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Myopic Media Mess

Many problems in radio anyone can do anything about are self-inflicted. Things have happened to radio no one can fix like new audience tastes, competitive media and technology. However, problems are compounded internally. Radio has been repositioned both creatively and physically as new media players compete for ears and relevance in new times.

 

Music, once the strong hold and essence of radio no longer has category crossing demographics. It has become virtually impossible to program and target 18-49 or 25-54 in one radio format unless its language and ethnic focused. Audiences both young and old have become eclectic. An entire generation programs for its personal tastes on IPods. Digital games eat hours out of radio listening. Radio shrinks because of less reach and TSL (time spent listening), a double whammy to ratings and revenues.

 

Radio creates its own content problems sounding like an old medium while new media competitors slice up radio core audiences. Many in control of the radio industry today came up through the medium are still addressing radio like it's the good old days. They trade new morning teams and re-position on air slogans but the real problem is dealing with what is going on outside the radio station.

 

Radio is now part of a crowded of field of digital media and technologies with new leaders and thinking reflecting new times and tastes. No one cares about radio unless it presents itself as a competitive source of entertainment or information.

 

Radio to millions of new generation thinkers has become white noise. Radio still owns car audiences only because of circumstance and logistics, it’s hard to do much else besides drive, listen and talk on cell phones. Many that listen to radio in the car feel captive as they punch around the dial avoiding the poor programming and way-to-long 60-second commercials that have said it all in 15 or 30 seconds at most.

 

That’s my opinion, what do you think?

 

Brian Bieler, author of The Sales Operator at   http://www.brianbieler.com/http://www.brianbieler.com/

 

Has Broadcasting Nuked the Fridge?

In the 80’s the term “jumped the shark” emerged from the very popular show “Happy Days”. Fonzie water-skied over a shark, which signaled the beginning of the show’s decline.

Now from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” we have Harrison Ford surviving a nuclear blast by hiding inside a refrigerator…HELLO, this franchise is over, past its prime. Has broadcasting nuked the fridge?

If you watched “Mad Men” last night, you know there was one commercial during the entire 60-minute program…BMW sponsored the show in a clever way. Go check it out :http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/, interesting tie-in. This was more product placement than network advertising. This is but one of the many signals of a major shift in where broadcasting is headed.

Many of you are in marketing, advertising and related fields, if not, you are a consumer of radio or tv. Therefore, you can relate to this: the days of “Mass Media” are over, sending your message out via broadcasting has “nuked the fridge”.

Several associates recently suggested I read “Purple Cow”; if you have not read this please go get it NOW! This completes the thinking of Tom Peter’s “Pursuit of Wow”, Pepper’s “One to One Future” and “The Tipping Point” by Gladwell. The past 15 years has completely changed how we communicate, how we think and how we use media.

When I launched my company less than two years ago, I began with assumptions based on 30 years of broadcasting and media experience. I knew how markets worked and I know the four P’s…well guess what? It is a whole new world out here.

In broadcasting we send the “message”, music or show out and speak to the target market. What has occurred during the past 15 years is a shift in that communication. People want what they want, when they want it on the device they want to use. The “Six O’clock News” is irrelevant. By six we already know what we need to know, we don’t have to wait for the Networks to tell us what is important.

This is a very exciting time in our history; let me know what YOU think.

Paul Anovick

AnovickAssociates.com

Developing Potential, Producing Results