Wednesday, October 2, 2019

07 Oct Wednesday, October 2, 2019

This Week in The Lund Letter:  
>   Radio Show keynote speaker
>   Entertainment, uniqueness and compelling content
>   Hot button promotion for women
>   Where’s the beef alternative… and other Trends

Lund Radio Show Report: Has Radio’s Time Passed?

The NAB Radio Show last week in Dallas was on fire with technologies (new and revived) and methods for radio’s progress in the digital age.

There was one keynote speaker from outside of our industry who said the curtain had come down on radio.  This Russian-born American entrepreneur runs a social media digital agency in New York.  He forecasts the end of radio.  Is he aware that 92% of adults still listen to radio every week?  That number hasn’t changed much in decades.

His implication that radio is obsolete reveals that he doesn’t know why radio has survived and why listeners and advertisers continue to utilize our medium.  Radio remains an important – if not essential – content provider for local news, weather, companionship, personality, and music.  Radio’s growth, of course, is dependent upon presenting content on all platforms.  “Radio” has morphed into “audio” which is heard on the internet, streaming, mobile apps, Alexa, Tune-In, Radio.com, i-Heart.com, apps for content on demand, podcasts, ATSC 3.0, and much more, while we continue to personally connect with listeners.

This entrepreneur said that audio is winning, not radio, because of all the devices that bring us audio.  We can agree with the latter with the caveat that radio is a mainstay of that audio content.  Audio is on the rise because people today need to multi-task.  They cannot do that with video or other forms of media.

What’s important is how content is delivered – whether streaming, podcasting, or the internet.  The transmitter is one application.  Content is king, not the mode of delivery.  Haven’t we heard that before?  Facebook and YouTube are competitors; in fact, other digital vehicles are competitors to our distribution of audio.

The future of radio is about our personal connection and how we produce the most compelling content to grow and retain audience.  There is now a myriad of digital opportunities to move that content from our studios to our listeners.

Thus, the digital highway is just that, a multitude of paths to enlarge our audience, our ratings, and our revenue.  Radio is local and universal.  How we optimize our content is part of the topics we discuss in the Lund Letter and further develop and assist our “audio” clients.

Constructive Discontent

Can your station sound better? If you’re not satisfied with the format or execution, the Lund team can provide you a cost-efficient evaluation of your station.  We take these steps to derive your best plan of action:

>   Music:  We review your music library, clocks and rotations within your music software, and we conduct a music audit of key competitors.

>   Talent Coaching:  We aircheck your talents and produce coaching reviews.  These focus on format, music, talent performance, energy, formatics, imaging, and station “uniqueness” (Stationality).

>   Action Plan: You receive a comprehensive report, executive summary and Plan of Action.

This Lund Strategic Programming Evaluation provides you with a detailed road map to increased audience.  Contact John Lund for more info!

Lund Programming Clinic: Fertilize Your Ratings

As we continually share, content is King.  Programmers and management are tuning up the broadcast engine for a stronger performance this fall.  Ratings dominance comes from a good mix of “EUC.”

Entertainment – the “E” factor.  Except for information spoken word formats, music is the number one reason listeners choose a station.  Yours has to be on target and striking the right nerve with your core audience.  Have a balance of star quality in the music so you don’t sound too unknown at times.  Check the library for hits and misses.

Uniqueness – brand the station to be distinct and identifiable.  Listeners should easily tell their friends who and what you are.   If you cannot do this in a few words, neither can they!  Your brand is properly sold on-air, on your website, and in external advertising.  Owning top-of-mind-awareness works wonders with ratings surveys.

Compelling Content – create the urge and need to listen regularly.  Learn a lesson from The Voice: make people feel they will miss something if they don’t come back for the next show.  Have content rich enough to create desire and demand… and promote it effectively to bring the audience back every time.

Lund’s Top 3:  Enticing Listeners
  
…without spending a dime!

Increasing cume with new and returning listeners doesn’t have to put the station in the poorhouse:

1.   Get email addresses from every listener who wins a contest, calls the request line, or visits a remote. Compile a database and promote new reasons to listen (what’s coming up on-air); give a specific day and time to tune-in.

2.   Conduct a contest where one qualifies via email or Facebook and capture these contacts for the listener database.

3.   Use press-the-flesh marketing. Visit businesses; ask for tune-ins and leave behind a printed invitation. Being personally asked to listen is effective and enticing.

For more Top 3 lists, check out www.lundradio.com.

Promotion of the Week: Pick Your Purse

When you target women, style and fashion are hot buttons. Handbags and shoes cause emotional responses. Women love designer labels and the feeling of being trendy and fashionable that comes from owning one of these purses.  Yet most could not afford one on their own, settling for cheaper knock offs or outright forgeries.  This contest will draw a lot of attention, and usually attracts more active participants than other contests.  Display pictures of these highly desired purses on your website and promote them often on the air.  Consider contest entries only from Facebook “likes.”  Pick Your Purse is a great contest driving tune-in and attention.

Need a Fall Promotion?

Stimulate your listeners with a fresh radio contest or promotion geared to fall.
The “Fall Promotions Guide” outlines over 100 radio programming and sales promotions, contests, sales promotions and show prep ideas.  Get topical promotions geared to 4th quarter – from Back To School to Halloween to Thanksgiving.

This Guide will help make your station sizzle through fall … and help the sales staff lock in new dollars. Click here to order your copy.

Lund Trend Watch:

Radio Connects

“There is a big misunderstanding about radio”, according to Bob Pittman’s keynote address at the NAB in Dallas.  While radio and streaming music services are often lumped into the same bucket, the two are completely different industries. On-demand services like Spotify and Apple Music are music collections, the digital era equivalent to yesterday’s vinyl records, cassettes and CDs. Consumers use their music collection to “escape the world,” while radio is used to “find out what’s going on in the world, to be part of the world, and feel like you’re getting all the information and you’re caught up.”

Beyond Beef

McDonald’s now has a beefless hamburger – it has added Beyond Burgers to its menu. The chain is testing meat alternative burgers at 28 locations; all in Ontario, Canada.  Beyond Meat created an exclusive plant-based patty for McDonald’s. The result is the PLT – plant, lettuce, tomato – a twist on the classic BLT.

In recent months, there has been a rise in both demand and sales of meat alternative products at fast-food restaurants – like Burger King (the Impossible Burger), Dunkin’, Subway, TGI Friday’s, Carl’s Jr, and KFC.  Markets responded positively to the announcement from the golden arches; the shares of both Beyond Meat and McDonald’s went up in early trading.

A Holiday Shopping First Look

According to OpenX and The Harris Poll’s annual holiday report, the 2019 holiday shopping season will be the first where more shopping will happen online than in brick-and-mortar stores.  53% of all holiday purchases are expected to take place digitally.  The breakdown:

+   29% of digital purchases will be via desktop or laptop computer
+   20% will be made on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.)
+   4% will be from smart speakers and other sources

Because Thanksgiving falls on the 28th of November this year, there are 26 shopping days from Black Friday to Christmas (Christmas Eve is not counted).  Despite this, consumers are expected to spend 5% more this year over last.


The Science of Radio Programming

Thanks to all those who attended John Lund’s seminar at the Georgia Broadcasters GABCON convention last Saturday in Atlanta.  This positive workshop was attended by managers and programmers throughout the state of Georgia and focused on radio programming/marketing strategies for our digital age including basics, formatics, ratings, social media, trends, no-cost marketing, and more.  If you’re planning your state convention and need a positive, pro-radio/pro-audio speaker, contact John Lund.

Next week in the Lund Letter: The path to great audio doesn’t just happen by chance.

Thanks for reading
The Lund Letter
We welcome your comments.  Email John Lund.

About Lund Media

For over 20 years, the Lund Media Group has provided programming, music consulting, operational guidance, and research to broadcast stations throughout North America and overseas. With specialists in every format, the Lund Goal is to help stations get more listeners and keep them listening longer.

Call John Lund for more information about how the Lund Media Group can help your stations achieve more listeners, higher ratings, and more revenue.
Phone: 650-692-7777.
Email john@lundradio.com.