Podcasting demonstrated

Via Micropersuation comes this link to Podcasting 360 – a virtual iPod presenting why marketers should podcast.

If the case cane be made that IBM should podcast – what excuse does a radio station have for not doing it?

The Research we’re not doing

We research songs – callout and auditorium.

We research perceptions and images within a market context.

We do format searches.

We poll with webpolls and telephone – questions about radio usage and habits.

And Smart radio stations have built loyalty clubs (or databases for you researchers) and continuously use them not only to deepen the connections with listeners – but also to keep an ear to the ground for the dreaded “creeping dissatisfaction”.

And then there’s Arbitron with their little diaries.

This is the state of radio research in 2006.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that any innovation that could have been gleened from these tried and true methods has pretty much already been . . .uhh, gleened.

In other words – these are great tools to find out how well what we’re already doing is working. But we’re probably not going to get many new ideas from them.

The one thing about radio research that that always distresses me – is that it removes radio from it’s proper real life context.

We take people out of their cars, homes and places of work, away from their radios and how they actually use them, bring them into a room with other strangers and ask them questions about how they used the radio when they’re back in real life.

 

The research we’re NOT doing is empirical research. We’re not actually out OBSERVING how people use radio – IN THE CAR, AT HOME, AT WORK.

Take the example of Bank Of America. Not unlike radio – there really hasn’t been anything NEW in financial services for decade.

So when Bank Of America wanted to find ways to increase new accounts – they didn’t JUST bring people into conference rooms to ask them “what would make you open a new account?”. They went out and OBSERVED what REAL people do in REAL life.

What they discovered was how many people were rounding checks up to the next whole dollar. Coupled with the complaint that many people just didn’t know how to save money, Bank Of America created dozens of “products” tested them and kept the best – which is their Keep The Change Program. Use your debit card for everyday purchases and they round up the amount to the next highest dollar and stick the difference into a savings account.

The thing is – it’s not an idea they would have come up with sitting around with a focus group or pouring over reems of data. It took actually SEEING people in their normal lives.

We may think we already know how people use radio (we have the diaries!) -and perhaps PPM will bring more info – but I’d love Big Radio to put some money into the kind of research that actually observes people using AUDIO ENTERTAINMENT. How, why ,when, where.

I’d love to see how, when and why people make the choices they do WHILE ACTUALLY MAKING THEM – and not answering questions about it 12 hours later sitting in a fluorescent lit room with 15 strangers.

 

 

 

Stars of Me/I/Mini-Media

Wall Street Journal covers the new stars of New Media – podcasters, videopodcasters, MySpace celebs etc…

While I rarely post anything without commenting on it – there’s a lot of info here so I’ll let it stand alone for now.

HD Radio – “Discover It” campaign to begin

From FMQB I learn that the next wave of publicity for HD Radio begins in 50 markets on Monday July 31st.

You can sample some of the audio creative here.

I only had time to listen to a few of the 25-54 mainstream styled spots and I have to say I wasn’t nearly as disgusted as I was with the “Are You Def Yet” stuff.

A few spots actually went right to the benefits!

My concerns were NEVER with radio’s ability to hype the shit out of HD Radio . . . . rather with HD Radio’s ability to actually live up to our hype.

Ultimately – listeners will tell US if it’s really the coolest thing ever.

1 Photo – millions of different lessons

By way of Robert Paterson comes a link to a photo from Cynthia King Dunsford.

There are lessons applicable to so many fields of endeavor in this photo I’ll simply leave it to you to generate ones relevant to you.

btw – just a personal aside – neither Robert or Cynthia have enabled trackbacks on their blogs. I’m not sure why.

Can/Should Radio do Video?

This little bit of news announcing the Sony’s widely popular Playstation Portable now accepts RSS feed enclosures for video podcasts and blogs got me thinking.

With the internet channel open to anyone to deliver any kind of content – why should radio limit itself to only producing AUDIO?

Radio seems largely content to sit on the podcasting sidelines because it’s “can’t podcast the music”.

So . . . nothing is stopping us from videocasting. Morning show stunts – man on the street bits at big station events – MAYBE WE EVEN CREATE ORIGINAL VIDEO PODCASTING IDEAS? GASP!
It’s another dimension to extend the station and personalities brand BEYOND the radio – to engage listeners in another way.

It may not “move the Arbitron needle” in the same “direct” way “30 Trips in 30 Days” might – but it HELPS greese the skids to make moving the needle easier.

What if the station video podcast the actual 30 trips in 30 days trip? A handful of 5 minute episodes posted on the station website so that everyone who didn’t win can get a taste of the fun.

Decent Video cams can be had for less than $500. Digital video editing and production is free with every mac – and countless other options on the PC.

Digital video online is becoming bigger than digital audio. Radio shouldn’t sit out.

You Don’t Know CBS News, Jack

Stogy CBS News kicks off it’s first network newscast developed specifically as a podcast, a 5 minute daily little ditty called iCast.

Click the logo to download the July 27th version.

Then listen as a guy who sounds like he fell out of the You Don’t Know Jack video games gives you news with tude.

“This podcast is aimed at a younger audience,” said Harvey Nagler , vice president of CBS Radio News, in announcing the new project. “It will most definitely change the way you think of CBS Radio News.”

I’m trying to figure out which is more embarrassing.

CBS News trying to pull off the young hip thing – or dad listening to hip hop in the car.

HD Radio – Promise, Idealism, Reality

Outside of a few thinly disguised iBiquity PR channel “blogs” (did you guys even read Scobles book?) the vibe on HD Radio in the blogosphere is not all that great.

I’ve refrained from HD commentary on here mostly because:

• I don’t have a radio and can’t render a complete opinion on how it sounds in real life (not in the “lab” or “test bench”)
• I’m conflicted. I at once see it as potentially the dumbest waste of resources ever, AND the greatest opportunity for real radical change in broadcasting.

I probably should just blog the negatives when I’m thinking negatively about HD, and blog the positives when I’m thinking positively rather than remaing silent.

I admit there’s a part of me that really really WANTS HD to be all it’s advocates claim it is. But I don’t believe them.

Anyway – here’s a VERY technical article from Larry Loeb I found on HD (which BTW – explains that HD does not stand for High Definition – but Hybrid Digital) Are you Hyb yet?

But I very much liked the enthusiasm in this passage (before it gets too geeky)

Personally, I think HD radio has the potential to enable alternative content of all kinds, not just more corporate schlock. Sure, some stations will misuse it to clone what they already program, but I smell an opportunity here.

He’s obviously oblivious to the HD Radio Alliance handing out HD-II “formats” like loafs of bread in an eastern European Dictatorship. – You cannot have the Batard!

But he speaks to the POTENTIAL of HD. And that’s what I find most attractive about HD – the notions of what it COULD be.

This is why I’m often conflicted. I see the potential opportunities to totally change the broadcasting game – but what I see the industry ACTUALLY DOING really disappoints me.

Larry continues:

There’s no time like the present to tune in to the potential of HD radio.

As long as it’s still in its nascent stages, radio stations will be open to new ideas about localized content that will engage listeners.

Same thing. A great expression of the potential.

But if you’ve listened to Clear Channel’s HD-II channels for any length of time – you realize it’s pretty much low-rent music jukebox.

At least with Satellite there’s 1 person behind each channel who actually CARES about the music – and puts thought into crafting the channel. As a Jazz fan I was appalled by what Clear Channel’s HD-II “Jazz” channels sound like. They’re clueless.

Then – as I’m writing this – my RSS Reader alerts me that one of my daily must read blogs has a new post – it’s Mark Ramsey at Hear 2.0 with a brutally honest assessment of the current state of HD Radio.

So I grapple with the idealism and promise of HD Radio – and the reality. They are so far apart.

Microsoft to preload Zune?

According to this guy – and this guy (zune blogger) – Microsoft will pack some kind of content into every Zune unit.

As long as it’s not that f&%^ing clippy bastard

Or the Zune Player equivilent – Notey

Are you sure you want to listen to Britney? How bout some Wilco?

Long Tail as our Farm League

Yes – it’s a day of Long Tail news – what can I say – the idea has legs AND from it spawn lots of other great observations and ideas.

The latest of which come from tech geek Uber blogger Robert Scoble (the guy who LITERALLY wrote the book on corporate blogging)

In THIS post Robert ponders the Long Tail as a staircase for talent:

I’ve been listening to a LOT of “anyone media” and I can tell you that the Long Tail will NOT roar here. Most video blogs and podcasts just aren’t high enough quality to get a large audience. But, don’t write them off cause of that. The Long Tail does have a huge positive aspect:

The Long Tail is a stair system to the head!

Someone who does have talent can use it to walk up the curve from where only family and friends will watch all the way up to main stream media where millions are listening.

Seeing as how there’s almost ZERO systematic development of young new talent in radio anymore, the “anyone media-sphere” is probably going to be the place to go to find new talent.

Here’s the thing though. It’s unlikely you’ll find ready made talent in the “anyone-sphere”. Talent has to be nurtured and developed. Radio in general isn’t about that. Radio is about – “where else is this working / what other stations are airing it / what’s it’s ratings record.”

We currently have no system in place to look into the “anyone-sphere” – pick out POTENTIAL talent and work them into the next generation of Radio Stars.

Think about that. For an industry as OLD as radio NOT to have in place a tried and true systematic talent development scheme boarders on . . . .

You tell me?