After four months of heavy publicity, the U.S. version of Goom Radio arrived in late July. Launched last year in France by Emmanuel Jayr and Roberto Ciurleo, former executives at Top 40 network NRJ, Goom followed a similar path here, tapping CEO Rob Williams, previously market manager of Clear Channel/New York (after more than a decade with Clear Channel and its predecessors) and head of programming Tim “Romeo” Herbster from the MD job at CC’s WHTZ (Z100) New York.
At this writing, Goom has debuted nine channels, most recently Urban Jams and “teen hits” format Sweeet Radio, that, like their French counterpart, have the hosted, produced feel of mainstream radio, but with more of a new music emphasis. Additional channels as well as the ability to create user-generated stations (a promo says “you can even sing your own jingle”) are on the way. Radio-Info talked to Williams and Herbster about the new site and their journeys from terrestrial radio to new platforms.
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Terry Teachout wrote an excellent article recently in The Wall Street Journal about lessons the media industry can learn from the last big technological and sociological revolution when television replaced radio.
In The New-Media Crisis of 1949 the author accurately framed the debate over what to do with the Internet, mobile space and social networking. Just as important, by inference he was giving us a view of what not to do.
My purpose in bringing this up is to add some additional content to the issue specifically targeting radio, music and new media.
Ironically, networks played a role in the previous technological revolution.
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In 17 years of media sales consulting, I have observed three issues that seem to rear their ugly heads repeatedly. As radio retools toward The New Radio Model with a focus on generating higher revenue, these three obstacles must be overcome:
1. Too many rookie salespeople don’t succeed.
2. Managers want their people to make more face-to-face calls.
3. Veteran salespeople are not always good at getting quality appointments with prospects.
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Programming consultant Alan Burns has gotten a lot of ink recently for his study of what we used to call “the stuff in between the records.” (What Does Music Radio Communicate When It’s Not Playing Music?) And the conversation is justified.
Back before I became a general manager and sales manager I was a program director and programming consultant in markets like New York, Nashville, Cleveland and Atlantic City. And in the late adolescent years of FM Radio (the 80s), we spent a lot of time in programming meetings and aircheck sessions (remember them?) talking about making jock breaks “Timely, Topical and Relatable.” The goal was to make sure we struck an emotional chord with the audience when we opened the mic and to give more than the call letters, slogan and frequency. Alan is right. Somewhere in time relating to the audience and their community fell out of fashion.
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It is no secret that I have long been a proponent of having enough "Feet on the Street," the simple concept that a station or a cluster has to have the critical mass of sellers necessary to make enough calls to generate enough business to hit top line revenue budgets.
Recently, some of Radio's most visible groups, large and small, have chosen to plant their flags firmly in a different place, settling on the idea of reducing the overall size (and cost) of their sales teams by using senior sellers exclusively, ridding themselves of newer, less senior, lower-performing sellers and/or not hiring inexperienced sellers in the first place. Most visible among these is Clear Channel, whose Bain and Company investor/advisors have made it clear that they think newer, lower performing sellers have a bad Return On Investment (ROI.) Another group going this way is a well respected, big grossing, small market Wisconsin/Michigan operator who says, flat out, that he doesn't have the time necessary to train newbies, so he just doesn't hire any. Hey, at least he's honest about it!
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The “Oh Wow” issue of Ross On Radio, in which Sean asks “When Is A Oldie Truly A Surprise?”
IN THE MID-‘90S when Cox’s WYSY (Y108) Chicago debuted, during the height of the all-‘70s format rush, my then-boss Marv Dyson came into my office at WGCI-AM Chicago raving about them. “You know what I heard them play yesterday? ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’ by Steely Dan! I haven’t heard that song in years!”
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“When Can You Tell If a Station is a Hit?” Sean Ross asks the question, along with reader Paige Nienaber, in this issue of Ross On Radio:
AN INTERESTING E-MAIL from CPR Promotions ninja Paige Nienaber on Friday, sent in conjunction with the apparent stunting at KTNI Denver, which dropped its Alternative format last week and began running “strip club music” as “101.5, The Pole.” Nienaber writes, “The first five hours of a station’s life are the most important. You either debut with a bang or you ease into the traffic on the highway and are quickly lost in the field of cars jockeying for position.
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In this issue of Ross On Radio, Sean Ross takes a look at Alan Burns’ recent study on radio station content, in “Why Station Content Isn't More Listener Focused”.
ONLY THE MAGNITUDE of Monday’s findings by radio consultant Alan Burns that less than 10% of the average radio station’s content is “listener-focused” will come as a surprise to anybody who has listened closely in recent years. Burns analyzed an hour of twenty CHR, Hot AC, and AC radio stations in markets 10-100 in middays and afternoon drive and found that a radio station’s positioning – whether produced or delivered live by jocks – comprised 72% of its own content. Listener-focused content was only around seven percent.
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Goom Radio Arrives in the U.S., and Sean Ross gives us an inside look at some of the programming offerings:
IT HAS RECEIVED HEAVY PUBLICITY for an Internet radio startup, even in the consumer press, largely due to the presence of former Clear Channel/New York managers Rob Williams and Tim “Romeo” Herbst. Now, Goom Radio, the U.S. counterpart to the French Internet radio site, is available in an “alpha” version. So we took a “First Listen” to Goom’s Top 40 “Just Hits” format.
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To add value or to cut cost, that is the question.
If you're a Hollywood movie studio, you have grown accustomed to a big theatrical release and multi-millions in opening weekend box office, then super-profitable DVD releases, licensing, and the balance sheet joys of turning a hit movie into a multi-hit franchise.
Your deepest fear is being undone by channels of distribution or consumer behaviors which disable the way this world works.
Your response can be one of two things:
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If you’ve been at production for more than a few weeks, you’ve probably noticed the most time consuming task in the studio (or at your desk with Adobe Audition) isn’t putting the pieces together for a great promo — it’s taking the time to find the pieces to produce that great promo.
A few years ago, I remember my PD coming into my studio asking me to cook up a promo that featured some caller audio. I had the voice tracks from the voice guy, picked out some music and effects for the promo, but I was at a loss for having just the right mix of callers to pull it off. What’s next? The daunting task of blindly listening to old talk shows for the just the right byte from a caller. There has to be a better way, right? Yes, there is and here are two suggestions.
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“The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”- Peter Drucker
Yes, radio is moving (or being pushed) towards a new business model. But, when it comes to generating revenue for The New Radio Model, the fundamentals don’t change.
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In this issue of Ross On Radio, Sean Ross asks “What station would you pay to keep on the air? And what a response it has received. He also takes a fresh listen to KRXY “Roxy 94.5” in Olympis, WA, and gets some interesting feedback to his story on the end of WBCN.
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From Tom Taylor:
“How do we avoid being dinosaured out?” That was a question for the RAB’s Jeff Haley from the Conclave audience, and he was ready for it. One of his answers is that radio needs to be available on all kinds of new mobile/digital and cell phone platforms, like the Microsoft Zune (which also enables song-tagging and purchase). And yes, there have been conversations with all kinds of device manufacturers, like Apple. The other hard question from the audience came from Phil Wilson, who said “there’s less and desire by radio companies to invest in their product.” Haley is practical. He says “2009 is a year about making your payroll, keeping your franchise alive.” But he notes that 7,000 U.S. terrestrial stations are now streaming, so they’re at least making that much of an investment in a digital future.
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So what do you do after a 30 year career on the radio? While some continue to hit the streets looking for their next on air radio gig, other personalities are taking their talent to the Internet. This isn’t the Internet radio of years past. These are professionals from radio, bringing their years of broadcast experience to “Online Radio.”
Legendary Chicago DJ Steve Dahl is “Reinventing” himself after terrestrial radio. His podcast will be available after Labor Day (September 8). San Francisco’s Jeff Vandergrift, known as “J.V.” on Clear Channel Rhythmic KYLD (94.9), is launching “J.V.’s World” online, even while he still has a job on the terrestrial side.
And they’re not the only brand names to venture out into the worldwide web. Grand Rapids morning radio veterans Dave Jagger & Geri Jarvis have launched their own daily radio show, or “podcast” as some refer to it, which is heard on DaveandGeri.com.
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In the latest issue of Ross On Radio, Sean Ross asks “Did The Change In Teen Tastes Start With Radio Disney? He also does a double take on Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb.” Other highlights include a first listen to new country WWQM “Q106” Madison, and a wrap up from Conclave.
Here’s an excerpt:
“It’s a rite of passage of sorts. Any programmer with kids of a certain age must go through the phase where they discover Radio Disney and become intensely aware of every song on the station—including those that don’t exist beyond the walls of radio’s Magic Kingdom. (The most curious now, by the way, is a remake of “U Can’t Touch This” by Daniel Curtis Lee & Adam Hicks).”
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In this issue of Ross On Radio, Sean Ross writes “The Rock of Boston rolls away”- A Final Listen to WBCN. He also takes a last look at Indy’s WKLU.
Here’s an excerpt:
"I don't know why people are shocked by WBCN,” a friend of mine wrote after the news broke that the CBS rocker would be essentially swapping its dial position with Hot AC WBMX and going all-Sports Talk after 41 years. “It should’ve happened years ago.” Unlike New York, where sister WXRK’s format change left some sort of hole for a Rock station more mainstream than WRXP and more current than Classic Rock WAXQ (Q104.3), Boston won’t be hurting for Rock radio – Classic or contemporary.
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In this issue of Ross on Radio, Sean Ross delves into the concept of “Listener Driven Radio,” and takes a look at new news for Pandorad as well as a Fresh Listen to Jelli Radio on Live 105, and more. Here’s an excerpt:
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In this issue of Ross On Radio, Sean Ross discussed the success of Kings Of Leon and what it says about how Top 40 handles Rock product:
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If you missed this issue of Ross On Radio, Sean Ross took a look back at the spread of syndication, from “American Top 40” in 1970 and whether it laid the groundwork for “Premium Choice” in 2009.
ROR also took a closer look at the three-way battle for Indianapolis radio:
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There's no doubt about it: There has NEVER been a better time to upgrade your sales staff. Previously, I've written here in Radio-Info.com that the talent pool has never been wider and never been deeper. There are MORE experienced sellers available AND more EXPERIENCED sellers available.
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Webcasters and the Record Industry recently struck a deal on performance royalty rates. Webcasters are breathing a sigh of relief; everyone involved is heralding the survival of the nearly dead streaming audio industry and all sides are patting themselves on the back.
This is pure delusion - the only party who should be pleased is the record industry – because they wanted to kill webcasting and they did it. It could prove to be a pyrrhic victory though, because killing webcasting eventually could kill the record industry, but more on that later.
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When I first mentioned that phrase to a friend he looked at me like I was standing on my head. But the Internet has turned every communication medium on its ear and more than a decade after “the Web” entered our homes and daily conversations we still struggle to figure out the new business model. The process of reinvention is made more frustrating because new technologies and communication channels seem to pop up every day making yesterday’s Cinderella today’s Ugly Stepsister.
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PPM is a game-changer in many respects. One of the least discussed aspects of this is radio’s loss of history. We have 40 years of diary based listenership data that we are essentially throwing away in this transition.
It might seem a minor point, given the industry’s limited attention span and our tendency to look no more than a book or two back. After all, you’re no better than your last book, but the fact remains that we are losing perspective and our history.
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If you missed the latest edition of the newsletter Ross On Radio, you can catch up here.
Wondering what you missed? Our tribute to Casey Kasem, and a “Fresh Listen” to medium market top 40 – WKSE “Kiss 98.5” in Buffalo.
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