Radio's Sign-in Before Listening a Bad Idea
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There's been a trend showing up on broadcast radio web sites that stream. It demonstrates how a portion of the radio industry - even after ten years - still isn't getting the message that consumers want control of their audio entertainment.
Go to a CBS Radio station web site like WODS-FM Boston, Chicago's WJMK-FM, or Cleveland's WDOK-FM and try to listen onlne. Next, surf to Entercom's Alice 105.9 in Denver, its Sacramento-based 96.9FM Eagle, or WNVZ-FM Norfolk to hear what they have. Just to drive this point home, visit Beasley Broadcasting's WJPT-FM web site and try to tune in online; then go to its 92.5 XTU. Or try listening to Cumulus' WFMS-FM.
The one thing that all of these web sites share is a requirement for visitors to sign in before they tune in. It's a practice that works when product quality is high and product availablity is limited. But, it doesn't work for the radio industry online.
I'd like to see the server logs of each of the above stations to compare the number of persons who make their way to the listen page and then abandon it. Call these folks lost listeners, or call them another station's new listeners, because they won't be coming back to give up their name and email just to listen to music with commercials.
RadioRow.com has 700+ stations listed, and none requires audience sign-in. There are thousands of other stations online that don't require personal information to sample their sound either.
Clear Channel, while often taken to task in these columns, is one of a few radio groups that can be praised for making online listening as simple as off/on. Susquehanna Radio (now part of Cumulus) and Cox both ask for info, but do not demand that consumers give up information before their online audio starts. Greater Media is another radio group that "gets it" and offers its programming with a click. Off/On.
Radio needs to reconsider the value of its online programs, relative to the availability of similar online programming.
Radio's content is facing what it's never faced before - competition in numbers that spin the brain. Today, there are not just one or two other Adult Contemporary stations vying for the same ears as your station. Online there are hundreds of ACs, each as easy to get to as the next, and each trying to make the act of listening simple for the listener. Off/On.
We're at the beginning of a long race to develop online loyalty in a new radio audience. Those stations that offer the ease of a click are going to succeed. Stations that place a step between their web site visitor and stream are going to find that people want control. Today, "control" is the action of finding another, similar web site when the one you are on demands your name and email address.
From: Paul
Agreed! I'm glad someone brought this up. This could also be applied
to newspapers--some ask for the same type of information to read their
articles. Rather than create extra hoops to jump through, media companies
should make access to their content easier, not more difficult to access.
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