Some big news from the HD Radio Alliance was their recent announcement that participating broadcasters are upping their advertising commitment to $250 million, up 20% from 2006 levels. This is impressive, and is indeed a sign that terrestrial radio is getting more serious about making a digital impact with HD.
But remember the first thing you probably learned when you started programming or managing a radio station: never market a product before it’s ready. Many of us have been burned by breaking this rule. I remember back when we started Jacobs Media, we were working with a heritage station that was in some trouble. To "hype" the upcoming book, the company came up with a Pontiac TransAm a day for 10 days. In those days – and TODAY – this was a mega prize, and a huge commitment.
You’ve probably guessed the sad end of the story. Despite the fact the company poured all this money into the station, the ratings went down. Beyond the cars, the station just wasn’t that good. We needed to fix the product first before asking listeners to spend time listening to it.
And that brings us to HD Radio. Sean Ross recently wrote an honest column about this topic, as did Paul Marszalek a number of months ago. The Alliance simply needs to do more than get cheaper radio into stores and more advertising into the ether.
When consumers get these radios home, what are they going to hear? Are broadcasters sinking enough thought, research, creativity, and resources into the programming of HD2 channels? What are the characteristics of new "hidden" stations that will be so compelling as to sell more radios or make purchasers happy with their decision? Like any new innovation, HD Radio’s best chance for growth is word of mouth. There’s positive and negative buzz, and in our increasingly techno-centric world, it doesn’t take too many bad reviews to sink a new technical innovation.
It’s great that broadcasters are making a financial commitment to HD Radio, but a "content commitment" would serve this new medium even better. And while we’re at it, how about a commitment from the Alliance that a teen-targeted HD2 station will be created in every market, utilizing young broadcasters from local colleges and even high schools? Now that would create some buzz.
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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Even you have missed the point – it doesn’t matter how much is spent on advertising, or the number of stations broadcasting in HD; the general public has been totally apathetic towards HD Radio, because it is a sub-standard re-work of old technology. There are too many other technologies that the public is interested in – Wireless Internet, Internet Radio, iRadio, WiFi, cell phone streaming, etc. And, it doen;t matter how many HD radios are put into stores – even the stores aren’t interested in marketing HD Radio. HD Radio is a fraud and has been a total failure – HD Radio/IBOC causes adjacent-channel interference and has only 60% the coverage of analog.
Rather than jump on the obvious “multiple” issues that many have pointed out with the HD launch and execution, I’ll mention one major issue:
$250 million of WHAT? That’s $250 million of “promotional inventory” on the “alliance member stations”. Yes, those famous ROS schedules that radio knows and loves and assigns big rate amounts to the flight to rationalize it’s investment
Want to show me something? Show me a MEDIA mix. Show me TV, outdoor, internet, print, radio and O.O.H! Show me a agency or a media plan or some (dare I say) $$$$$ invested in promoting or explaining this product outside of our own “stores”.
At the very least, show me ONE station that “bumps” a cash advertiser to make sure this important, “vital” message gets good placement on their station and THEN you may get my attention.
Is “boondoggle” spelled with two “o’s” and two “d’s”?
Amazing.