LAGGARD BEWARE: “NEW MEDIA” ISN’T NEW ANYMORE

WHY AN INTERNET PRESENCE IS CRITICAL FOR EVERY STATION

There is an oft-told tale—probably apocryphal—of England’s tenth-century King Canute, who set his throne on the shore and commanded the waves to cease. They didn’t. The story is usually related to show what a boob Canute was for trying to alter the inevitable. But historians believe that Canute knew exactly what he was doing: showing that no leader, however powerful, was immune to progress. Enter the so-called new media, which isn’t very new any more, and the radio station managers who think they can do without it.

We don’t have to look back more than a few decades to find a couple of major radio groups that surrendered their FM licenses to the FCC because they saw no value in them. Some stations that did keep their FM transmitters lit up continued to broadcast in mono, though listeners and the record industry demanded two channels. Now, in an age when iPods and streaming media receivers of every kind dominate the media landscape, some radio station owners continue a Canute-like approach to Internet streaming.

That attitude will lead to intentional drowning sooner rather than later. Here’s why:

• Streaming on the Internet is how listeners will come to you more and more over the next few years.

• More than that: In the next 15 years, many stations think they’ll actually have more listeners tuning in from cyberspace than over the air.

• A recent study by radio equipment manufacturer Wheatstone reveals that over 61% of standalone stations believe they will have more listeners via “new media” by 2025 than those who tune in traditional radio receivers. Almost 55% of group-owned stations feel the same.

So, what’s the kicker? Those new listeners, stations believe, will not turn to PCs, Macs and laptops for their streaming audio.

For many stations, the streaming future appears to be through cell phone apps. Almost 20% of stations responding to the Wheatstone survey felt that was the media their listeners will primarily turn to within the next 15 years.  Others still cling to the hope that HD radio will be the future transmission standard in the US. In addition, mobile phone manufacturers are embracing radio streaming in their devices and within a very short time, it will be hard to find a cell phone that isn’t radio-friendly.

What, then, is a station that doesn’t even stream on the Internet to do? Start right now.

The technology that permits you to stream your signal is now robust and costs are reasonable. Performance rights fees will finally be settled—someday—although covering commercials voiced by AFTRA talent has been a concern. Still, for many non-streamers, these are minor matters. Local-market stations have no concerns about union talent. That leaves performance rights fees for music stations as a cost factor. That’s why we sell advertising: to cover costs of doing business.

I’m astonished at how many radio station managers still consider selling ads on their Internet streams to be difficult and not worth the effort. Also those who virtually give the time away as part of packages sold for their over-the-air properties.

Get this: In the brave new world new media—much of which is over two decades old, incidentally—you no longer have a signal. You have a product. A brand. And thanks to streaming technology, you also have more ways than ever to monetize your efforts!

Consider:

• Traditional commercials air on your RF signal
• You can choose to also air them on your stream OR sell different spots entirely, thus doubling your inventory
• Now you have visual ads to sell, too. Not just banners and boxes but video, just like TV. You are now the local Howard Stern—King of All Media!
• It’s easy now to air two OR MORE completely different program “streams”—one over the air and others on the Internet—with entirely unrelated material AND advertising (for example, CHR on the air, high school play-by-play on the Internet). Lots of stations do this already; automation makes it easy.

The only real drawback to maximizing profit potential on your brand is your vision.

Fifteen years isn’t much time when a hard-charging technology like Internet streaming and the devices that can receive it are concerned. Do whatever you can to get your programming on the Net. Then look at it the way station owners viewed their AM-FM combos in the 1970s: combine programming when it makes sense, split it when that’s more profitable.

WEDNESDAY: Ways To Split Your Internet Programming to Create Multiple New Advertising Streams