“Once upon a time in a land called Marconi, there was a little boy named Jack. His most favorite thing was his radio. It played his favorite songs, it told him whether it would rain, and it reminded him whether he was late for school…”
A kids book about radio? Don’t laugh. It would be a wonderful idea because there is an entire generation of kids growing up today in homes that very likely don’t have a working AM/FM radio.
And why a book? Because kids form impressions from the books they read – or are read to them. Many of us have those indelible childhood memories of Dr. Seuss, Curious George, and stories from the like of Maurice Sendak, J.K. Rowling, and Shel Silverstein. They make memories and they shape behavior for generations to come.
And that’s the logic of JJ Ramberg, host of MSNBC’s “Your Business.” She recently wrote
a kids book about entrepreneurship. As she told Entrepreneur writer Carol Roth, there are kids books about all sorts of topics and themes – but none about business.
So with her three kids under the age of 10 in mind, Ramberg took it about herself to write “The Startup Club,” a book dedicated to teaching youngsters that just having a lemonade stand doesn’t mean you’re going to make money.
So, why not a kids book about radio – or maybe an entire series?
As Ramberg concludes about her new kids book, “I want kids to come away from this book inspired.”
In her world, that means starting a company.
In ours, it means inspiring kids to dream of becoming a DJ, doing community service, or covering the news.
Radio faces an existential threat not just in cars, but in homes and workplaces. Getting the youngest generation into the habit of listening to the radio is a process that starts young. As JJ Ramberg knows from just studying her three adolescents, behaviors are imprinted early on.
We can already see that with Millennials, radio faces a difficult challenge. Our company recently finished up an ethnographic study for public radio – “The Millennial Project” – that focuses on better understanding their media usage, their preferred gadgets, and what they expect from media outlets.
Among other things, we learned that exposure to public radio is a key to Millennials eventually adopting the habit. If a station like WAMU, WBEZ, or Michigan Radio was on in the kitchen, the car, and the garage when they were toddlers, chances are they’ll become public radio fans when they get older.
The power of books and bedtime reading lays the groundwork for media adoption and usage in later life, especially for Generation Z – kids that have access to anything anytime anywhere. Radio needs to be part of that narrative.
And that would be a storybook ending.
Thanks, Mike Stern.
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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I totally agree with your storybook ending FOR radio, but it won’t matter if radio isn’t there first, “anything anytime anywhere” like they expect. If we deliver compelling, entertaining content they’ll find us. And we don’t need a book.
You’re right, of course, Tommy. If we take care of our content and our distribution, things should take care of themselves. But who doesn’t love a good story? 🙂
Hi Fred: Just read your blog post about the idea of a book for kids to draw them in as listeners. In the Clarkstown Central School District, in the New York City suburb of Rockland County, we’re going that one better. I lead a volunteer team building not one, but TWO, state-of-the-art streaming radio stations — one for each of our two high schools. Viking Radio and Rams Radio will be student-run, ABC Radio-affiliated, enabled for remote program origination and intimately engaged with the larger community as a reliable and timely source of news, information and entertainment. The commercial broadcast community has been exceedingly generous — donating tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of top-end gear and services — and our taxpayers resoundingly voiced their support by voting to approve a healthy budget to get us going. Additional funds have been secured at the state level. Best of all, some of the biggest names in New York broadcasting have graciously volunteered to serve on our board of visiting professionals…offering to share with our kids unique insights into the business you just can’t get from any book. We’re just now beginning the physical design phase…and with luck will be soft-launching both facilities before the end of the coming school year. As we move along, I’ll keep you posted — and when we’re ready to take air, I hope you’ll tell our story to encourage other educational institutions with the good news that the magic of radio is very much alive in our schools.
Howard, great story – thanks for sharing it with us. And I hope you update us as the launch approaches. It’s great to see these initiatives popping up because keeping America’s youth engaged in radio will keep the industry strong and vital. Congrats on your efforts.