Charm School

I thought this is an interesting post because Tim Davis proposes that radio stations be run like Disney World. So. How about Radio Disney? Is the experience of working there, being a listener, and so on akin to the Disney World experience? I think not, although my friend Drew Rashbaum may disagree.

Charm School:

Today we have a guest blog from Jacobs' Digital Director Tim Davis, recounting his Disney experience:



Disneyworld_characters_250 I recently had the pleasure of spending a few days in the wonderful world of Disney - Disney World to be precise.



From beginning to end, it was a delight.' From the moment you arrive in Orlando and head to the 'Magical Express' which takes you to your hotel, up until the return to the airport, we were wrapped in the warmth and courtesy of Disneyana.' We had virtually no problems with anything - from park access to bus transportation and hotel accommodations, it was near flawless.' And in the moments where the inevitable small glitches did occur?' They were handled exactly how you would have like them handled (even if you didn't actually know how you wanted it handled).



From senior managers at the hotel to the voice on the telephone when you made a reservation or inquiry, nearly every point of contact was concluded with the phrase 'have a magical day.'' Now, I'm a cynic by nature, but by the second day into the trip, I actually believed they meant it!



What's the secret?' They sell happiness - not just to guests but to their own employees.' After several days in the park, I talked to a young lady working in our hotel about what really happens and how they all hold up the smiles.' Turns out that they actively recruit from Africa for the 'safari themed' hotel I was staying in.' The young lady was at the tail end of a four-year degree in tourism and hotel management, and doing a year's stint in customer service with Disney.' The on-the-job training started with orientations that would blow your mind.' As much as visitors expect to be 'wowed' by the shows and attractions, the same goes for the training.' It's all done Disney-style with animation, fireworks, big events, and even costumed characters leading sessions.' It doesn't matter if you tend bar, clean bathrooms or run the hotel, you get this training and immersion into the 'Disney Culture.'' If you can't uphold it, you don't work there.



Disney_look_book_250Disney employees are not simply 'workers' - they are in fact actually called 'cast members' and those images and attitudes are upheld at every level of contact visitors might have.



It may seem a bit totalitarian, and likely isn't feasible for many organizations to reach that far and wide in a 'culture immersion' program.' But the concept of customer service is one that is lacking in many industries.' Radio in particular, being every bit as much showbiz as Disney, would do well to remember that we are selling entertainment.' (A little happiness wouldn't be such a bad thing either.)



For a study in contrasts, at the end of our trip I exited the 'Magical Express' and walked into line for Northwest Airlines to check luggage with my family.' Not ONE person made it through the process without a scolding or receiving a dirty look from an NWA employee, myself included (after over an hour in line, I moved my bag to the counter before they were ready).



At no point did I believe that the folks working the NWA counter cared about my 'experience,' much less my happiness.' Sadly, bad customer service carried over to the gate staff and flight attendants.' Sure, there's nothing remarkable about that level of crummy service for any airline these days and we've all faced our share of bad flights and lost baggage, sadly, but the contrast is what struck me this time around.



It was truly a tale of two cultures, and I know which one I'm ready to (willingly) patronize again.'



In radio's struggle against new media and technology, perhaps one of the 'difference makers' might be a commitment to customer service and making listeners (and advertisers) happy.

"



(Via JacoBlog - Jacobs Media's Blog.)

Apple doesn't ship iPods in brown paper bags. What about you?

Apple doesn't ship iPods in brown paper bags. What about you?: "

Content is no longer King. Distribution is no longer King. Money is King, and in an increasingly troubled economy this Emperor has no clothes.



So says the insanely smart and influential media guru Jack Myers in this great post:



Decisions impacting the long-term health and vitality of the media and advertising business are being impacted by executives who have little at stake beyond short-term financial goals. At the most critical juncture in the history of the advertising business, decisions are being dictated by financially-motivated Emperors who care little about their subjects. They care little about the long-term health of media or the marketers who depend on media for their success. They do not share the passion for this business that has been the hallmark of generations of industry leaders.

As the economy continues its downward slide, pressures for short-term financial returns will intensify. Investors will demand cost-cutting. VCs will seek exits from underperforming assets. There is a danger that investors will suck media companies dry and then release them as if they are corporate pollutants for others to clean up.



As competition and pressures mount for advertising and media-dependent companies, there are only two solutions - to further commoditize and be the low-cost provider or shift to a longer-term perspective that builds brand equity and relationships designed to generate profits when the economy and business rebound in 2011 and beyond.



Strife in the radio industry is no farther than the nearest balance sheet. I hear over and over that many stations and groups are unable or unwilling to spend even the smallest amount of money on clear investments in their future with clear future payouts. Since when did our industry lose sight of Business 101: Investment leads to rewards, and the smaller the risk the smaller the likely rewards.



The rules aren't re-written simply because we wish them to be so.



And make no mistake: The current downturn facing this industry will not be solved by cost-cutting, no matter how much you sharpen those pencils.



The way out is through innovation and investment. The way out is to preach your vision to your investors and back up that vision with investment and action.



Apple could make cheaper iPods if they wanted. They could package them in brown paper bags if they wanted.



But they don't want to.



And neither should you.



Apple doesn't do this because it makes a lot of money; it makes a lot of money because it does this.



And so can you.




"



(Via Hear 2.0.)

CCU: The New Less Is More

From Jerry DelColiano:

CCU: The New Less Is More: "You've got to hand it to Clear Channel CEO John Hogan. He could teach President Bush a thing or two about how to handle the quagmire in Iraq.

When Hogan loses, he simply declares victory and withdraws.

That's what he did last week when Hogan circulated an ominous email around to Clear Channel employees to tell them that his personal crusade to lower commercial loads -- Less is More -- is so successful that in some cases Clear Channel stations will be free to -- ignore it.

Hogan describes Less Is More as an 'unqualified' success. He's right about that choice of word -- unqualified.

The dictionary's preferred definition of 'unqualified' is: (of a person) not officially recognized as a practitioner of a particular profession or activity through having satisfied the relevant conditions or requirements.

Well, now I can understand why Hogan chose 'unqualified'.

Here's his new iteration of Less Is More or what I'd like to call Less Is Anything We Say It Is -- in Hogan's own words:

'In some cases, we will be reducing inventory further. In other cases, we will be increasing it. In all cases, the changes are designed to give you the greatest opportunity to compete effectively for listeners and for revenues.'

Come again?

Did you just say in some cases you will be increasing inventory? How can that be called Less is More?

There is a credibility gap here. Don't email this article to advertisers because they'll have even less respect for radio.

Hogan adds:

'And we remain committed to maintaining our competitive advantage of having the lowest commercial and promotions loads – as well as the shortest spot breaks – in our markets'.

But some Clear Channel employees simply see this as another rearrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

'We've gone from two spot block(s) per hour, to three and now back to two. They're still five+ minutes per block.'

Sounds like 'shortest stop breaks' to me.

If you really want to get the radio industry back in the thick of things, you have to start by calling a knave a knave.

Memo to John Hogan: no one -- including advertisers -- ever believed that less was more. All they had to do was listen to a Clear Channel station. No one -- including radio groups -- believed that Less Is More would help the broader radio industry. It has done more to heap ridicule on it and LIM has not helped to increase ratings or advertising.

If this is radio then radio has no chance going forward.

Want some honest answers?

• 12 units an hour max -- a unit is a spot (10 seconds, 30, 60 or whatever -- a unit is not two spots).

• Don't run your commercials in blocks. The younger the listener, the more they reject it. Of course, far be it from me or even the next generation to tell radio people how to program a radio station. But for those of you who would like to do better, a hint: Commercial, music, commercial, music, commercial, music -- a music sweep with no commercials -- commercial, music, and so on. All the great brain trusts would like to cram their garbage (commercials) into two or three stop sets. Listeners and advertisers want it differently. So keep stuffing those awful commercials into unlistenable stop sets at your own peril.

• Improve your commercials by 25% and improve your bottom line by at least 25%. Study Jerry Lee's WBEB Philadelphia experiment and learn from a very rich man. His company may not be as large as Clear Channel, but he's a heck of a lot smarter and he doesn't have to engage in double talk about less being more at some stations during some dayparts. Lee is delivering more for less -- now that's an idea.

Clear Channel, considered an industry leader due to its ownership of 1,100 radio stations, has helped suck the life out of a once prosperous radio industry.

So let's have a good hearty laugh at their faulty thinking and embarrassing double talk.

Then, go and do the opposite.

For those of you who would prefer to get Jerry's daily posts by email for free, please click here. IMPORTANT: First you must check your mail or spam filter to verify your subscription immediately after signing up before daily service can begin.

Thanks for forwarding my pieces to your friends and linking to your websites and boards.
"



(Via INSIDE MUSIC MEDIA™.)

HD Bragging Causes ASCAP Royalty Push

From Jerry DelColiano:

HD Bragging Causes ASCAP Royalty Push: "Those HD advocates have gone and done it.

As Kurt Hanson reported in RAIN recently:

The ASCAP has proposed to the Radio Music License Committee that HD2 radio pay a music license royalty. Broadcasters maintain that since they're generating no revenue from their HD2 channels, a royalty isn't justified. In making their case, the ASCAP cited research, long ago debunked, that predicted 30 million HD receivers in the market by 2012.

It looks like the record industry is going to stuff the braggadocio that the HD Alliance calls promotion down their throats.

Hell, if I saw the radio industry bragging about HD's 30 million receivers by 2012, I'd go after them, too.

Of course, anyone who actually believes HD has any kind of future in radio is smoking something very powerful.

HD is a failure by every measure.

Virtually no one owns HD radio. And there is no demand.

If they do, they can't hear many stations because...

There aren't many stations -- and why?

Because the radio groups think so little of it that they have budgeted virtually nothing to develop these HD subchannels.

Just what America wants -- more radio stations.

Actually, the industry should be very careful in wishing for the proliferation of HD channels. It is a good way to drive down the price of radio advertising once HD channels can run commercials.

What kind of industry launches HD sub-channels without a way for owners to make money from the get-go. It doesn't matter now, the point is moot.

Don't get me wrong. ASCAP doesn't deserve another penny in my view, but you have to chuckle at a radio industry that is so able to pretend that HD is working that they've now convinced a music licensing group to go after them.

Hello. Is anyone home?

The record industry has more problems than ASCAP's royalty crusade over a nonexistent HD audience will solve.

And radio as an industry is losing revenue and audience share every quarter.

So let's convene a meeting of radio's chapter of The Hemlock Society:

• HD is dead -- it was never born. We can debate whether it was ever an embryo and therefore an actual real, live radio signal.

• Pull the plug and never say HD again. It can only be trouble. If you need short monikers -- practice saying WiFi because it is going be something meaningful and radio is letting it get away.

Use HD technology to read -- electric meters and the like -- which I am told it can do.

Now that's a growth business for radio.

For those of you who would prefer to get Jerry's daily posts by email for free, please click here. IMPORTANT: First you must check your mail or spam filter to verify your subscription immediately after signing up before daily service can begin.

Thanks for forwarding my pieces to your friends and linking to your websites and boards.
"



(Via INSIDE MUSIC MEDIA™.)

WiFi on Wheels -- Radio's Worst Nightmare

From Jerry DelColiano:

WiFi on Wheels -- Radio's Worst Nightmare: "Chrysler announced recently that starting with many of next year's models, it will offer a new option that will include WiFi's capability to bring the Internet to the car as a dealer installed option.

Luckily for the radio industry the auto industry is also in the tank.

As a recent article in the LA Times put it:

Have you ever thought rush hour on the 405 Freeway might be more bearable if you could check your e-mail, shop for a book on Amazon, place some bids on EBay and maybe even, if nobody is looking, download a little porn?

Now, drivers and their passengers will have access to email while in the car as well as the ability to surf thousands and thousands of Internet streams. All of a sudden the customary traffic jam on the nation's roadways will be bearable.

Keep in mind that Ford's Focus already has a hard drive option that can take music downloads from consumer devices. My anecdotal experience is that young people love this idea.

The iPod dock in the car is another device that is coming of age as Chrysler gets ready to roll out UConnect Web -- that's what they're calling it.

So, WiFi on Wheels is the latest wake up call to the radio industry to look beyond the transmitter and tower business and jump into Internet content.

That, and mobile content will be the future.

Radio CEOs won't like it, but the people they employ are perhaps the most qualified to produce content beyond terrestrial radio.

Imagine podcasted morning shows no longer than the average commute time to work or school that play seamlessly in cars. That can be started, stopped, time-delayed or deleted on the listener's terms.

And five minute podcasts -- in the image of YouTube -- to be consumed by a generation short on attention span and high on consuming information and entertainment.

And now, WiFi.

This will lead some radio folks to ask, 'do we really want to be in that business?'

My answer is, 'hell yes'.

WiFi will change everything -- and WiMax, a technology with greater coverage -- could also be a game changer. Several major cities are in the process of building WiMax networks -- Baltimore being the one closest to getting up and running soon.

Radio broadcasters are stuck on yesterday.

They want to will new formats to succeed to make terrestrial radio a growth business once more.

Older radio listeners like radio, but they may also like WiFi Radio. In fact, many of my industry friends who have WiFi radios at home love them. True, they easily access the terrestrial stations they want to hear nationwide that are being streamed on the web, but they also listen to many obscure streams.

It's this variety -- the variety that radio has been missing for over 25 years -- that will be WiFi's real appeal. WiFi and WiMax are not just the technologies that will deliver a new form of radio. They are the enablers of thousands and thousands of new choices for listeners.

Some of the founding fathers of consolidation truly believe satellite radio is their competition.

They are slow to embrace the Internet.

Have no plan to get into the mobile content business.

They are in deep denial that HD Radio will actually matter let alone make a difference.

They have become prisoners of Wall Street's slash 'em and trash 'em strategy of ruining good assets run by exceptional people just to deliver what investors want in the short term.

They let their trade associations wander off message -- fighting useless battles when they should be pitching a tent and inviting Internet streamers in to fight together for copyright fairness.

Radio's leaders refuse to embrace posting when advertisers say they want it -- talk about burying your heads in the sand.

And they seem to have nothing better to do than memorialize their joy in hurting Arbitron's People Meter without regard for how much they are hurting radio in the eyes of the advertising community.

The automakers started making it possible to listen to iPods in cars a few years ago mainly with the upscale brands -- this will simply proliferate going forward.

They've got entertainment consoles for all types of buyers -- satellite television in vans, satellite radio everywhere and now the coolest and most significant advance since, well -- the car radio.

WiFi and soon, WiMax.

Ask anyone who runs or programs a radio station how important this new technology is. They know.

Ask most radio CEOs and you get poppycock about issues that only matter to their investment banks for the quarter. They don't know.

WiFi on Wheels will prove to be radio's worst nightmare.

Ironically, the only thing more outdated than a tower and transmitter is the CEO who controls the tower and transmitter.

As some of you know, I used to be program director of a radio station in Philadelphia called WIFI 92. No kidding -- they were the call letters. It was a pioneering FM station with a rockin' stereo format back in the day. One of the big roadblocks we had then for 'terrestrial' WIFI 92 -- besides a lousy signal -- was lack of FM radios in automobiles.

My boss was John Tenaglia -- a guy I always thought was nuts -- a wild and crazy guy.

One thing is for sure -- Johnny T wouldn't be crazy enough to miss the 'new' WiFi wave.

The same can't be said for the not-ready-for-primetime radio CEOs who once again are putting a proud industry behind the 8 ball.

To compete with thousands of new streams increasingly available on WiFi, terrestrial radio is going to have to get better. Fast.

For those of you who would prefer to get Jerry's daily posts by email for free, please click here. IMPORTANT: First you must check your mail or spam filter to verify your subscription immediately after signing up before daily service can begin.

Thanks for forwarding my pieces to your friends and linking to your websites and boards.
"



(Via INSIDE MUSIC MEDIA™.)

Newspapers Are the New Radio

From Jerry DelColiano:

Newspapers Are the New Radio: "I'm kidding -- just kidding.

A little.

Let's say some of you are right and I'm wrong -- Tribune CEO Randy Michaels is raiding Clear Channel for radio talent to reinvent -- newspapers.

That's what some people believe.

Now Randy has hired former KIIS-FM, Los Angeles GM and later Clear Channel market and regional exec Roy Laughlin as a Special Consultant. Former Jacor employee Jana Gavin is now Senior Director/Business Development for the Tribune Interactive division.

This adds to the many former Jacor (and Clear Channel) employees who have joined Randy & the Rainbows in their effort to reinvent the large metropolitan daily.

There is no doubt that good radio people are just as qualified to shake up the print business as anyone else. After all, both radio and newspapers change very slowly. They think change is something that you don't notice. Boy, do they have problems now that Michaels has taken over.

Tribune's new Chief Innovation Officer Lee Abrams told the Conclave recently that he wants to look at bringing great change to the American newspaper -- including the classifieds -- a former moneymaker that is being bled dry by Craig's List online.

Meanwhile Clear Channel is threatening to do what it does best -- sue -- their employees who bolt to join the newspaper business -- I mean, Michaels.

Wait a minute.

You can see what's happening, can't you?

Randy Michaels, the former successful head of Jacor (later sold to Clear Channel) is reconvening Jacor 2.0 -- the Sequel.

Right now all Michaels and friends have to run is newspapers and local TV stations -- both, by the way, out of their area of expertise. You could fit their joint newspaper and TV experience onto a very short resume. Or maybe that's good.

Either Tribune owner Sam Zell has fallen off his motorcycle one time too many or he and Michaels are sly like a fox.

I'm betting on the fox.

Once Clear Channel shareholders approve the sale to buyout specialists Lee and Bain, the new owners will be free to operate them and/or sell some assets.

I'm betting they will sell some assets.

In fact, I think Lee & Bain already have a potential buyer for some stations in Zell's Tribune entity.

Wouldn't that be a coincidence to have a slew of great radio people biding time working on newspapers and ready to hit the road running when they get their hands on some stations?

If Tribune really wants to remain in the newspaper business, they will find it a very tough lesson to learn that you can't turn newspapers around.

Young people don't read them.

Baby boomers have been reading them less and less.

And the generation that did read them -- The Greatest Generation -- is mostly gone now.

If you rebuild it, will they come?

Not unless it's all online. In that case, there is a potential future for a scaled down version of what we have come to know as print journalism.

For that matter, Tribune eventually buys radio stations, can Randy & the Rainbows turn them around?

As good as they are they will probably find that what we've been saying all along applies -- young people have abandoned radio and all that is left is what I call the available audience (baby boomers who love radio and older members of Gen X, their children).

CBS Radio President Dan Mason has been dealing with this realization since day one at the helm. He's bringing CBS stations back into the radio business for the available audience. It isn't easy -- even for a seasoned pro like Mason. Some stations are doing better than others. But it's still the only real option for terrestrial radio which is why you see CBS Radio also getting into new media.

So there is no getting around the fact that even the best radio people looking for one more good battle have an uphill fight.

If they want to end their careers drinking Randy's Kool-Aid about newspapers, that's fine. I don't think any of them are that dumb.

But without doing some serious -- if not humbling homework -- about the generation that got away from radio, reinventing newspapers or radio just won't happen.

The future is in the content business -- online, in social networks and on mobile devices. That's where the next big influx of population has migrated. Content providers like radio broadcasters must go where they live.

You can't blame a sentimental crowd like the radio people at Tribune for thinking they can save newspapers -- and even radio, but it's that kind of arrogance that got these two industries in trouble in the first place.

The next generation has moved on.

And the last generation of radio pure talent has gone back to reinvent the two things that this generation rejects -- newspapers and radio.

Stop the presses.

Look beyond the towers and transmitters.

The future of content is online and in mobile devices.

For those of you who would prefer to get Jerry's daily posts by email for free, please click here. IMPORTANT: First you must check your mail or spam filter to verify your subscription immediately after signing up before daily service can begin.

Thanks for forwarding my pieces to your friends and linking to your websites and boards.
"



(Via INSIDE MUSIC MEDIA™.)

Another chance: Audio Presentation on Radio's Future

From HEAR 2.0:

Another chance: Audio Presentation on Radio's Future: "

I don't usually do this, but I'm offering another chance for you to hear the presentation I gave to NRG Media a few weeks ago.



It's titled 'Radio After Arbitron' and it provides an overview of how the future will change our industry and what we should do about it.



I'm offering this again specifically because this presentation has so far been downloaded nearly 20,000 times, meaning it has spread well beyond the boundaries of our industry.



So if you're the person who hasn't heard it yet, this post is for you. Enjoy.



MP3 File



Mark Ramsey - Hear 2.0 - Hear 2.0



"



(Via Hear 2.0.)

More on sales commissions...

Tom Tom Taylor has some great stuff in his newsletter at http://www.radio-info.com today from Steve Marx. Here's the deal:
Cannibals loose in radio’s sales bullpen? In the debate over online sales that was raised by Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins, sales consultant Steve Marx emails T-R-I to say that both sides are right – “at least somewhat.” He says “there are so many cross-currents in today’s choppy media marketplace that any simple explanation is likely to be partially right, and largely wrong.” He says “I’ve been involved in radio sales for 43 years, and I’ve seen it all. Here are some truths you can take to the bank: Jacking up sales commission rates [as some operators are doing for new media sales] sometimes works. What’s remarkable is how often it doesn’t work. One reason is that human beings don’t respond to cash incentives like Pavlov’s dogs to a clanging bell.” Steve’s prescription? “Neither salespeople nor clients should be choosing whether to use a radio schedule or a program on the station’s website. Neither by itself can work even a tenth as well as when you put them together.” He says his CSS (Center for Sales Strategy) works on integrated marketing solutions that “begin with the reach, attention, and spark of radio, and continue with the information, interactivity and functionality that only the web can provide.” But here’s the payoff – “I’ll tell you the #1 reason why radio revenues are down today.” Steve Marx of CSS finishes up his email to T-R-I with a flourish: The sales slump “has nothing to do with the Internet or sales commissions. No one else is talking about it, but maybe we can change that. There are simply not enough radio ‘feet on the street.’ First it was the creation of 4-6-8 station clusters and the combining of sales departments. Then, it was consolidation of ownership and supposed economies of scale. Now, it’s a weak ad market, and downsizing or ‘right-sizing.’ Every one of those cataclysmic events has resulted in reducing radio’s sales force.” Then Steve lays down a challenge for T-R-I readers: “Count noses. Marketwise, how many people are selling radio today, versus five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago? When fewer people knock on fewer doors and ask fewer people to buy, can the outcome be in doubt?” By the way: the Center for Sales Strategy has just posted a White Paper about online advertising – the five “A words” are aggregation, automation, algorithm, auction and accountability. “The end of the old media contract” is a free download here.

To commission or not commission - there is no question...

There's been a lot of talk recently about whether radio stations should commission their sales people higher on spot sales or on "non-traditional" sales.  Here's a bit from Tom Taylor's column:

"Yesterday’s T-R-I story about higher commissions for new media is A) correct or B) not correct. Two emails literally take opposite positions and start with “correct” or “not correct.” They’re in response to the observation by a veteran sales in exec in Tuesday’s Taylor on Radio-Info that stations risk cannibalizing their “regular” advertising revenue by dangling higher incentives in front of sellers for online and new media space. Jay Freedman of Fusion Innovative Marketing says “Your story is not correct. While there are higher commission rates for online and non-spot, that has always been the case, because it’s a harder sell. The reality is that it’s 2008, not 1998. Times are changing and advertisers are looking for more options. The message of your article [which is the anonymous sales exec’s observation, not mine] sends a wrong message. Stations need to find revenue in as many places as they can.” While T-R-I reader Hal Widsten of KWED is 180 degrees away: “Alfred Liggins [the Radio One CEO who suggested the possible cannibalization on a quarterly call] is definitely correct. If large companies have diverted their sales departments’ attention from selling radio to selling the Internet by increasing commissions, that’s bad management. Salespeople should be focused on one goal, and that’s to sell time on the mothership. Extra salespeople should be hired to sell Internet-only related business.” My thanks to both gentlemen for stating each position far more succinctly than I could’ve – and this is a discussion that won’t be ending any time soon."


This argument is just plain silly.  You should pay the highest commissions on the product that is going to produce the most actual profit for you if the channel is "greased."  Who cares if the revenue is attributed to over the air spot or interactive?  If the net profit and revenue volume is in line, then pay the commission!

A radio station is a sales machine. It doesn't matter whether the revenue comes from selling spots or selling hot dogs.

Performance Royalty for Radio

Lots of words have been written about this, but it's like the debate about the death penalty and the "right to life" - the real world is more nuanced than the apologists for either side would have us believe.

It makes perfect sense that if the streaming music providers need to pay performance royalties, then the radio stations should as well.  In fact, it makes sense that every "public" performance of a work should be targeted with a fee.  So, this includes any situation where more than one person is present in a place where a CD or other recorded music is played.  You church Christmas party, your July 4th block party, the local bar where they play CDs for ambience, the Labor Day Firemen's Barbeque for MS.  All of these venues should be paying an ASCAP/BMI writer's royalty today.  This, of course, is the same logic that applies to film.

On the other side of the coin, the performer makes a sum of money for each track sold at retail (albeit, a tiny sum).  So, it can be argued that public performance of the performer's work provides promotional exposure of the work and will drive people to purchase it. Which is absolutely true (assuming the recording appeals to anyone).  We know from marketing research that repeated exposure to a sound recording will eventually motivate a listener to take action - the old "frequency of 3" principle.

What really makes this smell to high heaven is that the record companies find themselves in the position to ask for these fees because of the very fact that the radio industry has provided free promotion exposure to these acts for the past 86 years.  Frankly, I would proposed that radio stations submit a bill to the record companies for all of the airplay - free promotional exposure - that their product has received over the years.  If they want to open Pandora's box, then so be it.

Here's some links to find interesting commentary on this subject:

Broadcast Law Blog 

Mark Ramsey's Hear 2.0

Inside Music Media - Jerry Del Colliano

Kurt Hanson's RAIN

Radio Interns Blog...

Google Alerts turned up an interesting tidbit today - a blog written by some interns at Entercom/Kansas City...

http://therockblock.wordpress.com/

I thought that this quote was pretty good:

" I had no idea how intense the process was to make a 15 second commercial.  sales has to get in touch with the client, see how much money they can get from them based off of a proposal for a commercial length.  The price also depends on who would say the commercial and when it would air."

 

 

Honolulu's Brock Whaley: "I have heard the future in my car" [9]

A great piece written by a former colleague of mine at WQSR when the calls were in Tampa/St. Pete. Brock Whaley is now back in Hawaii, and he decided to experiment with WiMax as he drove around the Island. Now Brock gets it! Posted by Kurt Hanson on RAIN.

"Honolulu's Brock Whaley: "I have heard the future in my car" [9]:

Honolulu radio programmer Brock Whaley (via RAIN reader and Madison AAA programmer Tom Teuber) reports:



I have heard the future in my car.



I have had a very exciting weekend so far. My curiosity got the best of me. The result was beyond my wildest dreams. I have experienced the future of radio and even of DXing. It’s like I’m living with the Jetsons.



I’m sure you heard about the huge Clearwire WiMax deal that went down this week…



Big players. With big expectations. With big plans. Leading to a big payoff.



We have Clearwire here in Hawaii, so I thought, What the hell? Will it work in my car? Can I have the world’s radio stations at my fingertips while I drive around Kailua and Honolulu? Can I listen to London, Atlanta, and Chicago while I drive to Safeway and back?…



You bet your ass I can!



I have heard the future in my car. A future that is damn close. A future that offers thousands of more choices then over the air radio, satellite radio, and certainly HD radio. A future that the vast majority of broadcasters have yet to acknowledge, let alone plan for…

"



(Via RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter.)

More Internet Radio coming to a portable device near you

There's no doubt WiFi-based portable internet radio is coming - and it seems really, really soon! Once the penetration of these devices exceeds 25% of the population, all bets are off for terrestrial radio.

From Mark Ramsey's Hear 2.0:

"More Internet Radio coming to a portable device near you:

Internetradio



You can already get Internet radio on mobile devices, of course, through services like FlyTunes and others.



But as the ubiquity of Internet radio devices expands we'll find 'radios' becoming part of almost everything with a WiFi connection, and a new chip like this one might speed that process along:



RadioPro's $15 eBOM drives the cost of making an internet radio down dramatically. This not only opens up the new product category of portable/wearable [Internet] radios, but also makes it economic to add the technology into existing successful consumer electronic product segments - many of which are highly competitive and could benefit from the introduction of new features.

For example, CSR predicts that by 2009: 40% of MP3 / PMP players will have Wi-Fi internet radio, 50% of DAB and satellite radios will have Wi-Fi internet radio, 30% of home hi-fi systems will have Wi-Fi internet radio.



In other words, the pitch goes, cheap Internet radio could become a 'feature' of products which currently have no relationship to radio whatsoever.



Terrestrial stations are (rather amazingly) still asking whether or not they should stream. When in fact the real question is how do you propose to make your stream easy and convenient to find and dramatically different from millions of alternatives?




"



(Via Hear 2.0.)

The latest on Podcasting

Podcasting - it's for the masses, now! A post from Mark Ramsey's Hear 2.0 blog...

The latest on Podcasting: "

I like the new study from Tom Webster at Edison Research on podcasting.



Lots of good tidbits here, primarily swirling around this idea:



Your station needs to produce podcasts. What the Hell are you waiting for?



Usage is growing. Despite, I might add, being handicapped by a horrible label ('podcasting' - as I noted two years ago, much to the consternation of critics at the time).



As Tom notes, those who make podcasts are increasingly using different terminology instead (surprise, surprise) - even the so-called 'podfather' himself.



And speaking of podcasting, here's an introduction in plain english for those of you who remain uninitiated:



[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c&hl=en]



[thanks to Michael Geoghegan for the link]




"



(Via Hear 2.0.)