Tag Archives: Roy H. Williams

October 29, 2023 · 3:00 am

Are We the Solution or the Problem? (Take 2)

I originally wrote about this subject over four years ago. Since that time, I have noticed that when I publish a new article about radio, people seem to fall into one of two different camps. There are those who say radio’s days are numbered — or over, and those who think going back to the way it was will solve everything.

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking

we used when we created them.”

-Albert Einstein

Lots of Change

When I think back to the days when AM radio rocked my world, to today, where Alexa serves up whatever my mood desires, much has changed.

“The key to failure is to hang on to the belief that things have to be

 ‘the way they ought to be.’

The key to success is to be able to deal with things

as they really are.”

-Roy H. Williams, The Wizard of Ads

Which brings me back to taking another look at the question:

“Are we the solution, or the problem?”

…when it comes to the future of radio?

Radio’s Big 3 Areas of Dysfunction?

I’m sure that you have your own thoughts on this, but the sense I have from reading articles about today’s radio industry from all over the world, along with reader comments, are that these three things are very important to the future of radio:

  1. Commercials. Radio’s commercial spot loads are too big. The 60 and 30-second ad lengths are over. Radio needs to re-think the way it monetizes itself OTA (over the air) and the creation of radio ads needs to be a specialty in every radio station.
  2. Companionship. Alexa is convenient and we even chat with one another, but I don’t consider “her” a companion. Radio needs to fulfill that social need for the listener.
  3. Quality vs. Quantity. The radio industry is focused on consolidation, where a few large media companies control more frequencies. When the game today is all about providing a better experience – quality over quantity.

The original benchmarks of radio like weather, breaking news, and school cancellations, for example, are often much more efficiently handled by other platforms. Radio needs to re-think what it can do that others can’t, and then do it. Radio needs to compliment today’s other forms media, as it no longer is the sole source of information.

What Are Your Most Prized Possessions?

Recently, a British online magazine asked men and women about their 20 most prized possessions. What you will see when you look at these lists are, that men gravitate to expensive tangible things and women covet items that hold emotional value. As you view the lists for both genders, take note of the one thing that is missing on both.

            Women                                               Men

            Family Photos                                     Home

            Home                                                  Family Photos

            Wedding Ring                                     Car

            Engagement Ring                               Wedding Ring

            Family Pet                                           Photographs of deceased relatives

            Photographs of deceased relatives    Family Pet      

            Jewelry                                                Laptop

            Car                                                       Photographs of significant other

            Childhood Pictures                             Smartphone

            Laptop                                                 Books

            Photographs of significant other        Vinyl Records

            Children’s artwork                              CD Collection

            Photographs of deceased friends       Tablet

            Clothes                                                Television

            Books                                                  Photographs of deceased friends

            Tablet                                                  Golf/Fishing Equipmnt/Bicycle

            Baby Clothes                                       Childhood Pictures

            A favorite book                                    Internet

            Parent’s wedding rings                       Jewelry

Missing from both lists is RADIO.

Radio Reaches a Mass Audience

The Council on Foreign Relations tells the story of radio’s impact on the world this way:

“Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi received a U.S. patent for radio technology in 1904, three years after he claimed to have sent the first transatlantic radio signal. Radio was the first technology that could instantaneously communicate to a mass audience. Because it allowed continuous, up-to-date news and entertainment for people regardless of their income or literacy levels, it became immensely popular. In many parts of the world today, radio remains a dominant source of news and entertainment; it is considered to be the most important means of mass communication in Africa, where literacy rates are relatively low and electricity access is inconsistent. In 2010, an estimated 44,000 radio stations operated around the globe.”

How did we squander such a dominating position in people’s lives, so that we are no longer considered a “prized possession?”

Out Damn Spot

It was seven years ago I wrote a blog titled “Out, damn’d spot!” Yet, here we are in 2023 and radio station commercial loads have increased.

I’m sure you have noticed that YouTube offers viewers a chance to “Skip Ads” when you are looking to play a video; that should be a hint that massive commercial breaks are over!

Likewise, ads that are out-of-place on targeted radio formats should be banned. Creativity in radio spot creation is virtually non-existent. Remember when program directors had the final say about EVERYTHING that went on-the-air? We need those kinds of gatekeepers back.

And if all of this is important for our AM/FM radio signals, it becomes even more critical for our radio streams over the internet.

Community & Companionship

Radio has the power to own the communities that it operates in, and provide real companionship for the listener. Pureplay streamers can’t, and won’t be able to do this, as they also lack personality. Alexa and Siri will never enter the Radio Hall of Fame, with the likes of:

Abbott and Costello Goodman Ace and Jane Ace José Miguel Agrelot Raul Alarcón Sr. Kurt Alexander Fred Allen Mel Allen Don Ameche Eddie Anderson Eve Arden Edwin Howard Armstrong Jackson Armstrong Gene Autry Red Barber Tom Barnard Dick Bartley George G. Beasley Glenn Beck Art Bell Jack Benny Gertrude Berg Edgar Bergen Dick Biondi Jesse B. Blayton Sr. Martin Block Bob and Ray Jim Bohannon Bobby Bones Neal Boortz Amar Bose Jonathon Brandmeier Marty Brennaman Jack Brickhouse Brother Wease Himan Brown Joy Browne Jack Buck Gary Burbank Burns and Allen Jess Cain Sway Calloway Eddie Cantor Harry Caray Jack Carney Howie Carr Andrew Carter Ron Chapman Charlie & Harrigan Dick Clark Jerry Coleman Bob Collins Ann Compton William Conrad Jack L. Cooper Myron Cope Don Cornelius Charles Correll Norman Corwin Lou Costello Frankie Crocker Bing Crosby Powel Crosley Jr. Steve Dahl Yvonne Daniels Lee de Forest Rick DeesDelilah Dr. Demento Tom Donahue Nanci Donnellan (The Fabulous Sports Babe) Tommy Dorsey Bill Drake Jim Dunbar Don Dunphy Elvis Duran Jimmy Durante Richard Durham Bob Edwards Douglas Edwards Ralph Edwards Ralph Emery Barry Farber Erica Farber Joseph Field Fred Foy Mike Francesa Arlene Francis Stan Freberg Alan Freed John A. Gambling Blair Garner Ira Glass Christopher Glenn Arthur Godfrey Leonard Goldenson Benny Goodman Gale Gordon Freeman Gosden Toni Grant Barry Gray Petey Greene Ralph Guild Karl Haas Joan Hamburg Milo Hamilton Sean “Hollywood” Hamilton Bill Handel Sean Hannity John Hare Harry Harrison Lynne “Angel” Harvey Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Jr. Steve Harvey Ernie Harwell Terri Hemmert Jocko Henderson Gordon Hinkley Bob Hope Clark Howard Stanley E. Hubbard Cathy Hughes Maurice “Hot Rod” Hulbert Don ImusDan Ingram Hal Jackson Michael Jackson Fred Jacobs E. Rodney Jones Jim Jordan Marian Driscoll Jordan Tom Joyner Harry Kalas H. V. Kaltenborn Mel Karmazin Carl Kasell Casey Kasem Murray “the K” Kaufman Garrison Keillor Kid Kelly Herb Kent Jim Kerr Larry King Bob Kingsley Kim Komando Kidd Kraddick Kay Kyser Art Laboe John Records Landecker John Lanigan Chuck Leonard Mark Levin Hal Lewis Rush Limbaugh Melvin Lindsey Michael “Mickey” Luckoff Larry Lujack Ron Lundy Joe Madison Ray Magliozzi Tom Magliozzi Guglielmo Marconi Angie Martinez Groucho Marx Luther Masingill Dan Mason Lowry Mays Mary Margaret McBride J. P. McCarthy Edward F. McLaughlin Gordon McLendon Graham McNamee Marian McPartland Garry Meier Ruth Ann Meyer Jon Miller Agnes Moorehead Robert W. Morgan “Cousin Brucie” Morrow Scott Muni Edward R. Murrow Manuel “Paco” Navarro Pat O’Day Eddie O’Jay Stu Olds Dick Orkin Charles Osgood Gary Owens Ronn OwensWilliam S. Paley Edward Pate Jr. Dan Patrick Norman Pattiz Virginia Payne Sam Phillips Wally Phillips Dick Purtan James Henry Quello Robin Quivers Dave Ramsey Ronald Reagan Cokie Roberts Tony Roberts Neil Rogers Jim Rome Javier Romero President Franklin D. Roosevelt Orion Samuelson David Sarnoff Michael Savage Chuck Schaden Laura Schlessinger Vin Scully Ryan Seacrest Elliot Segal Scott Shannon Jean Shepherd Bill Siemering Robert Sievers Donnie Simpson Red Skelton Rick Sklar Kate Smith Paul W. Smith Eddie “Piolín” Sotelo Susan Stamberg Frank Stanton Alison Steele Bob Steele Don Steele Martha Jean Steinberg Charley Steiner Bill Stern Howard Stern Todd Storz Fran Striker Studs Terkel John Tesh Jay Thomas Lowell Thomas Rufus Thomas Mac Tichenor Les Tremayne Charlie Tuna Bob Uecker Ed Walker Orson Welles Ruth Westheimer Dick Whittinghill Bruce Williams Nat D. Williams Jerry Williams Wendy Williams William B. Williams Walter Winchell Wolfman Jack

I rest my case.

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September 10, 2023 · 3:00 am

A Life of Learning

One my life goals has been to learn something new every day. What you find if you pursue this path is, the more you learn, the more you don’t know.

So, what are some of the things I’ve learned in my life, that might benefit you in yours.

Living Is How You Gain Wisdom

In my life, the things that went wrong were the greatest teacher. No one ever learns from things going right. It’s through the difficult times, when our mettle gets tested, and we build our internal strength for the years ahead.

Wisdom Is Meant To Be Shared

The reason I write this blog is to share the things I’ve learned in my life. Sharing helps others to grow, and you might be surprised to find how much your knowledge grows in the process.

Wisdom Is Not The Same As Being Smart

You don’t become wise from reading a book or attending a class. You become wise through living your life, through personal experiences.

Great radio air personalities, great media salespeople, great broadcast engineers, and yes, their managers, become great through putting in the hours of effort to hone their craft.

When they make it look easy, you know they own it.

Always Be Curious

I’m one of Roy H. Williams wizards. Wizards are curious people and life-long learners.

Look at a picture of a wizard’s room, and you will find a room that’s cluttered and at the same time you will realize that here lives a person whose mind cannot be focused on a singular subject. It’s this diversity of learning that provides the foundation for future problem solving skills.

As we accumulate knowledge our minds begin the process of distilling what we learn into wisdom.

Connect The Dots

It’s through wisdom, that a person learns how to connect the dots and plot the path forward in life. Because of uncontrollable curiosity, and our desire to explore all areas of our world, we are predisposed to seeing the big picture.

Surround Yourself With Wise People

If you want to be better at something, go and find the people who do it best, and immerse yourself in their wisdom.

I remember when I was learning to play tennis, I started off playing with someone who was as bad at the sport as I was. When I moved on and played with a more skilled tennis player, I never won against this person, but my game improved immensely.

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

A.I. may be superior at many things, but when it comes to the very human quality we call wisdom, I believe that is where people will always dominate. Unlike artificial intelligence, human wisdom mentors and inspires people to become their personal best.

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

-Steve Prefontaine, Handley High School Class of 2011

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August 27, 2023 · 3:00 am

More Leadership Advice

Last week, I shared “12 Leadership Lessons from Ted Lasso,” it stimulated interesting conversation. One reader told me that he was in a manager’s office that had one of those 12 lessons posted everywhere you looked. That manager believed it didn’t matter what your position in the organization was, everyone could benefit from this positive leadership advice.

Victor Escalante

Victor has been a weekly reader of this blog for as long as I can remember. He’s an expert in providing corporate training and development solutions to help businesses succeed. His business website is: https://victorescalante.com/

When we talked on the phone this week, I learned that we’re both graduates of the Roy H. Williams Wizard Academy in Buda, Texas. Victor was a member of the class of 2007, the “World Changers,” and I was a member of the class of 2001 that took place right after 9/11, which caused about two thirds of the registered students to not attend out of concern for flying. Our class, Roy named, the “Fearless Flyers.”

Victor and I are both fierce advocates for creating great radio and providing the leadership to accomplish that goal. In response to my “Lasso 12,” Victor wrote his “list of 10” in the comment section of last week’s blog. I was so inspired by his list, I asked for his permission to share it with you this week.

10 Things Leaders Need To Do by Victor Escalante

1. **Adapt to Change**: Just as music genres evolve, life is constantly changing. Adaptability is your compass through the unpredictable.

2. **Craft Your Narrative**: Just as you structure radio shows, frame your life’s story to engage and inspire those around you.

3. **Tune into Empathy**: Just as you empathize with listeners, understand others’ perspectives to forge deeper connections.

4. **Embrace the Unexpected**: Just as surprise guests shake up broadcasts, welcome life’s surprises as opportunities for growth.

5. **Balance is Key**: Just as sound levels need balance, find equilibrium between work, personal life, and self-care.

6. **Nurture Resilience**: Just as a signal may fade, cultivate resilience to weather life’s challenges and come out stronger.

7. **Stay Curious**: Just as you seek new music, remain curious about the world. Embrace learning as a lifelong journey.

8. **Connect Through Communication**: Just as you connect through the airwaves, communicate openly and authentically in your relationships.

9. **Celebrate Collaboration**: Just as harmonies enhance songs, recognize the power of collaboration in achieving shared goals.

10. **Spread Positivity**: Just as music brings joy, spread positivity and kindness wherever you go, making your life a melody for others to hear.

Why I Blog

I blog for broadcasters, educators and students, I blog to provide media mentorship and to pay-it-forward to the broadcasting industry that I have been a part of for over 50-years. It’s my belief that together we can all learn from one another by sharing our experiences, knowledge and wisdom. Feel free to contribute your thoughts to the discussion in the comment section, as I read every one of them.

Victor Escalante shared his wisdom on leadership with me, and now I’ve shared it with you.

You can get anything in life you want,

If you will just help enough other people get what they want.

-Zig Ziglar

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April 10, 2022 · 3:00 am

Less Is More

When I was a market manager for Clear Channel, the company president introduced a new concept for reducing our commercial load, he called it “Less Is More.” It sounded good on the surface, however instead of reducing on-air clutter it introduced shorter length commercials. Each of my radio stations now aired ads that were as short as 5-seconds down to 1-second in length. This meant more ads could be run in a spot break. For example, the time it would take to run four minute length commercials, with Less Is More stations could now run six half-minute commercials or twelve 15-second commercials etc. Listeners don’t consider the length of a commercial break, but the number of different elements that air in a break.

Radio Commercials

If there’s one thing radio listeners tend to always agree on, when it comes to improving the radio listening experience, it’s reducing the number of commercials. That means the number of ads that air in a single commercial break, as well as the total number ads broadcast each hour.

Clear Channel recognized this listener issue, but by introducing shorter length ads, the “Less Is More” initiative added more elements to each stop-set. To the radio listener, the amount of clutter increased and in essence, made their favorite radio stations less listenable.

Commercial Free Radio

It was in 2008, when New York’s CD 101.9 WQCD dropped its Smooth Jazz format to switch to playing rock music with the new call letters WRXP.  Not finding any radio station in the greater New York City area that programmed the Smooth Jazz format, I would search online and discover Sky.FM.

They offered more than one flavor of Smooth Jazz music programming and it quickly filled my appetite for this musical genre. They only stopped the music twice an hour, once to tell me that I could hear this music without interruption by becoming a premium subscriber and the other announcement was about how they were looking to hire more IT personnel.

Those were the only two announcements and they lasted about 30-seconds in length, but over time, it was like Chinese water torture; so, I went online to find out how much it would cost to become a premium subscriber, learning it would cost me only $49/year. But that wasn’t all, that fee also increased the audio quality of the stream .

I was hooked and remained a subscriber, only leaving the service when I got my first Amazon Echo and Radio Tunes (formerly known as Sky.FM) wasn’t available on the service.

Recently a reader of this blog, told me that he listened to commercial free Radio Tunes on his Amazon smart speakers and I’m a subscriber once again.

My wife Sue loves Pandora and for Valentine’s Day 2022, I bought her Pandora Premium. This is their top service, it’s commercial-free and offers listeners the ability to ask for any song and immediately hear it. Plus she still can listen to any of Pandora’s wonderfully curated channels and skip any songs she doesn’t like.

Repetition Breeds Acceptance

I often hear people say they get tired of hearing the same songs over and over. Yet, successful radio stations often employ strategies that can seem counter-intuitive. They achieve the more variety music position by playing fewer songs. They reach a larger audience by targeting and focusing on a more narrowly defined audience.

By subscribing to Pandora and Radio Tunes we didn’t eliminate music repetition, we eliminated the programming elements that interrupted the music. It’s the music repetition of our favorite songs that actually attracts us.

In fact, I remember when Sirius and XM were still two separate subscription satellite radio entities, the most listened to commercial free music channels on both of them were HITS 1 and Top 20 on 20; both of which had the highest music repetition.

Dave Van Dyke, the President & CEO at Bridge Ratings Media Research, said that globally there are 3.6 music streamers for every paid subscriber. So, don’t completely count commercially supported radio out yet.

Great Radio Ads

When I was managing radio stations in Iowa back in 1999, my two sons came to visit. Before they left, they made what you might think is an unusual request, they wanted to know if I could make copies of the radio commercials my stations aired and put them on a cassette to bring back with them to New Jersey.

I also remember being at a house party and the radio station providing the music entertainment was largely background, until they stopped the music to play some commercials, and everyone would hush the conversation so they could listen. Yes, the radio ads this station created were that good.

I’m a graduate of The Wizard of Ads Wizard Academy in Austin, Texas. Roy H. Williams has been teaching radio folks for years about what makes an effective radio ad. Following Roy’s lessons, my advertisers have been very successful.

Radio commercials aren’t bad.

Bad radio commercials are.

Radio’s secret ingredient is the radio personality. Great radio talent has been effectively telling their listeners about all types of businesses, products and services for decades.

I need go no further than radio’s greatest salesman, Paul Harvey.

I own two BOSE Wave Radios because of Paul Harvey. What makes this so amazing is that I listened to him broadcasting on an AM radio station, but Paul was selling me a radio that would play FM stereo and CDs with the highest fidelity.  

While Paul Harvey was a news commentator, he called himself a salesman. His audience knew that he used the products and services he advertised. Harvey personally wrote the radio commercials he would broadcast.

Among his many accolades, the one Paul Harvey was most proud to have received was being named “Salesman of the Year.”

Paul Harvey loved his advertisers, saying “I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is.”

Creating great radio, means leveraging the power of the medium to deliver an engaged audience for its advertisers. That means reducing the number of ads in a commercial cluster and reducing the number of ads per hour, making sure every ad is about the listener and their life.  

Tomorrow has always been better than today.

And it always will be.

-Paul Harvey

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February 20, 2022 · 3:00 am

3 Ways to Inspire & Connect

In today’s news environment, you probably have become adept at having your brain tune bad things out. Unfortunately, when you try to tune out information that upsets you, you may also be tuning out things that might be beneficial as well, like good advice.

We Are Emotional Beings

If you want to connect with another human being, you need to touch them emotionally. My mentor Roy H. Williams aka The Wizard of Ads taught me that you must first touch a person’s heart before you will win their mind.

Eye Contact

Did you ever realize that the human eye is unique? We are the only living creatures that have white in our eyes. The design of the human eye enables us to know where another person is looking (or not looking). Through our eye contact, we are better able to connect with another human being.

Our eyes also reveal whether or not we are being authentic when dealing with others.

Try Everything

The other evening, while my wife Sue was exercising on our treadmill in the basement, she had a song blasting out of the sound system that was so infectious, I had to go into the cellar to find out what it was.

When I asked Sue about the name of the song, she said “I don’t know, I just asked Alexa to play Disney songs.”

Turns out the song was by Shakira, from the Disney movie Zootopia, called “Try Everything.”

That song was immediately purchased and downloaded to my iTunes library. I find it inspirational. Here are the lyrics:

            I messed up tonight

            I lost another fight

            Lost to myself, but I’ll just start again

            I keep falling down

            I keep on hitting the ground

            But I always get up now to see what’s next

            Birds don’t just fly

            They fall down and get up

            Nobody learns without getting it wrong

            Look how far you’ve come

            You filled your heart with love

            Baby, you’ve done enough

            Take a deep breath

            Don’t beat yourself up

            No need to run so fast

            Sometimes we come last, but we did our best

            I’ll keep on making those new mistakes

            I’ll keep on making them every day

            Those new mistakes

            I won’t give up

            No, I won’t give in till I reach the end

            And then I’ll start again

            No, I won’t leave

            I want to try everything

            I want to try even though I could fail

I love this song because no matter what the endeavor, no one does it perfectly out-of-the-box. We screw things up royally. It’s the human condition. But by practice and self-improvement we can master anything we put our mind to.

However, we often don’t see behind the curtain of people we admire, about their long, mistake-filled process, that led to the person we now know. We often think they were just born gifted. No one is.

People don’t connect with your successes;

they connect with your messes.”

-Les Brown

My Messes

Over my career in both broadcasting and college teaching, I’ve learned that success taught me very little, but when I messed up, I learned a lot.

When things are going great, the natural impulse is not to do anything to upset the apple cart.

Likewise, when teaching another person, only sharing your successes imparts very little knowledge about the process that led you to achieve those successes.

However, when you share the things that went wrong, and how you learned from these little disasters, and how you changed course to not have something like that happen again, real knowledge is shared. It inspires others.

Nobody Learns Without Getting It Wrong

My students told me how impactful my sales lectures were when they contained stories about the things I did wrong, learned and grew from, by messing everything up.

“WOW,” they would say, “here’s a teacher that doesn’t know it all, that makes mistakes” and, in the process, became a better person. It let them know that failure isn’t fatal and can provide some benefits.

Success is not final;

Failure is not fatal:

It is the courage to continue that counts.

-Winston Churchill

Pull Back Your Curtain

Don’t be afraid to share yourself with others. Let them in and show them you’re human.

My sales mantra when calling on a new business was always to Make A Friend on my first visit. People buy from people they know and like. They buy from their friends.

Re-Capping the 3 Ways to Inspire & Connect

  1. Touch people emotionally
  2. Make eye contact
  3. Allow people to connect with you, by sharing your messes

People don’t care how much you know,

until they know how much you care.

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January 23, 2022 · 3:00 am

What Do Seniors Want?

Seniors born in the 1950s and 1960s, known as “Baby Boomers,” created a tsunami of change in the world of marketing and communications. Now, the generation that coined the phrase “Don’t trust anyone over 30” is turning 70.

50th High School Reunion Re-imagined

In fact, my 50th high school reunion was to have been held in 2020, but due to COVID19 this was rescheduled to October 2022. The committee organizing this event decided to re-imagine our Golden Reunion Celebration and are now calling it “The Class of 1970 Turns 70.”

Boomers actually began crossing the 70 year old threshold in 2016 and will be growing the 70+ demographic population until the year 2034. Over the next ten years, our numbers will eclipse 55 million with a growth rate twice that of people aged 18-49.

Boomers Are Spenders

Currently the 70+ Boomers contribute $1.1 trillion in annual spending on consumer goods and services. According to AARP, we spend on pharmaceuticals, health insurance, medical supplies, AV equipment, food at home, personal care products, apparel, entertainment, household furnishings, and travel.

Since I retired in 2017, my wife Sue and I immediately set out to see more of this world. We took a Caribbean Cruise, three cross-county road trips driving over 25,000 miles and were planning to travel abroad until the advent of COVID19 brought things to a screeching halt.

Boomers grew up in the postwar era with a sense of promise and possibility. We believed if we could dream it, we could do it.

The Senior Mindset

When I was in my early years of radio sales, I sold advertising to a contemporary of mine that was working in his family’s pharmacy. His primary focus was on developing new revenue streams for growing the business.

He was the first person I ever knew that went to Las Vegas every January to the Consumer Electronics Show; now known simply as CES. Each year he would bring new and innovative electronic products into the store.

But that’s not the point of the story.

In my 20s, when I saw these new devices – often with some pretty hefty price tags attached to them – I would say, that’s pretty amazing, but I’ve read that next year the new model will be even better.

My friend would reply, “That’s the way we think, but people who are much older than us don’t see things that way.” He explained that their view of life was, if they wanted it, they bought it now. And if something better came along, they would make another purchase. They didn’t have time to wait around for the next big thing to come along.

Retirement is a Transition from Saver to Spender

Now that I’ve become one of those people who are “much older,” I understand that perspective. Baby Boomers are now at that point in their lives where they see more of their lives in the rearview mirror than out the front windshield.

People who are 70+ are free to pursue their passions and set new life goals for this next chapter of their lives. Products and services that compliment these things will be the ones who benefit from our spending.

I’m no longer thinking of how much I need to save in my IRA or contribute to my annuities, I’m now at that point in life where it’s time to begin withdrawing from the retirement assets I’ve accrued over my working life.

Are your products or services seeing me, hearing me, understanding my wants/needs/desires?

Time Spent With Ad-Supported Media Falls

The FCC reported at the start of this new year, the number of commercial FMs, AMs, and even LPFMs all decreased in 2021. While it came as no surprise to see the number of AM radio stations sign-off, the decrease in the number of commercial FMs should have been a real wake-up call for the radio industry.

Interestingly, non-commercial FM radio stations increased in number in 2021. Could it be they are serving up content that people want to hear?

53.4% of people’s time spent with media in the United States is with consumer-funded media, according PQ Media.

I started off this year of blogging with “Why I Stream ALL of My Radio Listening,” and in reviewing the latest data I find that our household is riding the wave of consumer-funded media for both television viewing and radio listening.

Media Post says

“While total consumer time spent with media is projected to continue to expand in both the United States and worldwide through 2025, ad-supported media’s share will continue to erode due to secular, not cyclical shifts in consumer usage of media – something other analysts and economists have been pointing out.”

You Can Save Time or You Can Save Money, BUT You Can’t Save Both Simultaneously

There’s an inverse relationship between time and money; you can spend one to save the other. In our youth, we feel like we have all the time in the world and so we focus on ways to save money. Later in life, we see how precious our time has become and so we will spend money to save time.

Long commercial breaks about things of little interest to us waste our time, so it should come as no surprise that seniors are willing to pay money to eliminate them.

People will give you their time when you offer them entertainment. People will give you their money when you offer them hope.

– Roy H. Williams

Consumer-funded media does just that. It gives us the wheat and eliminates the chaff.

The average person in America today is expected to live to almost 79 years old, that’s 28,835 days. When you turn 70, that means you see the future as 3,285 days left.

What do you think means more to a senior, another dollar in the bank or more efficient use of their time?

When people are asked on their deathbed what they wished they had more of, no one says “more money.”

Willie Sutton said he robbed banks because that’s where the money was. Today, media money is in the hands of the Baby Boomers, aka seniors.

How are you serving them with your media property?

Updated 1/23/2022: An earlier version incorrectly said “Willie Horton,” not “Willie Sutton.”

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October 24, 2021 · 3:00 am

What is The Future of Radio?

Ten years ago, I was in Las Vegas presenting at the Broadcast Education Association’s annual international conference. My presentation was called “This Changes Everything.” It outlined things that would be changing in our world in the decade to come.

“Prediction is difficult…especially about the future.”

-Yogi Berra

Remembering 2011

2011 was the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, and already we were witnessing a world where mediated communication was social, global, ubiquitous and cheap. It was the beginning of the social media revolution.

Groupon, which came into existence only a couple of years earlier, grew its revenue to over $1.6 billion in 2011. And yet, the doomsayers were already forecasting its demise. As this chart shows, revenues for Groupon did drop below 2011, but not until 2020.

A contributing factor to this downward revenue trend for Groupon might be that it’s estimated that only about 1% of Groupon users ever became regular customers of the businesses whose coupons they used.

TWITTER

A decade ago, Twitter was the most popular social media platform with more Fortune 100 companies using Twitter than any other social media platform.

As we begin the third decade of the 21st century, we know that the previous decade will now be known most for the impact of Facebook, not Twitter, when it comes to social media dominance.

Media Adoption Rates

In 1920, the adoption rate for commercial AM radio was incredibly fast, only to be eclipsed by the introduction of TV. However, both of these two forms of communication would be dwarfed by the adoption rates of the internet followed by the use of mobile internet made possible by the smartphone.

These last two brought about revolutionary changes in how we communicate.

In fact, the famous Maslow “Hierarchy of Needs” pyramid, might be updated to look like this:

How the World is Connected to the Internet

At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, 85% of the world’s population connected to the internet via wireless mobile devices.

To put that into perspective, only 80% of the world was connected to an electrical grid in 2011.

Today, 92.6% or 4.32 billion people connect to the internet wirelessly.

Top Three Gadgets of All Time

A decade ago, The History Channel came out with a list of the “Top Gadgets of All Time” and they were:

  1. Smartphone
  2. Radio
  3. Television

Hat Tip to Mary Meeker

None of these things were a secret, but it was Mary Meeker that tied all of these changes together in her presentation “Internet Trends 2011.” Her presentations are worth your time to view. The most recent one being 2019, before COVID19 disrupted everything. You can view that presentation HERE

What we do know is COVID19 took all of the changes that were slowly taking place and accelerated them dramatically. Think “warp speed.”

The big three takeaways from 2011 were:

  1. Every media consumer is now a media producer
  2. Smartphones are changing the world of mediated communications
  3. Media is now social, global, ubiquitous and cheap

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”

-General Eric Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, U.S. Army

What Technology Might a Baby Born Today, Never Use?

Let me throw out some thought starters for you to consider. Please feel free to add to this list.

  • Wired home internet
  • Dedicated cameras
  • Landline telephones
  • Slow-booting computers
  • Dialup Internet
  • Hard Drives
  • Electric typewriters
  • Movie Theaters
  • Computer Mouse
  • Remote Controls
  • Desktop computers
  • Phone numbers
  • Prime Time TV
  • Fax machines
  • Optical disks
  • Record player
  • Cassette player
  • CD Player
  • VCR or DVR
  • Radio
  • ?????

“My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary. Sure, it was great to make a profit, because that – was what allowed you to make great products – but the products, NOT THE PROFITS, were the motivation.”

-Steve Jobs

So, What’s the Future of Radio?

In 2011, one hundred college students were surveyed about what they believed the future of radio was, here were their top three positive comments and their top three negative comments:

POSITIVE COMMENTS

  1. Radio will re-invent itself. It is always evolving.
  2. Radio has a bright future as long as there are cars. It’s the first choice for drivers.
  3. Satellite Radio will expand as subscriptions become cheaper.

NEGATIVE COMMENTS

  1. Devices are coming out that will allow iPods and MP3 players to be played in cars.
  2. Smartphones will gradually take over radio entertainment.
  3. The only time people listen to radio is in their cars. Even then, they have CDs & MP3s.

Radio’s Car Radio Paranoia

Then Fred Jacobs came out with a blog this week about the seemingly bleak future for AM/FM radio in cars. You can read that HERE

At the annual CES (Consumer Electronic Show) Fred’s been asking about the future of car radio every year, and noticed that more recently auto manufacturers are reluctant to give a direct answer if there might come a day when AM/FM car radios won’t be standard equipment.

For Elon Musk and Tesla, that day is already here.

How to Build Brands

Ernest Dichter is known as the father of motivational research. Over 50 years ago he did a large study on word-of-mouth persuasion that revealed the secrets of how to build brands. Dichter said there are four motivations for a person to communicate about a brand:

  1. Product-Involvement: the experience had to be so novel and pleasurable that it must be shared with others.
  2. Self-Involvement: people want to share the knowledge or opinions, as a way to gain attention, have inside information, or assert superiority.
  3. Other-Involvement: a person wants to reach out and help to express neighborliness, caring or friendship. They are often thought of a “brand evangelists.”
  4. Message-Involvement: the message is so humorous or informative that it deserves sharing.

“Win the hearts of the people, their minds will follow.”

-Roy H. Williams

So, if you are in the radio business, OR are a radio listener, the question you need to honestly ask yourself is:

How does your brand measure up?

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January 24, 2021 · 3:00 am

Marketing In a WE Cycle

Bob Dylan

In 1963, Bob Dylan wrote the song “The Times They Are A-Changin” which would become an anthem for frustrated youth who were anti-establishment and wanted change. This marked the beginning of the upswing of a “Me” cycle. 1963 was the rise of the Baby Boomers, a generation that would grow to seventy-four million teenagers at its peak. A generation raised on radio.

The Rosetta Stone

Before Napoleon Bonaparte discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799, no one had a clue how to read Egyptian hieroglyphics. But that four foot tall stone had engraved on it the same story in three different languages, two of which scholars knew how to read.

Today, we live in a world where everyone is concerned about the rapid changes being brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. But our world is changing in ways that go beyond the impact of a novel coronavirus, it’s also a societal time of change in America, change that will continue even after a vaccine has been discovered that will quell this out-of-control virus.

Come gather ’round, people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

The “We” Zeniths

In 2012, Roy H. Williams and Michael R. Drew came out with a book titled “Pendulum, How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future.”

The essence of the Pendulum hypothesis is that society follows a predictable oscillation, meaning a pendulum that swings between a “We” zenith and a “Me” zenith. Understanding this oscillation will give us insight into the forces that drive the decisions the public makes.

“Predictable, rhythmic attractions are what move our society. Rhythm is intrinsic to the human experience. Feet patter, hearts beat, lungs breathe, planets circle, and seasons cycle to a rhythm. Music, poetry, and dance are built upon it.”

-Roy H. Williams & Michael R. Drew

Some of the “We” zeniths the book Pendulum describes:

  • 1783 America wins Revolutionary War
  • 1863 American Civil War
  • 1943 Adolph Hitler – The Holocaust

{Each “We” zenith is 80-years apart}

Pendulum points out that “virtually every instance of widespread viciousness in Western society has happened within ten years of the Zenith of a “We.” It should be noted that a complete oscillation of the pendulum takes 80-years and that 2023 will mark the zenith of the current “We” period in the Western world.

“We” periods can be defined as “I’m OK, You’re Not OK,” and “Me” periods as “I’m Not OK, You’re OK.” “We” periods are times of witch hunts, “Me” periods are times of hero worship.

According to this book, marketing becomes very easy as we approach the zenith of the “We,” and all one needs to do is “choose what and who you will demonize, and then start tossing fear-soaked words as though they were longneck beer bottles full of gasoline with fiery rags stuffed down their throats.” Does any of this sound like the world we’re experiencing today?

Human Change vs Other Change

We live in a world where the speed of change feels like it is constantly accelerating, and on a technology level it is, but deep human change does not; like the speed of change of the trees, which is not controlled by technology.

Plant a tree and monitor its growth, it appears to not change by the day, but come back in 10-years, 20-years or 40-years and the changes will be obvious. Technology and the internet have done nothing to change the natural cycle of change.

What we can hope for is that the 21st Century’s instantaneous global communication might mitigate the negativity and viciousness as we approach the zenith of the current “We” cycle.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

What Does It All Mean for You?

We’re seeing people demanding authenticity and transparency in all things. We’ve given up our liberties for the perception of security and given up our privacy for convenience.

The future of education will be about creating new pathways to wealth, and re-creating a middle class, as our current world has been bifurcated in to “haves” and “have-nots.”

How Do You Market in a WE Cycle?

You write “pull” messages, rather than “push” messages from now until 2043 for all of Western society, Williams and Drew write. What’s the difference you ask? Push messages are based on a ‘needs analysis’ and ‘over coming objections,’ where as pull messages build relationships through positive attraction. Social media via the internet is a relationship-building tool. The internet by serving up only what’s requested, is in essence a “pull” medium. Radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor are all “push” mediums.

People who attempt to “push” their messages with pop-ups and other methods on the internet are met with anger by the consumer.

How could your radio program attract an audience with seduction? How could you romance your listeners to want to spend more time with your radio station, its website and/or podcast?

Time is money is the name of the game in a “We” cycle. As Williams and Drew put it, “Whoever wins their time is the one most likely to win their money.”

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’We Me Sales Strategies

Pendulum by Roy H. Williams & Michael R. Drew

This article was originally published in August 2020.

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August 2, 2020 · 3:00 am

The Times They Are A Changing

Bob DylanIn 1963, Bob Dylan wrote the song “The Times They Are A-Changin” which would become an anthem for frustrated youth who were anti-establishment and wanted change. This marked the beginning of the upswing of a “Me” cycle. 1963 was the rise of the Baby Boomers, a generation that would grow to seventy-four million teenagers at its peak. A generation raised on radio.

The Rosetta Stone

Before Napoleon Bonaparte discovered the Rosetta Stone in 1799, no one had a clue how to read Egyptian hieroglyphics. But that four foot tall stone had engraved on it the same story in three different languages, two of which scholars knew how to read.

Today, we live in a world where everyone is concerned about the rapid changes being brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. But our world is changing in ways that go beyond the impact of a novel coronavirus, it’s also a societal time of change in America, change that will continue even after a vaccine has been discovered that will quell this out-of-control virus.

Come gather ’round, people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
And you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

The “We” Zeniths

In 2012, Roy H. Williams and Michael R. Drew came out with a book titled “Pendulum, How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future.”

The essence of the Pendulum hypothesis is that society follows a predictable oscillation, meaning a pendulum that swings between a “We” zenith and a “Me” zenith. Understanding this oscillation will give us insight into the forces that drive the decisions the public makes.

“Predictable, rhythmic attractions are what move our society. Rhythm is intrinsic to the human experience. Feet patter, hearts beat, lungs breathe, planets circle, and seasons cycle to a rhythm. Music, poetry, and dance are built upon it.”

-Roy H. Williams & Michael R. Drew

Some of the “We” zeniths the book Pendulum describes:

  • 1783 America wins Revolutionary War
  • 1863 American Civil War
  • 1943 Adolph Hitler – The Holocaust

{Each “We” zenith is 80-years apart}

Pendulum points out that “virtually every instance of widespread viciousness in Western society has happened within ten years of the Zenith of a “We.” It should be noted that a complete oscillation of the pendulum takes 80-years and that 2023 will mark the zenith of the current “We” period in the Western world.

“We” periods can be defined as “I’m OK, You’re Not OK,” and “Me” periods as “I’m Not OK, You’re OK.” “We” periods are times of witch hunts, “Me” periods are times of hero worship.

According to this book, marketing becomes very easy as we approach the zenith of the “We,” and all one needs to do is “choose what and who you will demonize, and then start tossing fear-soaked words as though they were longneck beer bottles full of gasoline with fiery rags stuffed down their throats.” Does any of this sound like the world we’re experiencing today?

Human Change vs Other Change

We live in a world where the speed of change feels like it is constantly accelerating, and on a technology level it is, but deep human change does not; like the speed of change of the trees, which is not controlled by technology.

Plant a tree and monitor its growth, it appears to not change by the day, but come back in 10-years, 20-years or 40-years and the changes will be obvious. Technology and the internet have done nothing to change the natural cycle of change.

What we can hope for is that the 21st Century’s instantaneous global communication might mitigate the negativity and viciousness as we approach the zenith of the current “We” cycle.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’

What Does It All Mean for You?

We’re seeing people demanding authenticity and transparency in all things. We’ve given up our liberties for the perception of security and given up our privacy for convenience.

The future of education will be about creating new pathways to wealth, and re-creating a middle class, as our current world has been bifurcated in to “haves” and “have-nots.”

How Do You Market in a WE Cycle?

You write “pull” messages, rather than “push” messages from now until 2043 for all of Western society, Williams and Drew write. What’s the difference you ask? Push messages are based on a ‘needs analysis’ and ‘over coming objections,’ where as pull messages build relationships through positive attraction. Social media via the internet is a relationship-building tool. The internet by serving up only what’s requested, is in essence a “pull” medium. Radio, television, newspapers, magazines, and outdoor are all “push” mediums.

People who attempt to “push” their messages with pop-ups and other methods on the internet are met with anger by the consumer.

How could your radio program attract an audience with seduction? How could you romance your listeners to want to spend more time with your radio station, its website and/or podcast?

Time is money is the name of the game in a “We” cycle. As Williams and Drew put it, “Whoever wins their time is the one most likely to win their money.”

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’

We Me Sales Strategies

Pendulum by Roy H. Williams & Michael R. Drew

 

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May 24, 2020 · 3:00 am

Thank You Jason Jennings

jennings

Photo by Barbara Ries

In 1979, two major life-changing events occurred around the same time. One, I got married and two, I left the programming, operations, and on-air side of the radio business to enter radio sales. Both would change my life forever.

Before I ever set one foot on the street to sell a radio ad, my new company’s owner would send me to sales training. The trainer was Jason Jennings, and when I finished the day with him, I could not wait to get out on the street to begin selling radio advertising.

Jason William Jennings

Jason was born on May 31, 1952 in Ishpeming, Michigan. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Detroit. His politics back then were listed as Republican and his religion Lutheran.

I didn’t realize that when I first met Jason to undergo radio sales training, we were the same age, 27. He was so self-assured, confident and in total command of the room. He told everyone to take off their wrist watches and be prepared to take notes. I remember filling up my note book with what he was telling us.

What most amazed me was he taught for an entire day and everything he shared was stored in his mind. Not a single note did he ever refer too.

Only recently have I learned that while Jason and I started off as Republicans, we both were now progressives in our political views, we are both of the Lutheran faith and both aged 67.

Music was also a part of our lives, Jason played the viola and I the trombone.

AVI Communications, Inc

I met Pat “Spark” Shaughnessy at a radio conference back in the 90s. We were sitting next to one another and he introduced himself. That led to hanging out during the meetings and forming a friendship by the time the conference ended. Pat invited me to review a new radio sales training video program he had just finished with Jason Jennings. He sent me the entire program and I would watch every second of it and read the workbook materials. I then sent Pat a multi-page document with my thoughts.

Years later, when I was working on an advanced radio sales course for my university’s School of Broadcasting and Journalism, I contacted Pat to see if I could purchase two copies of the Quantum Sales Training Broadcast System for my students.

The program by now had been bought for thousands of dollars by over 600 TV stations, 2,000 radio stations and several hundred cable systems. Today, one copy of the series sits in the WKU main library and the other copy in the school of broadcasting.

The basics of the program, written and hosted by Jason, are timeless. I’ve used the DVD on Negotiation in sales training at all of the radio stations I’ve managed and in my introductory sales classes at the university.

LinkedIN & Facebook

I believe it was through LinkedIN that Jason first reached out to me to reconnect. More recently, Jason asked to be friends on Facebook. I’m embarrassed I didn’t ask him first. I believe it was because I so looked up to him as a mentor and felt asking would be a bother. Jason obviously didn’t feel that way.

Over time, I learned we were in concert on so many things, like what’s important in sales, management, politics and life.

A Better Tomorrow

Jason really cared about people. Somehow this man who was named among the twenty-five best speakers in America by the Nationwide Speakers Bureau, a bestselling author and media consultant always found the time to drop me a note and wish me well. I’m sure I was not the only one Jason did this to.

During his keynote addresses, it was normal for Jason to ask the audience “How many of you want your tomorrows to be better than today for you and your family?” He knew how to tap into our universal human desires in a real and genuine way.

“Ensure your heart is in the right place with a genuine desire to help highly principled people reach their full potential,” was how Jason’s podcasting co-host, Dale Dixon, defined Jason Jennings’s purpose in life.

Selling is Like Doctoring

In life, there are some phrases you come in contact with that become a part of you. When seeking to know what an advertising client was expecting from his radio campaign, Roy H. Williams taught me to always ask, “How will you measure success?” From Zig Ziglar I learned, “You can get anything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

From Jason Jennings I learned, “Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice.” In other words, before you can begin to advise any client what he needs to do to improve his business you first need to learn, where it hurts, what’s going wrong, what’s the breakdown that’s causing business to languish.

For me, Jason’s phrase spoke to my unending curiosity. I loved asking clients lots and lots of questions; about their life, their families, their business, then using what I learned to create unique, one-of-a-kind advertising programs to increase their business.

Are Radio Groups Mis-Training Sellers?

Back in October of 2012, my radio friend Barry Cohen wrote an article for Radio Ink taking the radio industry to task for the lack of radio sales training. Barry wrote, “When I started selling radio advertising, the first thing my sales manager did was hand me one of Jason Jennings’ books, which I promptly ‘devoured.’ As I moved to each station, my managers continued to give me the good stuff, exposing me to the likes of Chris Lytle (who just turned 70 this month), Irwin Pollack, Pam Lontos and, of course, RAB sales training materials.”

For many of us, Jason Jennings was one of a handful of training professionals that radio people held in very high esteem.

Don’t Let Radio End Up Like Yahoo!

In August of 2016, I wrote a blog article based on one of Jason’s “Game Changers” podcasts. I applied the lessons Jason learned from his analysis of why Yahoo! disintegrated to the radio industry. “Don’t Let Radio End Up Like Yahoo!” was the fourth most read article on my blog in 2016.

In reviewing that article’s advice, it strikes me that this is how Jason Jennings lived his own life.

  • Know what you’re all about
  • Have a set of guiding principles
  • Don’t use a business like a personal piggy bank
  • Don’t try to be all things to all people
  • Don’t copy the competition

Jason Jennings was an original who pursued perfection and achieved excellence.

I will always be grateful to Jason Jennings for giving me a solid foundation upon which I was able to build a successful radio and teaching career.

A global community of sales and management professionals are saddened by Jason’s sudden and unexpected death this month from a ruptured aorta aneurysm.

We will always be grateful for all he taught us.

 

 

 

 

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