What, if Anything, are People Buying on iTunes?

Just for the lack of anything better to do, I looked at a few artists' most popular songs on iTunes. I'd reprint what I found, but I don't want to run afowl of any of Apple's copyrights. To sum it up, though, I found that the most popular songs are the ones that radio plays in regular rotation. That kind of surprised me. I thought that the commonly held belief regarding iPodders was that they had iPods because they didn't like what they heard on the radio. I thought wrong, evidently.

So, how does radio deal with the "threat" of iPods, then? Emmis Communications has partnered with Apple and features iTunes Music Store storefronts on most of their stations' websites. Hear the song on the radio and buy it on iTunes.

I think there's a deeper meaning here. I'm just not sure what it is, quite frankly. It's just something I've been thinking about.

Then again, recent research is showing that iTMS sales are way down. That's not to say that iPod use is down. It just appears that the hipsters who jumped on the fashionable iPod bandwagon a while back are finally realizing that DRM sucks. I imagine they're ripping CDs and using MP3s instead of Apple's restricted format.

WKRP is Coming on DVD?!?

Some site I'd never heard of broke the news that WKRP is being readied for a DVD release! Although, according to the article it's still not going to have the original music. The stuff that Fox can't get licensed will be replaced with similar songs.

I don't know. If all of the original music was intact, I'd buy those DVDs with no questions asked. But, I think I'm going to hold off on any pre-ordering until I find out what the extras are. Still, all in all, it's good news.

...And We're Back...

Huh? Sorry. Must've fallen asleep.

So, FMQB has news that Clear Channel is adding lifestyle audio content to their websites. Now, where have I heard that before? Oh, yeah. I had that idea. Maybe somebody who can pay me, like my employer, will think it's a good idea now.

Bad Publicity for a TV Host Might be Good for a Certain Radio Station

Melanie Martinez was the host of a TV show on the PBS Sprout channel. I have Dish Network, which doesn't offer this channel, but I gather it's a channel for young children. Martinez let her bosses know that a few years back she acted in a short video with an adult theme. It wasn't porn, but the video dealt with a topic that was sexual. Her bosses rewarded her honesty by immediately firing her and taking her show off the air.

You can watch the video here. Like I mentioned, nothing pornographic, so it's relatively safe for work. But, you might want to make sure your speakers aren't cranked.

The thing that stood out for me was the radio station logo that appears at the beginning of the video. A Google search for "Rock 103" turns up several stations with that nickname, and none of them seem to have the same logo as the one in the video. I can't decide wether or not this was a TV spot. My first thought was "no way." It's too dirty, first of all. And the only way it promotes the station is by, maybe, buliding image. What station has the money to spend on such an indirect way to build image, though? The website mentioned in the video doesn't exist anymore, but maybe at one time it redirected people to the station's website. That would actually be kind of brilliant, especially if they were running a big promotion at the time. And, if this was produced before Nipplegate, maybe it could have aired late at night in a blue state.

By the way, I can't say I blame PBS. Even though Sprout is a commercial free cable channel, and therefore isn't subject to the one-two punch of FCC and advertiser pressure, they still have to cover their asses. I can just imagine some election-year attacks on PBS over funding. "PBS employs adult video stars to host programs for children!! Children!! I'm for protecting the children, and therefore say funding for public broadcasting must be cut!"

I hope whichever Rock 103 created the video is capitalizing somehow. At the very least, they should be putting it on their website. Some phone calls to the local newspaper and TV stations might not hurt either. But, in this day and age of radio, they'd have to be real careful not cross that indecency line...wherever that is.

UPDATE: If you've already tried the above link to the video, then you know that the video had been removed from that link. However, do a search at YouTube for "Melanie Martinez" and you can find it. But, the version on there at last check does not have the radio station logo. Sigh. One of the pitfalls of linking to YouTube stuff, I guess. Here one minute, gone the next.

Oh, I See They're Already Doing that in Philly

Mere hours after I sent out the email I mentioned in this post I found this article on the Philadelphia Inquirer's website. Evidently, locally owned B101 in Philly is using an online method to allow listeners to judge spots. And it seems to be working.

What the writer doesn't mention is the tremendous value this has to even advertisers whose spots don't test well. The message is still getting out to the listener! Not only does the listener get a warm and fuzzy feeling and a sense of empowerment, but the advertiser is gettting someone who is carefully listening to the spot. It's win-win.

Considering Different Ways to Deliver Advertising

The following is an edited version of an email I sent to some higher ups in my local group. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...

Here's a thought provoking article on alternative ways to present TV advertising in a DVR world.

Substitute the word "radio" for "TV" in the article.

There's a lot more we could be doing with our websites to help our clients. A lot more than just putting up tile ads. I'm referring to things we could do right now, without having to wait until our interactive people get around to making it available to us.

That writer's idea of custom-tailored ads is huge. TiVo actually does something like this with their Advertiser Showcase. You opt in and select some advertising categories that you'd be interested in. If you're in the market for a car, for example, you'd select "cars" and then content from TiVo's automotive ad partners would be delivered to you. TiVo delivered some entertaining Ford spots with Penn and Teller. We could deliver our client's messages to our listeners in a similar way. Maybe by sending the spots via email. Or just sending text via email. Something cooler would be a system where a listener would log into our site and have the spots waiting in their account. We should look into what it would take on a technical level to do something like this.

The writer's idea of on-demand spots is a good one, but I don't think we have enough "water cooler" spots on the air to be able to do this. Another way to go might be to allow listeners to vote on their favorite or least favorite spots. They'd listen to the spot online and rate it by giving it a thumbs up/thumbs down or a green/red or a plus/minus. This would allow listeners to feel like they're giving input and might create a community atmosphere. They'd love to give a negative rating to some bad spots, I'm sure. As the votes came in, voters would listen to the top rated spots and probably even the lowest rated spots! We might even get some insight into the kind of advertising that would appeal to our listeners. Again, we should look into what this would take from a techincal standpoint.

Whenever we send out an email blast to promote something, our latest promotion for example, what does the client get? The sponsor got their logo in a couple of places and a link to a page about their store. Hell, the link only showed up in the email blast. It's not even on our site that I can see. Personally, I've gotten pretty good at ignoring banner and tile ads and I probably wouldn't click on a link for the sponsor anyway. Would it have more impact to embed (not sure if that's the right word) a :10-:15 audio spot that automatically plays when you go to the promotion's info page? Something like "Get your tailgating supplies from the full service deli at XXXXX! Sandwiches and deli trays made to order or let the experts whip one up for you at XXXXXX. 123 Main Street, Palookaville."

Podcasting has been talked about, I know. Is there something stopping us, though? Podcasting would give us the ability to deliver focused advertising to a specific audience. With our iTunes tie in, this would really work well. The biggest obstacle is coming up with material for the podcasts. Clearly it has to be something that would appeal to our listeners, but doesn't really have a place on our air. Here's an idea: a local music podcast. This would be easy to do. I'm thinking something short. A quick intro with some background info on the band. One of their songs. Wrap it up with a mention of some tour dates, and we're out. 5 or 6 minutes total length. Oh yeah, and of course some advertising!! We have to be careful here. Katie Couric's CBS news podcast had gotten some flak for including a :30 spot and only :60 of content. But, I think a :10-:15 spot right before the song would work. Live spots would probably be even better near the beginning and the end. I would think Guitar Center or XXXXX might be into it. If this worked out, we could expand it and include some artist interviews or some "exclusive" live or acoustic performances. A local music podcast would have appeal across the entire region, giving a Guitar Center a wider geographic exposure.

Other podcasting ideas? Something sports related…High School, University, NFL. Maybe a music news report.

The bottom line is finding a way to deliver our clients' messages on a personal level. It's something that Google has pretty much perfected, and old media like radio should take a cue from new media success stories. I think there are ways to do this on the air, too, but that's a topic for another day.

There's a Difference Between XM and Sirius?

An interesting thread developed at my favorite "deals" website, FatWallet.com, regarding an alleged hot deal on a Sirius receiver.

What's interesting is the debate that fired up over the merits of Sirius as opposed to XM. Looks like both companies have dedicated fan bases. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this, but I was. We terrestrial radio-heads tend to consider satellite radio as this monolithic entity, but they're clearly not.

Then, I found an article in the Washington Post. I guess I'm not the only one who had trouble telling them apart if the Post thought it was necessary to explain it.

So, for now, both companies are probably more focused on competing against each other than against terrestrial radio. When those two companies someday merge, however...

They're Spending How Much to Promote HD?!

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. Maybe I'll do both.

I'm still in the shock stage after finding out that the HD Radio Alliance is spending $200 million on a new marketing campaign.

Whoa! Are you OK? Let me help you up. I know! I fell on the floor, too, when I read that.

I can't make a living wage in this business, but the broadcasters who make up the Alliance can cough up 200 mill for this? I thought HD was still mainly in the experimental stage. Does this mean they think HD is ready for prime time?! Mel Karmazin must be laughing his ass off.

The theme of the new campaign is "HD Radio: Discover It!"


I see the word "Discover" in orange and black, and all I can think about is the bankruptcy I had to file to keep Discover Card from garnishing my wages.


Hey HD Alliance! I'm interested in HD Radio, and you're interested in HD Radio...because we're both in radio! Everybody else? Couldn't care less. And given the current HD2 choices, they're still not going to care. "Ooooo. You mean I can hear an all-80's format with this $300 HD receiver? Gosh! You just can't hear that kind of format on Sirius...or XM...or that music service from the cable company...or my iPod.

If the only "HD Only" content is the same stuff you can find elsewhere, then where's the compulsion? To drive people to HD, radio has to offer unique content. Each station must identify the most popular part of the station and then offer more of it on HD2. If a station has the number 1 local morning show in the market, then offer some bonus content, or even rerun the whole show later in the day.

I just can't imagine even early adopters let alone average consumers buying into this when the same thing is available from other sources. Granted, the content is free once you pay through the nose for the receiver. But anybody who has $300 to spend on a new HD radio, probably wouldn't balk at paying $13 a month for satellite.

The Alliance should be spending $200 million on figuring out what to put on the side channels.

A Classic TV Spot for a Classic Radio Station

Since I mentioned Howard Stern in an earlier post, I thought I'd show you this 1984 TV spot for WNBC-AM in New York. If you've ever seen Private Parts then you know that Stern and Don Imus worked togethe at WNBC. Imus was already an established star when Stern arrived in 1982 to do PM drive. Two years later, the station ran this pretty good TV spot, which I believe was accompanied by a billboard campaign.



Howard was fired from WNBC less than two years later.

This Week with...Arbitron?

Arbitron this week announced the availability of Houston ratings on a weekly basis! Weekly! Ratings! This is all part of Arbitron's testing of the Personal People Meter (PPM), which is their new electronic method of gathering ratings data.

According to Arbitron's news release,

“Instead of waiting as long as a month for a ratings report that only reflects the average audience for the previous three months, radio station executives will now have a single week of reliable audience ratings to see how a programming strategy is working,” said Gary Marince, vice president, Programming Services and Development, Arbitron Inc.

Fascinating stuff. Stations will, for the first time ever, find out in detail if certain long held beliefs are true. Big concert coming to town? A week-long ticket blow out should be great for TSL, right? Weekly ratings should be able to tell us. Do listeners change their habits when their favorite jock is on vacation? Well, let's look at the weekly ratings. Hell, let's shuffle our lineup for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Oh, and we were thinking about broadening our playlist. Let's try it for a week and go from there.

We knew that the PPM was going to shake things up, but the inclusion of weekly ratings is going to cause an earthquake.

A New Age of Star-Studded Radio Shows

A few years back the major TV networks decided that they would strike ratings gold if they built shows around movie stars. Bette Midler and Geena Davis got their own sitcoms (Davis publicized the latter by wearing a see-through dress to the Emmys). Gabriel Byrne had a drama built around him. Gina Gershon (Bound, Showgirls) starred in a drama called Snoops. James Cameron (a star behind the camera) created Dark Angel which lasted two seasons.

The idea was that viewers would recognize the big names and tune in. It was a quick fix strategy that failed, by and large. ABC even gave Geena Davis another show last year (Commander in Chief), only to cancel it after one season.

Radio has, for the most part, shied away from this strategy. Most of the ratings powerhouses have risen through the ranks. Yeah, there have been shows hosted by non-radio celebrities. Hell, I still remember the Soupy Sales Show on WNBC that aired between Imus and Howard Stern back in the early 80s. Joan Rivers had a show on WOR.

Speaking of Howard Stern, his departure from terrestrial radio sparked a fire under some asses in the radio industry. Suddenly, there was a lot of audience up for grabs in some big markets for the first time in 10, 15 and even 20 years.

The quick fix solution? Hire celebrities to do morning shows! Howard's former employer, CBS Radio installed David Lee Roth and Penn Jillette, among others, for some of their own stations. Well, David Lee Roth went through a rather well publicized flame out, after only one ratings book. Howard's other direct replacements aren't doing well either.

Clear Channel has given Whoopi Goldberg her own show. Whoopi freakin' Goldberg! She isn't meant to be a direct competitor for Howard's old audience, just someone trying fill the ratings void. In fact, her show will target women listeners.

When was the last time she was successful at something? She's one of those celebrities that gets handed opportunity after opportunity, even though she continues to fail. And I expect the same for her radio show. But, maybe I shouldn't be passing judgement without having heard the show.

Why weren't radio programmers prepared for this moment? Howard was threatening retirement for years before he finally left. NBC knew that Johnny Carson wasn't going to be around forever. So, they had Letterman and Leno waiting in the wings. Instead of cultivating talent that could have one day stepped into Howard's shoes, the big radio companies cleaned house during the aftermath of Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction.

So, what's next? More celebrity shows? If Whoopi's initial ratings are impressive enough, then yeah. But, in the long run, the ratings won't be there. Doing a daily morning show is a lot of work, and the Whoopis of the world are going to start to wonder if it's worth it. Maybe then we'll see a return to developing strong radio talent.

But, then again, I hear Geena Davis is available for a morning show.

Happy Birthday!

Spooky. I was going to launch this blog today anyway. Yesterday, I settled on the title. Today, I realized that it's the birthday of Richard Sanders, best known for playing Les Nessman on WKRP in Cincinnati! Weird, huh?

So happy 66th birthday, Mr. Sanders! And thanks for inspiring my first post!

You know what would be a nice birthday present? WKRP on DVD. The original episodes featured copyrighted music for which the producers received permission to use it for the network run of the show only. The license didn't include any provisions that would allow the songs to appear on a DVD, for example. When a handful of episodes were released on VHS, viewers heard generic music in place of the songs that were originally used. Clearly, a DVD set in this form would be received poorly, and therein lies the holdup. Whoever pays to license the music (again) would have to be sure they'd get enough of a return on their investment to make it worthwhile. I'm not holding my breath.