No US Radio Person of the Year

“Who are they, anyway?” asked legendary radio programmer/consultant George Johns in an email alerting ftm world headquarters to this faux pax. “That’s the problem with the radio industry.”

“No One” was found “worthy” of recognition by Radio Daily News for “remarkable leadership skills” during the just ended year and promising “a profound, positive effect on the radio and programming distribution industry in the coming twelve months.” Apparently it was a survey of the website’s users. Difficult it must be to find that forward-looking American within a media community that clearly has all but turned out the lights, except in the sales department.

The same could be said about Time magazine’s naming “You” as their person of the year for the whole planet. 2006 was certainly the future Andy Warhol divined as a time when everybody would have fifteen minutes of fame. Ladies and gentlemen, here’s YouTube, MySpace, et.al.

ftm background

Jack’s a Joke
Yet another radio format sails across the Atlantic brimming with promise. It’s called Jack FM. The first stop will be Oxford in the UK in March. Liverpool and Manchester might be next if OFCOM is persuaded. Think of it as bird flu on a hard disc.

The Format Radio Brand The Format Radio Brand is a product with a name on it. Function and structure work together to define the benefit. The choice and placement of program elements is systematic and consistent. As competition for audience and ad revenue becomes fierce, producers adopt the Format Radio Brand to separate theirs from the vague General Radio Brands. Brands names and positioning become shorthand for consumers; saving time, effort and minimizing risk.

“Third Way” is New Direction for PSB Youth Channels
PSB youth channels typically follow one of two formats — the more program-driven “educational/alternative” option and the standard-fare contemporary hit radio (CHR), which competes more openly with commercial stations. A “third way” is developing; pleasing to pleasing to public broadcasters, upsetting their private competitors.

Radio Teddy: Another Stumble for German PSBs
A radio channel for children seems such a brilliant undertaking. It can be educational, entertaining. Just think of the possibilities!

Berlin’s First Private Commercial Radio Station Goes Bankrupt
Through the heady decade of the late ‘80’s and ‘90’s Hundert, 6 thrived. Competition and catastrophic ownership changes were more than it could survive.

Kiev Media Conference: Globalized Media Leads to “Adult Contemporary Music”
Council of Europe Ministers and NGOs met in the Ukraine capital exploring all the ills of big media and bad governments.

The announcement of “No One” appeared simultaneously with Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone. His iPhone; Cisco has theirs, as the immediately filed lawsuit showed. There could be others but, with the high price of Apple’s entry to the cellphone magic kingdom, Steve can afford the lawyers. Apple’s iPhone is cute, has some tricks and will certainly have a great ad campaign. The Apple brand is soaring but for a gorgeous cell phone, check out B&O.

One long year ago the aforementioned US radio tip sheet named Steve Jobs radio person for 2005, on the strength of his previous bright, shiny object – the iPod. Since Apple’s personal digital music download/playback device appeared – and then disappeared – from store shelves US radio people have turned somber. The wonderful Chiat/Day silhouette ads didn’t help, instantly positioning any other music delivery device as yesterdays’ news.

Contrast this with the high-design DAB receivers available in UK, now in 15% of UK households.

Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and XM Radio CEO Hugh Panero shared the 2004 radio person of the year award and the dooms-day clock started spinning out of control. XM had sports, Oprah and 500 music channels. Sirius had Howard (how-weird) Stern and 500 music channels. Never mind that neither company is profitable by ordinary accounting standards.

Europe’s radio broadcasters do not, generally, share the misery. Although there have been notable crack-ups, must we mention GCap again, both public and private broadcasters are actually enjoying the digital benefit, nascent as it is, with little sense of brand slippage. That translates into advertising for those selling commercial time and increased public support for those who don’t. (Contrast that with lower public support for public TV in Europe.)

So esteemed colleague George Johns is correct (again) for pointing directly at the cause of US radio despair. It’s US radio. He has programmed legendary (read: successful) stations and directed many of the most talented (read: big ratings) show hosts and presenters. His programming strategy has always been simple (after translating legendary programmer/manager/philosopher Big Jim Hillard): to be number one a station must win three of these four marks – music, information, personality and promotion.

Promotional creativity at American radio stations leaps to emulate the TV show Jackass. It’s killing people – literally. A California woman died from water intoxication after participating in a radio promotion last Friday (January 9). The prize was a Nintendo game console.

US radio personalities fall into two categories: Howard Stern wanna-bees just obscene enough to stay off the FCC’s radar but always willing to “push the line” or robots. Outrage supplants entertainment. Plus, those DJs are just too expensive.

Information is all but gone from American commercial radio. The oft-told story of the small town with six stations owned by the same company with no person to alert listeners to a serious storm may have been exaggerated but it’s sufficiently telling. Again, people are expensive and the consultants, preaching to the choir, tell owners that listeners hate hearing talk of any kind, except when it’s the rantings bordering on hate speech of political talkshow hosts.

US commercial radio has now lost the music mark. Well-researched 258 tune music playlists may have served to separate the sound of one station from another but many listeners revolted. The vaunted “long-tail theory” was first tested on the radio. People bought personal digital music players and made their own choices.

The stark reality is that pushing customers – listeners, viewers, readers – to media products that fail to “speak” to them causes those customers to look for less confusing (or painful) alternatives. Brand strength, astonishingly, is no longer part of the plan. Maybe the 2007 US radio person of the year has figured that out.

Radio Staff Fired After Contestant Dies - January 17, 2007

The Sacramento, California radio station organized, promoted and staged a competition for a Nintendo Wii game console, value $250, Friday morning (January 15) at the KNDN studios. A contestant, second to last standing (so to speak), died of water intoxication a few hours later. All contestants apparently signed liability waivers. The three morning DJs were among ten staff members fired for violating their contracts.

KDND-FM Vice President and marketing manager John Geary posted an email statement to the Sacramento Bee and other media outlets Saturday saying he was “stunned.” The coroner’s office is investigating. The sheriff’s department, saying there was no criminal activity, is not. The civil suit will be stunning.

Lawyers for station owner Entercom are well-seasoned. Before Elliot Spitzer left the New York Attorney General’s office for the Governors mansion, a settlement was reached in which the company would forfeit $4.5 million in return for ending the State of New York’s payola investigation. At the end of 2004 the company was fined $200,000 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in an indecency complaint.

Entercom Communications owns six radio stations in the Sacramento, California market. It is the fourth largest American radio broadcasting company with stations in 20 markets.

No US Radio Person of the Year

Brought to our attention, quite late it seems, was that the turn of the new year did not produce an American radio person of the year. At least this was the judgment of a tip sheet for US radio broadcasters. Go To Follow Up & Comments

Radio Staff Fired After Contestant Dies - January 17, 2007