• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Corporate Execs Have A New Name For Radio

Thanks for that article. It was interesting to see what comments CEO's of the big radio groups had to make.

Univision's CEO thinks that HD is going to explode on us. And that core deoms are going to get even more narrow...

Clear Channel has a "Format Lab" and a "Content Development Team", but their only goal is to keep listeners engaged.... which is done outside the format with contest schemes and promos, etc. Sales will be tied to other elements, as radio alone just does not cut it anymore.

CBS's CEO sees the main reason for radio to exist is for Blood Drives and disaster related uses. They want to push content across-all-stations, with the focus on the delivery, ie using the best -- to hawk their homoginized product. A personality driven delivery. People can get hyped up about cr@p if it's hyped by the best...

Emmis says that there are 300 million answers to what consumers want to hear. And that they listen to what people want every hour.
 
The article was very interesting, but everyone in that room is in denial. Either I missed it or they just didn't factor in Satellite Radio as a future factor in the "audio delivery" business. They refer to the 2018 landscape and didn't even mention Sat radio. Every new car produced today comes with it. Howard Stern almost single-handedly moved Sirius from less than a million subs to nearly 8 million subs in just a couple of years. As others with Stern type talent migrate to Satellite, you'll see more and more listeners go there for good. Wait until Limbaugh, Rome and Hannity move to exclusive satellite someday. I hooked up my XM two years ago and now I subscribe to both XM and Sirius and my new truck I purchased last year came with Sirius. I keep XM in the office. I have not listened to FM in two years, ever. That's what terrestrial radio really needs to fear. I believe they do fear it. They fear it so much they refuse to acknowledge its existence. They better recognize it soon or they will wake up one day to a virtural wasteland of air with few relevent listeners. I believe agency buyers and planners see it and that is why they beat down the radio reps. I have beaten down radio reps since 01 for lower and lower rates because the medium is not worth what it once was.
 
adguy said:
Every new car produced today comes with it. Howard Stern almost single-handedly moved Sirius from less than a million subs to nearly 8 million subs in just a couple of years.
Click to expand...

And how many "subscriptions" were a result of the free year they got when they purchased the car?
 
First, most subscriptions with new cars are 6 months, some are a year AND the conversion rate from the free subs when they expire is near 100%. That's how many cars/trucks produced every year, ALL now with either XM or Sirius? It's rolling like the proverbial freight train and these radio execs are either blind & dumb or in complete denial. They know it!
 
adguy said:
The article was very interesting, but everyone in that room is in denial. Either I missed it or they just didn't factor in Satellite Radio as a future factor in the "audio delivery" business. They refer to the 2018 landscape and didn't even mention Sat radio. Every new car produced today comes with it. Howard Stern almost single-handedly moved Sirius from less than a million subs to nearly 8 million subs in just a couple of years. As others with Stern type talent migrate to Satellite, you'll see more and more listeners go there for good. Wait until Limbaugh, Rome and Hannity move to exclusive satellite someday. I hooked up my XM two years ago and now I subscribe to both XM and Sirius and my new truck I purchased last year came with Sirius. I keep XM in the office. I have not listened to FM in two years, ever. That's what terrestrial radio really needs to fear. I believe they do fear it. They fear it so much they refuse to acknowledge its existence. They better recognize it soon or they will wake up one day to a virtural wasteland of air with few relevent listeners. I believe agency buyers and planners see it and that is why they beat down the radio reps. I have beaten down radio reps since 01 for lower and lower rates because the medium is not worth what it once was.
Click to expand...

fact is that satellite's subscriber rate is going backwards. that's why they are merging. both losing money hand over fist. your opinion is not shared by the consuming public. internet radio listening is growing exponentially. moving to satellite is certain death for a performer. their q score evaporates. no one but this board is talking about howard stern and then rarely. your disdain for terrestrial and your need to justify your purchase of satellite is your motivation.
 
adguy said:
First, most subscriptions with new cars are 6 months, some are a year AND the conversion rate from the free subs when they expire is near 100%. That's how many cars/trucks produced every year, ALL now with either XM or Sirius? It's rolling like the proverbial freight train and these radio execs are either blind & dumb or in complete denial. They know it!
Click to expand...
Source for your stat? Because this link
http://www.hear2.com/2007/07/xm-conversion-a.html
says this:
...Yet XM says it converted just 53% of new car buyers into XM subscribers. That means owners of half the cars equipped with XM included aren’t even bothering to subscribe once the trial offer expires.
Click to expand...

Near 100, 53, why quibble over a few points, right?

Most of the car deals expire in the next few years- since both Xm and sirius are losing money hand over fist, it'll be interesting to see if they re-up...if they do, it's going to cost them more money, that they don't really have, if they don't they lose those automatic subscriptions and lose any chance of renewing them...That's why they desperately want to merge...The Motley Fool rated both stocks as losers- both keep issuing more stock to raise more money, but that dilutes shareholder value...if they don't get approval to merge, somebody is going to realize that those stocks just ain't worth it...
 
I started to post a study that shows that Sirius is converting 72% of new car installs, then I saw another at 50%, then another at 64% and so on.... On the XM side I saw the same thing. Conversion claims are all over the board. OK, I was ambitious calling it near 100%, but it is significant at any number over 50% AND within the next 5 to 10 years I suspect nearly 90% of all new vehicles will come with Satellite Radio installed as standard. Then again, you might start seeing some manufacturers begin to install HD Radios or radio combos.

No matter what, none of it bodes well for terrestrial radio. It will always be there, but not like broadcast TV, which I believe will always be significantly relevant. I believe Terr Radio will go more of the way of newspapers, or should I say dinosaurs.
 
adguy

It's like talking to a wall isn't it? Q numbers? Is that why I have to hear the same four songs every stinking 45 minutes, the same four songs that nobody is buying? Revune is down, music sales (in the conventional sense) are down, artists are doing an end around on the record companies and the guys in the biz think nothing is wrong? Their world is changing around them and they keep on with the status quo. It's laughable.
 
am I the only person who has a problem with radio being refered to "audio-anchored-advertising" as it was refered to in the link in the first post?
 
adguy said:
I started to post a study that shows that Sirius is converting 72% of new car installs, then I saw another at 50%, then another at 64% and so on.... On the XM side I saw the same thing. Conversion claims are all over the board. OK, I was ambitious calling it near 100%, but it is significant at any number over 50% AND within the next 5 to 10 years I suspect nearly 90% of all new vehicles will come with Satellite Radio installed as standard. Then again, you might start seeing some manufacturers begin to install HD Radios or radio combos.

No matter what, none of it bodes well for terrestrial radio. It will always be there, but not like broadcast TV, which I believe will always be significantly relevant. I believe Terr Radio will go more of the way of newspapers, or should I say dinosaurs.
Click to expand...
Adguy- check when the deals between XM and Sirius and the car manfacturers expire- my understanding of it is that XM&S are paying the car companies to install sat radios in the cars. In other words, if I'm Ford, and you pay me X$ million dollars to install satellite radio, why would ford not do it, if that X amount more than covers their cost? It's suddenly a profit center for them on an item (a radio) that is pretty much standard equipment. The question becomes whether XM&S, who have yet to turn a profit, can continue to subsidize radio installation.

And can you really say that broadcast TV is relevant? I mean actual BROADCAST tv? Cable and Dish systems are reaching ever higher rates of penetration, are they not? Broadcast TV ratings are constantly eroding to cable stations...Heck even Monday night football is no longer on broadcast tv, isn't that inidcative of how they're becoming irrelevant? Then look atthe TV shows that get the critical acclaim- Sopranos, Dexter, the Wire, etc....Except for Idol, what was the last big cultural break out hit from basic broadcast tv?

And while I agree that radio is becoming less relevant, there's always going to be room for compelling LOCAL programming. It's why KTCK kills ESPN, why Howard never made it to number 1, etc etc...You see it as a decline. I see it as a pendelum. Much like politics, it swings one way for a while, then swings back...

Sure it sucks to be in radio right now, but I highly doubt that it'll disappear entirely. It's just a matter of riding out the swing...

Because there are ALWAYS going to be people who object to paying 12-15 bucks a month to listen to the radio for 30 minutes at a time, twice a day. There are always going to be people who want to hear local people talk local politics, or local sports, and who want the chance to hear themselves on the air.

If you just want music, yeah, you might be better off with one of the HEAVILY niched formats available on satellite. But if you want anything WITH your music, personality, news, weather, traffic, sports, contests, etc, sat radio is NOT for you...

But to return to my main point. It's going to be intersting to see what happens if the merger doesn't go through. Because both XM and sirius are losing money. Lot's of money.
 
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0506/08/C06-206159.htm

Toward the end of that article it talks about how if Ford cancels their deal with Sirius they'll forfeit 'certian payments' from Sirius. Those payments are Sirius's subsidizing the installation of SAT radio...

And as I said before, the question ebcomes how long a company with a 6billion dollar market cap can afford to lose 600-800 million dollars a year...

They're generating cash, but neither company, even Sirisu with Howard, has managed to turn a profit. At least radio has figured out how to do that. Yeah, buisness may be down, we may not be in our glory days anymore, but at least my accountants see black ink, not red...
 
who said terrestrial is doing great? you throw out a number, then when it is demonstrated to be absurdly inaccurate you say it does not matter and your point is the same. ad guy you have bought into wall street bs and to satellite radio press releases. fine. glad you like satellite. however to generalize your point to a claim that therefore satellite is killing terrestrial is flawed logic. fact is satellite radio's subscriber churn is reaching a nasty tipping point. what problems terrestrial has and they are many is of its own making. it will find its way out in time. the wheel is always turning.
 
I didn't say Sat radio is killing terrestrial radio alone. Throw IPODS and MP-3's into the mix and you have enough other RELEVENT media that is more entertaining than terr radio today. I agree with the poster above that says the terr radio is relevant with good programming. I agree entirely with that statement, but the problem is that talent and "strong content" has left terr radio during the past 10 years as CC and the others turned radio into their personal banks and balance sheets with eyes on the bean counters instead of the programming.

As to broadcast TV being more relevent. Ratings prove that. Even in a 500 channel universe with digital cable and satellite, local TV news ratings have only dropped slightly and network TV ratings, before the writer's strike, have been up substantially during the last few years. That's ALL program driven with American Idol, Survivor, CSI, The Office, etc...

There's no buying into Wall St BS. Wall St. knows by looking at revenue, which is substantially lower for radio stations than TV stations. TV station revenue is flat to slightly higher year to year and with political spending this year, they will do very well. You can't say that for radio. Politicians don't buy it like they buy TV and it's no secret that Radio Station revenue year to year is substantially down. The frame of this picture has been set and the picture is being painted as we speak. Terr radio is not dying, but is settling into a much less relevent position for advertisers into the future.

One last point; by my experience, TV advertising is working far better than radio as to response. I buy radio and TV for my clients and directly measure each and TV delivers three times the customers for my clients for the same budgets in each medium. That doesn't bode well for radio long term. I run 6 radio spots for every 1 TV spot for the same budget in each medium and as I said above, TV delivers 3 times the customers to my clients. That speaks more than any of the stats being thrown around this thread.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom