How many conventions, state broadcaster association gatherings, and conferences have you attended in the past few years that shared a common theme:
REINVENT, REIMAGINE, RETHINK, RESHAPE, REBUILD, REMAKE, RETHINK RADIO
On its face, it’s a strong indicator that many in radio believe the industry needs analysis, research, and new strategic planning. Simple makeovers with catchy slogans, and they’ve all fallen flat. That’s because radio needs more than a makeover, or as my wife puts it: “Having a little work done.”
As Mark Zuckerberg will likely find out soon, simply changing your name isn’t going to instantly reimage Facebook. The platform is entrenched, it’s in our DNA, we know what it is, and what it’s done. Remember that Google changed its name to Alphabet more than six years ago, a convenient attempt to jumpstart its stock price, putting all its brands – YouTube, Android, Waymo, etc. – all under a fresh umbrella.
Guess what? Everyone still calls it Google.
And after every radio gathering – in-person or virtual – we come home inspired with pages of notes. And we immediately go back to our respective corners, doing our jobs the same way.
That’s why nothing really changes. Industry spokespeople and even some higher-ups may profess the need for change. But no one has the stomach (or maybe, the stones) to actually do it.
That’s not to say there aren’t good intentions. But like so many things in radio, there are disparate thoughts and philosophies about what’s wrong, and what (if anything) needs attention. Many believe that because radio’s reach remains north of 90%, there’s nothing broken. Others contend it’s a “cool” issue – that the case needs to be made that radio is a cool medium. And others believe a marketing campaign might be able to address all the industry’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
So we go back to our stations and we program our 250 song playlists, run our two outrageously long stopsets each hour, voicetrack whenever possible, and try to make due with less.
And hope no one notices.
But they are. They can hear it, and truthfully, so can we. And because AM/FM radio has been part of the mass media DNA of this country for a century, inertia, tradition, and habit all play to the industry’s historic strengths.
If change is going to come, it is more likely to emanate from outside stations, companies, and radio’s traditional structures.
That’s why I always sit up and pay attention when one of the big tech companies or even a startup hatches some sort of plan or app or algorithm that will reinvent radio. They all talk a good game, but in the end, no one has solved the “Radio Rubik’s Cube.”
The latest of these solutions has been swirling around these last few days, both in Axios and the Verge. This time, it’s Amazon. And they’re apparently creating
a product, powered by an app (here we go again) designed to recast and democratize radio as we know it.
Don’t laugh. Amazon has already reinvented how we shop, how we purchase and read books, and maybe just maybe how we travel into space. Fixing radio? Compared to Jeff Bezos’ other innovations, reinventing radio should be a snap.
I have made it a point to cover many of these attempts. First, they’re interesting and we may learn something. Second, it’s always curious to look at how non-radio people want to repair the medium. Third, there is an odd form of flattery going on. These companies wouldn’t be incessantly focused on making radio great again if they didn’t find things attractive, valuable, and even magical about live content – music and talk – traveling through the ether, in real time, day and night. Many of the people behind these radio wannabe initiatives probably dabbled in air studios in college or at radio stations in their hometowns, and they’re seeking some of the romance we all feel both in the best and worst of times.
All that said, none has managed to pull it off. Apple – a company that’s pretty innovative – tried and failed with Beats 1. From day one, Slacker Radio tried the curated radio approach – that is, they had DJs – and that hasn’t worked so well.
Spotify has been circling the field for some time now. Their morning show concept – “Your Daily Drive” – debuted back in 2019. It’s a platform that
melds your interests with your music choices. Yes, I blogged about it back then.
While interesting and ambitious, I have only run into a couple of friends who use the feature. (If I’m underestimating its impact, I’m sure you’ll let me know.)
Perhaps SiriusXM has come closest, providing a product that sounds a lot like broadcast radio – sans the commercials. Its subscription model allows for no commercials (on the music stations at least), along with many more choices than any radio market can offer.
Of course as an advertising vehicle, SiriusXM has serious limitations. And despite being around in one form or another for well more than two decades, SiriusXM has 34 million subscribers. That’s not a bad number, but it’s a fraction of the size of broadcast radio’s weekly audience.
When Amazon starts making noise – they’re actually being pretty stealthy – it’s worthy of our attention. Axios writer Sara Fischer broke the story in
late August, billing it as a big story: “Scoop: Amazon quietly building live audio business.” As Fischer pointed out, Amazon is no stranger to audio. There’s Alexa and Audible for starters. And even Twitch has elements of radio.
The new platform – as yet unnamed – is said to be under the company’s Music division – which includes podcasts. Fischer reported Amazon was connecting with major labels and bands, as well as looking into live music performances and “talk radio programs.”
Here’s where it gets a little murky. Fischer says this play by Amazon is “not a Clubhouse-like platform, but more like a digital radio-like tool for live-streaming performances and conversation.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds like anyone can get some mic time; anybody can be a radio star. Interestingly, while broadcast radio itself may be out of favor, being on the radio is still a widely shared dream, goal, and desire – like a “bucket list” item that can now be fulfilled.
There’s been precious little coverage of this Amazon project – until yesterday. That’s when The Verge‘s “Hot Pod” newsletter headlined this story:
“Amazon is building a Clubhouse competitor that turns hosts into DJs”
Ashley Carman is the journalist of record, and her information is that Amazon’s foray into the live audio game is an app codenamed “Project Mic.”
The Verge team reportedly got to watch (OK, listen to) a presentation that would allow anyone to “make and distribute a live radio show, complete with music.” The music piece would put Amazon ahead of Clubhouse. Like the Axios story last summer, Carman says record labels are coordinating their artists, as well as live events.
Carman notes that listeners would have many entry points to enjoy content – the app, of course – along with Audible, Amazon Music, Twitch, and any device that is Alexa-enabled. There’s also an auto interface, trending topics, and a search tool to find programming by “topic, name, or music.”
What’s the goal of Project Mic? According to The Verge:
“To democratize and reinvent the radio.”
Ambitious? For sure.
Interesting? Absolutely.
Just imagine – a game for all ages (6 and up), where anyone could slap on a pair of earbuds, crack the mic, cue up a song, and play Preston & Steve, Delilah, or themselves on the radio.
And it begs the question why radio broadcasters could not or would not do some of these same things – with a much greater reach than an amateur DJ “broadcasting” from Spokane, Savannah, or Saginaw.
Still, allowing consumers access to the radio seems to be at the heart of many of these efforts, especially Project Mic. Radio broadcasters hear this
type of feedback all the time. Listeners want to pick the songs, as well as hear their names and voices on the air.
Radio has presented “Guest DJ” and “Hey, Mom, I’m on WKLH” shows for decades. Sure, they require some work and prep. But they create indelible memories. I hear listeners proudly talk about these experiences in focus groups, telling the story of that time they were on the radio.
These days, fewer listeners bother to call stations. I’m often told “The phones are dead.” Maybe that’s because so many stations stopped answering them or they were ringing in empty studios.
Listeners wanting to be on the radio is nothing new. Wolfman Jack understood the psychology, he played to it, and he became the powerful conduit to hearing yourself, your dedication, and your favorite song on his show. In many ways, he was a bearded gatekeeper.
Today’s tech companies want to remove the barriers to entry, allowing anyone with a mic the opportunity to play songs, read the news, and chat with fans.
We can wait around for Amazon (or someone else) to reinvent radio, spend a lot of time declaring “It’ll never work,” and then wake up one day to find out a new platform has more listeners and making more money than we are.
Or we could actually step up and reinvent ourselves. Radio could open its doors to listeners, fire up those languishing HD2s, and use its websites, social pages, and other assets to shine the light on local bands, young athletes, and other hometown heroes so radio stations actually sound like their communities.
The industry could organize an “all hands on deck hackathon” where teams populated by smart combinations of the old guard and new media mavens work together to actually reinvent something. Yes, radio broadcasting is made up of disparate companies, often with conflicting goals and competing solutions. Many are well on their way to diversifying their portfolios with podcasting, web services, e-sports, and other adjacent businesses. But none will get whole if their broadcast radio core isn’t addressed.
Or we could forget all that and focus instead on making our Q1 ratings and revenue goals.
As always, the ball is in radio’s court.
Thanks to Lori Lewis for the wakeup call.
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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Great read and very on point. Loved the paragraph that starts with, “So go back to your stations…”. It kinda sums up the homogeneous, bland, “product” that radio, in many ways, has become. Everybody has the “if I won one of those $600 billion dollar lotteries” discussions from time to time. My response has been the same for years: buy the first station I could between 92.3 and 107.5 on the dial, and with money not being an issue, turn it into the “great disruptor.”
Kurt, thanks. A little disruption would be very welcome right around now.
I had not thought about the fact that someone outside of radio is needed to fix radio. You and I have been banging the same drum about improving the listening experience, for several years now, and little has been done… If anything at all. The fact that someone outside of the industry can see the value of what we have, and take an approach to make it better, may actually be the only way the reconstruction of radio will become reality. Unfortunately, Radio just hasn’t bled badly enough to fix itself, yet. I say that as a huge fan of our business.
I’m with you, my friend, especially about the bleeding part. But if we wait for Amazon (or Google or Tesla) to figure this out, it will be a bad day for radio broadcasters if who will then realize they waited too long to innovate. Eventually, someone’s going to get this right, Mike.
It makes me wonder about, more pointedly, the outside perspective on what “local” really means to audio consumers and how radio can uniquely harness it. “So and so from Bloomington wants to hear the new Adele” doesn’t cut it.
Agree, Todd. It has to be more tangible and genuine that that. I hear the “Guest DJ” feature on SiriusXM’s Tom Petty channel. It’s real, grassroots, and very fan-centric. And it works. Broadcast radio used to do this, and there’ no reason why it couldn’t again.
All good poiints Fred. Along with programming, we also need to fix radio’s “revenue” problem. Maybe it’s time we hire some sales reps in their 20’s and 30’s – people who truly understand digital and can sell more than weather sponsorships- and retire some of those that sit at their desk behind their monitors playing solitaire and waiting for the phone to ring. Would love to get Paul’s perspective. We all know if the revenues were still where they were in 2008, it wouldn’t really matter what comes out of the speakers.
Dave,
I don’t think it’s the age of the salesperson, but their mentality. One of the biggest challenges with radio salespeople is they think their job is to sell radio. The problem is, radio revenue is on a slow decline, while digital revenue is growing quickly. So instead of having sellers walk into businesses that only buy radio and leading off with “what’s your radio budget,” we need sellers who understand they have the most powerful solution for clients – cume – and the ability to move that cume from radio to their digital assets better than any other medium, and then understand what each digital asset can do for that client.
Sound simple? Actually it is, but getting people’s buy in is hard.
That’s why we believe the analog transformation (i.e. humans) is much harder than the digital transformation.
And maybe
walk in with a couple great spec spots…
(Rather than a sales deck with clip art of way-too-happy people listening to the radio)
You’re right Paul, but those salespeople are working in sectors that pay better and offer more opportunities to advance. People with those kinds of chops are working where the future is better – where there isn’t a guarantee that next year there will be fewer employees.
I’ve said this before, but I think that 1-3 points of radio revenue disappeared when the comp and growth options in radio were cut.
“All good points Fred. Along with programming, we also need to fix radio’s “revenue” problem. ”
And Bingo was his name-o.
Radio doesn’t go away because there aren’t enough “good” radio stations. It goes away because we can’t monetize it.
Frankly, we have never monetized it compared to the value we bring to local advertisers and that is because we sold around ratings instead of value. We bashed the competition when we were getting 7 cents of the advertising dollar instead of going after the other 93.
That model no longer works and really never did. It hurt the value of the whole medium and now that all the low hanging fruit has been picked and the competition for the rest is more intense, we aren’t up to the task.
I’m not sure if your under 30 idea is the solution though. The guys that ruined the industry were once 20 somethings as well.
We’ve always needed better quality sellers in the first place and they could be any age.
Mike, as a programmer who has watched great ratings squandered by poor marketing strategies and hapless salespeople, I’m on board here. And as the revenue diminishes, so goes the funding for personnel, marketing, etc. I’ll go talk to Paul about this. 🙂
Always important thinking from you, Fred. “Social.Radio”‘has been an increasing topic broached in focus groups we have conducted especially these last two years, but our clients have been hesitant (or unwilling) to go there. There are keys in those discussions that radio management can benefit from but can a mass medium actually pull it off? And is it truly the future of our great medium?
Dave, thanks for the provocative question. Given the “radio” you and I grew up with, no chance to do this because we’re BROADcasting. But thanks to the new tools- websites, apps, streams, and HD side channels, radio broadcasters might be eating cake. Would love to hear from others on this, too.
Content, Creation, Connection and Appealing Sound. Doesn’t have to cost much or become background babble.
Thanks Paul and apologies for my stereotype i.e. age = lack of knowledge re; digital, but I do think those who grew up on digital/social platforms have an advantage…and we should be tapping into their knowledge far more than we currently do. We spend a lot of time teaching students about content creation and production at the university and college level, but very little time teaching how to monetize that content. Content creatuion is critical…and those that can create AND sell will be very valuable.
Reminds me of my daughter’s art school experience: plenty of instruction on techniques, zero on intellectual property or how to make a living as an artist.
Or emotional intelligence. But that’s a blog post for another day.
Agree on the stop sets and the need to reinvent. But I have to ask…are we now oversaturated with radio stations? Is the answer fewer stations and better sellers to help the issues?
What Amazon is looking at sounds like a college radio app for everyone.
Fred…you often startle me with your thoughtful insights. Assuming you wrote todays blog and not some AI weenie, KUDOS.
Amazon will benefit from no licensing, no transmitters, no FCC restrictions and an unlimited number of ‘streams’. They propose a new one-to-one audio product – but not necessarily a solution for radio’s one-to-many programming.
However, radio could leverage their existing audience into this model overnight (with a ton of work of course). It’s local, involves the audience and is better than reselling Adwords.
I was at the keyboard for this post, and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
As you point out, Amazon has some inherent advantages – along with unlimited funds, a long time horizon, and relationships they’re leveraging with artists, labels, and concert promoters.
Will radio have to work hard(er) to keep with the Bezos? Absolutely. The days of mailing in prescheduled music, voictracked jocks, and unfreshened production may be waning. That might be good for all of us.
Thanks for commenting, Jackson.
I don’t know that I would call Apple’s Beats 1 a failure. Yes, it was renamed Apple Music 1, as they are dialing back the Beats brand – but at the same time they introduced Apple Music Hits and Apple Music Country, all hosted with a combination of radio and celebrity DJs. I suspect that Apple is playing the long game of getting CarPlay into more dashboards and wanting their own content to be ready as people plug in their phone and discover that when you tap the Apple Music app you get better fidelity than the mono streams that Sirius XM pumps out, the compressed to hell sound that is FM, or the afterthought that is the audio of most station streams. Spend some time with those formats and you’ll see they’re doing radio better than many radio stations and they shouldn’t be counted out.
John, I don’t argue with the quality of the programming or the personalities (who can be stellar). Apple doesn’t need this “station” to be a world beater thanks to their other businesses. But how popular is Apple Music 1 across the country/globe? I don’t know that answer but I do see a fair amount of perceptual research, and they do not have a strong enough presence to show up.
We do not know Apple’s expectations of this channel. It may perform better than I realize, but even if it doesn’t, we don’t know what Apple considers poor/acceptable/good/great results. I do know that commercial radio stations are judged on their individual performance. If that fails to meet expectations, formats change and heads will likely roll. That partially explains why most commercial radio is tightly programmed, rarely taking massive risks, as well as why radio in aggregate always exceeds the 90% cume threshold.
Thanks for the comment, and appreciate you engaging.
It does help to have alternate revenue streams beyond advertising and subscriptions to give you the means to develop something.
I’ve spent most of my radio career on the manufacturing side of the business, and if there’s anything I’ve learned along the way it’s to never count out a competitor with more money in the bank than you have. That 90% cume only holds if you protect it.
We don’t know what their end game is, but they’re looking beyond next quarter. Which is another lesson radio needs to heed.
John, great comment & an important warning for radio. They are definitely looking beyond next quarter.
I think we have the same problem in the record business!
We need attention paid to local venues and young artists. The innovators of the ’60s and ’70s were all making hit records before they were 21 years old. Meanwhile the “majors” are all busy remixing everything for Dolby Atmos.
Hello????
Love this comment, Bob. As much as radio and records have drifted apart these past few years, I can’t help but think we were all better off when we could find areas of collaboration. Thank for this.
Fred, your post made me think back to last August and our conversation over coffee in Birmingham about this subject and why not just go nuts, kinda, and see what happens. It made us laugh but later I felt energized just having talked about it.
More and more, there’s something to be said for just going nuts.
The first thing that came to my mind after you wrote of coming back from conventions and then changing nothing” was the word COMPLACENCY.
And to expound on that, I have to go back about a half-century, to KHJ in the 1970s. Thanks to Bill Drake’s programming genius, they were #1 in the ratings for many years … so many that RKO became overconfident that they would stay on top forever. And that complacency caused them to stop innovating to stay relevant to the audience. By the end of 1980, the numbers were so far in decline that they went Country in an attempt to attract a saleable audience. As we all know, that only lasted about two and a half years, and subsequent formats on 930 were gold-based, until the sale in 1989 which resulted in Spanish language programming being installed. (I will refrain from opining on what might have happened if KHJ-FM had kept the call letters and then taken on the current-based format when stations like KKDJ and KIQQ started making inroads.)
The reason the industry hasn’t reinvented itself is that we have an unfortunate history of not reacting to competition until we have already lost too many listeners to catch up.
Oh, and Drake was right about stopsets, too: Once listeners realize that even when the stops come more time in an hour, they are shorter and the music will resume quickly, they’re not as likely to leave. He made sure the stops were all under two minutes and when RKO complained about the potential loss of revenue, his response was classic: “If we’re sold out, then the commercial time is worth more when there is an open slot. Raise the rates.”
Regardless of format, we should be thinking (and taking action) more like the late Philip Yarbrough.
K.M., it’s hard to argue with any of this logic. Always be innovating is the only way radio stations and most other business can remain successful for decades on end. As you point out, when you think you’ve got it coming is when it starts to go. Thanks for the comment.
There are a lot a really great brains and thinkers in radio. Many would be innovative in any industry and I imagine they have. I’m a big fan of radio and support it’s longevity, and well aware of the value from my perspective.
I learn every time I read this blog. Thank you : )
Appreciate your loyalty and friendship, Billy. And you’re right – there are still many talented, smart, innovative, and hungry people in this industry.
Sly and The Family Stone once sang “Everybody Is A Star” and, in today’s world, everyone wants to be recognized in some way. Just take a browse through TikTok for a few minutes. Amazon knows that better than we do and it’s sad that we don’t. “Listener involvement” should be at a whole different level these days. Spot on, Fred!!!
Well said, John. People love to star in our show. And they never forget when we let ’em have that spotlight. Thanks for the comment.
Fred,
First things first, pay somebody to get the levels straightened out. There are major stations in LA that go from blowing the speakers out to inaudible in a stop set. If you can’t get that right…
Listen to a few of the most popular podcasts, the research, the writing, the production, the performance is not something you can knock out in a day. Is radio willing to invest the time and money it is going to take to produce something worthwhile?
Good questions all, Robert. I expect some of the erratic levels you hear are due to settings stations use to enhance their encoded signals. Since Voltair came along the decision has been between fidelity and ratings. You know the winner.
As for podcasts, you have nailed the reason why many stations have failed, and why some companies have purchased existing podcast enterprises. As you point out, producing a great podcast is at an entirely different level than voicetracking the 7-midnight show.
I appreciate the comment, Robert.
Any brainstorming session about the medium’s future should throw a few minutes and some whiteboard space to what broadcast radio isn’t and what it probably will never be. And that is whatever the vision was of the great accumulators of the 90’s (the Mays, their descendants, and the other branches of the conglomeration tree). A perpetual free money machine…although the Mays, Hogan, etc. all walked away with big stacks of cash. The model where each market radio cluster is basically a Walmart in that town instead of the local hardware store or coffee shop. Yes, people shop at Walmart, enjoy their low prices – but nobody seems to really like it. Dan Mason’s son (Dan Mason as well) has a life coaching podcast. His advice when wanting to recreate yourself is “to focus on your gifts – not your skillset”…you’ll be happier and with some management, equally, if not more, “monetized”. Similar advice for radio is probably worth exploring. The (un)planned obsolescence we’re getting now by bleeding the broadcast side dry paying for growth on the podcast side seems so defeatist. The sacrificial sibling model doesn’t have to “be”.
It sounds like Amazon is trying to resurrect turntable.fm but, this time, on steroids.
I believe in “economy of words”, so, here it goes:
Radio is in serious trouble. There are too many signals that offer way too little to keep listeners tuned in for a remarkable amount of time. 80% of existing stations could disappear in 2022 Q1 and that might not be a bad thing. Perhaps, retraction could be part of the solution.