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Radio and the Internet/Social Media

W

wadio

Mark Simone just spent a total of probably five or ten minutes talking about four "great" items posted on his Web page.

He called attention several times to Paul Harvey and Jack Webb clips about the police, something about Joe Cocker and something else I don't recall. He said how wonderful these clips are and kept urging listeners to turn off the radio (as I see it) and go to the Web page. If this stuff is so great, why not play it on the show?

This is the equivalent of, for example, CBS Newsradio teasing a story and then telling listeners to go to WCBS-TV for the details. That would be outrageous and so is this obsession with driving listeners to the Internet.

Come on, radio people -- FOCUS! RADIO is the main product here. That's where the main audience is, the most ad revenue collected and the largest expenses incurred. That's where you need the ears. Use the Internet and Social Media to drive people TO radio, not away from it!
 
wadio said:
Come on, radio people -- FOCUS! RADIO is the main product here.
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Maybe for you, but not for personalities or radio companies. Content is the main product. Radio is one platform. Websites are another. Social media are another.

If you go to the WCBS-FM website, it's an integrated site that gives users access to all content branded CBS, including TV and all the other radio stations.

These other platforms make it possible for radio personalities like Mark Simone to provide more engagement with listeners. He can be visual, and embed video or photos to enlarge the experience beyond radio. For radio stations, it's another platform on which to advertise. And ultimately THAT is the main product.

If none of this interests you, that's fine. But we know that most radio listeners want a broader experience than what they get on the radio. So for them, there's the web. It's not competition. The listeners are already there. We aren't going to change their minds. So if that's where they are, we need to be there too.
 
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The listeners are already there. We aren't going to change their minds. So if that's where they are, we need to be there too.
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That's the point. They're already there. They don't need to be told to go there. They're already there. They're already there. They're already there. Got it? So do I.

So what's the point in wasting valuable airtime badgering people to go there? They're already there!! Just be there. The constant reminders to go to the Web are the audio equivalent of pop-up ads on Websites except they don't actually generate any revenue -- they're just clutter.
 
wadio said:
So what's the point in wasting valuable airtime badgering people to go there? They're already there!!
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They're already "there" in general. But not "there" specifically. Understand the difference? They may be on the internet, but they're not engaging with you on your site. And if you go there, you might see some interesting stuff. And yes, they DO generate revenue. Once again, if you're not interested, tune out for a few minutes.
 
I'm still in what remains of the newspaper business and, for the past 15 years, I've had it drummed into me to promote the website as much as possible in print and upload as much additional content to the website as possible. Yes, we still make much more off print advertising than Internet advertising, but if there's to be any future at all for newspapers, the only part of that future with growth potential is the website. Same goes for radio.

Maybe someday we'll be able to charge as much for Internet advertising as we do for print, but that's a problem for any print outlet (newspaper or magazine) that still has to publish a dead-tree edition -- if we knew that our Internet ad revenue would be within shouting distance of our print ad revenue if we were to eliminate print, the presses would be silent tomorrow.
 
There's a difference between cross-platform promotion and driving listeners/viewers/readers away from what you're trying to get them to focus on at the time. This isn't an all-or-nothing argument ... it's a matter of degree.

What Simone was doing (and I'm not picking on him, just using this as an example) was teasing exclusive content on the website. The message was, "You won't here it here but if you go away you will." That's unnecessary and destructive, IMO.

The way the Web works, chances are listeners will go to the Mark Simone site, listen to a 2-minute clip of Paul Harvey and then be off to some other site. Simone's message should be, "Stay with me here on WOR and you won't miss a thing!"
 
wadio said:
Simone's message should be, "Stay with me here on WOR and you won't miss a thing!"
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That's limiting him to audio content, measured by PPM, not giving him the ability to present all of his personality, and not giving the audience the opportunity to engage with him outside of the traditional on-air relationship. Communicators have abilities beyond audio. A hundred years ago, that was their only platform. Now they have other ways to present their talent. They should not be denied the opportunity to present that content because it wasn't available a hundred years ago. It's still owned and managed by the same company that owns and manages WOR. The web site will route them back to on-air for other content.
 
Nonsense. Simone isn't presenting his talent on the Website ... he's sending his listeners there to watch YouTube videos of dead celebrities.
 
Here's a link to the site:

http://www.wor710.com/onair/mark-simone-52176/

It's HIS page, branded with HIS name, with HIS photo & bio, so either he or his staff selected the video, and posted it there.

It's video content, not audio, right? So it's more than what he could do on the radio, right?

And the site provides links to other content within WOR, right? So people can see what other hosts are interested in, right?

Therefore, this is an extension of his talent, and his personality, and offers visitors the ability to interact and engage with him using his social media sites. It's what some might call "added value."

He's just REACHING OUT. Nothing wrong with that. It's what communication is supposed to be in the 21st century.

Once again, if you don't like it, don't go there. You're not under any obligation.
 
BigA, you always manage to argue around the point. I don't know if it's because you simply miss the point or want to goad people into a fight. It tends to do the latter.

I'm not suggesting that Mark shouldn't mention his site or direct listeners go to it, as long as it doesn't interfere with the radio show. For example, if after an interview he says, "You can find out more about this guest at the Website," fine. Takes a few seconds and it ties in with the show.

But to spend considerable time, again and again, promoting stuff that adds no value to the current show is destructive, IMO. It adds unnecessary clutter and it detracts from the focus of the show. Once again, it's a matter of degree. Why is that so tough to understand?
 
Can't you go to a website without turning off your radio? It's not an either A or B situation. Even when I'm listening to a talk station online and an interesting website comes up, I always leave the stream on and just go to check out what's on the website. I'm more "P1", if you want to look at it that way, but the radio or the stream stays on.
 
I'm pretty sure his management approves of what he's doing. They're the ones responsible for whether or not it's destructive to the station.
 
BTW, WOR is so well run that this morning (12/26) they're airing the Christmas Eve weather forecast repeatedly during repeats of Mark Simone!

The radio station is a joke. How about getting that act together first -- THEN expanding to other media?
 
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