’s television standards. That it happened in the middle of a sporting event..the most watched sporting event…was what caused such a fuss. Expectation: DENIED!

Right now, in my town, an FM Talk Station that has positioned itself as the conservative talker, with a line up that includes Rush Limbaugh, has decided that it will not be a talk station on the weekends. Instead they will play classic rock instead. Again I say, what the…? If I were a conservative looking for a little solace while perhaps I’m out burying ammo on the weekend and I tuned to my stations and heard the rock band Rush instead of the right-wing Rush, I would be scratching my head and wondering what happened. And no letter from the Program Director posted on the website would make it clear to me. Expectation: DENIED!

These lapses in delivering on expectations by these media brands are sometimes mistakes but sometimes are purely driven by the hope of short term gain. ABC Family to appear to be hip and KTLK to maybe steal a rating point or two from the other rock stations…if only for the weekend.

This is what those that come up with these ideas like to position as “out of the box” thinking. This is more like short-term thinking.

Real brand pros look well past the next week, or the next quarter, or even the next year and remember that without the brand they have nothing that can sustain them for long periods of time. A brand will continue to pay dividends well beyond a tactic or a stunt. So every tactic or stunt must reflect the brand not contradict it.

What’s your brand? What are the expectations of your customer? Are you fulfilling them every single time your customer comes in contact with your brand? They should!

Gary Koelling Gets Personal With Radio

I’ve written before about my involvement with the Conclave , an organization that seeks to educate radio broadcasters. This year I had the pleasure of heading up the planning of the Tech/Interactive Track at this year’s Learning Conference (#clave09), underway right now in Minneapolis. I’m thrilled that I have been able to include many of Minnesota’s tech, interactive and social media “stars” as part of the agenda.

One of those “stars” is Gary Koelling, Best Buy’s Social Media guru and founder of Blueshirt Nation, Giftag and IdeaX. I asked Gary to talk with my broadcast brethren about increasing radio’s ‘signal strength’, a phrase Gary coined during a conversation we had some time back that refers to reaching customers through social media.

I met with Gary about an hour before his presentation because he wanted to show me what he came up with. I trust Gary implicitly to put together a great presentation on this topic…and he did. No surprise! I had expected to politely preview his slides, say “Cool!” and move on.

What I experienced, and what the attendees saw was a deeply personal story reflecting Gary’s passion for this medium and what it has meant to him over the years. He told me that every time he sat down to build his presentation he found himself “yelling” at radio for what it has become. He told me, “That’s not helpful to anyone.” So what he did was take everyone through the emotional relationship he has, and I bet all of have had, with radio.

“Other stations can steal your listeners, they can’t steal your friends.”

What Gary did at the Conclave Learning Conference was remind broadcasters about the personal connection that they must maintain with their listener’s to survive. A connection, or as Gary noted, a “friendship” that has become less important in a world where making their quarterly numbers.

Gary, thank you for taking an hour of your day to empower broadcasters by sharing your knowledge in such a personal and emotional way. They’re still talking about it…the next steps is to act.

Here is Gary’s opening “story”. See the slide deck (though I think the picture you see in your mind will be better) on Gary’s blog.

I remember as a kid growing up in the 70’s in the middle of a corn field in Iowa feeling radio was the one thing that reliably connected me to the broader world. Locally as in the world ‘in town’ but also the world beyond. Listening during the long summer breaks to KWAY and the daily “Swap and Shop” and lives coming together, lives falling apart. Revealed to me in the items that people needed or needed to get rid of. The stories of lives beginning and lives ending and unexpected twists and detours in otherwise normal, boring lives were told in elaborate and veiled detail from eleven to one every day.

Later, as a car-less young teenager, I got around on tractors and bicycles and dirt bikes up and down gravel roads and through the fields of corn and corn and soybeans listening to radios, discovering popular music, music that was not my parents’ and feeling connected to that agitated, rebellious, horny angst of 38 Special, and Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers and Steve Miller. Then feeling so desperate to be part of it and for it to be part of what I was trying to be. I called the KFMW request line – long distance. A human answered the phone. Older. Male. Deep and busy sounding. I stepped up and said could you play ‘Refugee’ for Christie. What song you want played? Uh, Refugee by Tom Petty and the – . Refugee. Alright I’ll get it right on kid. Click. And my chest felt full of hot blood and breath and my face was hot red and I got on my ten speed and pedaled hard up the road with a radio hanging over the ram horn handle bar of my bike. I prayed I could get to Christie before the DJ played the song.

I wanted to see her face. Take credit. Get laid. But Christie wasn’t home. I hung out under the tree across from her driveway, heart beating frantically, hoping that the song wouldn’t come on. Then her mom’s car crawled up the road and slowed as it passed me and pulled into the driveway. I played it cool as her mom squinted over the wheel at me, the radio playing as it hung from my handle bars. I practiced in my mind how I would tell her that I requested the song for her. Her favorite. That I thought I was falling in love with her. And we’d kiss. That afternoon we talked for hours and hours feeling half drunk from the smell of sun and pool water and sweat and faint cigarette smoke that only a fifteen year old girl can twirl together into the sweetest perfume a fifteen year old boy would ever smell.

Then as the fireflies came out and the sun got low she had to go in for dinner. I rode home slow. And the song came on. And that heavy, hot blood and breath came back into my chest. And then I was a teenager. A teenager as free and angry and in deep and desperate as any had ever been and protected only by a transistor FM radio.

Hear It From a Judge

Best Buy CMO, Barry Judge shares his thoughts on the importance of listening in this video. Pay special attention to his comments on how marketing through this medium is different from the more “simple” traditional media. “You don’t get to tell customers what they get to think anymore.”

Radio…Still Not Just For AM/FM Anymore

I had the chance to sit in on the Infinite Dial presentation by Arbitron and Edison Research. (Check out my post on last year’s presentation.) Of course I encourage you to take a peek at the presentation. In the meantime…the highlights!

First and foremost, a bit of perspective. Sponsored by Arbitron, who serves the broadcast industry, this webinar was designed to target terrestrial broadcasters, you know, AM/FM. So keep that in mind as you read this and as you look at the actual presentation. Hopefully it will continue to push them to adopt and take advantage of the online opportunities that are present today.

Second, the term “online radio” for the sake of this research, references the 11% who listen to the online stream of an AM/FM station plus the 9% that listen to an online only, or “pure-play” product (Pandora, Slacker, etc.)

Continuing to dispel the myth that only the “young” audience listens to radio online, of the now 42 million who listened to online radio in the past week, this years research noted strong use balanced nicely across all age demographics. In addition, the listener tended to be more “upscale” as it applies to income and education.

What is attracting listeners to online? The answer is really of no surprise to regular readers of this blog. It’s all about control and it’s step-sister choice. Note the nod to “variety” which I think really means choice. (Of course, to many of my colleagues in radio, will see this as justification to continue to totally overuse the word in station imaging and branding. Ick.)

Arbitron took the time to remind us that, as it applies to the PPM (Personal People Meter), internet only radio or podcasts are not encoded and are not reported. I think it’s kind of cool to point out the lack of efficacy of the Arbitron product in a world that is rapidly using other platforms to hear radio. To be fair, in answer to my question, “Will Arbitron be seeking to encode and track said online delivery?” they did answer yes! (Though, no timeline was given.)

The study did note that 27% of Americans have purchased digital audio online. BTW, online radio listeners who buy jumps that number to 43%. No numbers on pirated music was noted.

In the world of downloadable content, of particular interest to me and my involvement in the Association for Downloadable Media, the term Podcast (love it or hate it) has taken hold with 43% of Americans being aware of podcasts. Always the master of the understatement my friend Tom Webster of Edison pointed out that “podcasting is now mainstream!” Hey, 27 million Americans who have listened to a podcast in the last month can’t be wrong!  One last podcast tidbit…podcast  use already eclipses satellite radio. There’s that “control” thing again!

Speaking of other content sources, here are some quick hits…

  • Satellite radio use…leveled off.
  • HD Radio…though 32% are interested in HD the presentation didn’t make mention of usage, which can’t be good. “HD Radio…Hello, is this thing on?”
  • Cell phone…has the biggest impact on on listener’s lives. Prompting Tom’s comment that the cell phone is the transistor radio of today. (For those of you who are saying “Transistor Radio? It’s what Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa carried before the boombox or iPod…groovy.)
  • Video…just plain blowing up online! (“America is literally looking outside the box.”)

So here’s the upshot, the big kahuna of take-aways, from this presentation for radio and any content producers: Consumers expect to find their desired content online and that includes them wanting expanded media options while in their cars. Can you say Wimax? That’s not to say the current mediums are dead. Clearly they still reach ears. However, if you can’t give it to them on multiple platforms through multiple channels, your chance of them hearing you is diminishing everyday.

A Station Stops Streaming: A Statement About Fees.


While I’m here in Austin frolicking at SXSWi where, judging by the attendance and attitude, business is good and there doesn’t appear to be a recession, comes word that B101 in Philadelphia has decided to pull the plug on streaming it’s content on line.

At first blush, those who follow radio and it’s current struggle to remain relevant, at least compared to it’s historical barometer, this appears as sheer madness. How could we possibly not be online with our product? Isn’t the point to be everywhere our potential listeners are?

The answer to these questions is, of course, yes! But the overriding factor here is for radio to also be successful at redefining it’s business model in the long run. And frankly, the current SoundExhange fee structure does not provide for that. Jerry Lee, owner of B101, who would never be called short-sighted, is actually reacting more to the future of rates. He looks down the road, factors in the success of his current monetization efforts and sees no way of sustaining the model….as it stands.

[Read more…]

One Answer To “Radio, What Do We Do Now?”

(This post is a response to a call from Mark Ramsey of Hear 2.0 and Radio & Records magazine for ideas that can help secure radio’s future. See a pdf here. Note: RemainComm is referenced as “a Social Media consultancy.” Though Social Media represents one of our core competencies, RemainComm encompasses many media strategies, both interactive and traditional.)

As I pointed out in my Social Hour webinar of the same name, it is vital for radio to Join the Conversation online through a well thought out and executed social media strategy and the appointment of someone to oversee it.


For the sake of this discussion, compliments of Wikipedia, “Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings and most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.”

In radio, too many times our presence on the internet is merely a stake in the ground, allowing us to proudly proclaim, “Yes, I am online!” Radio’s presence in the online space needs to be more than signing up for a MySpace page or Twitter account. It must be about using those tools to reach and build stronger relationships with your audience…to engage them in conversation. The use of social media will allow you to take this one way medium, radio, and turn it into a two-way conversation.

[Read more…]

Change Is Inevitable

I recently presented a webinar to a group of radio broadcasters. Entitled The Social Hour: Joining the Online Conversation, it was designed as a general overview of social media and it’s ability to allow radio, a medium that has mastered the art of talking, to start listening to and participating with it’s audience.

I’m happy to say that those that joined the webinar stayed for the duration and asked some good questions at the end, one of the best of which came from a public broadcaster in Wisconsin. He asked if I thought radio would have to change the content of their programming to better serve a population that has increasingly more choice and control of what they hear.

Though I hope I diplomatically answered the question during the session (After all, this was a webinar about social media not radio programming), the answer would have to be a resounding yes. To think that any business model can continue to function as it always has in light of growing user control and competition would be folly. And, though the question was raised by a group of radio folks, it could just as easily be raised by retailers, service providers, or any number of businesses. If we were to simply look at the history of electronic media we’d see that this is not a new phenomenon.

Lives were changed when the radio was first invented. Here was a medium that could reach many with the human voice, not just with words on a page.The medium was all about long form programming. From news, to live music, to serial programming, there was suddenly another outlet other than newspaper to get information. When television joined the fray, radio and movie theaters for that matter, adjusted what they were providing. Serials gave way to short form programming and focused music formats.

In addition, the rise of localized content became paramount. The large networks that provided programming for the individual stations was slowly replaced with locally focused content. You could still count on national information, but depending on where you were, you were provided information that catered to your local area. Being a midwesterner, the example that leaps to mind is the proliferation of agricultural information. (I still don’t know what the hell a pork belly is?)

Only recently (the last 12 years) has radio moved back to a national model. Not because of the need of the listener but because of the requirements of the business plan to consolidate costs.

Therein lies the trap. In a time where user control is reaching new heights, the need to provide a more tailored, focused, and unique product continues to grow. In a time where the generic can be easily avoided some businesses, radio included, look to provide the opposite of what is being sought. Even on the web, which is after all “world-wide”, content producers are finding that localization and specialization are where it’s at.

Just like community relations and customer service has been impacted by the rise of the online generation, the way we provide goods and services, as well as the business models that drive them, will need to adapt. Traditional media will be with us for years to come, the business of that traditional media will continue to change…and we all have ideas of what the change should look like. But that’s another discussion…or discussions.

Nielsen to Provide (Same?) Radio Ratings


Nielsen, by way of the announcement of a deal with Cumulus Media, entered the radio ratings fray. They seem to have girded their loins to take on Arbitron, the undisputed king of radio ratings services. My question is: What will they offer that is different from what Arbitron is providing? What is needed is actual use, not the reliance on memory, to make the case to advertisers

At first blush, other than different names for the same services…we can’t seem to get past the pencil.* OK, I’m guessing they are offering to do it cheaper. Price is clearly the driving force behind most broadcast media decisions. But, beyond that, according to the rather brief New York Times article, ‘Nielsen will produce ratings by collecting diaries from respondents.’ This is the same methodology that has been provided by Arbitron forever. The Times goes on to point out, ‘Arbitron’s effort to gradually replace diaries with an electronic form of measurement, personal people meters, has led some station owners to complain.’

So let’s recap…a radio company is going to reinvest in questionable recall, diary (read pencil and paper) methodology because the new electronic technology, which is in it’s very infancy, isn’t giving them the results they want (and, BTW, is also much more spendy than said diaries.).

To be fair the pitch from Nielsen talks about all sorts of cool stuff to make data collection more, as they say, robust. Their ‘addressed based sampling’ (ABS) is promising access to “the 34% of U.S. households that are not covered by current sampling methods”. Other nifty commitments include;

[Read more…]