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Is this a viable idea???

S

sargent

I am new here... and have a question for the experts.

Would this be a good idea?
Create a 1-2 minute "infotainment" bit on which I am an expert.
Customize this for individual stations (intro, exit, sponsorships)
Sell this service to radio stations for $10-25/week, depending on market.
Allow them to sell it to appropriate sponsors, which I mention in the bit (brought to you by.......)

Any information would help. I am a complete newby at this and just need direction.


Thanks!
 
Can you afford to lose money for a while? Have you thought about barter (an embedded commercial in the program)? How are you going to court new affiliates? That's the big one ... you need affiliates to be viable.
 
Thanks for your response.

Here's my thoughts-

I was thinking of offering it to radio stations as a tool to sell to their clientele. I then would create part of the bit as a commercial for the client. So, the intro and exit to the bit would be customized to a specific radio station/client while the body would be the same no matter what station ran it.

Essentially, the radio station would pay me a small sum to put together this 2 minute informative bit they can then sell to their client and the client gets specifically named in the bit.

Using random figures:
Radio station charges a client, say "XYZ Lumber Co." $100/wk to sponsor my bit.
I create the bit, with an intro that says, "This bit is brought to you by XYZ Lumber, visit them at....."
The radio station then pays me $15 out of their $100.
 
sargent said:
Thanks for your response.

Here's my thoughts-

I was thinking of offering it to radio stations as a tool to sell to their clientele. I then would create part of the bit as a commercial for the client. So, the intro and exit to the bit would be customized to a specific radio station/client while the body would be the same no matter what station ran it.

Essentially, the radio station would pay me a small sum to put together this 2 minute informative bit they can then sell to their client and the client gets specifically named in the bit.

Using random figures:
Radio station charges a client, say "XYZ Lumber Co." $100/wk to sponsor my bit.
I create the bit, with an intro that says, "This bit is brought to you by XYZ Lumber, visit them at....."
The radio station then pays me $15 out of their $100.
Click to expand...

- Radio stations have no budgets, so don't expect a cash deal. Build the product around some kind of barter.
- Your content has to be INSANELY compelling, with an amazingly entertaining delivery, full of content you can't get anywhere else. But even then, there is virtually no market for this kind of segment. Maybe on some morning shows, maybe as part of talk programming. But what do you provide that's any different than the two minutes on the same topic that I could have my jock do, that I'm already paying and don't have to run a spot for? Know what I'm saying?

Good luck. This is as uphill a battle as there is.
 
Part of me sides with Roger That. Radio stations want to do, feel they MUST DO everything "on the cheap".

But part of me looks at the conversation in the PRODUCTION board which is primarily a conversation among people who do voice over work for radio stations. If we tell Sargent there is NO WAY he is going to build a small business doing drop-in features because there is no money, how do we explain these guys who sell imaging and produced commercials to radio stations. Why wouldn't I just have one of my announcers do it. Why would I pay good money to someone like Jeff Laurence to do my image pieces when I could just have one of my announcers do it?

Sargent: there are a LOT of people who would like to do voice over work. Only a few seem to prosper at it. I see two things at work for those who are successful: (1) they are very, very good at it. [mediocre voices need not apply.] (2) they tend to have connections they built during a career of successful broadcasting. Stations like to buy from someone they trust, someone they know.

It won't be easy but maybe there is a tiny glimmer of possibility for your idea. Success has a slim chance. Failure is a possibility.
 
Thanks for the honest replies.

I am going to work on setting everything up (website, sample segments, etc.).

Pretty much no overhead for me.... other than time.

I figure a bunch of emails and a couple hundred phone calls will be the barometer for the potential success of my idea.

Any pointers on getting the right people to go to my web page and listen to the sample?

Thanks again!
 
This won't work unless it's totally bartered. Nobody will pay cash. You can't depend on the ability of affiliates to reliably sell sponsorships to pay you for your program.

You also must consider the fact that features of this type are not very compatible with syndicated commercial news/talk formats and are anathema to conventional music formats. The most receptive market for this type of thing would be non-commercial operations, and they will have a problem with commercial content unless you can structure it according to their specific requirements.

That being said, I run a small commercial station that airs several such programs on a daily basis. In our case, the best example of what you're talking about is a 2 minute feature called "Something You Should Know". The content is always interesting and the presentation is very consistent, with 30 seconds of commercial and 90 seconds of content. We air it three times per weekday.

It's created by a hard working and tireless guy. He did everything himself for a while, but eventually had to get involved with a syndicator because the logistics of production, website, marketing, sales and distribution were too much for one person.

Aside from formatic issues, the biggest concern for affiliates is processing time. Nowadays most syndicated programs are downloaded as MP3 files, and for this particular program I figure it takes us 30 to 40 minutes per week to download, organize, label, document, schedule and fill out performance affidavits after airing.

Stations are very short-staffed these days, especially the small to medium market operations that would likely be your affiliates. Make sure your program is worth their time. They have more than enough to do already.

I would suggest that your programs might be especially appealing to station management if they could help satisfy the FCC-mandated public-affairs programming requirements that all broadcasters must fulfill. If you can make this type of material both informative and entertaining, then I think you could find a market for your work.
 
I applaud you for your efforts but unless you're a trust fund baby with plenty of time on your hands this will be nothing more than an expensive hobby. Radio is notorious for doing it on the cheap.
National/regional sponsors will demand hundreds of viable markets.
Content must be something your can't get elsewhere. Today, consumers want to know anything about anything they Google it.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Part of me sides with Roger That. Radio stations want to do, feel they MUST DO everything "on the cheap".

But part of me looks at the conversation in the PRODUCTION board which is primarily a conversation among people who do voice over work for radio stations. If we tell Sargent there is NO WAY he is going to build a small business doing drop-in features because there is no money, how do we explain these guys who sell imaging and produced commercials to radio stations. Why wouldn't I just have one of my announcers do it. Why would I pay good money to someone like Jeff Laurence to do my image pieces when I could just have one of my announcers do it?

Sargent: there are a LOT of people who would like to do voice over work. Only a few seem to prosper at it. I see two things at work for those who are successful: (1) they are very, very good at it. [mediocre voices need not apply.] (2) they tend to have connections they built during a career of successful broadcasting. Stations like to buy from someone they trust, someone they know.

It won't be easy but maybe there is a tiny glimmer of possibility for your idea. Success has a slim chance. Failure is a possibility.
Click to expand...

To be fair, you're talking content vs commercial production. In fact, this kinda proves my point...produced pieces, if not incredibly compelling, come off as imaging or commercials, two of the highest tune-out facets of your radio station. At least if my jock is the one talking about whatever this content is, I stand a chance of people sticking around. Assuming Sargent isn't famous, he has no brand equity, which means (again) that the content has to be stunning, unique, and available no where else.

Cost is the reason why it will get quickly dismissed by most. But that's not all meant to be discouraging. Personally, I would shoot wider than Radio. I can't stress this enough: If you make amazing content, people will find it, and you can get paid for it. Focus on being original, and don't worry about making money with it. If it's worth money (most ideas aren't), it will come easier than you think.
 
I could not have summed this up better:

Your content has to be INSANELY compelling, with an amazingly entertaining delivery,
 
Seconding Lee and GRC. Not a day passes here at Radio Ranch without somebody contacting us with a WONDERFUL (!) programming idea, for which they want SOMETHING - cash, barter, both. My rejoinder is invariably: why would I want your program or package or whatever it is?? Their response is invariably: you can SELL it!

Thanks a lot. I already have 168 hours a week to sell. And not enough time or personnel to do as good a job as I'd like.

If it was so easy to sell, the producer would sell it, keep 100% of the revenue for himself and make it available to stations on a barter basis. There's the flaw in your logic.

Sorry to pee in your picnic basket, but it's been tried. About 1,000,000 times, going back to Norman Baker's on-air cancer cures and the Goat Gland Doctor.
 
Try an "Internet" only Radio Station. If you can get results on several of these then you might get a syndicater to work with you if you can come up with a 2 or 3 hour daily or weekend show. If it is really good and compelling go the local cable route. That guy on the Weather Channel that has the home improvement tips has a $weat deal.
 
I would consider just doing this via a Podcast and forget radio. It doesn't cost you anything but time and perhaps you could develop enough subscribers to find some sponsors which could at least cover your time. Other than that, chances are you won't be able to pay your light bill with the proceeds.

Who knows? There have been some who have grown their hobby into a thriving business on-line. But unless you want to give it away, as many mentioned here, very few in the radio game would be interested.
 
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