Mobile Radio Simplified. Accessible. Relevant.

The recent warnings regarding radio’s impending death serve as a great shot across the bow to get content producers thinking about how to diversify their platform offerings. Beyond that, radio will always have a place in our cars and not be phased out like uhf. I am not saying the future of the stick itself will grow, it will diminish, but it will be a slow erosion. The delivery side is what is diminishing, the production requirements are merely changing.

What this means to all in the industry is that they should look at new alternative delivery platforms that have the best chance of diverting their core listeners from their listening routines, and make deals with the best of them. Dismissing them is fatal. Instead, measure the value of the alternative platforms based on these guidelines:

1. Is it universally accessible? Don’t sweat over portable gadgets or cell phone downloads that require a purchase or early adopter (Gen Y) knowhow. These will never replace radio. Stay away from brand and device dependent solutions as well.
2. Can you promote it on the air? This is overlooked, but ties into the first point. You will never promote something that is available to a minority of your audience, and some minority faction of your audience will not derail your show if it is worth listening to. Podcasting is marginal.
3. Can 55% of your audience figure out the alternative method after a single try, and enjoy it? This one speaks for itself.
4. Does the alternative platform make a strong case for user acceptance? Having a tweaky add-on of images or special features like outtakes and exclusive messages is not enough. The alternative must give the user a real sense of empowerment.
5. Can you profit from it? The alternate MUST not be a competitive element of course, and you can do better than just creating a revenue neutral alternative. Let the new tool open up your markets to new listeners. Also, there has to be a real win-win between the producer and the delivery partner. Satellite alienated radio, allowing itself and it’s audience to be isolated by mainstream radio, which helped neither.

These are thoughts I share on a regular basis in various conversations as we tell the CelleCast story. The new issue of Talkers Magazine has quite a few quotes and references that point to the acceptance of CelleCast and other new platforms:

Radio & Records CEO: Radio is being beaten in the portability dept. “I think the captains of the industry…should concern themselves with the portability of AM and FM radio…”

Geoff Rich: “Talent will always find the easiest path to get to their audience…they’re going to figure out how to do it themselves.”

Bill Brady: “The radio industry is at a crossroads…the market is telling us something. We should listen.” (speculatioin amidst radio’s negative revenue growth)

The flavor of these comments indicate that enough big minds in the industry are aware of the need to change their traditional business models or face even more revenue loss. They’re slowly beginning to see the importance of getting on board with things like CelleCast.