TORONTO – The solution for what ails the radio industry is a forward-looking attitude and an ability to navigate the changing technological landscape. That was the main message from radio industry experts who spoke at a panel session at Canadian Music Week in Toronto on Thursday.
“Stop nostalgically looking back at the good ole’ days of radio,” said Fred Jacobs, president of Jacobs Media, a radio industry consulting firm based in Southfield, Mich. “It’s time to finally face some of the problems head on.”
While technological advances have changed the way music lovers consume their music, Jacobs said that radio’s true competitors have become Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt – some of the brightest minds in the digital world.
He added that the radio industry is in danger of letting its PPM fears overwhelm its senses, which leads to short-term ratings solutions that only end up diminishing radio stations’ brands.
“Getting better ratings does not mean we’re serving our customers better,” Jacobs said. And by customers, he meant both listeners and advertisers.
Chuck McCoy, executive vice-president of programming and marketing for Rogers Broadcasting in Toronto, said he isn’t concerned about the radio industry itself, but he is worried about those in the industry who are unwilling to adapt to the new digital reality.
“Radio is a resilient medium,” McCoy said, reminding attendees that television didn’t kill radio, and that the emergence of FM radio didn’t kill AM radio. “The distribution system of radio is the best there is.”
But there has been a “seismic shift in listening habits”, he acknowledged. “You can’t fight the technology. You have to embrace it.”
Rogers sends out 35,000 email alerts to fans of its radio stations each day, McCoy said, as an example of how his company uses technology. Rogers operates more than 50 radio stations across the country.
McCoy noted that it is often suggested in the radio industry that teenagers don’t listen to radio any more. But “the data doesn’t support that,” he said.
According to McCoy, recent data suggests that teens listen to radio more than 90 minutes a day. However, they augment their music listening with stored media, satellite radio and composite CDs, he said.
Another industry fear that has proven to be unfounded is the idea that drivers would rip out their car radios to switch to satellite radio or digital music players, said Mike McVay, president of McVay Media, a Cleveland-based media consulting firm.
“So we’d have big holes in our dashboard where the radio used to be,” McVay said. “Wait a second. Listeners aren’t going to get rid of one medium. They will add medium to it. Listeners collect.”
McVay said he has seen too many newspaper articles quoting people from the radio industry as being pessimistic about the future of radio.
“Stop apologizing for our format,” he scolded. “Stop giving ammunition to our competitors for why not to buy from us.”
McVay suggested that radio industry players in attendance educate themselves on emerging software technology that allows radio listeners to become their own programming directors, such as ‘Radio Jelly’ and ‘Listener Driven Radio’. He explained that Listener Driven Radio allows listeners to pick their favourite songs from a radio station’s playlist and receive email alerts when those songs are about to play.
While the majority of the panel speakers advocated a forward-looking approach to fixing the radio industry’s problems, at least one participant couldn’t help but reflect back on the days when on-air radio talent was allowed to develop.
“I believe that radio’s future as a leading-edge content provider is in danger because the people who create the content are getting older and that talent pool is drying up,” said veteran radio personality Humble Howard Glassman, now morning show co-host of Toronto’s Boom 97.3.
“We have an access barrier in our business,” said Glassman, who started as a radio DJ in Moose Jaw, SK, in the late 1970s. “When we all started, some of the older guys in the room, we all had all-night shows.”
Young people looking to get into radio aren’t given those opportunities any more, Glassman maintained. He said his “$75 solution” to foster new on-air talent is that radio stations hire young people to DJ their all-night shifts.
“I want to give them a five-hour shift at $15 per hour,” Glassman continued. “I want them to think working on radio is better than working at Wendy’s.”
“Mastering anything, any task, comes from about 10,000 hours. You need time to develop anything”, Glassman said quoting from Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Outliers.
The next generation of radio personalities need “access, opportunity and experience,” Glassman added. “Right now, young people don’t have time to percolate.”
One final suggestion on how to shake up the radio industry came from Blue Rodeo singer/songwriter Jim Cuddy.
“I pity radio programmers right now, because music has become so bland,” Cuddy said.
Referencing the recent Grammy Awards which featured pop artist Pink performing one of her songs while suspended in mid air, Cuddy said he’s come to the conclusion that music today “has become more about whether or not you can do a Cirque de Soleil act while you’re singing your song.”
Music on radio has become monochromatic, sounding the same from station to station as you turn the dial, according to Cuddy. “The risk has gone out of radio,” he said.
His suggestion? Radio stations should program an hour a day when they promote new Canadian music artists.
“The Arkells and Cuff the Duke are two bands that write beautiful songs”, he said. “They’re peppy little numbers, and it would surprise the shit out of anybody listening to (Toronto radio station) CHUM FM to hear that stuff.”
