Mobile Radio Simplified. Accessible. Relevant.

Quick note. The fun thing about traveling for CelleCast is talking to cab drivers (always fairly recent immigrants) about the concept of hearing news and entertainment from their home country while driving around town. I get 100% enthusiasm about it. Now it is just a matter of gathering the long tail of shows into our system.

Personalization of media programming lies at the heart of the new media revolution. If it was only about the explosion of variety in content and format choices, the net result of all this change would just be about how overwhelmed we are with all the new choices in content and formats. Ok, so we are largely overwhelmed, so what does that mean? It means we are still in the beginning of the revolution. We are just beginning to consider how much control we as individuals need over our media consumption, versus how much we are happy to continue to hand over to media producers.

I am finally starting a new series of posts about media personalization as it relates to Talk radio. It’s about time. What finally got me started on this after I have threatened to start on the topic for a while now, was the kind invitation from Al Peterson to publish my thoughts first for his newsletter. So my first installment here on the Fourth Speaker is a reprint of Al’s weekly Newsletter, which you should subscribe to.
 
 

Radio Personalization - Possible with Mobile, but in demand?

With the incredibly fast pace of change occurring in the world of technology and media today, it is necessary to take a look not only at cumulative data on where today’s radio audience is and is going, but also to reflect on some of the ‘what ifs’, and ‘why nots’ and ’why not yets’ surrounding the changes. The level of intrigue surrounding new media is equaled only by the claims many on my side of the table have made. As far as those claims go, and speaking for the sane faction on “my side of the table” (although the fact that a ‘table’ even exists is a hindrance for the radio industry), I want to apologize for those who have predicted the demise of radio by 2010. They don’t speak for even a quarter of us who have been approaching the industry with ideas and products we believe will help radio’s staying power through the personal media revolution.

Today I want to speak specifically about the one item of change I have been pushing for and am willing to admit I have been partially wrong about. That is, the listeners personal quest for programming personalization. In short, my conclusion is that it is not as big a deal to them (yet) as I had hoped. It is easy for technology innovators to make the leap from possibility to market demand, and we should be encouraged to continue making these leaps in that that is our strength — to see a possible future and place bets on it coming to pass. The pay-off is worth the risk. One key facet of my calculated bet with CelleCast is that some listeners, if given the chance, would prefer to be able to queue up their favorite talk radio programs into a playlist and always have the freshest episodes from each ready to auto-play when convenient. I never meant for this bet on an emerging demand for convenience to call into question the value of program directors, stations and streams, but in this age of media disruption, new technologies are often seen more as a challenge to the way things have always been done, versus by the merits they bring to the marketplace. I submit to you that we can only win by looking at both sides of the equation, or to put it in political strategic terms: Contribute to both campaigns, just in case the other guy wins. Therefore, with all that said so you know my heart is for the industry is in the right place, allow me to share my observations to date in my quest to promote my own vision for disruption.

One of the ways I have explained the idea of cellecasting to both customers and producers is that the listener becomes their own program director, deciding for themselves exactly what mix of programming they want to consume, even whether they want to tolerate commercial interruption or not. The idea that they would want to do this has a solid basis. DVR’s (TiVO) have become mainstream practice for television consumption, giving people near total control of how they consume TV. We all know what MP3 players, file sharing and Pandora are doing to music side of radio, allowing listeners to personalize consumption, eliminate commercials and tap into the new inventory called the long tail. I have believed and still believe that talk radio listeners will at some point do the same, whether we like it or not. However, radio in its broadcast form, now having to exist among alternatives not previously available, is finding resiliency and learning to articulate its staying power in a changing environment. Paraphrasing Dave Van Dyke, who watches listener trends like no other: “Listenership in some segments of younger demographics is still strong, as more people are using radio as a way to discover new artists, ideas, etc.”. What I am seeing here is a welcome sign. Radio is declaring its particular strengths and demonstrating its staying power against a host of unproven radio alternatives/derivatives declaring themselves the new reality. The broader observation I have come away with at this juncture is that although self-service, personalized media alternatives still deserve ongoing attention, investment and market testing, there is a growing awareness that consumers are happy to let others (PD’s) program their media consumption for them, even with an alternatives in the palm of their hand.

The other important observation I have made in this tumultuous year, is where radio sits on the personalization landscape versus other forms of media. What we are finding is that radio, possibly through no fault of its own, is likely to be near or at the bottom of the list in demand for personalization. In terms of talk, one of my key advisors always reminds me that the Rush Limbaugh you turn on at midday is not all that different in content from the Hannity that follows immediately. No need to personalize if roughly the same content is ubiquitous. But the bigger reason for radio falling behind video and print is that radio is most naturally today’s background media. Personalization requires attention. Radio is perfect for when you are driving or otherwise multi-tasking. Video and print on the other hand, demand visual focus and thus foster a thirst for personalization. Plus, they are more conducive to hyperlinks.

Conclusion: When the demand for personalization in radio comes, let’s be ready.

Life is full of surprises.

There are times when we think the business relationships we have set up years ago will remain intact and that everyone is comfortable in their role. Then the phone rings. “Although we have been glad to have you provide that service for us, in light of the recession and all, we decided to handle that in house from this point forward.” No matter how wrong headed these kinds of decisions might be, they are made anyway, and more and more specialists are forced to diversify. What should surprise us is that anyone is surprised anymore when things normally regarded as necessities are re-evaluated at every level.

For a minute, let us consider the vital services provided by the radio program director. First of all, rest assured that I love PD’s and my appreciation for what they contribute to radio has increased over the last 2 years. Nonetheless, the core of what they do for listeners is gradually being replaced by an increasing consumer awareness of a whole new set of media choice. Not just content choice, but delivery method choice and personalization.

The convenience of pre-packaged media with a carefully balanced mix of news, info and music is certainly here to stay, but the obvious fact that this is no longer the only option means the radio industry must decide whether to participate in a widening demographic, or a shrinking one. Sound familiar? This is what we have been saying since 2006, and others have been saying as well.

I am slated to write an industry article specifically on the radio personalization topic next week, so you will have to stay tuned for the helpful details. I still think we can all progress better together as an industry if we test new radio ideas out in an intelligent way. That should seem like an obvious point, but you might be surprised how many still need this hammered home.

With the recession running in full gear at this point, we are settling into a season where re-evaluating value in media options is now commonplace. As I’ve been rethinking my methods of articulating our own value proposition to radio partners, I have decided that the discussion of podcasting should come into a new focus with all of its merits and liabilities carefully charted and weighed, and that, what the heck, we should consider throwing it into our service offerings as well.

I have been somewhat dismissive of podcasting discussions when talking to partners to this point, and am keenly aware of the diminishing attention the topic has commanded in conferences since 2006. (Heck, I just realized I don’t even have a blog category for it until this post!)

Podcasting web portals are becoming, as I felt they would, more and more ghetto-ish with 2nd and 3rd tier content dominating the home pages, with broken links and super stale programs. Smart radio properties are carefully avoiding being found in these places, making their podcasting strategies critical in regards to the possible effect it has on brand.

Anyway, what I have in mind for podcasting and audio archive delivery as a service will fit well into helping us help our partners reach their audiences in more ways over a clean, interactive interface.

We’ll announce more about this soon, but would love to get your thoughts on it while the idea is fresh. I have only shared about 15% of my thinking here on this post, so that should make for a good open door for discussion about opportunities for creating a better comprehensive audio mousetrap.

Like my run-on sentences today? There is more where that came from. It is a by-product after a full day of brainstorming and research.

We wanted to do our part to help the wireless nation celebrate and share their thoughts on the inauguration. So, at the last minute(last Thursday) we created the Inaugural ALL CALL Cellecast as a way for the millions attending to have handy access to on demand radio for the mobile phone. Of course it works fine for those elsewhere, but the point was to make a program that suits people on the ground who don’t have smart phones, nor time to sit still and read. Having a radio is such a good idea in a place crowded to the gills, but who would carry another device?

Well the experiment worked pretty well. One of our partners, Jon Elliott from Air America jumped on board and gave us a couple updates to it and some on-air promotions. We got great feedback from a lot of people saying that if we had only had more time to prepare, it could have grown into a big hit. Well, it was a medium hit, and doing it spawned us putting up our own official twitter page, and getting lots of followers right away. We met some great people this way. More than I normally do through my personal twitter account.

We also tied new program updates and talkbacks to twitter in a stronger way, leading us to further explore the concept of the audio tweet. Micro-podcasting is not just smaller audio bytes, but audio responses and mini-reports tied to others in a meaningful way. Our talkback tool is a perfect fit for this. I will blog ore about this soon and what it means to radio’s evolution. Suffice it to say the concept already has legs as far as we are concerned.

We also made our system so we can empower field reporters to post full-fledged episodes from their phones with a simple push of a button. No need to have a special code.. All they have to do is leave a talkback just like everyone else, but just choose a different sending option based on their account being tied to a program partner. It works great too! Afi Scruggs from Cleveland brought a busload of schoolchildren to the inauguration and posted some cool reports in an audio journal style that will mean much to her and the parents on the trip. Also, Marianne from Mass reported well as she, like many there, tried to get a good view on the mall.

We look forward to developing these event based cellecasts even further in the new year, and always welcome your feedback.

Oh yeah.. why the picture of the cat? I know it is completely irrelevant to the post. We really would hate to think that businesses across the country would ever have to knock on the door of government to prosper. I just got off track while searching trends on twitter and discovered the Obamacon. Fun stuff.

Well, we decided I should go after all.

I think I made my vacillation on the issue a bit of a public discussion, but on balance, the words of encouragement to attend outweighed the value of working the phones, product and marketing contracts sitting on my desk. I just can’t help wondering out loud through this decision process, and I thought I was alone in my public musing, until I ran across Perry Michael Simon’s open rant in his newsletter. He sums up my thinking pretty well, and articulates it better as you will agree:

These shows always seem to go like this:

1. Financial forum in which group heads issue general platitudes about how prosperity is just around the corner and things will stabilize once the economy is better.
2. Presentations along the lines of “How Your Station Can Profit From (Podcasts/Streaming/Websites/NTR/Sending Your Promotions Director To The Corner With A Tin Cup And A Cardboard ‘Please Help’ Sign).”
3. Speeches from invited “visionaries,” most of whom avoid talking specifically about, um, radio.

Mix in a bunch of guys in suits and there you have it. The last few Fall shows have been increasingly depressing. Last year, you’ll recall, the NAB unveiled “Radio 2020,” pitched as a major public relations offensive and revamping of the industry to boldly march into the future. At the time, I was unaware that the “2020″ part meant that nothing would come of it until the year 2020. Anybody see anything about “Radio 2020″ since then?

Here here Perry! I do think however that with each year and each wave of new ideas bolstered by the gradual shift in listener habits, there will be more progress over posturing where these shows can be a place to close deals. Let’s just hope more people are willing to lead through a broadening of partnerships and sincere quests for emerging revenue channels.

We intend to oblige.

The political season is in full swing. It is a season for hopes and dreams, dreams of a better future and the promise of innovation. No matter which candidate you support, it is likely you believe your favorite will deliver on the promise and their potential. The political tussle is a good example of how some of us are drawn to change, and new ideas and a different way of doing things while many are happy with the status quo, the safe way and the proven approach.

I believe the radio industry’s reaction to change is a great example of how these opposing points of view work in the real world. I’ve been involved in this industry for 20 years and the changes in the business have been dramatic. Over the last 5 years the need to move rapidly to new technology, new products, and new delivery methods has become essential and inevitable. Any external analysis of the radio industry shows a decline in audience and an increase in the number of alternatives to terrestrial radio. Industry pundits beat this drum daily, and yet the traditional broadcaster is moving slowly if at all into the realm of alternative delivery. In spite of the obvious need to change and the volume of evidence that time is of the essence many of the leaders in the industry are touting change but hanging on to the status quo. It is time to try new things or be replaced.

CelleCast is one of the truly compatible services giving terrestrial broadcasters a mobile, time shifting partner to expand listening and deepen the relationship between listener and program. Innovators like Dr Laura, Envision Radio, United Stations and Lou Dobbs, among others, are doing more than talking about the future, they’re doing something. Each has taken the first step by offering their programming via CelleCast on their listener’s terms, and on their schedule, and each will see the benefit of a more loyal and engaged audience as alternatives grow.

We’re watching the politicians and the industry executives with the same cynical eye, asking the question, “Are they serious change agents for the future, or the same old thing?” It is time to get off the sideline and take a chance on something new, something bold, and something fresh.

I found this today on RAIN which flies in the face of the narrative that Talk Radio listeners are not able to keep up with technology. It is encouraging to say the least, to us and our content partners.

RADIO USAGE HIGHEST AMONG “TECHIES”: Scarborough Research recently released a study on society’s “digital saviness.” Among their finds, Scarborough found that digitally savvy consumers are more likely to use radio both in its traditional and online forms. 1/3 “tech savvy” users listened to internet radio in the past month. The study also found that 59% of the “Digital Savvy” use their mobile phones for email usage and are “25 percent more likely to be ‘Independent’ voters.”

We are finding the process of rolling out the community features to be more incremental than first intended. The chicken/egg factors so common in most social media sites seems even more pronounced in CelleCast, as we have so many users already in the system just there to consume audio, and others coming in to have yet another social profile first, and see where it takes them.

The dynamics are a bit more complicated than I want to explain in this post, but suffice it to say that we are rolling through the soft-launch a bit longer while we see more latch on to the concept of community around radio listening. We expect to see participation grow, and look forward to seeing your profile there and your feedback however you want to send it.

I have heard little about anything Paul Shaffer has been up to besides making Dave Letterman look cool night in and night out, but now that we are working with Envision, our first launched program with them is a daily shot of rock history that Paul puts out. I have been listening to the 60 second sound bytes of cool nostalgia the last couple days and love. It is now on my cellecast playlist for regular consumption.

Check it out here:
http://cellecast.com/paulshaffersdayinrock/

Or just add the Direct Dial Number, (253) 251-2300 to your address book.