The one piece of advice I give a lot lately when talking to radio group owners and operators is this, stay nimble. The reason why is simple. Our world and the technology that drives it is changing at an exponentially faster rate than it was just six months ago. None of us really know exactly what our industry will look like in a couple years so it’s critically important that we’re all willing to adapt on the fly to keep up with that change. As I’ve said before, radio isn’t dying it’s changing but radio groups who refuse to change will die. Here are a few real world examples of ways radio groups should stay nimble going forward.
Avoid long building leases if at all possible. Ask yourself this, how different does your staff and operation look than it did ten years ago? Now imagine how different it will look ten years from now. Although several groups have cut in the wrong places, mainly on-air personalities, when they wise up and bring the personalities back many will be working from home studios even if they’re in-market. My prediction is that most stations will have more studios in the future, but they will be a network of remote studios at key advertiser locations, employee’s houses, freelance creators’ houses and in remote vehicles. Groups that are already locked into long leases on buildings they’re only using a small portion of should turn unused studios and offices into audio/video podcast studios and content creation studios that they can rent out for a good hourly rate.
Enter into some content partnerships. The fastest way to get radio personalities who are reluctant, or flat out unwilling, to create the kinds of digital content necessary to extend our brands on every platform is to partner with people who are already creating that content on their own. Radio should look for people within their communities who are already podcasting, blogging or creating compelling content on YouTube and social media. Partner with them, teach them how to do radio and have them help the broadcasters learn digital.
Adjust to changes within the music industry by constantly evaluating and being willing to change our station’s methodology for adding and moving music. I can’t tell you how many stations I come across who are still choosing their music like it’s 1995. Acting like we don’t have any other tools for determining what songs we play than looking at what other stations play and listening to the song to see if it ‘fits’. Following data allows stations to be ahead of airplay charts and hence significantly ahead of their competitors that still mainly follow those airplay charts.
Choose tech partners wisely and keep the contracts short. The best AI company today could be obsolete in just a couple of months either because a competitor comes up with better tech or new legislation hinders how they’re using AI. Plus, all of this technology will be significantly better and cheaper in a year. So, don’t lock in long term agreements with any company selling products powered by AI unless you’re VERY confident it’s the right partner or there’s an out.
Be open to other ways of selling radio. Most stations have a boatload of unsold inventory. Instead of racing to the bottom and cutting our spot rates to fill that unsold inventory, adjust the model. Shorten those stopsets so they’re more inline with how people across demographics expect ad breaks now. Sell a portion of that inventory directly online at rate card rates, bundled with digital assets to create integrated solutions. Then take the remaining portion of unsold inventory and shop it around to barter companies to see who will write you the biggest check for it. We have a partnership with a company that’s willing to do that for stations that qualify and it takes less AQH than you think. Another option all stations should look into, especially formats with especially passionate P1s, is subscription models.
What do you think? What are some other examples for ways stations should be nimble? Comment below or email me at Andy@RadioStationConsultant.com.
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