This post has taken a circuitous route. It started with a tweet from social media guy C.C. Chapman with a link to an Inc.com article, “6 Habits of Truly Memorable People.” I read it, enjoyed it, and retweeted it. A couple days later, the always charming Angela Perelli retweeted my little message, indicating her high gush factor about this story for air talent. So I read it again. And she was right, and so was C.C. for sending it out into the Twittersphere to begin with. So here’s the...
The RAB recently told us something that just about everyone already knows – the up arrows for revenue generation for radio are in digital dollars. Now to make sure you didn’t miss it, I have literally framed it up for you: Now I know there have been other big stories this week that may have captured your attention – the hottest recurrents of the summer, that clever “all polka” stunt in Colorado City, and ratings results in markets where half the stations’ numbers are redacted. So put those distractions aside because this release from...
In radio, we are beginning to see more stations and personalities “get” the power of visuals. The popularity of channels like Instagram and Pinterest, along with the changing nature of Facebook through “Timeline” is cementing this idea. For radio people, however, this is something of a leap. That’s largely because most of us were brought up in the “School of Theatre of the Mind” where we learned that our words were more important than the pictures shown on TV and in print. Legends from Stan Freeberg of yesteryear to Nick Michaels...
Please take the time to remember those who have served and those who continue to serve our country. Wishing everyone a safe weekend. We will be back on Tuesday with a new post.
As regular readers of this blog know, Pandora has been a hot topic for the past few years. In our new Techsurvey8, we included several Pandora questions that attempted to get to the heart of the real issues for broadcasters and pure plays alike – and what it all means to the people who count the most – consumers. Along the way, regular reader Mike Anthony has been a regular contributor via the “Comments” section of the blog. Unsolicited, he sent me the following open letters last week –...
I was being interviewed the other day about what else? Best practices in social media for radio. And the question revolved around an old theme – ROI. It seems that in these times of rapidly depleting resources – human and financial – the same questions continue to be asked about whether social media has definable, measurable value. How do broadcasters at the local level or in the corporate corner office determine whether any “extra-curricular” activities have demonstrable worth – streaming, podcasts, social media, mobile apps, and the countless other “channels”...
So a couple of weeks ago, I gave a well-deserved shout-out to my alma mater, Michigan State University. This week, it’s my “other alma mater,” the University of Michigan, where I received a Bachelor’s of General Studies degree back in the early ‘70s. (You can look it up, Yahoo board – it’s a fact.) It turns out that a fellow Michigan alum is none other than one of Google’s founders and CEO, Larry Page. He tells the story about his student career and attending a summer leadership course. Its...
OK, so the IPO got off to a rocky start, but the Facebook viability debate rages on. A recent feature on NPR’s cool Planet Money series, “For $75, This Guy Will Sell You 1,000 Facebook ‘Likes’” typifies the challenge that Internet mega-players like Facebook have in their efforts to portray themselves as a credible advertising vehicles. One of those elements revolves around registration. Some say that getting information about users is the Holy Grail because it creates a sales environment where every inch of America can be targeted, right down to the neighborhood,...
Sometimes I am guilty of thinking about actors as the roles they became famous for. It was hard not to think Archie Bunker when Carroll O’Conner showed up on screen. Same with Jim Nabors on Gomer Pyle, Michael Richards as Kramer, or James Gandolfini who simply was Tony Soprano. And for Ashton Kutcher, I suppose I’ll always see Michael Kelso from That ‘70s Show, the good-looking neighbor moron kid who always got by on his looks. Well, that’s not what Ashton Kutcher is all about, as we’ve learned during the days since...
You couldn’t have missed the big announcement from General Motors the other day that it plans to stop advertising on Facebook. The timing was especially interesting with Facebook’s IPO around the corner, and many advertisers currently debating the effectiveness of the social network on its marketing efforts. The announcement was a déjà vu for me, because it reminded me of an encounter I had with a broadcaster very early in my career while an analyst for Frank Magid. As we were planning a research study for a new client, I...
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