In my travels, I get to chat with many radio personalities, more and more of whom are in the process of rethinking their brands, their material, and their outlets. In short, more than ever before, they are considering themselves as brands and content creators.
And more often than not, their programmers and managers are encouraging them to test drive different touch points in an effort to spread their content to new platforms…and new audiences. But the devil is in the digital details, because there is no obvious pathway to success.
Adam Carolla has had success with podcasts in his post-broadcasting life. Tom Leykis has created a streaming radio/podcasting empire. Jim Ladd is now playing deep Doors songs on satellite radio. And Steve Dahl and Mark Thompson have shifted from the airwaves to podcasting and now back to the airwaves.
Each of these guys has a unique story and trajectory. But they’re all doing it differently. And for personalities who are still making a nice living on AM/FM radio, ensconced in their respective communities, the question revolves around which delivery systems make the most sense.
But it’s not just about “the trucks.” Attention to content, and customizing it for the right portals is a key to success, as many of these personalities will tell you. And perhaps the best way to learn about making the right moves is to study one of the masters, Jerry Seinfeld.
After creating and starring in perhaps the most successful TV sitcom in history, Seinfeld has scored again – online – with the web series, “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” that has featured everyone from Don Rickles to Steve Harvey to Howard Stern. These funny guys hang out with Jerry, without an audience or a laugh track. It’s a long way from Kramer, George, and Elaine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoDY3R18WIE
In a recent New York Times article, Seinfeld noted that studying other comedians and how they’ve attacked the web and other digital sources hasn’t been especially helpful. And in fact, just like in radio, many famous comics have struggled with this notion of going beyond the stage or television to translate their brands to the web and digital outlets. Seinfeld believes that “precedents are not helpful.”
His web series, powered by Sony’s Crackle streaming service, is now starting its sixth season and has been wildly successful. While Seinfeld often professes to not understand the intricacies and innards of the Internet, his instincts and recognition of who he is and what he knows go a long way toward explaining why this venture may end up running longer than his TV show.
If you take a deeper look at his successful “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” there are lessons to be learned about how to better ensure a profitable and viable outcome. They may serve as a guide to talent – like Seinfeld – who venture away from their home medium: in this case, radio.
- Go with what you know. This is great advice to anyone in pop culture or the arts. You can’t write a great blog about dining if you don’t really care about food. And in Seinfeld’s case, he knows comedians. The trick was to get them away from the standup stage, and in a more personalized, casual environment where we never see them.
- Persistently find a backer. Rather than go it alone, Seinfeld pitched the idea to everyone from YouTube to Netflix. Despite his reputation and track record, many balked. Sony bought in, but it wasn’t as seamless as you’d think. That could very likely to be the case even for a local market radio star. But there’s a lot to be said for nailing down the business details first.
- Define success. After years of a hit sitcom, Seinfeld had a clear understanding of what it means to win. His take? “Audience acceptance is the currency.” Simple, but that is the game no matter the medium.
- Break some rules. Seinfeld was told that 10 minute (or longer) videos wouldn’t cut it with the instant-gratified Internet audience. But those rules (think PPM) tend to apply to content that frankly isn’t great to begin with. Seinfeld had confidence in his content and made it work.
- Attack it with passion. Everyone interviewed for this Times story concured that a key to Seinfeld’s success – in everything he does – is the way he totally immerses himself. That would seem to be especially important for a new venture on a burgeoning platform.
- Dumb boldness. That’s the way Seinfeld describes the way he attacked the web series, essentially saying he knew very little about how to produce content for the World Wide Web. The money quote? “Dumb boldness is the best way to approach a new challenge.”
And when you think about some of your successes, perhaps that element of going after something new with force and a little swagger can overcome a lot of the rules and “isms” that so many people firmly believe are so-called “best practices.”
When I think about the creation of jācapps, the Classic Rock format, the DASH Conference, or even this blog, none of these ventures had a business plan or a lot of forethought.
They seemed like good ideas at the time.
Dumb boldness.
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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Fred, You can only have “Dumb Boldness” with applicable experience. Sadly, “thinking out of the box” appears to be on the outs with spread sheets that never cued a record or scored a show. It’s time to take bold steps to deliver the audio content many are ready to unleash. Summers are for new starts! Clark
No doubt, Clark, that experience matters. It’s something that many personalities have, but the key is harnessing it for the next phase of careers. It’s how radio will grow. Thanks for the comment and the perspective.
Another thought provoking post, as usual. I’ve seen every episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee since it started on Crackle. I’ve been a Crackle user since beta, and it isn’t the greatest service around, but this series keeps it on my phone. Proving people will go out of their way for great content, but that’s another discussion.
I had the pleasure of working for Jim Hilliard and Fairbanks Broadcasting back in the 1980s, and I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a business plan anywhere around that company. If we needed something, even something outrageous, we asked and either got it (usually) or didn’t. No calls to the Comptroller, no checking a spreadsheet, and it it worked, great. If it didn’t, we learned a lesson and nobody got fired or died. And we’re talking about REAL radio stations being run that way, WIBC, WNAP, KVIL, WVBF (in its prime) and others. Business plan? We didn’t need no stinkin’ business plan.
Over the years, broadcasters have stopped trusting their gut far more than they should. Sure, ANY product should be a combination of art and science, but the art part has slipped lower and lower on the broadcasters’ decision making list. Good broadcasters shouldn’t be enslaved by the company’s stock price, CFO, fear of layoffs, or other things that really do nothing directly for what comes out of the box, as in the radio, not the hackneyed term for new thinking.
Got a great idea? Go for it. Think you can disrupt the space? Give it a shot. If you’re not doing well doing what you’re doing, what to you have to lose? Don’t be reckless, but be bold. Do the unexpected, the innovative, the different, and let the world know about it, with or without a million dollar TV budget. (just trying to eliminate an excuse)
NO GUTS, NO GLORY!
Mark, these are spot-on comments about how personalities and broadcasters themselves need to “move their cheese.” So many of the processes that were common to radio’s historic greatness continue to work well today. Thanks, Mark.
The person who figures out how to actually make money doing only podcasts should get a Nobel Prize. Until then, I have bills to pay. Old fashioned radio it is.