Never said it was popular, just that somebody was trying what everyone here is talking about. That is all.
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Would a local streaming station work?
- Thread starter MisterRadio
- Start date
captex said:
Having a toll-free request line and international numbers so people can request songs is not going to get you big ratings. (I don't know how to tell you guys this...but what gets you lots and lots of listeners is playing the hits...not ten-thousand B-sides that one guy in rural Iowa or Idaho wants to hear.)
By the way, are you going to keep up on the French and British and Italian and Russian music charts, so you can play them, too? (I can guarantee, not all people listening to you in, say... France are going to want to hear Taylor Swift, or Five Finger Death Punch.) And, that will be a big expense...'cause not all of them will "give" you their music free.
National ad agencies are not really that interested in how many people open your website, or how many "hits" you get because the metrics are really not in place to correctly measure listening to internet radio...at least not yet. So sales efforts there will be tough the first several years at least.
By the way, I'm not totally dissing the idea here. But, what I see is that internet radio stations are likely going to make the same mistakes commercial radio made over the decades. Eventually, someone just may find a model that works. But, it's going to take years for it to gel.
Radio ain't as easy as it looks from the outside...and a lot (not all) of internet radio wannabees are outsiders.
Agreed Jason, but the idea here is a local internet station...one that focuses on one specific city just as broadcast stations do.
Granted, it is an uphill climb, but there always have to be pioneers before the settlers rush in.
As for advertisers, here's some simple observations: every small business feels a need for an online presence. They all want a website. Thus, it is logical that an internet station that targets their area might be a good choice for advertising dollars. The internet station might offer a page on their site or coupon and contact information.
A local internet station promotes through the business community to push 'listen while you work'.
On air would have to differ enough from broadcast radio to distinguish itself with the elements most prized by radio listeners (after all you're trying to take the person from the radio to online listening). Broadcast radio is a good model to follow. If you disagree, look at how many listen to radio every week...a whole industry has been built on this model. Radio is familiar to everyone so to move too far away from the radio station model might be a poor choice. You have to eliminate or minimize the negative 'factors' of broadcast radio.
The campaign is the idea that you're working at a computer, listen while you work with the internet station instead of the little radio by your desk.
I think it can work. I think local internet radio is an exceptional idea. I think it will be a tough road to travel but I think a creative person can build the model everyone else will follow and be miles ahead of any competition by the time the idea catches on and other people start seeing dollar signs. Again, I use eBay as an example. Compare eBay to any other auction site. Compare McDonald's to any other fast food competitor. Who wins in sales? McDonald's is still number one and has been for decades because they blazed the trail. eBay is still the leader because they blazed the trail. McDonald's and eBay have all the answers their competitors wish they had. If neither had blazed the trail, they'd just be followers trying to nip at the heels of the leaders.
You have to ask how many listeners can you get? Can you develop enough listeners to get small businesses to pay to be on your site with possible mentions on the station? Certainly sponsor packages need to be priced low enough that just one or two customers each month can pay for the sponsorship package. I worked a station with a small audience but always got car dealers on because if they sold one car to one of my listeners it would cover the advertising. In other words, it was a pretty safe bet, so they ponied up the cash.
Granted, it is an uphill climb, but there always have to be pioneers before the settlers rush in.
As for advertisers, here's some simple observations: every small business feels a need for an online presence. They all want a website. Thus, it is logical that an internet station that targets their area might be a good choice for advertising dollars. The internet station might offer a page on their site or coupon and contact information.
A local internet station promotes through the business community to push 'listen while you work'.
On air would have to differ enough from broadcast radio to distinguish itself with the elements most prized by radio listeners (after all you're trying to take the person from the radio to online listening). Broadcast radio is a good model to follow. If you disagree, look at how many listen to radio every week...a whole industry has been built on this model. Radio is familiar to everyone so to move too far away from the radio station model might be a poor choice. You have to eliminate or minimize the negative 'factors' of broadcast radio.
The campaign is the idea that you're working at a computer, listen while you work with the internet station instead of the little radio by your desk.
I think it can work. I think local internet radio is an exceptional idea. I think it will be a tough road to travel but I think a creative person can build the model everyone else will follow and be miles ahead of any competition by the time the idea catches on and other people start seeing dollar signs. Again, I use eBay as an example. Compare eBay to any other auction site. Compare McDonald's to any other fast food competitor. Who wins in sales? McDonald's is still number one and has been for decades because they blazed the trail. eBay is still the leader because they blazed the trail. McDonald's and eBay have all the answers their competitors wish they had. If neither had blazed the trail, they'd just be followers trying to nip at the heels of the leaders.
You have to ask how many listeners can you get? Can you develop enough listeners to get small businesses to pay to be on your site with possible mentions on the station? Certainly sponsor packages need to be priced low enough that just one or two customers each month can pay for the sponsorship package. I worked a station with a small audience but always got car dealers on because if they sold one car to one of my listeners it would cover the advertising. In other words, it was a pretty safe bet, so they ponied up the cash.
When I began streaming back in 2001, no one knew where it was going, or if there was any future in it. Including me. After all, since it was still quite new, not many stations were on board. I was working for an AM daytimer that didn't stream, so I formed my own little company/streaming station and just started doing it myself.
My station is local to Tallahassee, Fla., but I also use our Facebook page to promote events throughout North Florida and South Georgia. I consider our listener base to be pretty small, but
there are a lot of "drive by" listeners that listen to the stream for a bit to see if they like us or not.
Those that do, can set us as a "preset" on the computer. We also are seeing more listeners on mobile devices, such as the Android, etc.
For me, this appears to be the only real way to stay involved in the radio business. When I'm live on the air (weekdays 1 to 5 pm Eastern now) almost everything on terrestrial is voice tracked or syndicated. All the corporate bloodbaths are starting to boost my Internet station's numbers. We've launched more than 177,000 streams, and a great deal of that growth has been in the last year.
I take requests via email, Twitter or the Shout-Out box on the Live365 home page. I get a pretty good number of requests, but they do come in from all over. It's also not uncommon to hear from listeners in their 60s, 70s, and I even have a few in their 80s. I play the requests back during the afternoon, making sure to remain compliant with the DMCA. I do have a format clock so the hits are aired, but I also play classic (country, in my station's case, including some deeper cuts not heard too often.)
Getting a decent amount of revenue is indeed quite a battle. The station is represented by several ad agencies and I also do some selling. The agencies are sometimes able to get accounts like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and others that I probably couldn't get by myself.
I was in terrestrial radio for a long time (1979 to 2004) and what has happened to the industry saddens me, especially the mediocrity of the product. One AM station apparently was off the air for days before anyone noticed. (Including me, until I received a call from an absentee manager asking if I could verify if they were on the air or not. I discovered no carrier and no audio.)
So to those who are trying to make this work: just don't quit. Yes, it gets discouraging. I have come so close to throwing in the towel from time to time. I just take a couple of days off and then feel ready to "give it another day."
My station is local to Tallahassee, Fla., but I also use our Facebook page to promote events throughout North Florida and South Georgia. I consider our listener base to be pretty small, but
there are a lot of "drive by" listeners that listen to the stream for a bit to see if they like us or not.
Those that do, can set us as a "preset" on the computer. We also are seeing more listeners on mobile devices, such as the Android, etc.
For me, this appears to be the only real way to stay involved in the radio business. When I'm live on the air (weekdays 1 to 5 pm Eastern now) almost everything on terrestrial is voice tracked or syndicated. All the corporate bloodbaths are starting to boost my Internet station's numbers. We've launched more than 177,000 streams, and a great deal of that growth has been in the last year.
I take requests via email, Twitter or the Shout-Out box on the Live365 home page. I get a pretty good number of requests, but they do come in from all over. It's also not uncommon to hear from listeners in their 60s, 70s, and I even have a few in their 80s. I play the requests back during the afternoon, making sure to remain compliant with the DMCA. I do have a format clock so the hits are aired, but I also play classic (country, in my station's case, including some deeper cuts not heard too often.)
Getting a decent amount of revenue is indeed quite a battle. The station is represented by several ad agencies and I also do some selling. The agencies are sometimes able to get accounts like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and others that I probably couldn't get by myself.
I was in terrestrial radio for a long time (1979 to 2004) and what has happened to the industry saddens me, especially the mediocrity of the product. One AM station apparently was off the air for days before anyone noticed. (Including me, until I received a call from an absentee manager asking if I could verify if they were on the air or not. I discovered no carrier and no audio.)
So to those who are trying to make this work: just don't quit. Yes, it gets discouraging. I have come so close to throwing in the towel from time to time. I just take a couple of days off and then feel ready to "give it another day."
Alan McCall said:
We have long been familiar with the "absentee owner" but the idea of an "absentee manager" is a whole new level of change.
Bernal has more problems with the FCC, this time at KVOZ Del Mar Hills (Laredo), for failure to maintain a studio in their community of license and failure to maintain and make the public file available: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db1027/DA-11-1798A1.txt
Bernal wanted the fine reduced due to "financial hardship" but apparently the FCC isn't buying it. They say he owes them $21,000.
Bernal wanted the fine reduced due to "financial hardship" but apparently the FCC isn't buying it. They say he owes them $21,000.
I thank you all for your feedback on this topic. It has been very educational and enlightening. As I said in the initial post, the idea would be to run this station very much like a terrestrial station, just not over the air. I've seen lately that some local personalities have gotten some pretty good numbers with podcasts locally, both those that are still on the "air" and those that no longer have a station. Some are even still doing remotes and appearances based on those podcasts and social media promotion. I know that the first thing that most people think of is streaming music, but I don't think that is viable unless it is something unique and local. To me, personalities are the key to an operation like this, and personalities can be sold and promoted. I envision having studio and office with a sales and promotion staff and possibly a production department. There would be a standard broadcast day, mostly to keep up the interaction with the public through tweets, emails and phone calls, but all content would be available on podcast as well. Again, I appreciate your feedback and input.
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