TORONTO – Radio is killing the radio star and needs a rebuilt system focused on creating local content if it’s ever to bring audiences back from listening to music on the Internet. That was the consensus from an industry panel (pictured) on the state of radio held last week at the Ontario Association of Broadcasters 2018 Conference at the Toronto Airport Marriott.
“Music has become commoditized,” argued Geoff Poulton, president of Vista Radio, which owns 41 smaller market radio stations in B.C, Alberta, Ontario and the Northwest Territories.
“You used to compete on music in the good old days. We have lost that. The only advantage we have is our local reflection and our news elements we have in our communities. That’s why we have invested heavily on digital portals in our community. It’s the last frontier for us, if we lose that we might as well fold up the tent,” added Poulton.
Vista Radio is now spending heavily on training talent to develop locally relevant content for the air, and on research regarding what listeners want to hear on talk breaks, explained Poulton. “Not surprisingly, celebrity gossip is dead last. Surprisingly, I hear an awful lot of it on every other radio station I listen to.”
He adds Vista Radio has made it a priority to measure the amount of local content on its stations. “We have actually budgeted our talent to hit a certain number on what we call a 1, 3, 5 system; five meaning highly local relevant and one meaning a do-over. That’s how important we see this last frontier we have in our markets.”
Acadia Broadcasting’s president Chris Pearson said they focus on producing “hyper-local content” at their 14 radio stations in Atlantic Canada and Northern Ontario. Troy Reeb, SVP, news, radio station operations, Corus Entertainment, said its focus on local news talk has provided them a “40% lift” at their 39 stations in larger urban markets.
“You can’t create community only on the basis of geography. You have to create community around a certain type of music, a certain type of content and personalities.” – Troy Reeb, Corus Entertainment
“The core of what Chris and Geoff said about having to create a community is the same at Q107 in Toronto as it is at Moose FM in Muskoka,” added Reeb. “It’s just that you can’t create community only on the basis of geography. You have to create community around a certain type of music, a certain type of content and personalities. You draw people together that way. This is where radio has its biggest challenges and opportunities going up against social media, which has a hyper-targeted way of creating community across very diverse geography.”
Beyond online music providers, one of the important challenges facing radio stations is recruitment due to a lack of job security and the lack of a perceived “cool” factor, argued Pearson.
“People don’t see it as much of a career now because of that. We have invested in a personal development plan for every employee at Acadia Broadcasting. I’m huge on mentorship and very big on the succession planning side of things. We have to do a better job of attracting younger people and putting the cool back into radio again. We somewhat have sucked the coolness out of radio.”
In the end, Pearson noted anyone can buy the equipment and rent the transmitter site to start a station, but it comes back to the people if you want to be successful.
Reeb added that there was a time when local radio was the place to go to become a star. “If you were a kid and wanted to be a star, [radio] was your first step because it was the first connection to your community… now for a lot of young people, that has been replaced with wanting to be a YouTuber or a social media star. And we have continued that by somehow commoditizing those entry-level jobs and hiring people for $28,000 a year and churning them through. We would be far better in places that are economically challenged and in smaller markets by having fewer, better paid, bigger star systems around global talent.”
He added the lack of young talent looking for a career in radio means Corus is now looking beyond broadcast graduates to fill vacancies. “In the last six months, we have hired three stand-up comedians who are all doing great and probably would not have considered radio at all.”
“A lot of great talent has moved over to podcasting.” – Paul Jacobs, Jacobs Media
An earlier OAB panel, led by long time broadcaster and music historian Alan Cross, urged radio station managers and owners to look beyond their usual silos of “AM, FM and Cancon,” and figure out who in their communities is being successful with a podcast. “A lot of great talent has moved over to podcasting,” said consultant Paul Jacobs of Jacobs Media during that panel. “There is content creation happening in your towns that you don’t know about.”
With regards to radio sales, O’Neil added younger tuning isn’t “going over a cliff my any means. But just as TV tuning has evolved dramatically in the last 10 years, the interest of the younger audience needs to be well served, and we can’t assume they will stay because there is so much choice,” she added.
What has made matters worse is that measurement technologies have not kept pace with younger audiences choosing to stream music to their headphones, and that PPMs don’t work to capture this audience. “I would challenge Numeris to find a solution. There needs to be some kind of hybrid measurement of people who are listening to those radio stations online with headphones. There has to be some alternative way of capturing that audience. The problem now is we can’t monetize that audience.”
Poulton added that the industry has to completely reinvent how it captures ratings not only in large markets but also in smaller diary markets. “The fact that we can’t measure listening online with headphones other than to stick a stupid dongle into it is just crazy.”
On the topic of advertising, panel moderator James Cridland asked if the 30-second ad spot was still the way of the future. Sherry O’Neil, director at Cairns O’Neil Strategic Media, replied that 30-second spots will remain prevalent but that it would be wise for the industry to evolve.
“There have been some attempts to move dollars into promotions. But I really feel client promos are at odds with the goals of on-air promos for the most part. There are some great occasions when they come together to satisfy both parties, but they are few and far between. Music formats strive to build their music brand, and that entity is not well married to selling cars or RSPs.”
Poulton added that he is seeing a level of sophistication from advertisers he has never seen in the past. “They are a lot smarter [now]. So when you come to them with a marketing strategy it should be across multiple genres and platforms. But you are also only limited by your creative energy and the things you want to do for your client.”
Cridland then challenged the panel on how stations can compete against online subscription music providers such as Spotify, who don’t run ads at all.
“We need advertising to sound like you’re reflecting the community back at itself. And if you execute correctly, that becomes a bulwark against all these unregulated competitors.” – Geoff Poulton, Vista Radio
“Good commercials can’t make the station sound better but they don’t have to be a tune out factor” responded Poulton. “We need advertising to sound like you’re reflecting the community back at itself. And if you execute correctly, that becomes a bulwark against all these unregulated competitors.”
O’Neil noted that Cancon radio commitments also are no longer a hindrance for radio stations competing against online music providers. “We have one of the most vibrant music industries in the world. I would say most radio stations exceed the regulated amount they have to play.”
The panel members, not surprisingly, said they all welcome the coming CRTC hearings to address long-needed changes to how the industry is regulated. Susan Wheeler, VP, regulatory, at Rogers Media, said she was hopeful that a legislative review “would lessen the 'administrative red tape”’ involved when stations are sold and the time required to relaunch them.
