In a recent episode of Yellowstone, Summer Higgins (played by Piper Perabo) tells ranch hand Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) that in another few decades what Rip does for a living will be extinct. Sound familiar?
Rip replies, “150 years ago, John Deere made wagons. They were smart enough to know that when the engine was invented, horses were done pulling people around. So they started making tractors. Still do. They rolled with the changes. I guess we’re just gonna have to do the same, too.”
So it is for media. Not just radio, but all media. We need to evolve.
Think about where we’ve been and where we are today. Many in radio today have dim memories of radio and television as the primary electronic medium enjoyed by many millions. A handful of stations in a market. Even fewer in communities located far from metro centers.
There was little competition, although it was real and genuine competition. I often tease my friends who start down the “good old days” trail that they should’ve had a 50 share. The level of competition is so much greater today that in many ways the best thing to carry over from those days is the experience learned by having to do everything yourself.
Cable TV was the first to impact legacy media and fight for an audience by offering many entertainment and information options. Next was Satellite Radio with its commercial-free channels. Then came downloading music on mobile devices, the Apple iPhone, the DSPs, audiobooks, and the mobility and cornucopia of audio & video streaming services available. The battleground remains vying for attention within the 24 available hours each day.
Radio and TV are wagons that have yet to become tractors.
Radio – in its most basic sense – is the same now as in 1948. Entertainment or information delivered over the air with commercials interspersed in an hour. That’s it. We’ve added HD2 and HD3 channels (which have always been available as sidebands, but the receiver didn’t exist to the public), and expanded distribution through streaming to include apps & smart speakers, on-demand audio, and podcasting.
For the most part, though, it’s someone in front of a microphone presenting content or putting on a “show.”
This glacially-paced evolution is taking us to something akin to the European model: more nationally syndicated programming, larger groups centering programming regionally and using talent across multiple markets, and – in some cases – offering them to companies beyond their own in an effort to get to break even or generate a small profit.
The objective should be to present great content by superior talent, yet these moves are often made to save money. I’m not criticizing that, because we are a “for-profit” business.
Much of what’s being considered today is actually a “back to the future” type of scenario. National programming existed decades ago. It’s not new. The NBC radio network had long-form programming that ran across multiple stations. It was named Monitor and ran all day long on the weekend for two decades.
ABC followed that with the Love Network, a nationally syndicated 24/7 FM Rock format. This type of mass distribution has returned and is growing across most formats. Be it from one of the multiple 24/7 satellite/digitally delivered networks or voice-tracking at a large scale, sharing talent across multiple markets has become the new norm.
This is a part of the evolution that’s needed. It’s one of necessity. Not just because of the financial pain point, but because of the level of competition that is faced by radio. The level of talent has to be lifted because of the David and Goliath battle we’re fighting. We’re the ones with the slingshot here. If we’re not going to value local talent, then we have to take advantage of technology to localize the content of national talent. That technology exists.
The evolution of radio should include utilizing multiple channels and delivering various segments of content to the audience in an on-demand or exclusive fashion. Imagine that your talent can create unique content that runs on subchannels on your station app. Think what it would be like to host your own YouTube channel on their platform and yours. No one has time to listen to a three- or four-hour program. Give the audience the option to take bites.
The necessary evolution requires engaging your local talent in blogging, going on sales calls as “ride-a-longs,” encouraging them to maximize their social media presence, connecting to an audience by using the listeners’ social media presence, and presenting content that is most attractive to the listener.
We’ve all heard of clickbait. What about listenbait? Can your talent be so interesting that they create habitual listening from an audience that is afraid they’ll miss something if they don’t listen? There’s the difference.
As of 2017, FCC AM and FM licensees no longer have to have a studio in their city of license. Imagine having local air talent or syndication at night, overnights, and weekends where many stations now segue music and throw away the chance to build an audience for the next day. Networks, syndication, and remote technology that allows for localization are all available upgrades to the non-primetime wasteland.
Using voice track talent is better than no talent. Radio cannot compete with the DSPs as a music entity. Talent are important.
It’s not just a programming side issue, either. I’ve had sellers and their sales consultants tell me that evenings and weekends don’t matter. While advertisers love Monday-Friday 6a-7p, it is a mistake to underestimate the worth of 7p-12a weekdays and all hours on the weekend.
Part of radio’s failure is the message we’ve sent to the audience. If we don’t care enough to deliver entertaining content, why should the audience spend its valuable time with us? We’re reaping what we have sowed. We have to evolve. Extinction isn’t an option.
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