Saturday's Worldwide Radio Summit Sessions Cover Music, Talent, Social Media

Busy Day

Day two of the sold-out WORLDWIDE RADIO SUMMIT in HOLLYWOOD SATURDAY (4/30) featured panels on music, talent, and social media, as well as a performance by MELISSA ETHERIDGE and the announcement of the winners of the first WORLDWIDE RADIO SUMMIT INTERNATIONAL AWARDS. (Coverage of FRIDAY's events is available in FRIDAY's NET NEWS, including the keynote panel on radio's future, (a full replay of the live broadcast is here), a panel on new ways to monetize radio, a panel on balancing playing hits versus new music, JACOBS MEDIA's "Goin' Mobile" presentation, and the FRIDAY social media panel)

Among the SATURDAY highlights:

-A morning session featured music programmers talking about the "social network" and "community" aspects of radio, with consultant ALAN BURNS moderating a panel with EMMIS Rock WRXP/NEW YORK PD LESLIE FRAM, PREMIERE RADIO NETWORKS SVP/Programming JENNIFER LEIMGRUBER, TRITON MEDIA VP/Strategy JIM KERR, JACOBS MEDIA Digital and Social Media Strategist LORI LEWIS, and the AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION's national Rock TRIPLE J network PD CHRIS SCADDAN.

BURNS presented findings from a study about radio listeners' use of social networking and the Internet and what those findings say about radio's future, indicating that listeners are increasingly gravitating towards non-radio sources for music, and KERR discussed the difficulty of bringing a station's listeners together into a community, which he said is dependent on shared experiences. LEIMGRUBER looked at PREMIERE and CLEAR CHANNEL's efforts in the social and community realms, including the iHEARTRADIO app, contrasted to the "lonely and limited" PANDORA or iPOD playlists.

SCADDAN explained his station's "Hottest 100" promotion that includes the encouragement of fundraising "Hottest 100 parties" worldwide. FRAM highlighted the HISTORY CHANNEL "takeover" of WRXP and its online assets for its "ONLY IN AMERICA" that her VP/Market Manager ALEX CAMERON discussed in a session on FRIDAY, while LEWIS discussed the "five things radio needs to know about social media," including the social brand relationship and oversharing, the lack of present revenue from FACEBOOK activity (and that when someone "likes" your page, it doesn't mean they're giving permission for you to advertise to them), the problem of bringing users to your FACEBOOK page in volume for "one-night stands" rather than a smaller number of more committed users, why "size (of a business) doesn't matter" on FACEBOOK as opposed to whether the company cares, and asking what kind of relationship listeners want with a station.

- A session looking at the PPM was moderated by ALL ACCESS' own DR. JERRY BOULDING and featured MUSICRUNCH's ANTHONY ACAMPORA, ARBITRON's BRAD BEDFORD, CBS RADIO's DR. GARY HELLER, CPR's PAIGE NIENABER, RCS/MEDIABASE/MSCORE President PHILIPPE GENERALI, and AIRPLAY INTERNATIONAL's RICH MEYER. Presentations by BEDFORD on the company's progress with the meters and by GENERALI on MEDIA MONITORS' research analyzing SUPER BOWL radio listening to JOURNAL Talk WTMJ-A/MILWAUKEE and CLEAR CHANNEL Rock WDVE/PITTSBURGH, topics ranged from the effect of PPMs on personality and talk on music stations to distribution of the sample.

- A "hitmakers" panel brought music industry veterans like GLASSNOTE ENTERTAINMENT's DANIEL GLASS, COLUMBIA's LEE LEIPSNER, CHERRYTREE RECORDS and INTERSCOPE's MARTIN KIERSZENBAUM, EA GAMES' STEVE SCHNUR, BUG MUSIC's JOHN RUDOLPH, and JULIE HORTON of DIANE WARREN's REAL SONGS to talk about music's relationship to radio.

FONTANA DISTRIBUTION's RON SPAULDING moderated the session, which started with SCHNUR asserting that radio is "meaningless" to his company's video game music decisions but is critical to drive sales for the music the company publishes or distributes. RUDOLPH noted how radio picked up on a hidden video game track by THE NATIONAL after its existence became known; GLASS discussed the investment of money and time involved before launching a song into the radio market, describing the long gestational process of the music and PHOENIX' present work on their next album as an example, although he added that the investment of money is "not as much money as it used to be.. but it's expensive."

GLASS said he urges artists to release music faster, telling them that they don't have three years before releasing their next album. LEIPSNER and KIERSZENBAUM talked about how they approach radio with new releases, and RUDOLPH noted that radio has become "part of the process again," asking that radio not "underestimate your role in the creative cycle." GLASS urged radio to attend festivals and club shows to better gauge new bands' development.

- Social media expert and ALL ACCESS columnist JESSICA NORTHEY's panel brought EMMIS VP/Programming and KPWR (POWER 106)/LOS ANGELES PD JIMMY STEAL, consultant VALERIE GELLER, CNN music blogger "ARJAN WRITES" TIMMERMANS (the first credentialed blogger at the GRAMMYS), and YAHOO! MUSIC's JOHN LENAC together to talk about using TWITTER and FACEBOOK to build audience. STEAL said that his station keeps track of all tweets, and LENAC noted the role of editors in his companies' postings.

TIMMERMANS added, "it's really important to listen," stressing the importance of engagement and two-way conversation; GELLER said that where broadcasting was in the past a one-way street, responding to listeners in social media is critical. "What's the best salesman in the world?" GELLER asked, answering, "it's word of mouth" before warning that social media should not be used to oversell with relentless pressure. The panel's theme was for stations and talent to know why they want to be on TWITTER and FACEBOOK beyond the idea that they "need to be on there."

- A talent panel -- termed by moderator ANDREW PHILLIPS, Group PD at 105.7 ABC/DARWIN, AUSTRALIA (and former XFM/LONDON PD) as "Royalty Radio" -- included PHIL HENDRIE, BIG BOY, a merchandise-tossing RICK DEES, and DR. DREW PINSKY along with RYAN SEACREST PRODUCTIONS' TONY NOVIA, consultant RANDY LANE and agent GLENN GOLDSTEIN. While it was billed as being about talent development, the panel started in more of a light-hearted interview with the panelists talking about their starts in radio, their getting-fired stories, and whether they would run for president, before turning to how radio will develop the next wave of talent.

HENDRIE asked whether talk radio needs to be "OBAMA-bashing morning, noon or night"; PINSKY said of talk radio that "it's not just creating what the listener needs and wants ... it's about creating an event." LANE added that "personalities are the lifeblood of Talk radio and ... (for music stations) push the radio stations over the top."

NOVIA's urging that radio people be "rewired" into online, two-way communication with listeners drew HENDRIE's rejoinder that management often prevents talent from doing that. DEES sympathized with management for having to deal with talent that goes over the edge, but HENDRIE noted that the radio business' falling stock prices weren't the fault of talent. BIG BOY criticized how the PPM has affected talent, with pressure being placed on them to "go bam-bam-bam-get off." GOLDSTEIN called for radio to make an effort to recruit new talent, but NOVIA said that the problem started years ago and that the industry "needs to look in other places, the same places everyone else is looking"; GOLDSTEIN noted NOVIA's role in giving then-high schooler RYAN SEACREST his break at WSTR/ATLANTA but asked whether whoever is managing the station today would let a new talent like SEACREST in the door. But PINSKY said that "radio's not going anywhere. Radio is here to stay."

- The closing panel moderated by CYNDEE MAXWELL featured international radio and music industry representatives like PEER GROUP MEDIA founder and CEO ADAM ZAMMIT, consultant NIK GOODMAN, UK consulting firm ABSOLUTE & DOWSE's PAUL CHANTLER and PHIL DOWSE, EON MUSIC MEDIA CONSULTANCY's ROB GRAHAM, and POLLACK MUSIC GROUP's TOMMY HADGES. The session gave an overview of the radio business outside the U.S. CHANTLER presented an overview of INDIA's rapid development of new radio stations, including 700 stations being offered for auction this year and next. GOODMAN gave a presentation about U.K. radio, while GRAHAM covered PACIFIC ASIA.

Both days of the conference at the W HOLLYWOOD hotel included artist showcases and networking receptions at S.I.R. STUDIOS in HOLLYWOOD, hosted on FRIDAY by COLUMBIA RECORDS and on SATURDAY by INTERSCOPE/GEFFEN/A&M RECORDS. PREMIERE RADIO NETWORKS "SIXX SENSE" host and MOTLEY CRUE and SIXX A.M. bassist NIKKI SIXX appeared for an interview during FRIDAY's lunch session, while MELISSA ETHERIDGE played a two-song acoustic set and was interviewed about her new BENZTOWN syndicated radio show.

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