5 Biggest Lies

[SirRoxalot]

Besides "The check is in the mail", "Your pizza will be ready in 20 minutes", and "I promise I won't -uh...."

Doug Erickson of Erickson Media has a take on the state of radio:

http://ericksonmedia.com/blog/radio/1242-the-5-biggest-lies-in-radio.html

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Very true! Glad I could do radio when it was still creative and fun!

 

[SirRoxalot]

And, from another voice...

Clear Channel president of national sales Tim Castelli, quoted in a Boston Globe piece about Pandora's sales tactics at its new Boston office, “Pandora doesn’t compete directly with broadcast radio nationally or locally because it’s not radio in the real sense of the word. Pandora is a play-list creator, which means it can’t deliver what makes radio — the rich personal and interactive experience that radio brings its listeners.”

Nice lip service. Clear Channel understands the concept. Too bad that they don't execute it. It's pretty tough for VT and tight formats where the promo voice gets more airtime than a local jock to deliver that "rich personal and interactive experience."

 

[Element9]

Clear Channel, the US media version of Pravda.

 

[Mark Giardina]

1. There will be no personnel changes. (New owners addressing employees)
2. We will never replace you....you are too valuable to the organization.
3. We are not changing your hours; don't believe all those 'rumors' fellow employees are telling you.
4. (Management) I have an open door policy. Everyone is welcome to visit me.
5. (Insert name) left the station to pursue other opportunities.

 

[SirRoxalot]

No, #1 is:

"We bought you because you're so successful. We just want to help you become even more successful! We're from corporate - we're here to help!"

 

[Mike Sheridan]

The big lie these days is: "Radio is doing just fine, more people are listening than ever and they just love our stations!"

Side not to Rox: Great list, I've heard every one of those and they never turned out to be true.

You could be at the #1 station in town and if a new PD comes in lookout. He's going to want to make it even better! After the "improvements" the station usually crashes and burns!

 

[SirRoxalot]

But wait, there's more!

“Clear Channel takes on a challenge in radio: Lame ads.”
AdAge reports that CEO Bob Pittman “has formed a Creative Advisory Council with senior ad agency executives.” Objective – to put more emphasis on radio creative. (Sounds like what the Radio Mercury Awards are about, doesn’t it?) Pittman says “Talking to creative agencies, we all agreed that radio has been put to one side, and not given the level of creativity it warrants.”

From the company that has cut more creative services people in radio than any other corporation in America.

 

[therealjm12]

You forgot: We're bringing in a consultant. Don't worry we're all doing fine. He's just going to fine tune us a little. There's always room for improvement.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

5. (Insert name) left the station to pursue other opportunities.

I'm putting THAT at #1!!!

 

[chas108]

But wait, there's more!

“Clear Channel takes on a challenge in radio: Lame ads.”
AdAge reports that CEO Bob Pittman “has formed a Creative Advisory Council with senior ad agency executives.” Objective – to put more emphasis on radio creative. (Sounds like what the Radio Mercury Awards are about, doesn’t it?) Pittman says “Talking to creative agencies, we all agreed that radio has been put to one side, and not given the level of creativity it warrants.”

From the company that has cut more creative services people in radio than any other corporation in America.

Bob Pittman can fix this fast if he really wants to.

1) Hire away copywriters from those creative agencies. Minimum one in every cluster. Two is better and have them work together to brainstorm.
2) Beef up production staffing to handle the increased demands that should result from having to actually produce creative copy instead of rip-and-reads.
3) Train AEs to sell the benefits of creative ads to clients.
4) Adjust deadlines to enable all this creativity to produce an effective radio spot.

Of course this is all a big "not-gonna-happen dot com." And so the issue persists and festers especially in PPM markets where 14-unit sets are now the norm.

Is there any station in WNY with a full-time copywriter? I don't believe there's one left in my market, Pittsburgh. They were all cut before Y2K. My cluster cut the position in 1998.

Of course there are still creative radio spots...it's just that when they happen, they're all produced by creative agencies...and herded into 14-unit stopsets, virtually guaranteeing effectivus interruptus.

 

[Nick Gerard]

Random thoughts:

The word "creative" makes me cringe. When someone uses that word in terms of radio production, they often mean some elaborate or oh-so-clever scenario which may or may not communicate an advertiser's selling proposition and motivate consumers (usually not). Too often, the selling message is obscured.

I'd much rather hear the word "effective." More often than not, a well-written simple voice-over-music 60 will get customers into the store.

I'm not saying the two are mutually exclusive, but if somebody's gonna fall in love with creativity, don't do it at the expense of effectiveness.

----

I'd rather be called a "Production Director" than "Director of Creative Services." The latter is way too pretentious.

----

Thank goodness I don't have to work with a copywriter. I have far more confidence in my own copy. For me, there's nothing more rewarding that taking a spot from start to finish. Copy, music, casting the voice (or voices), editing, mixing. When the AE loves it, the advertiser loves it, and they renew their schedule - that's the best!

----

My single most despised task as a production guy is having to produce a spot from someone else's poor copy. Nine times out of ten, it comes from an ad agency. Few of them are radio writers.

----

Radio as an industry abandoned effective commercial writing long ago. Even when stations had "copywriters," the writing was average. Incredible, effective copywriting should be as important a priority as ratings, sales, and engineering. Even a low-rated station can get results for advertisers with great copy.

----

Some radio companies place more value on a prod guy who does killer imaging than on one who writes produces effective commercials that get results for advertisers.

----

I am blessed in my job to have at least 13 people in-house who can voice spots. A real range of ages, too. Early 20s, 30-ish, mid 40's women. 30ish, mid 40's and late 50s - 60ish men. We've got hip-hoppers, rock n rollers, average folks, and geezers like me. Most are very directable.

We do a ton of client voiced spots, too, and I'm pleased to say that in nearly all cases, they rise to the occasion and, with coaching, deliver really nice performances.

Nick Seneca

 

[Nick Gerard]

Another lie:

"We're here to have fun."

-Said at the 1st staff meeting when Clear Channel (Jacor back then) took over a group where I was working in 1996.

Nick Seneca

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

^ Yeah, what Nick and Chas said, perfectly. And major props to Chas, whose station had a stellar book. As to the five biggest lies... Feh! If only the number was that small. George Harrison once aptly described the record business as, "being a tsunami of bullshit." From what I've observed, the comment is appropriate to all media.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I know Nick. I understand his points, but Nick is one of those "production guys" who also is a gifted writer. I especially understand his points about "effective" vs. "clever" - something we see every day on TV. How many times have you heard the conversation:

"Cool commercial!"
"Who's it for?"
"I have no idea."

GOOD copywriters are worth their weight in gold. Even a sales secreta -uh, assistant with spelling and grammar skills is an upgrade from most customer/sales written copy. Good copywriters also "hear" the spot - complete with effects and music - the way a good production guy does. There are some very creative production people who produce excellent spots when they have the time, which is increasingly rare. It's pretty unlikely, though, that you're going to get 14 units of brilliance in a stopset.

Chas has several very good points. The "14-unit" model is most likely to change. Advertisers simply want their spots to be heard. My guess - and it's purely a guess - is that we may go back to sponsoring blocks of content, with a few longer ads and a lot of mentions in an exclusive time period. Another alternative is to do what the on-line free services do - insert short ads between songs. Shades of the '60s! What's old is new again! Blah, blah, blah... In reality, on-line listeners are being conditioned to accept that. When was the last time that you fired up a Youtube video and didn't get an ad? It's getting rarer.

Of course, there are those betting that OTA radio won't survive. They're dreaming of a world where listeners will pay for the connectivity currently provided by towers and transmitters. If they ever get outside of their ivory towers in NYC and LA, they may discover that there are large swatches of this country with limited cellular access. Count me among the "FM on cell phones is a game-changer" crowd.

 

[TheBigA]

There are some very creative production people who produce excellent spots when they have the time, which is increasingly rare.

What we're finding is that the agencies are doing their own in-house production, and hiring away the radio guys to do it. With desk-top production (or even lap-top production) the cost of production services at a station is too high. Advertisers would rather pay for a package from an agency that they feel is acting on THEIR behalf. The advertiser is also not usually buying just one station or one cluster, but an audience, which means the same spot running on competing stations or clusters.

The "14-unit" model is most likely to change. Advertisers simply want their spots to be heard. My guess - and it's purely a guess - is that we may go back to sponsoring blocks of content, with a few longer ads and a lot of mentions in an exclusive time period.

Great idea. Show me a business plan where you can do this. How much would it cost an advertiser for a block vs. multiple short spots scattered throughout the day? The truth is that this has always been an option for advertisers, but very few are interested because the cost is too high, and they feel they benefit from ad repetition.

Another alternative is to do what the on-line free services do - insert short ads between songs.

Same as above. Show me how a station can make the same amount of money by running short spots between songs.

 

[chas108]

^ Yeah, what Nick and Chas said, perfectly. And major props to Chas, whose station had a stellar book.

That means a lot, JPB. Thanks for the kind words. For a market who's had basically two #1 stations since 1950, this is major.

I'd rather be called a "Production Director" than "Director of Creative Services." The latter is way too pretentious.

Creative Services...to me, was always the person responsible for station imaging.

When I was full-time a decade ago, I wore both Production Director and Creative Services Director hats...and the demands of both clashed with alarming frequency. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

After leaving 9 years ago to co-found an ad agency (one that does its own in-house production), my Production Director position was morphed with the other Production Director in our building...and my Creative Services replacement assumed imaging for both the Country and HAC stations in the cluster.

I sold my interests in the agency 5 1/2 years ago...the biggest blessing is today they're my biggest home studio client! And having returned to my old station, this time to simply do weekends and fill-ins (including vacation fill for the current Production Director), that model simply works 500% better than combining Production and Imaging.

All that said, Nick, it sounds like you are a true asset to your station/cluster...and KUDOS to anyone who can effectively coach a client session. I've done it too and have been proud of the results.

The one thing that hasn't changed between the two stints is that getting copy on the air, still, all too often becomes audio triage. Rip it, read it, slap bed under it...lather, rinse, repeat...

The "14-unit" model is most likely to change. Advertisers simply want their spots to be heard. My guess - and it's purely a guess - is that we may go back to sponsoring blocks of content, with a few longer ads and a lot of mentions in an exclusive time period.

Great idea. Show me a business plan where you can do this. How much would it cost an advertiser for a block vs. multiple short spots scattered throughout the day? The truth is that this has always been an option for advertisers, but very few are interested because the cost is too high, and they feel they benefit from ad repetition.

Another alternative is to do what the on-line free services do - insert short ads between songs.

Same as above. Show me how a station can make the same amount of money by running short spots between songs.

Someone has to have the courage to try...including proper training for AE's...management willing to try some different thinking, jocks who can creatively execute.

Try it at night first.

Tweak as necessary and learn to discern between a tweak and a knee-jerk.

And above all, understand that this is probably like the final scene in the movie Working Girl, where upon discussing ground rules with her new assistant, Melanie Griffith's character Tess says,

"And the rest we'll just make up as we go along".

Isn't that where Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon were circa 1952?

 

[chas108]

Re: MOVED: TIO: 5 Biggest Lies

Well, THAT was special!

So BigA and SirRox, I wasn't talking about running fewer spots...unless you're a commanding #1 and have the leeway to kick the rate card up a few notches to offset.

I was talking about taking the same 14-16 minutes of spots currently running and divvy them up like the old days so no more than two :60s play back-to-back. With this model and 12 tunes/hour, many of these mini-breaks could be single :60s.

Think like YouTube here...spot then content. Bits designed for 18-24s and 18-34s...plenty of contests/games. Put it on an app to boot.

It's a radical reinvention of formatics with NO CLUE how it'll play in PPM-land or Diaryville.

And if it's going to happen, it won't be Cumulus or CC taking the plunge.

I suggested trying it at night simply because there's less to lose...in case this ends up becoming radio's version of Leno at 10.

 

[TheBigA]

Re: MOVED: TIO: 5 Biggest Lies

I was talking about taking the same 14-16 minutes of spots currently running and divvy them up like the old days so no more than two :60s play back-to-back. With this model and 12 tunes/hour, many of these mini-breaks could be single :60s.

There has been tons and tons of research on this, and the conclusion is that it isn't the length of the stopset that causes tune out, but the stopset itself. People react the same regardless of the number of spots. So ANY interruption can lead to tune-out. And yes, I know a lot of people who read this board disagree. I'm just telling you what the research says. I will tell you I was with a friend this weekend who was listening to his channel on Pandora, and every time a spot came on, he reacted the same way, and turned down the volume. For me, when I watch YouTube, I always take the option of skipping the ad after 5 seconds.

As a programmer, you ask yourself how many times an hour do I want to roll the dice with my listeners, that they'll tune out and won't return. The prevailing view, regardless of ownership, is the fewer the breaks, the better chance for retaining listeners. And the research has been consistent on this for over 25 years. That's why no one has done anything different. It's very hard to question the level of information on this. If CC or Cumulus could get a leg up on the other by doing this, they would have done it already. And from what I hear, it comes up in programming calls every few months. So it's not like they haven't considered it.

It's hard to try at night because almost everyone is syndicated at night, and those breaks are dictated by the syndicator. Plus, most stations only have a handful of spots at night anyway. Few of them actually paid, most of them either bonus or network.

 

[Ed Trefzger]

There has been tons and tons of research on this, and the conclusion is that it isn't the length of the stopset that causes tune out, but the stopset itself. People react the same regardless of the number of spots. So ANY interruption can lead to tune-out. And yes, I know a lot of people who read this board disagree. I'm just telling you what the research says.

Even without the research, this makes a lot of sense. When does someone change the station? When the break starts, or after three minutes? I'll wager it's within a few seconds ... especially if it's the bad creative discussed earlier in the thread. (Maybe it's longer or less of a tune out in talk.)

Pandora does use a short spot and back into music. But listeners know that it's a :15 or :30 spaced about 15 minutes apart, with about 1 minute per hour. Nobody's going to be able to do that in broadcast.