.. which got me to thinking of other headlines it would be
wonderful to see in the coming year:
Those first four might possibly happen some day in my wildest imagination, but - when I read that final one - I knew I was visualizing the totally absurd.
4 comments:
Tim Davisson says "I had every intention of staying in radio ad sales 'til I was 66 or so” – but the business changed. Tim spent 30 years in local sales, "and nearly 20 years on the air in Cleveland, Akron and Tampa." He tells this NOW Newsletter "About 5 or 6 years ago, I began seeing nearly 80% of my base FM business (about 80% of my income) 'go national.' And with the 2008+ recession, local business began to fade. It was just impossible to stay even close to the same income, and I didn't see it getting better in radio. I had been looking around for something I could do to support myself after retirement from radio. Little did I realize it'd be my main source of income at age 63, when my 24-year radio career with a local group ended. Fortunately I'd been doing voiceover work on the side. I sought out and partnered with a veteran website developer/IT tech and the owner of a regional broadcast recording studio I've known for 30 years. My own baby - webconceptsofamerica.com - is growing and I'm having a great time in an exploding, world-wide industry. We have a combined 130 years experience in TV/radio production, videos, advertising/marketing sales, and web development & IT service. I am truly fortunate to have great partners" in a multi-faceted marketing business. Davisson says "I miss the way radio used to be...but time marches on. I own my own business that deals a lot with the same type of businesses I worked with in my 30 years in local radio sales."
I remember from my childhood a wooden jigsaw puzzle map of what were then the 48 states. The puzzle wasn’t complete unless one could fit all the pieces together to make one country, our country. But the House of Representatives has 435 separate pieces, each piece represented by a person speaking for communities with different ideas and approaches. On many occasions, we made it all fit together. Compromise was not heresy. Your opponent was not your enemy. The debate was choosing between better or worse policies, not good or evil ideologies. Of course, between good and bad there is a void of gray.
Two months shy of 30 years in the House, I leave a chamber in which we challenge one another’s legitimacy, not one another’s ideas. When I arrived in Washington, in 1983, Ronald Reagan was president, the Republicans controlled the Senate, and the Democrats were the majority in the House. Today the situation is reversed: Barack Obama is about to be sworn in for a second term, the Democrats control the Senate and the Republicans are in the majority in the House.
What has changed is the disappearance of the spirit of cooperation and shared sacrifice that, only three decades ago, could bring political opponents together. I came at a time of great hope and leave at a time when finding a middle path has become a much greater challenge.
So many things we need to do to strengthen local radio are common sense, but are so often forgotten.
My response to a recent question from All Access:
What are your top 3 tips for programming a really great Country station?
A) I truly believe in today’s highly “digitized” world people are actually looking more and more for “real” interaction with other people. So, you need to figure out ways to “engage” your fans. Hard to do in today’s automated world, but we all know it can still be done; it just takes a little more thought. Have “utility” and serve the community in which you broadcast.
People can get their music “fix” in more places than we can count today. It’s what’s in between the songs that sets you apart and keeps fans coming back.
Whether it’s a voice track, commercial, promo, PSA, or piece of imaging, it needs to be “special”. If you stop the music, make sure it’s compelling content that serves a purpose.
C) Over the last 15 years we have done a great job of taking the element of “discovery” out of radio. I know it’s tough to do in today’s environment, but you need to find ways to bring excitement back to the radio station, and that includes outside of morning show’s. Get fans to believe that once again they can come to your show and get turned on to something new. That’s right, your SHOW. If you want to do a shift go make lawnmowers. This is show business.
I hope I can figure out ways to successfully integrate good local radio with the digital platform. I truly think this is one of the most exciting times in many years to be in local radio, and the opportunities the digital platforms offer us is one of the keys. I want the opportunity to “hyper-localize” my content while finding ways to integrate it across the other platforms. Our fans are there, we can’t ignore it. We just need to find ways to utilize it in ways that are useful with our audiences, and yes, generate revenue streams! We are local, but our sandbox can be a large as we want it to be in our local communities. Digital is just a way of us harnessing the concept of “brand extension”.
Thank you, Ray. You are so right. And, as long as you threw in three, I will too.
Jaye's 3 Tips: get the music right by incorporating listener passions into your choices, song by song, teach talent to engage and relate, but do so in short bytes in order to respect the listener's ADD world today, keep all content fresh, new, fun, topical and personal with a voice that country fans identify with.
Once, radio's attraction to an owner was the high barrier to entry from competition. Now, the internet has torn down that wall and many who thought they were successful broadcasters do not have the chops to make it work, since every potential member of the audience is also a broadcaster now as well.
These days you must find a way to include all of the radio fan personal broadcasters in your target and spin their best productions into something they look up to, realize they could not create on their own and yet feel committed to and a part of.
Post a Comment