Radio: Campaign research wanted

Yesterday. That was the day that was.

It started with a candid and rational radio industry article in the Wall Street Journal by media reporter Sarah McBride: Heavy Debt, Fewer Ads Put Radio Firms in a Squeeze.

It didn’t cover any new ground other than updating the investment community that the bad news about radio has only gotten worse.

What did raise a few eyebrows and filled my in box with observations – both negative and positive – was her use of an idiom I’ve been applying for the past year to depict the deterioration in radio station valuation – fire sale.

Though radio’s contribution to the unemployment line was mentioned, the industry’s imprudent investment in HD Radio was not. She covered that folly last week.

It’s time for radio to stop blaming external forces for its calamities. Hauling out the old enemies list on cue - the iPod, Sirius XM, and mobile phones is like calling the turntable, the CD player, the Walkman, and the auto cassette player competition in the seventies through the nineties. Actually, back then there were some radio stations that did consider the latter three competition. The losing ones.

And blaming SiriusXM? I know Mel’s saying it could be up to fifteen years before they’re able to fully integrate the two services – but I’m more concerned with whether they’ll be around fifteen months from now considering their pecuniary instabilities.

The only way to get an edge in any fight is by identifying the fear in your opponent. You can fight and win against someone twice your size with the resolution to win. Lucky sperm clubs and industry connections mean nothing when it’s just you, your opponent, and the gloves are off.

Whenever an industry's business plan reads "buy them now and figure out what to do with them later," it’s doomed to fail. When radio hired an unlimited number of unqualified, untrained sales people and set them loose on the streets - with orders to sell against new media it set itself up to fail. In the process, the industry let its content rot.

Young people aren't listening to the radio at all. No reason to. It doesn't provide their soundtrack. Those in older demos that do listen are listening less.

The radio industry isn't dead. It’s in stasis. It has to ally with new media and rebuild and develop content for survival and future growth.

Raise your hand if you believe Paragon Research’s claim that more people are listening to the radio.

Thought so.

I got the same response when I asked if anyone believed Paragon Research’s claim about the rising popularity of HD Radio, too.

Those that know or have worked with me know my feelings about radio research.

Most of it is crap and easily manipulated to show whatever results you want it to. That does nothing for no one in the long run.

If there is one single problem I can identify with most radio research is that most persist on asking the wrong questions.

Even worse. How many station groups do you know that applied research results from one market to another, under the assumption that they were similar enough to do so?

My favorite? Detroit, Philadelphia? Both the same kind of lunch bucket market. Use Philly’s research.

A couple of stories that should’ve caught the radio industry’s eye – but didn’t – dealt with President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign and post-campaign on-line strategies.

Let me clue you in. Radio has much to learn from Obama’s campaign.

Let’s start with the second story first. On November 5, his team launched Change.gov. - an interactive site, which allows users to learn about Obama’s executive priorities and his upcoming agenda – and to provide their own input and participation through pages named Share Your Story and Share Your Vision.

Could you imagine a radio station inviting its listeners to partake in its programming decisions? Too radical for radio – but not for a new President?

Another feature in Change.gov allows prospective applicants to apply for positions in the Obama Administration.

Scratch that for radio. It’s not hiring, only firing.

It’s been mighty cold in Hell this week. Maybe that’s why the Republicans countered Change.gov with RebuildTheParty.com – as a means to win their self-declared “technology war” against the Democrats through social media.

But here’s the first part of the story. Prior to launching Change.gov, the Obama camp already had a database of three million-plus. Change.gov will only add to it.

Obama did what radio fails to do. He fashioned a social network that can micro-target specific groups on certain issues. They can be logged demographically, regionally, and by rank of importance.

Let’s not forget that radio was the original social network - from nightly requests and dedications on top 40 radio to talk formats. Instead of defining Facebook and MySpace as competition, the radio chains should’ve bought them instead. And what did radio invest in? Millions wasted on HD Radio licensing and conversions.

You must never forget who you are. But somehow radio did.

Just prior to Obama’s acceptance speech, the three-million in his data base received this e-mail:

Friend —

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing…

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

Could you envision a radio station personality sending out a client-sponsored e-mail blast before his or her show? I could. Imagine recapping a major concert or event from the previous day or promoting the premiere of a new song that will be premiered later that day? Local talk radio could advance-promote topics.

True, it’s a little challenging to pull off if one is voice-tracked from another market.

Are you as amazed as I am when told by some self-appointed radio specialist how the “average listener” doesn’t know the difference between live and voice-tracked or pre-recorded?

This past Sunday, the op-ed pundits weighed in on how Obama would deal with the realities of Washington. Obviously, the holy war to save our economy is imperative– and most agreed that several campaign promises may have to be back burnered until the main event can be fought.

Last Friday, NPR brought up Obama’s disdain for lobbyists – and how these influential blood sucking two- legged mosquitoes will not be easy to eradicate in Capitol Hill culture. But with Obama’s administration having facility to poll and retrieve opinion from its data base on a myriad of issues, it will present opportunity for his administration to counter lobbyists with tangible citizen opinion and persuade compromise on their behalf. Lobbyists won’t go away – but they’ll now be faced with the prospect of being sprayed with the equivalent of Deep Woods Off.

Conceive of radio having the same user input for its talent, its music, its topics, its promotion and marketing? Think of how it could also sell clients that have soured on radio.

And what could radio learn from this? Lots! But will it? Or must it take a fire sale and new owners that recognize that we’re in the 21st century in order to breathe life back this industry?