Do The Hustle

[Holland Cooke]

Most people I know READ the newspapers info ONLINE.

At last week's NAB convention in Las Vegas, "The Tipping Point"/"Blink"/"Outliers" author Malcom Gladwell spoke, and asked, provocatively:

“What if everything had started online…then paper came along?  You don’t need to be online, it’s portable, you can tear-something-out-of-it, you can write on it...”

For all its challenges, radio should ask itself the same question: What if AM/FM broadcasting were just now being introduced?  It’s FREE!  There’s nothing to download or synch-up, the station does all the work.  To use a couple buzzwords en vogue, radio is “mobile” and “wireless.” 

One of my clients -- head of a station group -- recently asked the programmers and on-air people we rounded up: "Every radio station has a web site.  Imagine A WEB SITE having A RADIO STATION?  We do!"

Regardless of platform, media that will survive-and-thrive are those that are nimble, and accommodate the way busy people graze for information and entertainment content.

For GENERATIONS, radio and the newspaper have been arch enemies.
Lately, strange economic times make for strange bedfellows; with radio/newspaper synergies proving useful here and there.
For examples, notes I'm sending client stations, send an Email (blank if you want) to newspaper@hollandcooke.com. 
Moments later the robot will point you at a download.  No virus, no spam.

Talk radio is opinion, not news.

You betcha!  It's A SHOW.

"News/Talk" radio can be both.  The most-successful stations are, effectively, "facts" from 00-05, then "feelings" [callers' take on a topic culled from one of those facts-in-the-newscast] from 05-00. 

The most successful hosts are those who seem to...

1.  Reckon what-in-that-top-of-hour-newscast is uber-relevant to the target listener (i.e., flu is REAL interesting to the parents-of-school-age-children that a Talk station's advertisers want to reach). 

2.  Quickly pose the topic, state-the-host's-take, invite callers.  "Quickly," because many listeners may graze-in for top-of-hour news, then wander-back to tunes on FM.

3.  Sound busy.  Keep it moving.  Lots of calls brings lots of perspective, and makes a show sound popular.  And I'm always impressed when the host re-sets often, so folks-who-JUST-tuned-in instantly "get it."

HC
www.HollandCooke.com

[LVRadioFan]

For all its challenges, radio should ask itself the same question: What if AM/FM broadcasting were just now being introduced?  It’s FREE!  There’s nothing to download or synch-up, the station does all the work.  To use a couple buzzwords en vogue, radio is “mobile” and “wireless.” 

Overheard on the titanic in 1912: "... but this ship is unsinkable!"
Overheard at radio stations in 2009 "... but we're FREE, darn it, FREE!!"

I don't disagree with most of what Mr. Cooke is said in his post.  But to hear radio people constantly clinging to the fact that radio is "free" really annoys me.  Everyone knows radio is free - it's not a huge selling point.  Unfortunately, since the people in control have fired all of the front line local talent they can't say "we're the best source for information/entertainment" so they fall back on "we're free."

 And of course, radio is only free in the sense that you don't have to write a check every month.  You still have to put up with advertisements and (on the AM band anyway) a steady stream of paid programming.  I'm not trying to badmouth either of those things, I know they're necessary.  But one thing you've got to give the I-Pod - there are no colon cleansing commercials, even at 7am on a Saturday morning.

[Holland Cooke]

radio is only free in the sense that you don't have to write a check every month.  You still have to put up with advertisements

This is an important point, apropos brokered weekend Talk programming.

Listeners who continue wandering-off to Public Radio are turned-off by what-focus-group-participants-call "the begging" during pledge week.

And they understand that commercial AM/FM programming is sponsored.
They don't care if it's sponsored-by-the-minute, or by-the-hour.
The programming is either of-interest or it's not.
As Jerry Seinfeld put it (I'm paraphrasing, from memory): "There's no 'attention span.'  People are either listening or they're gone."

Often, I'm asked to weigh-in when, for instance, Sales wants to sell an attorney a couple hours on Saturday morning.  The PD has reservations...and is counting on The Consultant to be Dr. No.  In-which-case I disappoint him/her by asking "Can this lawyer TALK?  Can he/she translate Latin-to-English?  Can he/she tell a joke?"  If so, the listener can derive value from the Q+A which can be such a productive lead generator for the attorney.

THAT is an entirely different proposition than the Colon Blow half-hour phony-sounding interview.
The only thing THAT show is flushing is the station's cume, as we're already seeing in PPM numbers.

HC
www.HollandCooke.com