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.

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…a Madison, Wisconsin-based upstart called Networked Insights has issued a report claiming that on social networks and other interactive destinations, listeners prefer a different set of music than they do when listening to the radio or shopping for tunes to purchase. [MORE]

Source: Wired

The company’s customized and programmable radio stations feature a healthy catalog of over two million songs that the company licenses directly from labels and publishers without putting up with SoundExchange’s government-mandated royalty rates. [MORE]

Source: Wired

The Slacker interactive radio service will be accessible on RIM’s Blackberry devices starting in October, offering users of those devices a way to listen to artist channels, expert-programmed stations and customized channels that can be created and edited through a web interface or the device itself. [MORE]

Source: Wired

New digital music formats tend to increase sound quality, reduce file size, add surround sound channels or restrict via DRM. Musinaut’s new MXP4 format breaks the mold by re-imagining the standard, linear style of recording music in an interactive way that allows creators to pack extra beats, harmonies, genres or even artists into a single track. [MORE]

Source: Wired

There’s been a lot of speculation lately about whether iTunes is a boon or burden to album sales. [MORE]

Source: CNET

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…)