New technologies have made radio a visual medium. In order to compete, stations need to have interactive Web sites with photos, blogs, podcasts, downloads, polls, contests, and video. Due to the popularity of videos online, DJs are becoming VJs. On-air personalities are online personalities creating video blogs, behind the scenes videos, music news videos, promotional videos with advertisers, etc.

Is this good or bad? That kind of depends on the content you create and how comfortable you personalities are in front of a camera. If you are capable of creating a compelling product with relatable hosts than this can be great. If you can’t then don’t waste your time cheapening your brand. (more…)

Radio has long been recognized as the theater of the mind but more and more it is becoming an interactive medium. New interactive technologies are opening up new and possibly fruitful opportunities for radio stations – but they also require a fresh new approach for salespeople.

Today selling radio also includes online sponsorships, videos, text messaging, online streams, podcasts, display ads, etc. One size fits all packages are not the way to go when you have so many new weapons in your arsenal. To be successful, account executives must create custom solutions that both benefit their clients and the radio station they represent. The perfect ad buy not only brings in fresh new revenue but also drives traffic to the on-air product and reinforces the power of your station.

(more…)

With music and content available almost everywhere, how does the radio industry compete? The average person, with little effort, can receive a huge variety of music, talk, and information on their computers, mobile phone, GPS devices, and now through their car stereos. Blaupunkt and miRoamer will be announcing a new car radio that will not only receive AM and FM radio, but also connect to thousands of internet radio stations. Should the radio industry be concerned or are the multitude of devices and technologies too confusing for the average person?

(more…)

Listen to the top (music) radio stations around the country and you will hear a great mix of music for the masses. Experienced program directors know that success hinges on the right mix of popular artists, up-and-comers, and an occasional surprise or two. This intricate balancing act will keep a mass audience coming back day after day, but what happens when that same audience goes online? Music for the masses becomes music for me.

(more…)

Are your clients less than impressed by your Web site’s stats? How does your web traffic compare with your competitors?

It’s important to keep track of your Web site’s statistics. These numbers can tell you where your site is excelling and where it is falling flat. Having detailed stats is a good way to show your clients the potential your Web site offers. Even if you have stats through your hosting provider, it would still be a good idea to sign up for a free service like Google Analytics. Google Analytics provides a lot of useful information and it is a great source to check your current stats against.

(more…)

What is radio going to look like in the future? There are a lot of opinions, both positive and negative. One strong possibility is that radio is going evolve into something new and exciting – something beyond terrestrial and satellite. A new breed of smartphones are on the streets and shaking things up, including radio. Are you ready for Radio 2.0?

With T-Mobile launching it’s iPhone-like G1 based on Google’s Android software, more mobile music applications will be in the hands of the general public. This new breed of smartphones are intuitive and feature rich. It doesn’t take the average person very long to learn how to navigate and use many of the powerful features these devices provide, including music related apps that are a very popular application category. With Pandora, Last.fm, and the ability to access a multitude of radio station’s streams, more and more people are finding that radio transmissions aren’t the only way to get the music they like. Smartphones still have issues with connection speeds, battery life, etc. but eventually these issues will be worked out.

(more…)

Is your station ready to join the social? Social network sites such as Facebook and MySpace are huge. Out of all of the millions of sites in the world, Facebook is ranked #5 and MySpace is ranked #7 according to Alexa.com. So is it time to test the social waters? Let’s find out.

What’s so great about having your own social network? Primarily it’s a great way to interact with your listeners and earn their loyalty. It’s empowering for your listeners to be able to post on their favorite station’s social site. They feel like they have a say in the station and to a small degree they do. If you have a bunch of people say that they would love to hear the new Coldplay single and you put it in rotation, they feel like you listen to them and care about them. (more…)

Posted by Tom Stark

Texting (SMS) is huge and many stations have a texting program or are thinking about adding one. If you are the later, there are a few things to consider before you take the plunge. Is texting right for your station or is it going to be monthly money pit that is a drain on your resources?

Take a look at your station and think about your station’s audience. While text messaging companies may say that parents and soccer moms do a lot of texting, it is mainly a tool for the youth. Teens and twenty somethings might not own text messaging, but they have embraced it as another way of communicating. If your demo skews from teens to thirty somethings you are more likely to get a big response with a text messaging program. Not to say that a station with an older demo won’t have success, it will just be easier with a young demo. (more…)

Posted by Tom Stark

The online radio station – Pandora is out of the box, i.e. your computer, and roaming freely around the world. How did this happen? Apple launched its new App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch on July 10th, giving birth to hundreds of useful mobile applications. One of the most popular apps so far is the mobile version of Pandora.

What does this mean for terrestrial stations? To be blunt, it’s scary. Think of this, listeners control the programming of their own station and they can listen to it anywhere without advertisements. All the buzz we’ve been hearing about mobile devices is now showing some real signs of life. The industry is going to have to embrace technology and innovate to survive. For an example of what new technologies can do, take a look at what the internet did to the newspaper industry. (more…)

Posted by Tom Stark

It’s not here yet, but it’s not far off. I’m talking about listening to online radio in the comfort of your car. This week Chrysler announced that it will be adding a wireless Internet option to its 2009 model cars.

The service will be part of what Chrysler is calling its  ”uconnect” system. The system will provide Bluetooth connectivity for cellphones and MP3 player integration with the car stereo. The system also has navigation and real-time traffic features, controlled by voice recognition or a touch screen. (more…)