Week of October 22, 2007

Friday 10/26, 2007

What if your car could receive the internet? More importantly, internet audio from around the world? As a GM, you would now compete with at least 8,000 other radio stations. Crazy? Ford is joining up with Microsoft to provide internet capabilities in their 2007 cars. Yep, 2007! Yikes! It pretty much answers the question about streaming. Can you afford not to? How strong are your local brands? Can they withstand an invasion of stations from outside your market? How will you sell it? The future is coming, no really! We can't ignore it anymore. Have a great weekend!

Thursday 10/25, 2007

This week we are looking at a few of the "future" changes in front of the radio industry in 2008. As a general manager, you will be faced with operating in a whole new environment. Yesterday we examined the new PPM from Arbitron. (look back) Today, let's spend a minute on HD. Despite what corporate says, HD has a long way to go to gain acceptance. Do you have a plan? Hint, success of the new band will not be half baked formats put together in the MD's spare time.

Wednesday 10/24, 2007

Can you imagine Arbitron Ratings without the diary? No more guessing what was listened to the previous week. The PPM (Portable People Meter) will record it all, as it actually occurs. What if you could go to a web site and "see" your actual ratings in real time? Would you play the same song, spot, or talk the way you do now if you actually saw your station losing audience, in real time? The PPM will not do "real time" audience delivery....yet. But, will see weekly ratings. Overnights can't be far away. More here. http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/home.htm.

The future continues tomorrow.....

Tuesday 10/23, 2007

2008 Budgets? Let's plan the year with the following premise. There is no way we are going to succeed running radio stations the same way we did in 2007. HD, PPM, WiFi, and other technological changes will force us to adapt or pay the price. There will be more changes to the basics of running a radio cluster this coming year than anytime in the past 25 years. Are you planning your budget accordingly? More tomorrow.

Monday 10/22, 2007

Today is the day you review expenses for the month to date. Are we on track? Are the costs in line with (or less than) budget? October expenses are usually one of your biggest of the year. (Fall marketing money is spent here if you are one of the lucky ones). Don't lose track of it. Pacing ahead of budget? Controlling expenses in October really turbo's the Q4 bottom line.