Cannibal Radio?
With all the in-fighting, finger-pointing, and ass-covering happening in the radio industry during these payola investigations, I begin to wonder if the Zombie was an apt metaphor. I don't recall seeing Zombies turn and feed on each other in any of the zombie movies I've watched.
They may be lumbering, undead, not-so bright animated corpses -- but at least they moved and acted as a unit. It was always them against the living.
Kinda sad that radio can make a bunch of brain-dead monsters look SMART.
Dear Radio...
How are you? I am fine.
Didn't know if you were aware of this book, but it's IMPORTANT (please note the use of ALL CAPS!)
"Life After the 30-Second Spot: Energize Your Brand With a Bold Mix of Alternatives to Traditional Advertising" by Joseph Jaffe, will (should!) make you rethink your industry, services, programming, and personnel.
Great book, spot-on about most of the new advertising strategies (and deadly accurate about the rapid demise of the old ones.)
You should read it -- definitely worth your time, and could quite possibly add a few years to your industry.
Love,
~ROSS
Isn't ironic?
Don't ya think?
I find it interesting (and funny as hell!) that Arbitron is hiring the folks responsible for the sleek and sexy iPod design to give their "People Meter" a facelift.
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A cooler-looking People Meter?
Arbitron's gone outside (tapping the folks who designed the iPod) and has "five or six" possible re-designs of the People Meter on the drawing board. The PPM not only has to
work - it needs to be attractive enough for potential panel members to want to wear it.
- INSIDERADIO, edited by Tom Taylor
July 18, 2005
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Incredibly ironic that the People Meter design may end up resembling one of the primary reasons people listen to less radio!
"Advertising is Dying"
"Ineffective advertising has finally been exposed, and, like a vampire, it's withering away under the rays of sunlight." ~ Bryan Eisenberg, ClickZ
I'm thinking Bryan has it right. If Radio is a Zombie, why can't Advertising be a Vampire?
The recent ClickZ article describes fives "stakes" being driven through the heart of traditional advertising:
- Media Fragmentation
- Communication Acceleration/Information Availability
- Overemphasized Demographics
- Creative, rather than persuasive, ad firms
Bryan's primary hypothesis? "Old-school advertising can't be resuscitated. The landscape has changed. Advertising must morph into something different. Advertising alone isn't enough."
The one I keep waving in the face of Radio is Media Fragmentation. Bryan does a great job explaining why advertisers simply can't count on what they did LAST time working THIS time...
"TiVo, iPods, hundreds of cable channels, satellite TV and radio, podcasting, Web sites, consumer-generated media, even video games cut people's time and attention into thousands of teeny fragments.
Advertisers have a harder time reaching large population segments. They spend more to reach fewer people.
They used to reach the masses with buys on three TV networks; now, they must buy on 92 stations to approximate the same reach."
Excellent article. Highly recommended reading. These advertising vampires need to understand that's not garlic strung around their target consumer's neck -- it's the cord from a pair of iPod headphones.
"Clearly we need stronger
growth as an industry."
~ Jeff Smulyan Great line from the Emmis CEO -- but then he goes on to say: "2% or 3% isn't going to change any minds on Wall Street." Clearly he's more bullish on radio than most analysts, but his stance that the satellite and iPod fuss is "overblown" is way off base.
The problem is that he only seems to be looking at the situation from TODAY. What about TOMORROW? What about NEXT MONTH? What about NEXT YEAR? At the rate satellite and podcasting are attracting new users, today's "2% or 3%" is going to be more like 20% and 30%.
Think that will change any minds on Wall Street?
That Ain't Workin'
That's the way we do it...
InsideRadio.com's headline from Friday seems to find a problem with the new "Music On Command" service:
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A new service looks to sell music to radio listeners - but it cuts radio out of the loop.
Imagine a listener hearing a song on the air, calling an 800 number and downloading the song as it's playing - all without giving the station a cut. That's how a new service named "Music on Command" works, using Nielsen's BDS technology, plus Yahoo! Music, MSN Music and Buy.com.
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I don't see radio's beef.
They aren't involved in the process, no one is asking them to work harder or provide additional information for the Music On Command service. It's paramount to television station asking for a cut of any DVD I buy, simply because I checked their listings in TV Guide to find the movie title. It ain't gonna happen.
NOW, if you'd created this service to begin with (I remember suggesting it years ago to the radio station I worked for at the time) you'd be entitled to a cut -- because you were innovative, and the source of information, and providing this valuable service directly to your listener.
But you didn't.
You sat on the sidelines and waited for some other innovative soul to put this great idea into action -- don't complain now that you don't get a piece of the pie. You're getting exactly what you deserve.
...Nothing.
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Brraaaaainnssss...
Focusing
primarily on terrestrial radio broadcasting, ZombieRadio.com is
dedicated to pointing out the mindless and brain-dead actions of the
mainstream media industry in general.
Don't
get too comfortable satellite, television, cable, and internet -- we
all know from seeing zombie movies that the contagion spreads quickly.
"They're
coming to get you..."
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