HOW RADIO BECOMES RELEVANT AGAIN

Face it---unless there's news unfolding, or some jock just got into hot water for pulling a moron stunt like running naked through the White House lawn yelling "Obama's my guy..!", radio doesn't make an impact. Seriously--- when did you last talk about your favorite radio show or personality on a daily basis?

Worse, when did you actually talk about a radio ad?

The time has come for radio execs--- all of you suits, corporate and local-- to understand that the 90's are OVER. O-V-E-R. The corporate radio model so successful for 15 years is now as dead as Michael Jackson.

Point? Unless you make some serious investment inside your building, you are going to become a trivia question.

So, I'm a solution guy---- and my solution is simple.

HIRE.

Spend money on your air sound, that thing you've gutted like a trout for 15 years. You said it didn't matter---NOW, IT MATTERS.

Rebuild brand loyalty (sound familiar?). Doesn't it make sense that pounding the call letters and your station slug into the brains of listeners 100 times an hour means nothing if YOU GIVE THEM NO REASON TO LISTEN?

OK, so start by hiring creative on air talent and TURNING THEM LOOSE--- though make sure they know there ARE at least SOME guildelines (refer to the White House thing mentioned above. Might be a funny idea in the staff room after a few energy drinks, but it doesn't play on Main Street).

Hire quality, trained copywriters, then marry them to production directors who can create images people actually TALK ABOUT instead of tune out.

Investing in your product doesn't mean making podcasts available for download. How lame is that-- a generation briought up on i-pod's doesn't want music YOUR way--they want it THEIR way. BUT--- if you ENTERTAIN again, that generation will tune in.

That's what we've forgotten how to do. So the message today is the same one you provide your clients with--- INVEST in your product. Build brand loyalty by giving your listeners something to listen to again. The results will save our industry. Stay the course, and we become as irrelevant as a newspaper.