Probing The Presidents

This Friday in Vancouver, I am moderating "The President's Panel" at the 65th meeting of the British Columbia Association Of Broadcasters.  Again this year, they have an amazing slate of impressive speakers and presentations.

Further proof of the pace of change affecting the media business:

A month ago I figured that most of our discussions would center around Bell Media's multi-billion dollar (just the RADIO assets are valued at more than a billion dollars) acquisition of Astral Communications which was announced as a continuation of the company's "four screen strategy."

I had been planning to talk to the executives about what their companies plan to do in the wake of that.

Then came the even more recent news that Vista Radio, with new backing from Westerkirk, is buying the Haliburton group, adding Haliburton’s 24 Ontario stations to fill in a geographic hole for Vista, which owns 38 stations in British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

Just last week,  Rogers Broadcasting announced its intent to acquire Métro14 Montréal (CJNT), enabling Citytv to expand its footprint in Quebec.

Almost immediately Citytv announced an affiliate agreement with the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group that will deliver Citytv programming to new audiences on a long-term basis on all three of Pattison’s television stations in Western Canada.

Is everyone else going to have to get bigger or go home?

I'll try to get your answer to that on Friday.

BCAB 2011 Wisdom

"People don't want to be friends with a toilet paper. Be more than a BRAND. Think gestalt and discovery. No one waiting to hear from you. Be real, compelling, personal. Stop broadcasting to a mass. Start listening. We only change when things stop working for us. You can profit from change" - John Parikhal

"There are no boring stories only boring story tellers. To master the digital world: Adhere to the principles of powerful storytelling. Entertain and inform whether it is live or on-demand. Keep in mind that shows that are downloaded may not be heard right away. Expect that when there's news of an immediate nature, or a big break in a story, people will still go to their radios, TVs, and computers with the expectation that you will give them the most immediate up-to-the moment information." - Valerie Geller

"Stay as current as you can with all the new media technology toys, but keep in mind that human stuff still always relates best. A station I work with got more hits and viral buzz that anything they ever did with listener photos in a "dog-human lookalike contest." - Daniel Anstandig

"Radio at its best is good people doing extraordinary things." - Paul Ski, CEO, Rogers Media/Radio Group

"Never make a key decision when backed into a corner under duress. There's ALWAYS a creative solution." - Anthony von Mandl, quoting his father

What a terrific meeting! I thought last year's was the best ever. Now, I must revise that opinion up one year.

Really, my ONLY disappointment was when I asked what the group heads were planning to do to grow top line in the coming year and it seemed like they all agree that 3% up this year is good.

Maybe it is when you're trying to move a behemoth, but I had hoped someone would challenge us to get rates up by getting beyond selling against one another to the same "buyers" and aggressively targeting new media business.

That's what the whole convention was about, and I was wondering if any of them would be so inspired that they'd see more revenue potential as a goal beyond pacing with the economy as a whole.

Gerry Siemens, British Columbia 2010 Broadcaster Of The Year

At Friday night's awards dinner in Victoria, the BCAB cited his years of building and dedication to the industry, his service as a past multi-term President of the BCAB, the founding of Pattison Group/Vancouver's Basics For Babies, the formation of The Peak Performance Project and his overall passion for challenging everyone he works with to improve and grow radio.

I first met Gerry when he came to CJJR 93.7 FM and what was then AM-600, energized the stations and more than doubled the cume (not to mention revenues and profits!) of both within just a couple years.

Of course, he would be the first to tell you that he didn't accomplish that alone. That's what makes him so special.

Gerry Siemens is a leader, a manager who builds effective teams and then inspires and motivates them to do great things, year after year and in situation after situation.

Thanks, BCAB, for recognizing his numerous impressive accomplishments!