New customers for old radio

Random thought...

Bloomberg is mostly known for reporting financial news. But they also sell their content to the struggling newspaper industry. In other words, Bloomberg is selling their reporting expertise to companies who need it in order to appeal to their customers.

Radio already has audio expertise and infrastructure already in place. So, besides listeners and advertisers, I wonder who would be in the market to buy what radio has to offer?

Satellite Radio's Real Competition

I just saw this video thanks to the CNET TiVoCast:

Did you watch it?  Good. 

So, it's basically a radio.  My first thought was that this was more competiton for broadcast radio.  But it's really not.  At least, it's not new competition.  Sirius XM should be the ones who worry about a product like this.

The Slacker G2 is more about niche programming on-the-go, which satellite radio delivers.  In fact, that ability has been one of Sirius XM's selling points.  But, services like Slacker, Pandora, Last.fm and the like go one step further and give the listener a great deal of control.  Satellite radio lacks that completely.

And, of course, listening to the Slacker G2 is free vs. the $12.99/month Sirius XM subscription fee.  That's the killer feature right there.

Now, back to broadcast radio.  OK, yes, the Slacker G2 is competition.  This is yet another reason that radio needs to evolve.  

More localism, unique programming and a strong sense of community are no longer ideas to consider for the future.

Twitter update

Yay: I picked up two followers today!

Boo: They were both the same spammer.

I like the Twitter block button...

So, I decided to sign up for Twitter.

I decided to dive right in and open a Twitter account under my air name. I figured it might be a good way to connect with some listeners considering the almost total lack of interaction on my station's website.

So far? Meh.

I have one follower, and it's a former co-worker. I'm thinking about putting my Twitter address in my station's email signature, since I do exchange email with listeners from time to time. I suppose I could also ask our webmaster to put a link on my profile page.

This is all in the experimental stage, but so far, it's been interesting.

Using Twitter when there's more than one you.

Interesting post over here about using Twitter in the radio biz. I first heard about Twitter a little over a year ago, but I've never opened an account.

The problem as an on-air guy is that I've got two versions of "me." The radio personality and the real-world me. The two aren't mutually exclusive, but nevertheless, I have two identities.

So, which do I use to Twitter or even blog?

I guess I could have one account setup that my station's website could link to, and a separate account that I'd give out to everybody I know (and would like to know). But, do I really have enough content for all that? I would think that for Twitter there would be strange gaps when I switch personalities.

And don't even get me started on Facebook and MySpace. Geez.

Radio Heard Here

The radio biz has a new marketing campaign called "Radio Heard Here." Here's a print ad from the campaign.


I'm not sure what that's supposed to be telling people about radio. I think that's actually a picture of every night jock's fantasy.

I found that pic on the campaign's website. There are a few other pics and a couple of "viral" videos. I don't think you can simply create a video and call it viral. To be viral it actually has to be spread around by some people.

So, here, let me do some spreading! Honestly, the video is pretty good. But, why the hell is it in Quicktime format?! Flash, people. Do these in flash. Make them embeddable. That's how a video becomes viral.

I hope the campaign does some good, but I'm not so sure.

Internet Radio Day of Silence

Today's the day that many internet radio stations went silent to protest the upcoming hike in royalty fees. But, I have a hard time caring. Maybe it's because I don't listen to online radio. I have nothing against it, but when I'm not at work, I use radio everywhere but the computer. So, online radio going away makes no impact in my life.

I know I should be paying attention to the bigger picture here. It's sort of the old "I did nothing when they came for them and when they came for me, there was nobody left" kind of feeling. Since there's talk of hiking royalty fees for broadcast radio, if online radio gets successfully fleeced, then broadcast radio will be an easier target. And that all of us in radio should stand together against the fee hike.

Hey, wow. That's actually a pretty good argument.

Then why do I still not care?