Tag Archives: iPhone

January 28, 2024 · 3:00 am

The Future is ON-DEMAND

I just finished reading the public radio research report “An Audience Growth Strategy for Public Media” prepared by Jacobs Media and Mark Ramsey Media for Maine Public radio service. What really stood out to me was how clearly this report shows where the future is for all traditional linear media.

Linear Is In The Rear-view Mirror

Broadcast radio and television – traditional media – was built on a linear program schedule, delivering to the media consumer, information and entertainment on a schedule determined by the broadcaster. The VCR (video cassette recorder) developed in 1956 became widely available in the late 70s and by the early 2000s was in virtually every American household, giving  television consumers the ability to now watch shows on their schedule, not the program provider’s.

“It is painfully obvious neither broadcast radio nor television is growing, especially as it concerns traditional (terrestrial) usage and linear program schedules,” writes Jacobs/Ramsey.

Today’s Media Consumer

America continues to become more diversified: 72% of Baby Boomers are white but only about half of Millennials are white and four-in-ten of Gen Zs are white.

Millennials were born between 1981 and 1994, so VCRs have always been a part of their life and Gen Zs were born 1995 and 2009, which means also having an iPod type device has always been part of their life. Both of these devices contributed to the habit of having what you want, ON-DEMAND.

In 2007, the iPhone introduced us to a media device that made ON-DEMAND media consumption ubiquitous.

Listening Options

Today’s non-radio listeners have a plethora of media options:

  • Spotify
  • Pandora
  • Apple Music
  • Amazon Music
  • Radio Tunes
  • SiriusXM
  • Podcasts
  • Audio Books
  • YouTube
  • Social Media

…just to name a few.

Jacob/Ramsey says “Linear program schedules common to over-the-air [broadcast] stations are not in alignment with new media consumption habits.” Today’s consumer is in control, not the media provider.

ON-DEMAND Digital

In today’s world, the future is “Go Digital, or Go Home.”

Today’s traditional broadcasters (Radio & TV), must take advantage of digital’s ability to serve their audiences with what they want, when they want it and on the media platform they want it on. The same attention given to over-the-air broadcasts will need to be given to all the other ways of content distribution; as each is of equal importance to the media consumer.

“Broadcast radio and television will remain the core business for years to come, but a focus on traditional media can no longer be considered a growth strategy,” writes Jacobs/Ramsey.

Peacock & Netflix

NBC’s Peacock streaming service paid $100 million dollars to exclusively stream the wild-card playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins, setting a record for the most-streamed live event in American history. Comcast Chairman & CEO Brian Roberts considered the streaming gamble a success and a very proud moment for the company, but for consumers it will mean having to pay for playoff games in the future.

This week Netflix announced it had struck a 10-year deal with WWE to air “Monday Night Raw” on its streaming service. This program has been on linear television since 1993; 31-years ago.

Peak Listening On Audio Platforms

This pat week, when Edison Research published their article on which media platform commands the most listening in different dayparts, it was eye-opening.

The only daypart that broadcast radio commands is morning drive (6-10am), which just happens to be the one daypart the broadcast radio industry still invests in live air personalities. For the rest of the dayparts, consumers utilize streaming audio or previously downloaded content to their media device.

My favorite time to listen to radio growing up was 7pm to midnight. Some of the best known and loved air personalities broadcast during this daypart; Big Ron O’Brien, John Records Landecker, Wolfman Jack, Cousin Brucie among others. However, today the research shows that YouTube is what people listen to at this time of day.

Just before the end of last year, SiriusXM announced the debut of its new streaming App. It offers “discoverability and personalization at the forefront, [so] listeners can quickly and easily find and dive into the content they love across SiriusXM’s 400+ channels and tens of thousands of hours [with] on-demand content and podcasts, [allowing] fans to go deeper into their passions and get closer to their favorite music, artists, personalities and sports; [providing]  a seamless listening experience across streaming devices that reflects listener preferences and interests,  [ensuring] subscribers never miss a moment wherever they are and whenever they want to listen.”

Don’t you wish the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters)

was working on something like this, instead of focusing on linear AM radio?*

*https://www.nab.org/documents/newsroom/pressRelease.asp?id=6916

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December 17, 2023 · 3:00 am

Do You Have A Favorite Radio Station?

Growing up, I had a few favorite radio stations and when I think of the reasons that I was so attracted to them, the top three reasons would have been:

  1. Air Personalities
  2. Station Imaging/Jingles
  3. Music

Favorite Songs

When it comes to music, the number one way most people today access the songs they want to hear is via streaming with YouTube now the top source for streaming people’s favorite songs.

No longer in our “I want it now” world does anyone want to wait until a radio station decides to play their favorite song, we just ask Alexa, Siri or Hey Google to play it.

Gone for radio is the #3 reason on my list above.

Don’t Be Generic

As I spin the radio dial today, all radio sounds much the same; in a word “generic,” and no one ever became attracted to anything generic.

Gone for radio is the #2 reason on my list above.

People Made Radio Attractive

Over the years, radio has had personalities that made the medium special: like Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, Dan Ingram, Larry Lujack, Robert W. Morgan, Wolfman Jack, Arnie “Woo Woo” Ginsburg, Dick Biondi, Boom Boom Branigan, Ron Lundy, Dale Dorman, Paul Harvey and many more.

As these people retired or were RIF’d (Reduction In Force), my #1 reason for listing to radio went with them.

People are attracted to people and experiences which stimulate the part of the brain that triggers craving and longing, releasing habit-forming, feel-good chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins.

Your iPhone does that for you.

Your voice activated smart speaker does too.

For radio, great air personalities did it for you.

Radio Is Show Business

Unfortunately, most of today’s radio is focused only on the business part of the equation.

Don’t get me wrong, the business part is important, but without a focus on the show part, the business end will suffer.

Radio’s big advantage is offering advertisers an engaged audience to expose their goods and services to, but without unique air personalities, which attract listeners to tune in every day, radio’s audience will depart, as will those very advertisers that provide the economic engine for the radio industry.

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May 21, 2023 · 3:00 am

Radio’s Disappearing Act

Is AM radio disappearing from new cars the issue the radio industry should be focused on?

I think not and here’s why I say that.

WBZ 1030AM

I grew up listening to WBZ AM out of Boston on my daily college commute in Western Massachusetts. Carl DeSuze, Dave Maynard, Larry Justice, Mean Joe Green in the BZ Copter with Boston traffic reports and Gary LaPierre with the news. It was truly “The Spirit of New England.”

So, when Sue and I were headed to Boston for the graduation of our son-in-law from Berklee College of Music, I put on WBZ as we left our hotel in Spring Valley, New York, and we listened to this station on our three hour drive into Boston, we didn’t listen to it on 1030AM, but via its stream on the StreamS application (App). The station, which is now an all-news operation, sounded fabulous.

The fidelity was of higher quality than FM and there was no buffering or dropout of the signal.

Once in Boston, I tried listening to WBZ over my car’s AM radio and the quality was poor, with noise and interference emanating from our surroundings.

What Does a Radio Look Like?

Back in June of 2017, I wrote a blog article asking what a radio looks like today and the most likely answer to that question was a smartphone. I also addressed in that article of six years ago, I was noticing that hotels were replacing those cheap AM/FM radios with charging stations containing a digital clock, perfect for charging smartphones, tablets and laptops.

Car Radios & The Future

Then in September of 2020, I wrote about how radios first came to be an option for buyers of new cars in June of 1930. But today’s new car buyer wants Bluetooth capabilities more than they want an FM radio; AM radio is not a must-have in 2023 according to the latest Jacob’s Media Techsurvey. What do people connect in the car with that Bluetooth, their smartphones.

What I Recently Witnessed About Radio Use

After COVID began to fade, Sue and I took a trip out to the west coast to visit our children and grand children in that part of the country. What we noticed in every hotel room we stayed was a giant flat screen TV, but no radios, just more of those charging stations with digital clocks.

This prompted another article that same year titled, “Is Radio Up Schitt’s Creek?” Sue and I became big fans of this series out of Canada, that takes place in a fictional town called “Schitt’s Creek,” and takes place primarily in The Rosebud Motel, where the shows characters use televisions, computers and smartphones, but never use a radio.

When watching movies and TV shows, I often look to see if there’s a radio in sight, noticing in British productions they often are, but not in American ones.

Once It Was Radio

When Sue and I stayed in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania we visited the museum inside the Hotel Bethlehem and found that fifty years ago, a hotel having a radio in your room was cutting edge.

The Hotel Bethlehem opened in 1922, two years after the birth of commercial radio in the United States and in 1953, it announced that patrons would enjoy a brand new AM alarm clock radio in every room.

Now seventy years later, Hotel Bethlehem features fiber optic WiFi.

Where Are the Radios?

Last year, Sue and I took a road trip through Atlantic Canada. We stayed in hotels and Bed & Breakfasts (B&Bs) throughout our trip, and found WiFi has totally replaced the AM/FM clock radios.

In Montreal, our room at the Hôtel William Gray, had a Bang & Olufsen (B&O) Bluetooth speaker that easily connected to my iPhone. The fidelity of B&O equipment is legendary and it was a joy to be able to connect any of audio Apps on my phone during our stay.

Radio Set Ownership in the Home

In American homes today, 39% don’t have a single radio set in them, and radio set ownership gets worse for young Americans age 12 to 34, where that number grows to 57% according to Edison Research.

To put this into perspective, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), says only 6% of the population still lacks access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. Meaning, the internet is more accessible than broadcast radio.

Are Broadcasters in Denial?

Valerie Geller, who wrote the excellent book “Beyond Powerful Radio,” recently said

“You can sit down with a broadcaster who rails against podcasting and digital audio and artificial intelligence (AI). Then you get in the car with them, they’re using GPS, they’re listening to a podcast, they’ve got SiriusXM, they’ve got Spotify. Podcasting and radio co-exist now. That’s our truth.

Radio is its own worst enemy. We have not spent or invested in developing talent. Every other business has research and development (R&D) and they spend on it because they are investing in the future. I love radio, but I hate the state it’s in.

A lot of the voice-tracking I’ve heard already sounds like AI. There’s nothing human about it. It’s just a broadcaster playing an actor playing a broadcaster. AI is just as good as those voice-tracks because there’s nothing real being said.”

AM Radio Leaving the Dashboard

Automobile manufacturers removing AM radio from the dashboard ought to be alerting the radio industry to BIGGER PROBLEMS. The AM situation is a symptom of what we should be focused on, and that’s creating GREAT RADIO.

If you think it won’t happen to FM next, you haven’t been paying attention.

AM/FM radio sets are vanishing from hotels, B&Bs, American homes and big box retailers.

If your listeners aren’t up in arms about that, then losing AM radio in their dashboard won’t be a big deal to them either.

To paraphrase the great sales trainer Don Beverage:

Make your radio station so valuable to a listener,

that they want to hear your programming more

than you want to broadcast it to them.

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September 18, 2022 · 3:00 am

Where Are the Radios?

Thinking about our recent road trip through Atlantic Canada, I can’t help but reflect on the fact that the radio has vanished from hotel and BnB (Bed & Breakfast) accommodations. This really hit home with me when we entered our room at The Great George on Prince Edward Island. Not since my days as general manager of beautiful music WFPG-FM in Atlantic City have I entered a hotel room to hear instrumental easy listening music playing, but that’s how the management of The Great George want it be for the next guests when they arrive.

WiFi Replaces Radios

The music we heard upon entering our room however, wasn’t coming from a radio station, but from a music channel streaming through our large flat screen TV.

Wireless internet is the must have lodging feature we find everywhere we travel. It’s always available throughout each property and I always connect our iPhones and my MacBook Air before we even unpack a single bag.

Bluetooth

The other thing I’ve noticed is that the radio on the night stand by the bed has been replaced by a charging station with a clock in it.

In Montreal, our room at the Hôtel William Gray featured a Bang & Olufsen Bluetooth speaker that easily connected to my iPhone. The fidelity of B&O audio equipment is legendary and it was a joy to be able to connect any of my audio Apps on my phone during our stay.

Phone Books & Bibles

Radios aren’t the only item disappearing from hotel rooms, it’s getting harder to find both phone books and Bibles.

I know that when it comes to phone books, most people these days take them from their mailbox or hanging off their front door and immediately place them into their trash or recycling bin. So, having them disappear from hotel rooms doesn’t come as a surprise.

But those Bibles placed by the Gideons have been ubiquitous for as long as I can remember. In 2006, 95% of hotel rooms had a Bible in them and the most recent study I could find from 2017 said that number is down to  less than 69%.

It was in 1908 that The Gideons International decided to place Bibles in hotel rooms. The idea was born when two traveling salesmen were forced to share a room in a crowded hotel in Wisconsin. They discovered their shared faith and decided to start an association of Christian traveling businessmen that would place Bibles in every hotel room in America.

Radio & Hotel Rooms

Commercial radio broadcasting was born in 1920 and it was only seven years later that the first radio set appeared in a hotel room.

Ellsworth Milton Statler is considered the father of the modern hotel building his first permanent hotel in 1907 in Buffalo, New York featuring a private bath or shower and running water in every room. By the mid-1920s he grew his hotel company into the largest in the United States owned by a single individual. E. M.’s slogan for his hotel business was “The customer is always right.”

In 1927, E. M. would open his last hotel, the Boston Park Plaza, and once again it would offer something no other hotel did, a radio headset in each of its 1,300 rooms.

On March 20, 1951 the radio show, Cavalcade of America sponsored by DuPont, featured the story of E. M. Statler in a thirty minute drama.

What Would E. M. Do?

If E. M. Statler were alive today, I’m sure he would have been leading the hotel industry with free, fast WiFi in every room. After all, if you want to stay in business you have to give the customer what they want.

Even Gideons International now has an App, which offers mobile access to Scripture with the popular features for reading and listening to God’s Word.

It’s just one more reason that the future of audio, including radio, is via a smartphone or other WiFi connected device.

Imagine how much better radio today might sound if broadcasters operated with the philosophy of E. M. Statler.

The customer is always right.

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January 30, 2022 · 3:00 am

What Purpose Does Radio Serve in 2022?

I often think about how much radio has changed since I began my career as a professional broadcaster in February 1968, 54 years ago. Local radio at that time told us who was born, who died, whether school was open or closed, what happened at the city council or school board meetings, what was going on in the world, our nation and our community. We depended on our hometown radio station for weather, sports and entertainment.

In 1968 local radio was the way we often learned about events first; it was “magical.”

Radio’s Prime Purpose

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 6th ed. in 2012 defined radio’s purpose this way:

The prime purpose of radio is to convey information

from one place to another through the intervening media

(i.e., air, space, nonconducting materials)

without wires.

Isn’t that the same thing my iPhone does? It conveys information to me through the same intervening media without wires.

In fact, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued my broadcast license back in ’68, it was called it a “Radio Telephone Third Class Operator Permit (Restricted Radiotelephone Certificate).” This always made me wonder why it was called that, as I studied to earn this permit for the sole purpose of being able to operate a broadcast radio station, not work for a telephone company.

Radiotelephone

A radiotelephone, it turns out, is a phone that uses radio transmission. Wikipedia defines it this way:

A radiotelephone (or radiophone), abbreviated RT,[1] is a radio communication system for transmission of speech over radio. Radiotelephony means transmission of sound (audio) by radio, in contrast to radiotelegraphy, which is transmission of telegraph signals, or television, transmission of moving pictures and sound. The term may include radio broadcasting systems, which transmit audio one way to listeners, but usually refers to two-way radio systems for bidirectional person-to-person voice communication between separated users, such as CB radio or marine radio. In spite of the name, radiotelephony systems are not necessarily connected to or have anything to do with the telephone network, and in some radio services, including GMRS,[2] interconnection is prohibited.

Today’s smartphones are both radios and televisions – and a whole lot more.

First Source for Breaking News

In 2011, a rare earthquake shook our nation’s capital and then Hurricane Irene added to the area’s misery as she swept up the coast causing fatalities and billions of dollars of destruction. Both of these events disrupted lines of communication for millions of residents in the Washington, DC area.

Larry Thomas, a former Shift Commander for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services who lives in Annapolis, wrote in the Association of Public-Safety Communications newsletter, about the important role radio played in both of these natural disasters. Thomas wrote:

“Public safety authorities know that radio is the single most reliable outlet for information, which is why a battery-operated radio is so important and always part of any preparedness kit recommended by every organization from local agencies to FEMA and the Red Cross.”

Yet, stranded motorists on I-95 during a recent winter storm found their car radios providing none of the needed information they sought.

Those within range of a news station like WTOP, were kept informed, but sadly, those types of radio stations prove to be the exception rather than the rule.

Has Radio’s Purpose Been Appropriated?

When I think of all the things that made radio important in people’s lives, I can’t help but notice that these very attributes are now fulfilled by other sources, and often done better than broadcast radio. Here’s a partial list of what I’m talking about:

  • Weather: The Weather Channel, Accuweather etc.
  • News: NY Times, Washington Post, TV News Apps, other News Apps etc.
  • School Closings: Schools notify students, faculty & staff via text messages, websites etc.
  • Births/Deaths: social media etc.
  • City Council/School Board meetings: watch them online live
  • Road closures or other important information: text messages, websites, emails
  • Sports: the schools broadcast games online
  • Or to put it more simply, everything radio was famous for, today is easily accessible via the internet on a smartphone

I’m not saying these things to be hurtful to the radio industry, but to ask the fundamental question about its future.

What is Radio’s WHY?

Simon Sinek’s book “Start With Why” is a deep dive into why “some people and organizations are more innovative, more influential and more profitable than others.”

Sinek says what all the successful individuals and companies have in common is their starting point. They first clearly must define their WHY.

What I’m not reading in any of the radio trades, in any of the materials from the Radio Advertising Bureau or the National Association of Broadcasters is what is radio’s WHY in the 21st Century. Instead I’m reading about how radio is developing podcasts, streaming, centralizing their news operations around regional hubs, consolidating their radio dayparts around national hosts…and on…and on…and on.

As Sinek says:

“Any organization can explain what it does; some can explain how they do it; but very few can clearly articulate why. WHY is not money or profit – those are always results. WHY does your organization exist? WHY does it do the things it does? “

What does your radio station do, that provides your advertisers and listeners, with a unique experience that has them coming back day after day?

“How do you get there if you don’t know where you are going?”

-Lewis Carroll

The WHY for commercial radio to survive and thrive in a 21st Century world is not the same as when it was born over a hundred years ago, because both radio and the world were different then.

Without a clearly defined and articulated WHY, I fear that radio will continue to be tossed like a rowboat in the stormy sea of mediated communications.

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December 5, 2021 · 3:00 am

Change, the Only Constant

At no time in the history of advertising has there been more unprecedented challenges to the creation and execution of an effective, results-oriented marketing plan. Consumers are struggling with the demands of a time-impoverished society, a global pandemic, supply chain disruptions, an uncertain economy, domestic terrorism, political polarization, the future of our democracy and the world’s climate.

Algorithms

Everything on the internet is driven by algorithms. If you think about it, these mathematical formulas have replaced “hype & puffery.” Algorithms are a new form of deception as they feed us exactly what they know we want to hear. It’s like everyone is now surrounded by their own team of “YES Men.”

Our interconnected world insures, whether good or bad, that you get the word – and lightning fast.

Passion Drives Sales

Marketing through price promotions, is like having a drug addiction; it’s difficult to stop, and when you do, it’s painful.

Today, auto manufacturers strive to make cars that people can’t wait to buy. Recording artists focus on making music people can’t wait to download.

If people aren’t passionate about what you do, you won’t be around for long.

An Educated Consumer

Anyone growing up around the New York City area remembers Sy Sims promoting his clothing stores with the phrase “An educated consumer is our best customer.”

Today, the internet has made everyone an “educated consumer,” and often, we know more about a company’s product or service than the people selling it.

I recently went into a T-Mobile store to inquire about their 55+ plan that offered unlimited talk, text and data for only $27.50/month. Unfortunately, the person who came over to help me was totally unaware of this plan and this price point.

I called up the most recent ad on my iPhone, to which this young lady said, “can we walk over to show my manager?”

When I spoke with the store manager, he went on to tell me that the service was inferior to their Magenta Plan and that when you add in the taxes and fees, I would end up paying almost as much ($90/month).

Needless to say, I walked out of the store, not buying a new iPhone nor a T-Mobile plan.

Meaningful Difference

T-Mobile’s ads promise a “meaningful difference.” Unfortunately, the instore experience was anything but.

Today, an older wiser population is more discerning. They want to know precisely how your offer will make a meaningful difference in their lives, and the mega trend that catapulted meaningfulness is access to the World Wide Web. The web has made it easy for everyone to research, compare and contrast purchase options, and when customers have greater access to information, they make more meaningful purchasing decisions.

Claims of huge selections, friendly service, clean sandy beaches and low prices mean nothing when people on social media are posting pictures and telling of their real-life experiences.

Like, what I just did with my story about my T-Mobile shopping experience.

No matter what business you’re in, if you are going to thrive and grow, delivering exactly what you promise in your advertising is mandatory.

Update: While I never heard a word from T-Mobile about my experience, Verizon Social Media reached out to me via Twitter and put us on their new 55+ Unlimited Plan. While slightly more expensive than T-Mobile advertises their plan to be, we’re happy to remain Verizon customers. 12+ years & counting.

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July 18, 2021 · 3:00 am

What I Recently Witnessed About Radio Use

Sue & I just returned from a seven week trip out west to visit our children and grandchildren who are living in Nevada, Montana and Washington. For me, our trip would also be a chance to witness how radio is used (or not used) in three different households, as well as in hotels, businesses and public transportation. What I would witness, was concerning.

Nevada

In Nevada, I noticed that for a household of seven, not a single radio was to be found. Audio was accessed by asking Alexa (Amazon Echo) to play something or a particular playlist was sent wirelessly to speakers via someone’s iPhone. Everyone, even the very youngest grandchild, who’s five, had their own iPhone.

In a house where both parents work, and can be called out at any hour of the day, this type of communications for all family members becomes a necessity.

Radio listening, if done at all, was something only done when in the car. Television, was connected to a cable bundle and only CNN or Netflix seemed to get viewed. The grandkids spent most of their time playing video games on the house computer, game console or their iPhones.

Montana

Here a Sonos home speaker system had been installed in the home. I found that two different local radio stations (country & classic rock) were programmed into rotation, along with an Amazon Echo smart speaker. Our grandkids called up songs they wanted to hear by asking Alexa to play them, so in the week we spent, Alexa was pretty much the default choice for anything musically played.

Television programs were all streamed via YouTube TV.

Radio pre-sets in the car were set to several country stations, several classic rock stations, several contemporary music stations and an oldies station. In all, 22 different radio stations were loaded onto the pre-sets. I added KBMC to that pre-set list when we borrowed the car a couple of times. KBMC programs a variety of jazz and classical music.

Washington

Our stay in the State of Washington took place on Whidbey Island. The only radio signal licensed on the island plays regional Mexican music and the majority of its content is in Spanish. So, it wasn’t surprising to find the pre-sets on the car radio did not include KNZW – La Zeta 103.3.

What was surprising was to see that all the pre-sets were to HD1 signals in this Mazda 6 sedan. (It appears Mazda has their radio default to HD signals and you have to toggle it off to get FM signals.) Since the island is just across the water from Seattle, all of the pre-sets were to Seattle radio stations. The two that dominated the listening in the car were KSWD (Audacy’s 94.1 The Sound) when mom was behind the wheel and KQMV (Hubbard’s Movin’ 92.5) when either of the grand kids got control of the radio. However, what is dispiriting to witness is how frequently the radio stations get changed whenever something comes on that they don’t wish to hear. When commercials come on, the station gets changed. Likewise, when songs they don’t like come on, the station gets changed. It’s like watching football using the Red Zone.

Here again, not a single radio receiver was to be found inside the home.

The Bus & Hotels

When we departed Whidbey Island, we took a bus into Seattle. On the bus we listened to KSWD 94.1 The Sound out of Seattle. It provided a nice sound track for the ride and the bus driver never changed the station for the two hours it took to reach our destination.

Every hotel room we stayed in featured flat screen TVs but none had a radio. The old clock radios have been replaced by digital clock/USB charging stations for our iPhones, iPads and laptop computers.

Summing It All Up

I realize there is nothing scientific about this, it’s all anecdotal, but it was a dose of reality that confirms much of the research I’m reading about today’s radio landscape.

No one in our seven weeks on the road tuned into any AM radio station. FM, was radio to everyone, but then, only in their vehicles. Listening to radio in the home was not possible, because there was only one radio in any of the homes we stayed at and that was in the garage.

HD Radio sounds great, but in all honesty, the one family that had this easily accessible in their car, probably didn’t know that’s what they were listening to and it certainly wasn’t the reason they were listening to any particular station.

With the exception of our two hour bus ride, radio exposure could be measured in short segments, that only happened to occur because the radio comes on with the ignition switch. Sadly, changing radio stations occurs constantly, so any commercial content never gets heard.

Likewise, businesses we frequented either had their own franchise “radio station,” like Walmart Radio or streamed a music channel from some other music service they subscribed to.

In our travels, we didn’t see a TV commercial, billboard or bumper sticker for any radio station. Lots of shirts and sweatshirts promoting lots of things, but not one for any radio station.

Radio, it would appear, has become the Rodney Dangerfield of media.

“We don’t get no respect.”

But then maybe, it’s a self-inflicted situation

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September 6, 2020 · 3:00 am

Car Radios & The Future

AM Car RadioThe first mass-market car radio premiered in June of 1930, but due to a second World War it wouldn’t be until the 1950s that car radios became common.

Another factor that slowed their growth was cost. Those early six vacuum tube car radios cost around $130.

To put that into perspective, you could buy one of Henry Ford’s model A’s for $450.

Motorola

The Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin, were early pioneers in car radios. Paul Galvin realized their radios needed a brand name and came up with the name of “Motorola,” a portmanteau (a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel (from ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’) or brunch (from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’) of the words motor car and ola. “Ola” back then was a slang word for anything audio.motorola car radio installation

Motorola introduced the first dash-mounted AM car radios in the 1930s. It wasn’t until 1952 that a German company, Blaupunkt, would introduce the first FM car radio. AM/FM car radios followed the next year.

1952

I was born in 1952, and like other Baby Boomers my age, radios and cars have always been one.

While transistor car radios were introduced in 1955, it wouldn’t be until the 1960s that they became affordable. It should also be noted that dashboard radios were still an option in 1963, however, they were a very popular option and more than 60% of all cars on the road in America had one.

Rear Speaker & 8-Track Tape Player

I can still remember the time my parents were buying a new car and one of the decisions that they had to make was whether or not to add the new car radio option that had just come out, adding a rear speaker to the dashboard radio.Car 8-track player radio

The first aftermarket option I remember my parents adding was that of an 8-track tape player. I loved this device because it allowed me to listen to air checks of my weekly radio show on my daily commute to college. I wanted to improve my style and presentation.

Cassettes & CDs

The 8-track tape players in cars would soon be replaced by cassettes, allowing people to make up their own “mix tapes” of songs they loved to hear most.

Compact Discs (CDs) eventually replaced cassette players in the car dashboard, and for those of us that didn’t want to change CDs, one at a time, it was a thrill having a six-CD changer located in the trunk that allowed for even more variety with the touch of a button.

iPods & Smartphones

Steve Jobs once said he wanted to be able to have a 1,000-songs in his pocket, and from that vision, came the Apple iPod. iPods could eventually be plugged into the car’s audio system and now offered a virtually unlimited supply of music and audio books at the touch of a button.

The iPhone would offer all that any iPod ever could, plus so much more. It became the computer in our pockets replacing a multitude of single use devices, including the car radio.

Entertainment CenterDigital Car Radio

Today’s automobile dashboard offers occupants a complete entertainment center that immediately connects to a person’s smartphone via either Apple’s CarPlay, Google’s Android Auto, or a manufacturer’s proprietary system. Today the vehicle’s onboard entertainment system plays a big role in people’s car buying decision and it can also add from a thousand to two thousand dollars more to the price of a vehicle.

Self-Driving Cars

TV Car RadioWith the evolution of self-driving cars, you can expect that more and more vehicles will come with video capabilities as well as audio, and also that the competition for who can provide the best in-car entertainment will be fierce and passionate.

Traditional radio programming staples, like Two-fer Tuesdays, ten-songs-in-a-row and no-repeat workdays aren’t going to cut it.

The global pandemic has caused two markets to significantly heat up:

1) suburban house sales and

2) new car sales.

Today’s reality is that people who now find themselves working from home, don’t want to be stuck in a little urban apartment and are moving to homes that offer more space to enjoy. Likewise. those individuals whose work demands they still commute, no longer feel safe on mass public transportation and are upgrading their ride.

Understanding how these changes will impact the future of your media enterprise is critical.

 

 

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July 5, 2020 · 3:00 am

July 5th – Today in History

FlagI hope you are enjoying this holiday weekend celebration of America’s independence 244-years in the making.

As I was thinking about what I’d write this week, I came across this radio item, dateline Fort Wayne, Indiana that said on July 5th in 1929 radio station WOWO returned to the air one day after its transmitter site burned down. Obviously, that wasn’t a very WOWOjoyous time for the staff and management at that radio station. It was only four years earlier that WOWO signed on the air for the first time in its storied broadcast history, March 25, 1925.

July 5, 1951

It was on this date, 69-years ago that Bell Labs, and primarily William Shockley, announced the invention of the junction transistor during a press conference the company held in Murray Hill, New Jersey.

July 5, 1956

William Shockley and three others were awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics on this date for “their research on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect,” a discovery that allowed radio to be reborn in car dashboards and on portable, hand-held receivers.

Regency TR1 (GREE)It was a joint venture between Texas Instruments and Regency Electronics that would produce the world’s first transistor radio, the TR1, in 1954. However, it wasn’t until three years later when SONY would introduce its smaller and cheaper TR-63 transistor radio that this new communication device would become the 1960s/70s mass market success story.SonyTR63 (HAND)

Steve Wozniak (Apple Computer Co-Founder) said he had a Regency TR1 transistor radio as a kid and was a big fan. “My first transistor radio…I loved what it could do, it brought me music, (and) it opened my world up,” said Woz.

July 5, 1963

The second Beatles song released in America which climbed to number 87 on the Hot 100 was “From Me to You,” and would mark a second “invasion” by the British kingdom.

It was the transistor radio that gave young people the opportunity to easily access “their music” without garnering their parents disapproval, being able to listen to the radio in their bedrooms, cars and anywhere they went.

The transistor radio opened up a world of new artistic expression along with the dissemination of new ideas. These hand-held radios played rock and roll, delivered the news, connected Americans to the Civil Rights Movement and kept citizens abreast of the ongoing Vietnam War.

I’ll come back to the transistor and William Shockley in a moment, but first, let’s look at some of the other things that changed our world on this day.

July 5, 1971

fightvote

The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution was certified, reducing the voting age in America to 18.

July 5, 1989

SeinfeldThe successful television sitcom “Seinfeld” debuted on the NBC television network. The show “about nothing” ran for nine years and has grossed more than $4 Billion, making it the most profitable half-hour television program in history.

July 5, 1994

amazon

Jeff Bezos begins a new venture in Bellevue, Washington. On this date, “Amazon.com” was born. In just 26-years, Amazon is only the fourth tech company to join the “$1 Trillion Club.” Jeff Bezos’ net worth is now estimated at $111 Billion.

July 5, 2003

On this date, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the SARS virus, known technically as SARS-CoV (coronavirus), was “contained” after affecting 26-countries and resulting in 774-deaths.

Transistor & Shockley

Getting back to William Shockley and his development of the transistor, he would not only change the way Baby Boomers would grow up, listening to their transistor radios, but he is also credited as being “the man who brought silicon to Silicon Valley.”

For you see, one of the key benefits of the transistor was the ability for electronics manufacturers to create smaller and smaller devices, that eventually gave us the computer in our pocket, better known as the smartphone.

1980s to Today

In time, these little transistor radios would be replaced by the Boom Box. Then along came the SONY Walkman (and headphones), followed by the Discman, iPod and today’s internet powered iPhone.

iPhone12Each new generation of technological development has moved media consumers away from traditional broadcast radio’s position as the leader for reaching the masses with new music, news and cultural trends.

The broadcast industry has been slow to adapt to the 21st Century. As greatest hockey player of all time, Bobby Orr might put it, to skate from where the puck is to where the puck will be.

Let’s hope it’s not too late.

“You have to change with the times

or

the times will change you.”

-Marv Levy, Buffalo Bills Coach

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May 17, 2020 · 3:00 am

What Is Normal?

What Is NormalA reader of this blog recently asked me if things would one day return to “normal.” They said that over the past ten years, they’ve moved beyond wondering “why” there have been so many massive changes and disruptions in our lives, pondering now if things will ever settle down.

Will we ever get back to “normal,” or is this our “new normal?”

Is it possible, “never normal,” is where we are headed?

Normal

If you look up “normal” in the dictionary, you will see that as a noun “normal” is defined as “the usual, average or typical state or condition.”

What do you consider “normal” temperature for where you live? What do you consider average as the amount of time you interact with other people? What is the typical state or condition of your car?

When we think about “normal” in this way, we quickly realize that temperatures are constantly changing; by the hour, the day, the week, the month, the year, and so on. When we apply that to personal interactions with others, again you’re probably thinking to yourself things like, are we talking about a weekday, weekend, holiday, vacation etc. And when it comes to your car, its condition changes with every mile you put on the odometer.

In other words, “normal” means things are constantly changing.

When Were Things Ever Normal?

When you really start to think about the concept of “normal,” you quickly realize this thing called normal never existed.

What we have are periods in our lives when things are going well (and we like to think this is “normal”) and other periods where things are completely FUBAR*(we call these times “not normal”).

The truth is, normal life is constant change.

History’s Lessons

History doesn’t repeat, but often rhymes.

Do you think the village blacksmith wondered as cars drove down the streets past his shop, when this “fad” would end and people would return to riding horses or in carriages pulled by horses? I’m sure he did.

In April 1860, pony express moved mail across the country faster than ever before, but for only 18-months before it was then replaced by the wired telegraph.

As wireless telegraphy was born, the wired telegraph would see its challenges.

Morse Code, with the dots & dashes communication method of the telegraph, saw its demise with the transmission of voice and music through the ether.

Television would add pictures to radio’s sound, leading many to predict the end of radio. But radio didn’t end, it changed with the times and was reborn for a new generation of youth who listened to it for hours on transistor radios.

Then the biggest disruption of all arrived, the iPhone. Now this singular device has replaced your cellphone, typewriter, camera, video camera, radio, TV, newspaper, magazine, computer, tablet, flashlight, credit cards, keys, tape recorder, note pad, iPod, GPS, blood pressure monitor and more that I’m sure I’m forgetting about.

Having an iPhone or similar Android device many would call the “new normal.” It’s almost hard to consider a world where, it too, has been replaced by something even better and more essential to our lives.

You Can’t Go Back

I first heard this advice when I was taking a film making course in college. My instructor told the class, be sure you get every shot you need when you’re out filming your movie, because you can’t ever go back and shoot something you missed at a future date. Things change, and nothing will be like it was, the first time you were there.

My film was about glass blowing. The day I was to film the making of a glass vase, the glass blower welcomed me. He was sporting long hair and a beard. The molten glass he was working with that day was green and produced a lovely green glass vase.

I filmed every part of the process of making a vase, from the liquid molten glass in the furnace to the rolling, blowing, shaping, cutting and cooling of the glass into a finished product.

I was so grateful to the glassblower for allowing me to come to his shop and film him that I bought that green glass vase.

Back when I was in school, filming was really shooting on film, 16mm film. That meant shipping the undeveloped film off to Kodak for processing and then waiting for the film to return so I could view it and begin the process of editing the footage into a final 15-minute film.

It wasn’t until I was viewing the rough footage that I discovered some of my shots were out-of-focus. There was simply no way to complete my film without some key parts of the process included.

So, I called up the glass blower and made an appointment to come back to his shop and film those sections I needed.

When I arrived, he had shaved off his beard, gotten a crew cut, and was now working with purple glass.

My instructor, unbeknownst to me, would buy that second purple glass vase to give to me for Christmas that year and to bring home the point that I indeed, “could not go back.” Things always change.

Change

If you’re really honest with yourself, you want change in your life. You want to learn new things, see new movies and TV shows, hear new music, visit new places, watch your children grow up and so much more.

We want change that makes us happy, we don’t want change that doesn’t.

I seriously doubt anyone would want to give up their smartphone that’s connected to the internet, no matter how much we may pine for simpler times.

Change in our lives, is like normal in our lives, it’s individually defined. Others may look at our life and call it abnormal.

Normal is change from sunrise to sunset. Normal is changes in weather and seasons. Normal is also pandemics, being a cycle that can span decades or a century.

What Does This Have to Do with Radio/TV?

OK, this is a blog where I write about radio/TV and you may wonder what any of what I wrote so far has to do with broadcasting, well here it comes.

Jeffrey Katzenberg put it this way, “One thing that’s happened to me in 45-years of being in Hollywood, and in this industry is, I’ve never seen an instance where real quality entertainment hasn’t found an audience.”

While some say “Radio is dead,” or more specifically “AM Radio is dead,” this past April we saw that AM Radio (WOR) was #1 on Long Island, AM Radio (KFI) was #1 in Los Angeles, AM Radio (WBBM) was #1 in Chicago, AM Radio (KCBS) was #1 in San Francisco, AM Radio (WSB) was #1 in Atlanta, and AM Radio (WWJ) was tied for #1 in Detroit. I’m sure there are others, but I think you get my point.

Mr. Katzenberg has it right, when you provide content that people want, they will find you, even if it’s on the AM Radio Dial.

Change is normal and wanting to hold on to the past that has been romanticized in our memories, is normal.

But what never changes is people are born, they age, and they die.

Success belongs to those who can touch the most hearts with their product or service, and make a difference in their lives.

The only way RADIO or TV will lose, is if they do it to themselves.

Broadcasting holds the keys to its success in its own hands.

Will they use them to unlock all they are capable of?

—————————————————————————————

*FUBAR is a military term that means out of working order; seriously, perhaps irreparably, damaged. For a more literal definition of this acronym, Google FUBAR.

 

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