Greenville Radio is still relevant how?

[jamesh]

No one I know even listens anymore and to me that is sad.

Most people I know are completely engaged in their droids or iphones. Audio comes from Itunes and Pandora. Traffic from traffic and gps apps, weather form weather apps. news and sports from those apps.


No disrespect intended, would love to hear from the knowledgeable folks here.

And this board needs a GOOD discussion about local radio from you guys....

How IS radio still relevant and how WILL it stay relevant?

 

[charlestondxman]

More. Local. Programming.

 

[awp69]

Well, I think local talent can get people more interested if they've got good chemistry, can make people laugh and give you the information you need. BUT it is getting difficult to compete with iPods/iPhones, satellite, Pandora, etc., only because those give people the means to get exactly the music they want to hear.

Music programming IMO has gone down hill at many stations just because stations are afraid to take risks and we hear the same music -- no matter the format -- over and over again. A fad may make it's way for a few months then it's back to more of the same.

When people find artists they like, things like Pandora and the more specificity of satellite stations can help them find other new artists they like that aren't always played on radio because stations don't want to take a chance on them.

Personally, the station I listen to in Greenville -- X98.5 -- really has little local connection. They have sponsored lots of events and done a great job with their Facebook page in keeping in touch with the community. But with the exception of morning news/traffic/weather (which are great additions, I may add), it's all music. No personalities.

But really what's the difference anymore? So many stations use voice tracking and syndicated shows that there's probably few stations where more than 50% of its programming is truly "local" except in larger markets, but even they often use syndication.

X98.5 is likely going away (hoping not too soon since it's already been two months since a "flip" was rumored). What will I do then? I honestly don't know. There isn't a single station otherwise that plays the music I like. Honestly, even X98.5 has songs that make me flip to another station.

In a city like Greenville, however, most people have short commutes to work. It only takes me 10 minutes. So I'm not going to bother to hook up my iPhone and play music from it just for that length of time. The only time I'm in the car longer is taking the kids to school and they like to listen to the radio and laugh at whatever Hawk & Tom are saying (yes, that's sad, but at least it is a local show).

I think small to mid-sized cities are a bit safer from the non-radio sources. It's bigger cities where people are sitting in traffic for an hour or two that may be more open to the threat of iPhones, etc.

If Internet radio ever becomes commonplace and cheap in cars, it'll be a whole new ball game.

 

[SaltyDog]

More. Local. Programming.

I'm always curious about this. When you say "local programming" what do you have in mind? Local music decisions? Local talk topics? The local air personalities tend to talk about national topics. It's counterintuitive to think that people are listening to iTunes and Pandora because terrestrial radio lacks local content. Those services don't offer local content so their appeal must be something else. For me, the appeal of iTunes and Pandora is control. Once I got a taste of providing input to Pandora about what I do and don't like and the ability to skip songs, it was tough to appreciate "curated music". My iPod has more songs than my local radio station and they all test well with this audience of one.

When Lou Reed died, I reminisced about his career by reading about it on Wikipedia and created a custom radio station on Pandora containing his music and it was awesome. In the past, I would have listened to a local radio station so that I could hear a tribute show. I just don't care to do that anymore.

 

[SaltyDog]

I think small to mid-sized cities are a bit safer from the non-radio sources. It's bigger cities where people are sitting in traffic for an hour or two that may be more open to the threat of iPhones, etc.

I know better than to project my personal listening habits onto the general population but as for me, my Nexus (phone) is on before I get to the car and I just plug it in so I'll keep listening even in if it's a ten minute drive. Typically, with traffic it's more like 20 minutes though.

I pay $40 a month plus taxes and fees ($46) for unlimited calls, text and data. At that price, my data throttles back after a couple of GB's but I find I don't need fast speed just for audio. Video is another matter. I'm also within range of WiFi most of the time so data isn't usually an issue. The biggest data hog for me is not streaming audio or even video but my habit of tethering my tablet to my phone when I'm out and about so I can get online with my tablet at no extra cost.

 

[awp69]

It's interesting but I always wondered how much data truly is required for Internet radio via a cell phone plan. I actually just bumped up my plan to 3 gigs (only had 300 MB before simply because I didn't use it much outside of WiFi). I read somewhere, however, that streaming audio came at about 70 hours for 3 GB, which would be more than enough time for me. I'm wondering if that's accurate because when the market loses the only station I really like, I may dabble more in streaming.

 

[Gatekeeper007]

I don't live in the Greenville area but I have friends and relatives that do and one of the things that I know is that the Greenville area is a big Country Music area. Yes younger people are more split on what source they get their music from be it radio, computer, cell phone, satellite radio or what have you. If you don't know anyone that still listens to broadcast radio then I could definitely introduce you to a whole lot of people you don't know. Is radio killing it's self, YES but it is not dead yet. One thing I have found is that opinion be it fact or fiction does seem to sway a lot of people. If you want proof of that just look at the recording industry and what's popular and how long it last (flash in the pan music now a days here right now gone that evening). That is why today's top of the chart singers/preformers have to have new songs to replace the ones they just hit the charts with, they know most songs won't last long at all. If people today young or not use cell phones, computers, satellite radio, radio or what have you to get their music I wouldn't depend on that being a sure thing no matter what they use since they scrap their favorite songs so quickly who is to say they won't scrap the source they get them from just as quickly.

 

[SaltyDog]

If you don't know anyone that still listens to broadcast radio then I could definitely introduce you to a whole lot of people you don't know.

There's no question that lots of people still listen to a lot of radio. What shocks me is how little radio listening I am personally exposed to. Every time I read that radio listening cumes are still high and how well radio is holding up in research, I wonder why if that is true that revenue growth is slow when it occurs at all.

My guess, and it's just a guess, is that it's because no matter how persuasive the research is, when advertisers and agency planners don't listen themselves, and have friends who say they don't listen much, on some level they just don't believe it. You can argue with them but people buy as much on emotion as they do logic and that includes buyers of advertising.

My own listening habits are that I listen to a lot of ESPN and that means by necessity listening on my phone and tablet because there is no longer an ESPN affiliate in Greenville. Outside of that, I probably don't listen to terrestrial radio for an hour in a week. When I hang out on my neighbor's deck with him, he will have WROQ on but that is the only time I can recall hearing a radio I wasn't controlling. I get around a lot and I'm just not hearing radios in offices and stores. Yes, that's anecdotal and possibly an entirely wrong perception but a good business can die of poor public perception. Just ask the people who swore decades ago that Betamax was a technically superior product to VHS tapes.

 

[TheBigA]

If Internet radio ever becomes commonplace and cheap in cars, it'll be a whole new ball game.

Really? How much live and local do you think they'll find on internet radio?

I keep reading how the public wants live and local, yet the same people talk about people using phones, satellite, and internet. None of those things have live & local content. Maybe the public really doesn't want live & local radio. Maybe they want the kind of content they find on phones, satellite, and internet. If so, then spending money hiring local talent is a waste.

 

[jamesh]

As of yesterday Pandora now has an 8.1 percent share of all U S radio listening-that's ALL radio. This was AFTER Apple launched Itunes Radio and ran it for a month and Apple grabbed 20 million people last month. 8.1 share in any given market is pretty darn good. Anyone who thinks this is not significant is in denial.

 

[SaltyDog]

I keep reading how the public wants live and local, yet the same people talk about people using phones, satellite, and internet.

I never read or hear about it from the general public, but from radio insiders and former insiders. I take it as self-serving talk from people who were displaced or fear they will be by syndicated or voice-tracked content.

I had several experiences in radio of replacing live local talent with better syndicated shows and having huge ratings increases.

 

[TheBigA]

Two questions: How many live & local DJs does Pandora have? How much local news, traffic, and weather does Pandora do? If that's what the public seems to want, why should radio spend millions hiring local staff?

 

[freqdev]

my friends that live on their droids and i devices have personalities to match. they will always think they are in control when they are really not. with web md, why would they ever need a doctor? these people are very disconnected and although local radio is not perfect, it does offer a connection to the world that someone living in a pandora box with all their apps will never be able to access. imo, it more about the profile of the user and not the product.

 

[TheBigA]

Apple is actually phasing out iPods. People aren't buying them any more. Why download songs when you just stream what you want for free? Pandora is a bigger problem for record labels than radio, because people use it in place of buying, not in place of radio.

 

[awp69]

I think Salty Dog is right in the respect that live and local seems to matter less to the public than we're led to believe. Sure in the morning and afternoon drives, it's nice to have traffic, especially in larger markets. But weather and news is just a click of a button away on smartphones.

I'm not saying it's not good to have local talent. In fact, that's probably the one thing that gives radio an advantage over Internet and satellite.

But it doesn't seem to matter with voice tracking and syndication taking a lot of radio spots.

I've been using Rhapsody this week for the first time in the car and it's great. Ability to skip songs on a "radio" station is particularly nice.

BUT I still get drops in data coverage (it helps that Rhapsody preloads the next song, but that doesn't always make up for those drops.)

If/when data is completely reliable and more and more cars get built in apps, I see no reason why people wouldn't start using it more. It may not kill radio, but I certainly think it will hurt. Those Pandora numbers show that it is fairly significant already.

I think CC's iHeart is a step in the right direction to at least keep radio relevant in streaming.

Only time will tell how things truly evolve.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm not saying it's not good to have local talent. In fact, that's probably the one thing that gives radio an advantage over Internet and satellite.

It's only an advantage if people want it, and it's pretty clear that live & local doesn't matter to the public. They want to hear their favorite music. That's it.

The only thing radio stations can do is get their content on other devices, like mobile and internet streaming. Hiring more local staff isn't going to make radio more relevant. It simply doesn't matter.