As a company and in this blog space, we have taken an aggressive approach toward digital technology over this past decade. I don't regret it for a minute.
Now we're seeing important shifts. Advertising dollars are skewing toward digital and away from traditional media, and yet, I still hear the same questions:
Are you sure we should be streaming?
How can we sell all those digital activities we're creating?
Do we really need video on our websites, and webcams in our control rooms?
Will the Lions win a third game?
(OK, no one is asking that last question.)
But to provide some answers, let's turn to none other than Jon Stewart, the man behind the desk on The Daily Show. It is remarkable that Stewart's program has become a bona fide news source for millions of Americans, and it speaks volumes about just how far the networks and their affiliates have fallen.
Stewart was asked by Wired back in 2005 how consumers would watch the show in just a few years. And here was his reply:
"We make the doughnuts; we don't drive the truck."
Spoken like the great content creator that he is.
But for the rest of us, we have to focus our energies on making great donuts – the product, the air sound, the content. All the technology in the world isn't going to make up for a station that is simply not worth anyone's time.
But the distribution part – the truck – how people receive our content – is at the heart of the issue that many radio companies face.
Delivery is the challenge and it's the opportunity, and all these incredible ground-breaking content platforms – webcams, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, streaming, smartphone apps – are all ways that consumers are coming to expect to receive their "donuts."
In fact, if you have a great station or a must-listen-to show, your fans will give you lots of love when you provide them with a cool new distribution outlet. We see this in those reviews in iTunes when we design and launch an app for a popular station or personality.
New ways to enjoy your content is at the heart of the issue. While Jon Stewart may not have to worry about how viewers will enjoy his show in the coming years, the folks who run Comedy Central sure do.
You can look at these new distribution outlets as one big pain in the ass, as so many broadcasters have over the years. "If we can't pay for it, we're not going to do it," has been the mantra that has kept so many stations from fulfilling their digital potential.
Or you can look at them as creating more opportunity. Instead of thinking about all of these platforms as digital albatrosses, companies that truly have great content ought to view them as providing exponentially more avails – more ways for smart clients to participate, additional avenues to promote, market, and spread the goodness of their brands, and exciting new streams of revenue.
Maybe the reason many broadcasters can't sell digital is that they're using the same tools and the same people who have sold time by the pound for all these years.
With digital, the glass is half full, the trucks are idling in the loading dock, and your fans now expect you to understand their consumption patterns and desires.
Transmitters and towers were all you needed in 1985. In 2010 and beyond, we're all going to have to do better if we hope our content arrives at the desired destinations.
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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