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Country Radio Seminar Recap: An Industry 'Up Against Anything and Everything' Urged to Get Smart About the Future
How could The Flintstones adjust their stone-age approach to the world and still succeed in the futuristic era of The Jetsons?
That's
the cartoon version of the question broadcasters addressed during the
49th annual Country Radio Seminar (CRS) Feb. 5-7 in Nashville. The
audio-only terrestrial radio medium will turn 100 in 2020, drawing
dinosaur comparisons as it struggles to define its place at a time when
the automated lifestyles of George Jetson and Jane, his wife, are on the
horizon. Amazon Alexa is transforming the computer into a Star
Trek-like interactive speaking format, and a company from The
Netherlands, PAL-V, is plotting the 2019 introduction of a flying car.
Radio
is most certainly challenged. Its time spent listening is down, staffs
have been pared to the bone, and two of the medium's largest firms --
iHeartMedia and Cumulus -- are addressing long-standing financial
straitjackets.
Under those circumstances, does radio have a
future? "Yes" was the collective answer during CRS, though creating that
successful model involves tinkering with its bedrock self-definitions
and thinking of the on-air broadcast as just one piece in a media
portfolio. That brand combines the AM/FM signal with a streamed product,
podcasts and social media -- all places for personalities to showcase
their skills.
Oddly enough, both iHeart and Cumulus have taken
that multiformat approach, though heavy debt during growth years has
slowed their efforts.
Broadcasters "need to grow a pair,"
suggested Cumulus CEO Mary Berner during a Q&A in which she outlined
the company's efforts to retool since she took over leadership two
years ago.
Cumulus, she said, had undergone four consecutive years
of decline and was besieged by "widespread employee dissatisfaction"
under the previous regime. But the negativity in the industry as a whole
surprised her. The single-digit annual slippage in broadcasting was far
less daunting than the double-digit shrinkage that is rampant in print
media, where she previously worked.
"I join this industry," she said, "and we act like someone's ugly stepchild."
Evidence
of revitalized entertainment businesses surrounded radio execs during
the three-day event at the Omni Nashville Hotel. Record companies, who
are beginning to see growth from streaming revenue after years of
falling sales, were on hand to court programmers and showcase such
established acts as Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Thomas Rhett, as well
as a barrage of newcomers, including Kassi Ashton, Kane Brown and Jimmie
Allen.
"This is a bad week for livers in Nashville," quipped
Brett Young, alluding to the liquor and entertainment spending at the
seminar during a performance at a Big Machine Label Group lunch.
But
even the artists themselves demonstrated flexible approaches to their
businesses. Dierks Bentley followed a Day One Q&A by hosting a '90s
throwback party at his newly opened club, Whiskey Row, and announced on
Feb. 8 a new Desert Son clothing line that will debut in the summer.
Brad Paisley's convention-closing Q&A touched on his explorations in
animation, painting and comedy -- all of which allow him to continue
sharpening his art and his brand.
"The essence of entertainment," he told the crowd, is to make a consumer think, "I didn't expect that."
Two
developments are important in aiding radio's play for new life. One is
the often-cited statistic that 93 percent of American adults use radio
weekly; a market still exists, even if the time spent with the radio has
decreased.
The newer development is the impressive growth of the
smart speaker, led by Amazon Alexa and Google Home. A year ago,
according to statistics presented by Edison Media, 7 percent of American
households had one. After a run at Christmas, penetration has reached
16 percent, and more than half of respondents say their usage has
increased as they have grown more comfortable with the devices.
Some
96 percent of respondents indicate that music listening was a factor in
their purchase, and a full one-third expect their new speaker to
replace an old radio. That's significant because radio hardware has
slowly disappeared from homes. A third of 18-34-year-olds have no radio
in their house, but Alexa -- which shows early signs of becoming a
standard piece of personal equipment, akin to a mobile phone -- is now
teaching them ways to integrate hands-free audio consumption into their
lives.
Attendees were encouraged to be aggressive with getting
established early on smart speakers and to educate their listeners along
the way. KKBQ Houston PD Johnny Chiang has incorporated the Alexa voice
into its programming four to five times an hour while instructing the
audience on how to connect on their smart speakers.
But
participants were also challenged to find ways to make the actual
product more competitive, since that same smart speaker can be used to
activate Spotify streams, collect information or get traffic updates.
"You're up against anything and everything," said Edison president Larry Rosin.
Some
of the suggestions for becoming more competitive include developing
products that take advantage of the brand in different ways -- creating
contests or games that can be used on smart speakers and establishing
music platforms that can be more interactive, allowing the user to
personalize their listening.
But even that primary terrestrial
signal needs some fine tuning. Several panelists lamented that
advertising rates are too low -- "We're giving it away," complained
iHeartCountry senior vp programming Rod Phillips -- while implying that
higher rates could help reduce spot loads, thus increasing the amount of
programmed minutes, giving consumers a more favorable experience and
providing advertisers with more meaningful placement.
Ultimately,
for radio to maintain its importance -- with the audience and with the
country artists who traditionally court the medium -- it requires an
expansive George Jetson approach. It's imperative for country radio
stations to create two-way communication between the brand and the
audience across multiple platforms, and veteran broadcasters will
necessarily be the most challenged to make that kind of leap. As younger
employees enter the ranks, they will come predisposed to adapt radio
brands to newer gadgets -- including smart speakers and mobile phones --
since they're a more natural part of their lifestyle.
Millennials,
said Cumulus executive vp content and programming Mike McVay, "don't
think they have the same mental handcuffs that we have."
That
creative adaptation is what it will take for radio to shed its
ugly-stepchild viewpoint and cruise into a sleek Jetsons future.
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