We’re wrapping up our “Best of” series today before we get started with fresh content for the new year. As we enter a a brave new year, here is a post about a possible radio tomorrow that generated a great deal of traffic, comments, and buzz .
It’s about the future – or maybe it’s a statement about the past. But no matter how you look at it, this post addresses the question of whether tomorrow’s radio will remain live, local, and connected OR whether personality radio will become something altogether different. Whether an “artificial intelligence DJ” or a voicetracked jock who’s hosting middays at 25 Country stations, how will broadcasters address the challenge posed by increased competition, the ability to pay talent, and the optimal ways to build their brands? Will local personalities matter or will it be more about making stations sound as good as possible within the financial contraints?
Hope you had a great end of year and you’re ready to rock 2012. Tomorrow, we’ll start it off with a bang.
This crazy controversy about Denise, the artificial intelligence “DJ” being tested at KROV radio just took an interesting turn.
Alan Cross took on Denise in a recent blog. A couple of days later, we opined in this space about how seminal personalities can have great impact on local communities. WCSX’s Steve Kostan, recently inducted in the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, was our poster boy for personality radio done right.
Then last Friday, Denise’s Dr. Frankenstein, Dominique Garcia, responded to Alan’s blog. Garcia took a more defensive approach, and I’ve taken the liberty of lifting out a couple paragraphs from his response to Cross:
“The first thing I have to say is as much as personalities on the air do not want to believe this… listeners do not care about jocks. PPM proves once a jock starts to talk they flip stations. Statistics [PPM] clearly prove this. It is the egotistical mind frame of human personalities that makes them want to believe that radio cannot survive without them. Or that people listen solely for the jock. That is not the case and if you believe that you are mistaken.
Anything you can say on the air Denise can as well. She is not a robot, she is an artificial intelligence program. There is a big difference. The concept was simply an alternative method of achieving automation. It was a one time deal to show the proof of concept worked. Sure it can be perfected to be even better but still none the less a proof of concept.”
You can read his entire letter here.
Look, Garcia and other inventors have the right to create whatever kind of product they like. And the industry will determine whether they are viable enough to be successful.
>EMAIL RECIPIENTS: CLICK HERE TO VIEW DENISE VIDEO<
But his assumption that radio listeners don’t care about DJs is an extreme statement. It is true that a percentage of the audience would rather hear music without any other spoken word content. For them, there are Jack stations and other outlets that make it a positioning plank to be music-intensive. But to suggest that PPM “proves that once a jock starts to talk they flip stations” is simply incorrect, and demeans great personalities and the stations they represent.
Look at who’s on top of PPM ratings in market after market and you’ll find engaged, personality-oriented stations that reflect their community values. Last December, Arbitron’s most successful 18-34 and 25-54 year-old stations in PPM were two very personality-rich stations, Entercom’s KRXQ in Sacramento (Dog Face and Joe Maumee – pictured) and Clear Channel’s WDVE in Pittsburgh. Denise couldn’t break into a weekend airshift at either of these stations.
Radio will either commit to great local radio and personalities that matter, or succumb to music outlets like Pandora or iPods. We limit ourselves and our business if we make the assumption that only spoken word formats will have success in broadcast radio in the coming years. In the meantime, the invention of Denise should serve as a rallying cry for programmers and jocks around the country.
It is less about how Denise sounds and more about how you sound. Get in the car over Labor Day Weekend and listen to radio – in your town, in smaller markets where your cottage is located, or wherever you are – and tell me whether you’re hearing live, local, engaged radio. Or are you hearing voicetracked breaks, random content, and the lack of accompaniment as you enjoy your holiday?
The decision is in your hands. Your vision of radio – today and in the future – is very much going to determine whether Denise (or her next generation of DJ bots) is a part of your on-air lineup. This isn’t a debate about automation, voicetracking, or even artificial intelligence jocks like Denise. It is a fundamental conversation about how radio will survive down the road.
Garcia and Cross deserve credit for creating a point-counterpoint. So what do YOU hear? Let’s see some comments from personalities, programmers, and manager/owners about how you see radio’s future.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Someday a station owner with balls and a bank account will emerge and bring the DJ back because it will be new again! In the sea of sameness we hear today, the DJ will standout much like an Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees or Tom Brady. The question is, will this prolific owner arrive before today’s bottom line driven ownership finishes off what’s left of terrestrial radio and leaves it for dead or wait to rise like a Phoenix from the ashes to save the day?
Let’s hope so. But the degree of difficulty of the local talent route is heightened by costs and the challenge of getting top dollar for ads. Ownership needs a smart scheme to monetize hometown DJs – and the on-air staff needs to play ball, work the sales angle well, and provide better customer service. Thanks for the contribution to our blog.
Back when the world was young, radio grew talent. a jock started overnights, cut his chops and moved up or moved out. these days, our fields have gone dry and fallow. with voice tracking and jockless dayparts we have no opportunity to grow the next generation of talented air personalities. We have people on the air today who have no idea what the business of radio is about, how to work with sales staff or how to reach a client or audience. I worry about the future availability of good, hard working, reliable talent.
That being said, the answer is certainly not Hal 9000. Denise, while an incredible piece of tech has no soul, no imagination. It has no idea what OU/Texas means. It can’t wear a jersey or go to a show. It can’t drink a beer with listeners or raise a crowd to its feet at a sold out show. Long live real people!
David, well said. A recommitment to passionate, local on-air talent could be a difference maker. But it will require a sea change in philosophy at a time when radio is feeling the pressure from many angles. I believe your farm team comment is dead on. Thanks for chiming in.
Agreed, Premium-Choice type talent will not compete with live, local, ENGAGED, LOCALLY CONNECTED talent. But remember, radio is a local medium. I only have to compete against guys across the street when it comes to talent and jockless Pandora / iPod. If my local talent is only doing what Premium Choice does, why pay for them? Must be more than time, temp, and front/back sell.
We have the largest air staff of the 3 groups in our market, but the least number of stations. All of our guys are involved in local groups like the Chamber, Red Cross, Boy Scouts, etc and by choice. They know their success depends on their commitment to their audience. And with that, our ratings and revenue share are a testament to their success.
You can’t just throw money at a “big voice” talent either though, it has to be talent that is locally connected or will quickly become connected. Other group tried to bring in big market folks, didn’t work – acted like big market talent and alienated listeners.
You all sound like a group that “gets it.” That’s the only way that local talent will be able to survive and thrive given the pressures, financial and otherwise. Thanks for taking the time to comment & for reading our blog.
If I could go back, I would engage in conversation that did not make me come off as a hot head. That is simply not how I work and not how I wanted to come off. However that is how some people saw it. You have to realize I was being stoned in every direction. While many people liked the idea, even more did not. Those people certainly voiced their opinions on how horrible the idea was and how horrible of a person I was for presenting it.
If I could change anything, I would have never allowed the original voice to air and simply used the voice I used in hour 3 for the entire time. Interesting enough, Apple’s Siri debuted weeks after Denise made her first on air appearance. Even more interesting, Siri uses the EXACT same voice that everyone hated on Denise.
Since all this I perfected this and use a different voice. This is something that is do-able, however I am not pursuing it. This was just a one time deal. Now, if someone wanted to readdress it with all the improvements I have made, I would be willing to entertain the idea.
I would like to thank everyone, especially everyone at Jacobs Media Blog.
Dominique, don’t be too hard on yourself. I perceive you as an innovator and even a swashbuckler. Keep in mind that you’re going right at “the establishment” – radio operators who have a vested interest in live personalities and maintaining the status quo. I think that Siri was positioned as a helper, guide, curator, and aide. Denise was viewed as a poor replacement for DJs. Denise may have been beta but as you suggested, there are applications for a programmable, automated voice. Thanks for engaging in the conversation and I hope that in some way, you take this experience as enccouraging rather than discouraging. Success is not a linear upward path.
thanks for sharing.