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March 2, 2017
The
gang at the music FIRST coalition isn’t going to like this. The NAB just
announced 13 Representatives and three Senators have joined as cosponsors of
the resolution that opposes “any new performance fee, tax, royalty, or other
charge” on local broadcast radio stations. The Local Radio Freedom Act now has
142 cosponsors in the House and 15 in the Senate.
NAB
President and CEO Gordon Smith said, “NAB is very thankful for the recognition
by Members of Congress of the indispensable role that local radio plays in
spurring music creation and promotion. Broadcast radio and the record industry
enjoy a long-standing partnership that has propelled countless artists to
stardom. We are grateful for the support from lawmakers in rejecting a
job-killing performance royalty that would harm a vibrant music economy.”
Adding
their support for the Local Radio Freedom Act in the House are Reps. Mo Brooks
(AL-5), Susan Brooks (IN-5), Mike Coffman (CO-6), Charles Dent (PA-15), Kay
Granger (TX-12), Trent Kelly (MS-1), Ron Kind (WI-3), Dennis Ross (FL-15),
Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-9), Mark Walker (NC-6), Rob Wittman (VA-1), John Yarmuth
(KY-3) and David Young (IA-3). Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND), James Inhofe (R-OK)
and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) are the new cospsonsors of the Senate resolution.
Radio: The Original
Social Medium
By Barry Cohen -
March 1, 2017
(By
Barry Cohen) Sales managers, raise your hands: How many of you are looking at
your downtrodden, well-meaning, well-trained salespeople who return from a day
on the battlefield, scarred by the big objection? Your clients are increasingly
moving their money out of radio and onto the Internet — with more and more of
it going to (yes) social media. Your clients have drunk the
Kool-Aid. They’re so scared not to be there that they’ve even
committed a chunk of their budget to hire a specialist — a social media expert.
What to do?
Well,
even though you sharpened your spears and arrows (and your antenna), you may
still be missing the mark. You need to tell your clients that everything they
love about the Internet (and social media), you have right in that little box
with the speakers in it. You see, radio has always been a social medium. In
fact, it was the original social medium.
People
refer to how many followers you have online. Well, radio
stations have rabid followers. Years ago, I worked for a suburban Rock station,
and at one of the many station parties, a listener approached the owner and
asserted, “You think this is your station? Well, it’s our station!”
He could not have paid him a higher compliment.
In
Internet parlance, we always hear people talk about how interactive social
media is. People have been interacting with their favorite radio stations for
years, by phone, sending letters and postcards, showing up at events,
e-mailing. Just tell a listener he or she can win a prize, meet the talent,
enjoy 60 seconds of fame on the air, and they will interact with your station.
And sponsors have always capitalized on that interactivity. You’ve got a
captive, motivated audience. It’s your moment!
Every
day you hear Internet sages talk about influencers. Radio
personalities and newscasters have been influencing everything from what soup
you buy to the outcome of elections since the 1920s. It doesn’t get any more
influential than that.
We all
know the Internet is fast. And today, speed is important. Once again, folks,
welcome to radio, the king of all copy-changers. Live reads can change in minutes.
And yes, we’ve been doing that for years on radio, too.
Let’s
not forget what occurs when we combine influence and speed: We can
change the course of a consumer purchasing decision at the last
minute. True story: I was hired to manage a station in Virginia. I was
keeping my home in New Jersey and taking an apartment near the
radio station. I needed a microwave oven for the apartment. I was
on my way to the nearby K-Mart, heard a spot on the car radio for a
sale at an appliance store 10 miles down the road, turned the car around
and purchased the microwave there instead.
People
claim they love the flexibility of the Internet. On radio, you can shape your
message for each audience; you can pick your time of day, day of the week. You
can even change your message to match the weather. I sold a ski shop a radio
schedule during a 50-degree winter with no snow. How? By promising the owner
that his commercial would only air if it snowed and if the snow stuck to the
ground — and he would only pay for what aired. No risk, all reward. It snowed
the next week, and we had his dollars (and his confidence) before anyone else.
What
else do your clients love about the Internet? That things go viral and you can
share them. Well, folks, radio has been viral and shared for
a long time. In 1979, in Trenton, NJ, WTTM-AM afternoon personality Bo Weaver
decided to do a one-man protest over the Arab oil embargo. He nailed himself
into the studio and played the same song over and over again for hours. Even
the switchboard at the competing station across town lit up with phone calls.
People called friends and family. The story hit the wire services and went
coast-to-coast and even overseas. Now, that’s viral.
So,
what else do people love about the Internet and social media? We often hear
that it’s audience-driven. Well, so are the most successful radio stations.
That’s why we do audience research. We program for our communities, not for
ourselves. When I was hired to do a turnaround, we had no research budget. So
the entire staff made callouts to local residents and asked them what they
wanted to hear, and we took their suggestions.
Maybe
the our new tagline should be “Radio: It’s Everything You Love About the
Internet.” It doesn’t get any more social than that.
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