RADIO 2006:  We can Light Candles..........or Curse at the Dark

By Jimmy Risk

Charles F. Kettering, the head of research at General Motors in the 1920s, was an integral part of GM's ascent into auto lore. Charles knew how to light a candle. A "screwdriver-and-pliers" kind of guy, he believed strongly in the combination of hard work, ingenuity, and technology to make the world a better place. Kettering, who developed the automatic transmission, also helped create the forerunner to the pacemaker for the human heart. It seems that the technology that created the piston-driven engine held secrets that could revive a sagging heart.

While I don't expect radio to pioneer disease remedy, our industry desperately needs some Charles Kettering's who understood that answers for the future lay in seedlings of things we know. We must build on our storehouse of knowledge about broadcasting and experiment with the delivery systems that will allow it to compete against anyone. Some radio execs are in calm denial about the fight of our lives.  They don't understand that traditional media is gushing blood while one Internet search engine is almost out-billing the entire radio industry. We cannot tell any more stories about overcoming the 8-track, cassettes, or CDs unless there is teeth in our argument. The line between audio content and the radio industry is getting thinner, and there is more to come. When the Internet reaches your dashboard, it'll be 'Game On' and you'll pine for the days when nascent industries like iPods and satellite radio were your biggest threat. While delivery systems have been a moving target, they are crystallizing into ones that provide content to the listener anywhere, anytime.  We think podcasting represents HD Radio's dry run.

HD Realities....like it or not! 

The HD Radio iniative (www.HDradio.com) is radio's new messiah and can be a big step in the right direction, but we must find some reality for it's timetable and content offerings, so that we are not lulled into a false sense of security. Factory-installed HD Radio receivers are crucial to the technology's ultimate success, but having BMW announce an HD Radio install(in two models) by fall 2006 and 700 stations broadcasting in HD is a long way from the needed critical mass acceptance. Make no mistake, GM almost single-handedly catapulted XM satellite radio into orbit. XM's stock didn't reach a steady multiple until GM launched it as standard equipment in several models. HD Radio will need a similar - if not better - boost from GM. Unfortunately, this task will be heavier this time around.  Forbes magazine's latest cover says it all, "The Tragedy of General Motors".

Hailing from Detroit, I can tell you there is a lot of pain in the land of dashboards and bumpers. The "B" word has been used often in the past six months regarding GM. They have been reduced to junk bond status, losing 9.2 billion dollars last year in an industry that sold 16+ million cars. January 2006 saw Ford lay off 30 thousand workers, including four thousand white collars. Delphi, who supplies everyone, is teetering on a most uncertain future and will bring the American auto industry to their collective knees if backbreaking worker concessions and legacy costs are not slashed by June. This is the new reality for the HD Radio lobby and anyone else selling a better mousetrap to Detroit. I cannot envision an industry stampede for HD Radio factory installs until the story, content, and technology is unbelievably compelling. What will your station be doing in the interim, when iPods and cell phones are stealing time away from you? Podcasting represents the right experimental laboratory with the best way to get ourselves in HD shape. It's inexpensive to experiment, solves the portablility issue,  is profitable, and will elicit innovation from a radio staff.

Podcasting And The New Role Of Station Personnel

Charles Kettering  said, "An inventor fails 999 times, and if he succeeds once, he's in. He treats his failures simply as practice shots." Record companies have lived by this credo since Al Jolson's first single. Radio can and must do this with podcasting. General Managers and Program Directors must foster a stronger sense of innovation in the building about niched content for which local radio has ready access. We must soberly face the fact that music delivery is not the private domain of radio anymore. Technology leveled everyone's playing field. Droves of underserved, tech-savvy, short-attention-spanned lower demos have left the building, and some for good. They have simply found more convenient platforms for their music palate. Music will always have an audience cume, it just won't be the driver to get those listeners back.

PDs must approach podcasting almost as if they never worked in a radio station. Forgetting all the rules and inspiring staff to act as if they have free reign over a new frontier called broadcasting is the opportunity that podcasting portends. How far can your staff imagine? With what content can you beat local media to the punch? Music podcasting rights won't be settled any time soon, but maybe now is the time for radio to partner with record companies for exclusive access to their artists via spoken word. Remember, radio started with a spoken-word platform, not music. To their credit, NPR and BBC radio have harnessed the power of the podcast with millions of listeners acquiring content weekly because it's the only place to get it. They expertly manage their web impressions and simply ask the listeners what they want. NPR and BBC, with mammoth cume, are not music driven.

Kettering had it right when he said, "Man must have a certain amount of intelligent ignorance to get anywhere with progressive things."  For all the great thinkers who populate our industry, I hope we find some intelligent ignorance and swing for the fence on each at bat.......just to get 'one'.

Jimmy Risk is the President of Loyal Ears, radio's oldest Loyalty Rewards platform. Contact him at 586-336-9903 or jimmy@loyalears.com.