Week of January 1, 2007

Friday 01/05, 2007

What if your car could receive the internet? More importantly, internet audio from around the world? As a GM, you will now compete with at least 8,000 other radio stations. Crazy? Ford is joining up with Microsoft to provide internet capabilities in their 2007 cars. Yep, 2007! Yikes! Look at this...http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061230/BUSINESS01/612300331.

It pretty much answers the question about streaming. Can you afford not to? How strong are your local brands? Can they withstand an invasion of stations from outside your market? How will you sell it? The future is coming, no really! We can't ignore it anymore. Have a great weekend!

Thursday 01/04, 2007

All this week we are looking at a few of the "future" changes in front of the radio industry in 2007. As a general manager, you will be faced with operating in a whole new environment. Yesterday we examined the new PPM from Arbitron. (look back) Today, let's spend a minute on HD. Despite what corporate says, HD has a long way to go to gain acceptance. Do you have a plan? Hint, success of the new band will not be half baked formats put together in the MD's spare time. Want inexpensive format ideas? Write me at joegm@allaccess.com and I'll send you a few to impress corporate. No names necessary, just your market if you prefer. No HD plan for 2007 yet? Read tomorrow's column.

Wednesday 01/03, 2007

Starting later this week there will be a revolution going on in Philadelphia. Can you imagine Arbitron Ratings without the diary? In Philly, a small cell phone size device will "hear" all radio listening. No more guessing what was listened to the previous week. The PPM (Portable People Meter) will record it all, as it actually occurs. What if you could go to a web site and "see" your actual ratings in real time? Would you play the same song, spot, or talk the way you do now if you actually saw your station losing audience, in real time? The PPM will not do "real time" audience delivery....yet. But, in Philly, they will see weekly ratings. Overnights can't be far away. More here. http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/home.htm.

The future continues tomorrow.....

Tuesday 01/02, 2007

New Year, New Attitude! Let's start the year with the following premise. There is no way we are going to succeed running radio stations the same way we did in 2006. HD, PPM, WiFi, and other technological changes will force us to adapt or pay the price. There will be more changes to the basics of running a radio cluster this coming year than anytime in the past 25 years. Each day this week we will examine the upcoming industry changes and provide survival tips for you think about. So, Happy New Year, clean off the Christmas cards and leftover cookies, open your mail from last week, and get ready to go to work. We've got a lot to do! Starting tomorrow on www.allaccess.com.