There is more to building an online listener community than simply putting up a message board—you have to build trust, credibility and provide the right motivation. The good news: there is an oft-neglected part of your audience who is more than willing to help—if you treat them right.
Tom Webster
Whatever you think about negative campaign ads, there can be little doubt after the events of recent weeks that they get attention. So why was so much of radio timid about fighting satellite radio (which has spent years attacking its terrestrial competition) on their own terms? If you missed Larry Rosin’s recent R&R article, read it here.
Tom Webster
The Christian AC format is growing, but there’s still a lot of spiritually themed music that format can’t play, including some huge multi-format hits such as “Meant To Live.” Learning to accommodate younger leaning music was responsible for format breakthroughs at Country, Spanish, Urban and Rock radio. So is it Christian’s turn?
Tom Webster
Clear Channel isn’t the first group to announce that its stations will only broadcast 10 minutes of spots an hour, but its recent spotload initiative announcement has focused attention on radio in a way that may benefit all broadcasters. While fewer commercials will make any station more listenable, they won’t automatically make stations more compelling.
Tom Webster
The last few months have seen numerous heritage Top 40s, usually under attack from the Rhythmic end, walk away from their call letters or format or both. But in this week’s contrarian Ross On Radio, Sean Ross suggests that not only aren’t heritage calls an insurmountable problem, they may be all a station has to fall back on.
Tom Webster
After two years, detractors of Canada’s Jack/Bob classic hits/Hot AC hybrids finally saw some indication that the format juggernaut’s numbers were declining. But is it just the passage of time at work here? Or are there other factors?
Tom Webster
We’ve had throwback jerseys and retro editions of consumer goods. So what would happen if somebody took, say, Mike Joseph’s “Hot Hits” format and plopped it back on one of its old frequencies? Is it time for a throwback station?
Tom Webster
Not surprisingly, all-Christmas stations that saw their numbers spike in the fall book ended up giving back much of that boost in the winter book, and few managed to put two up books together. But the losses were still less than what stations picked up during the fall, particularly when you looked only at FM stations. And Christmas stations still finished slightly ahead of where they were last winter.
Tom Webster
You didn’t really think teen pop was going away, did you? Even if programmers thought they could wish it away, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Stacie Orrico, and their friends had other plans.
Tom Webster
It’s often taken for granted that the answer to the new PD’s query, “Why haven’t we ever played this song,” is always, “Because everybody knows it doesn’t test.” But that’s not the case every time. After working with some stations on their spring list, there are more hits out there—if you’re willing to look for them.
Tom Webster
Congress and the FCC may be forcing broadcasters to dial back their edgier on-air content, but indecency was only one aspect of the adversarial relationship that many broadcasters have fostered with their communities in recent years.
Tom Webster
When Country radio’s two major trades cut their chart panel last fall, one of the rationales was a desire to help break new artists and speed up the 6-8 months that it takes to break any but the most obvious country single. But a comparison of the country chart then and now shows that songs are actually taking even longer to climb the charts. And new artists aren’t any more represented in the top 10 than they were in October.
Tom Webster