Mobile Radio Simplified. Accessible. Relevant.

I ran across this post from moconews today, and had to laugh:

The Logic Behind Verizon Wireless’s New Low-Tech App
By Tricia Duryee - Thu 13 Nov 2008 02:22 PM PST
Mobile operators are falling over themselves to offer the latest mobile applications, from GPS services that help you locate your friends to chipsets that let you watch TV. So what is Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) now touting? A remarkably un-high-tech service that lets subscribers send photos from their phone to an album on the Web. The idea is that because nearly all cellphones now have camera phones, the target audience is potentially huge.

The funny part is the falling over themselves line… plus the fact that the “low tech” term shocks the sensibilities of the technorati that believes the mainstream can remain out of their target markets until they catch up someday. Do I have a ‘tude’ about all this? Well yes I do. The fact that targeting a product to a wider audience is worthy of a headline at all finally proves once and for all the point we have been making for over a year now. Cast the widest net possible by focussing on accessibility, AND build a mobile apps that perform the same function for the few phones that have new special powers.

Another funny part of all this… this app being discussed I’ll bet you if you took a poll of verizon users who could access it, would be used by less than 7% of them, with most of them citing they just don’t get the point of it, much less the how to portion of it.

The overall discussion about low-tech vs high tech is one of the areas where radio ‘gets it’ and new media lurches on the fringe. We are reconcilers of the two by design, but like to speak up any chance I get when the disconnect occurs on the geek side of the equation.

We put together a new small mobile campaign experiment today, inviting supporters of various campaigns to shout out their support for the man who earned their vote.

Here is what it looks like at first glance on many phones:

This is a preview of what we are gearing up our service for big time. So far the response is great as the mobile community loves the advantages of a click to call system, with easy browsing, playlist control and more.

The official announcements will come soon.

You can preview our mobile site now by just putting cellecast.com into your phone wap browser now.

What is your PDS?

Your Platform Diversity Strategy is your next assignment. Until now, coming up with a term for this was irrelevant to the radio industry, but today it is. For the last 2 years, everyone was asking whether they should or should not put their content on anything other than the transmitter and stream, now the verdict is in. YES, you should put it out beyond the stick. Now, comes the fun part. Getting serious about what platforms merit consideration for your content.

I had the honor of being able to collect these thoughts into a short list for radio executives for publication into Talkers Magazine.

We’ll post the article here as well after it circulates first through the magazine.

Sorry for the gratuitous headline, but I don’t mind jumping on the soap box once more to help radio leaders become aware of our desire to help.

With the August radio revenue numbers being down 11%, the already troubling situation facing radio’s leadership role in media has become more acute. In talking with various heads of networks over the last few months, we see the clear trend is that their capacity to look long term and to consider innovative ways to develop new revenue sources keeps shrinking. Of course, there are many on the fringes that not only decry the situation, but have stepped into the role of the detractor. Some would say that radio is endemically non-innovative, and I find it hard to disagree when I hear radio leaders over and over again state that they are looking outside the industry rather than inside for radio’s next iteration.

The resulting situation is that although there are many great new media innovations being presented, radio executives mostly see them as a blur, if they can afford to look up from quarterly pressures at all. Mike Agovino declared in a recent interview that Triton has “kissed the frogs so you don’t have to”, suggesting that their initiatives are an effective filter determining all that is worthy for the industry to consider. Great marketing Mike. I applaud both your success and your metaphor. The truth is however that the innovations presented to radio both from the outside and by newcomers like CelleCast are not something to delegate to others to filter out. They are opportunities for any entity to avoid being painted into a corner.

Bottom line is that we love innovating, and are happy to do so for an industry that is being squeezed out of its ability to do so. We love building new ways for radio’s great audiences to listen, gather as a community, share radio content, and speak back to your on-air talent. We do all this not as outsiders, but as a full Radio 2020 partner, operating within the all-accessibility standards that sets radio apart as a leading media industry.

Although there are many resources you can easily access to find reports on the Austin conference, both for and against its success and relevance this year, it is a good idea for you to hear from me on the specifics of how the industry is advocating mobile radio… or not. I was there pressing our case of course, getting a great response, advancing the cause, and at times discerning a ration of lip service.

Michael Harrison had a great session that created the bedrock context for serious discussion of radio’s relationship with the changing media landscape. He spoke about the advent of the media station, with the emphasis being the continued loss of relevance of the AM/FM delivery bands. There was a degree of emotional resistance in the room, and I had the opportunity to comment in the session that regardless of whether people can or should accept the ultimate decline of the status quo, the next step is to progress beyond the debate and seriously consider the merits of the newer platforms. Michael so clearly and respectfully sounds the alarm, it makes it easy for me to come in and outline a path toward solutions. So here goes… If you are a content owner and/or producer (whether you are a network, group or station) your most productive course is to:

1) Accept that you need to consider diversifying distribution onto new platforms.
2) Research the various new ways to get your content distributed. (Streaming, podcasting, cellecasting, webcasting, etc.)
3) Weigh each distribution method according to their key consumer benefits, including: accessibility, immediacy, interactivity, mobility, mainstream adoptability, and mostly its personalization and on-demand appeal, which are the key trends of this hour.
4) Then weigh the new media tools that make the cut in step 3 on the benefits they can bring to your bottom line, including: Revenue per listener, brand enhancement, reinforcement of radio tune-in for affiliates (to complement, not supplant radio identity), PR value, competitive reach, listener loyalty, ad sales support, and most of all — REVENUE, REVENUE, REVENUE.
5) Record the results of this research on paper and write above it in all caps: PLATFORM DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY - FIRST DRAFT

This list crystallized in my head as I was listening to Michael, so sorry if you just wanted a basic report, but most readers here want an actionable report relating radio’s latest news to ways to profit in the mobile revolution.

Within the context of the entire show, I felt that the majority of the people I interacted with were ready to move on toward productive steps rather than just picking sides of a debate on whether radio can keep it’s relevance. Most of the sessions were helpful in gathering people around ideas, even if some in attendance were resigned to playing out remaining on the wrong side of them. There was continued top-down advocacy of HD Radio from David Rehr, but little support from attendees, and even small signs of revolt on the subject. It was good to see the clear disconnect on this issue, as it is forcing radio’s leaders to look more diligently toward viable solutions that fit the demands of today’s consumer, rather than depending on a delegated entity to secure radio’s longevity.

People on many occasions loved to bring up the fact that AOL Radio’s iPhone app was the sixth most downloaded app on iTunes. I felt it was just one story among many that could have been shared about mobile radio. Rehr and Haley each said that 13% of cell phones have FM tuners, which irks me when we can deliver radio now to 100% of cell phones (264M) and 100% of landlines (181M). But hey, they will catch on soon.

I could share 100 personal stories of meetings both chance and planned, but all in all, the conference was great. We were able to position ourselves as key advocates for mobile radio being a centerpiece of radio’s future. Not as rabid detractors, but as welcome newcomers.

I am optimistic about what the next months will bring.

The idea of making a great product or service shine in a overwhelmed marketplace is every entrepreneurs challenge. One approach used through history is epitomized by the Taj Mahal. Sheer size is not all that qualifies it for the “7 wonders of the world” list, but the focus that made such a monument possible. Since I just got back from Agra, this metaphor is close to my heart this week.

In radio, everyone is after largeness, and we are no exception. One of the biggest temptations in industry is to seek growth through offering variety. HD Radio is based on this approach, but few people are listening. The key instead is to seek greatness by building intricate detail into a focussed product. For us, we are finding our focus by bringing mass access to personal premium talk radio on demand. Mass variety is not our goal, nor the goal of our radio partners, who are the leaders in the industry.

Mark Ramsey tells it best, by citing Positioning, a book that I should have read a long time ago, but am currently 2/3rds the way through.

Industry. Product. Market. Culture. Meaning.

When you get fully buried in the adult life of keeping your promises to family, friends and clients as a husband, father and entrepreneur, it is easy to let the myriad tasks at hand take over your life. In my case these last few months, they have even taken over my personality. Knowing the industry, building a product and awakening a new market present a huge and exciting challenge to me as we work together to introduce the world to CelleCast. In your case, if you, like me have found yourself overabsorbed and in need of a break, I first encourage you to take a great vacation this Summer and recharge.

As noble and exciting as our pursuits are, there are higher pursuits that need to be talked about and celebrated. Without them, we can lose our sense of ultimate life purpose. Especially today, as the speed of life continues to accelerate for those of us in technology innovation, social media, etc. We are seeing hot investment bubbles grow and pop at an increasing rate all around us. If we get too caught up in these things, and sink our trust into ideas and trends that are built on less established prior trends, we can lose more than a business edge. We can lose an identity edge.

I say this thankfully as a guy fortunate enough to indeed have a transcendent life purpose. Win or lose with CelleCast, I know my contribution in life will be more inline with advancing culture and highlighting life’s meaning. I am very fortunate. For me, business success is merely a means to a higher end, that I discuss on my personal blog. I don’t say this to self-promote, but to open up more with our readers here, whether they be contacts in media, cellecast users, mobilephiles or friends. As I am about to embark on a trip to India with my wife, I find myself this year being whisked to a new level of being pulled from all sides, and all I can say is that I am grateful to be able to choose to pull back from the tasks at hand and spend time on life’s larger issues.

As I watched some great tributes to Tony Snow this morning, I realized that no matter how busy we get, there need never be a shortage of kindness and gratitude to those around us. Tony exemplified that, and even in a high stress job, he influenced people on a level that cannot be attributed to talent and drive. It happened on a higher, more human level, that I can only aspire to. I have wonderful, amazing and talented people all around me, helping to make great success a reality. To each of you, a sincere thank you.

Andrew

Greetings. With the addition of our new art director, Elin McLain, and a new boost from our great visit to NY where new initiatives and partner announcements were warmly welcomed, we are proud to announce our new blog look and newsletter format change.

Instead of daily updates logging our ongoing conversation with the world about the emergence of the fourth speaker (audio media on mobile devices) we have found that a weekly newsletter style email update is much more digestible and relevant to our partners and subscribers. So going forward, if you are signed up here, you will receive this weekly digest and be kept abreast about all the relevant news relating to the future of cell phone radio. We’ll try to avoid just repeating general radio buzz and tech news that is not relevant to things you can take action on, and instead give you specifics on how you can leverage talk radio to reach 440 million phones in a profitable way.

Our newsletter audience is tiered based on access level, so posts relevant to only our content partners will be restricted from access by the general public. Just contact us to have your access level upgraded to get access to posts about new profitable marketing ideas and inside information about how our network is expanding.

We are here to create and to help you profitably navigate the future of talk radio.

Cheers,

Andrew Deal
CEO, CelleCast

This manner of consolidation might streamline ad distribution, or it might create a bottleneck that limits radio’s desperate need to innovate and work in line with the changing landscape of advertising toward the interactive age.

We can only speak as pioneers of a new kind of radio advertising that requires a degree of creative thought from our partners. With creative independence being in short supply these days, my initial reaction to this announcement is that of concern.

After some early announcements at the Talkers Conference and some early successful tests, we are about to make a larger announcement about out newest product feature in the Cellecasting experience — CelleGrams.

CelleGrams allow avid radio listeners to “capture and share the best moments in radio” with their friends.

Try it now by simply pressing 3 while listening to any cellecast, and let us know what you think, as we refine it further before our major announcement.