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AG News:
Thursday - 6/24/2010
Don't change "Radio" Name, Reinvent the Approach
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Word has it Bonneville's WTOP Radio Network has ceased being a "radio" anything, choosing to drop that word from its identity. Inside Radio reports, "It’s part of a larger strategy to rethink how stations position themselves to listeners."
This may be an ominous sign, since radio has always been one that follows industry trends. Before others begin to make this leap of abandoning the word "radio," here are a few points for them to consider.
Throughout consolidation, the radio industry was contracting its ability to relate to the masses at the same time the masses were seeking more media that related to their lives. The perception may be that "radio" has lost its luster, but it's not the word that needs to be avoided; it's the approach of the old world radio industry to new radio audience expectations.
People haven't lost their desire for entertainment and information via radio. They've been offered a gazillion ways to consume it, and the radio industry didn't keep up. The ways to present "radio" simply expanded. Now broadcasters find themselves in a quagmire with tens of thousands of competitors, online.
The word "radio" is familiar and comfortable, though terrestrial radio content delivery has stagnated.
The art of presentation is constantly being reworked by aggressive radio stations online, and in most cases with success using the term "radio." Here are some examples:
- You're sure to have seen the Malibu Rum television commercials touting RadioMaliboomboom.com
- AOL is only one of the ISPs that's jumped on the bandwagon to provide branded radio
- Virgin Radio is an extension of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Empire
- Toyota's Scion has an internet radio station
- Oprah has just launched her own "Radio" station online
There are numerous, "branded" online radio stations that thrive on the term radio, because each has taken what was once a local media and inserted elements to serve a more geographically-diverse audience. They've done something else; many internet-only radio stations approach their image in a way that favors easy web site navigation with emphasis on the needs of its visitors (audience).
If you look at most terrestrial radio web sites, you see the focus is still on "me, me, me...here's what xxxradio.com has for you!" They flow opposite of a marketing metaphor: "If you want to succeed, highlight the qualities you'll bring to their lawn and not on the grass seed you sell."
Study this comparison (below) between some of the better known internet-only radio stations and those built by terrestrial companies. Note: These are the same stations featured in the AG article "A New Role for Radio: Helping Advertisers." Go to a few in each category by clicking on the image. See how web page content is presented.
Radio is still very much alive - and loved. To take advantage of this, the broadcast radio industry needs to revamp how its product is presented online by replacing the constant self-promotion that worked for decades with consumer-centric web page content.
As for the music, it's so pervasive today that songs are becoming a secondary reason for online visitors to return to a radio station web site. Radio can continue to be "radio" online and off; it just needs to include more content relative to the audience.
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Terrestial Stations Online |
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ISP and Internet Portals offering their own radio stations include...
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