NABOB & The Power Of Urban Radio Forum Final Day Highlights

In Washington, D.C

THE NABOB FOUNDATION’s 39th Annual FALL BROADCAST MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE in cooperation with the 15th POWER OF URBAN RADIO FORUM wrapped up YESTERDAY (10/8) with a full slate of panels and sessions

Dialog With The Commissioners

This session was a dialog of one Commissioner, as due to unforeseen circumstances Commissioner AJIT PAI could not attend. NABOB Exec. Dir. JIM WINSTON moderated and discussed issues with FCC’s Commissioner MICHAEL O’ RILEY.

O' RILEY said the FCC Public Files will be moving online, but it will take a lot of man hours and time for the FCC and stations to complete the process. Because these areas are pending, he could not really address any new developments with FM translators and AM owners. O’RILEY did take aim at pirate radio by pointing to his recent draft enforcement plan.

Measuring the Power of The African American Consumer

This NIELSEN presentation was moderated by VP/Multicultural Growth and Strategy COURTNEY JONES and SVP/Product Leadership BILL ROSE. They addressed PPM sample work being done and diary improvements by diary stratification. ROSE noted the first ROI story came out last year connecting media usage with consumer uses, NIELSEN worked on a study with KATZ and an advertiser and matched consumer credit card use with exposure to a radio campaign and the effect on sales for each person. The study revealed a huge increase in purchases by those consumers in the exercise. The NIELSEN representatives were happy to explain the measurement enhancement through empowering APP’s and the SDK.

The room perked up when the presentation turned to NIELSEN’s new enhanced CBET, the company’s answer to VOLTAIR. It was pointed out the enhancement process had been in the works prior to all the VOLTAIR talk.

ROSE talked about the new enhanced CBET algorithm's key benefits, pointing out how watermarks have to be masked to hide them from being audible but still allow for detection. He said that the changes are intended to make the codes "more robust and stronger," improving code detection in challenging acoustic environments without compromising audio quality. He added that the new codes will be uniform across all stations, a veiled reference to how the use of VOLTAIR is not equal among all clients. He went on to  explain the company's lab testing, including looking at audibility, making sure detection rates for each encoder type are uniform in all sound environments, exaggerated high noise tests, and testing content.

Seven stations using VOLTAIR were tested with two layers using one layer with legacy CBET plus VOLTAIR, and another with enhanced CBET with no VOLTAIR. The results, NIELSEN said, were similar, with the index of change in listening versus the previous three weeks being 111 for the VOLTAIR layer and 115 for the new CBET. The conclusions NIELSEN took from the tests were that the enhanced CBET will improve detection, positively impacting AQH persons and ratings and performing at a similar rate to VOLTAIR.

The launch of the enhanced CBET is planned for MONDAY OCTOBER 12th in WASHINGTON, D.C. and BALTIMORE. The upgrade is planned to go live in all PPM markets in NOVEMBER and the enhanced encoding monitor is planned for 2016.

Pending Matters at FCC

NABOB Exec. Dir. JIM WINSTON stepped to the podium again to moderate upcoming issues at the FCC with FCC Associate Bureau Chief HOLLY SAUER, Media Bureau Chief BILL LAKE, and Chief of the Incentive Auction Task Force GARY EPSTEIN.

LAKE dealt with key elements of the SPECTRUM ACT issue for TV Broadcasters. He also addressed the sharing option and the entire process of how it works.

SAUER recapped the recent proposals of AM Revitalization and the 250-mile proposal, pertaining to FM translators and the 250 mile solution of allowing AM broadcasters to find one within the allotted distance and move it to their community. She also made note of Commissioner PAI’s commitment of having an FM translator option for AM owners .in for 2017.

EPSTEIN said enforcement is looking at dealing with identification issues, when he explained they want broadcasters to be aware of the rules and comply. The elections are coming and political programming has rules which need to be followed. There are a host of areas, new contest rules and follow the technical rules in place. SAUER was quick to note the new rules to contests are not required  but permissive, you can now direct listeners to your web site instead of putting all of the contest rules on the air.

EMMIS VP/GM DEON LEVINGSON asked what is being done about the Pirate radio issue in NEW YORK.  EPSTEIN told him that, "Pirate radio is an important part of our enforcement policy, our office deals with a lot of priorities while conducting the pirate search," adding it is resource intensive, we have limited resources and also have to handle safety issues.  We are focusing on the guys who are most visible and the repeaters. We are trying to handle the problem. At the beginning of the year in MIAMI and NEW YORK we shut down a bunch of pirates and its not an easy thing to do, in the last month or so we have done a second wave to focus our resources and have the biggest impact."

Special Guest

This years POWER OF URBAN LUNCH was highlighted by special guest speaker, Former U.S. Attorney General ERIC HOLDER. His address was aimed at the importance of beating back the latest attempts at disguised voter suppression tactics and deception. He stressed the importance for radio to educate, inform, and raise the awareness for voter registration.

Global Media CEO Panel

The panel which was designed to provide insight on how major buys are now being placed had RAB Pres./CEO ERICA FARBER moderate with OPTIMA USA CEO DAVE EHLERS,OMD USA CEO KATHLEEN BROOKBANKS, and MEDIAVEST CEO BRIAN TERKELSEN.

iHEARTMEDIA sponsored the panel and SVP/Operations EARL JONES provided some opening remarks and introduced FABER, who did some short panel introductions and moved right into Q&A.

EHLERS said he was seeing a lot of clients streamlining. BROOOKBANKS stated that there is so much to consider these days and clients don’t know what all the new rules are; it is a learning process. TERKELSEN added everyone’s business is under pressure, saying, "Digital is here and has not gone away, we are putting more dollars into it. Everyone’s business is not where it was. No one is dying, we’ re all still in business, but our goal is to get back where it was. Innovation cycles have changed, it’s changing much quicker."

BROOKBANKS noted the new formulas are based on actual behaviors and not reach as much.  Agencies are trying to figure how to drive business results On a different subject, BROOKBANKS said the GRP at some point will not be the standard, it is going to be awhile, but it will go away.

FARBER asked “Big data, what are you looking for?  Are you looking at how radio affects social metrics? Will it become important?

TARKELSEN noted the data story will not go away. He said, "How we harness and interpret will get augmented and require new skill sets. The opportunity for Urban radio will be what the data movement will do for audiences. If I can understand audiences to sell to, I want your audience and not your reach. Operating systems will take center stage, how and where you plug in will be the opportunity for Urban radio."

FARBER said, providing the data and being able to explain it, it is important. How do you see radio?"

EHLERS explained it’s about innovation and new ways to solve clients business problems.  BROOKSBANKS jumped in, saying, "I have seen an increase in national radio and a decrease in local radio, my agency is seeing that. It surprised me. I am an advocate for my clients business. If we can keep the conversation of what we are trying to do for our clients business, it changes the dialog. African-Americans have always been on the cutting edge of music and how it works into our cultural being over all, it does not get talked about enough, I see opportunity there."

TARKELSEN added, "radio does matter, we call it audio, we need to think through all the platforms out there, nothing has gone away with the introduction of any new platforms. Never had a client say we have a new product and I will start with radio. Not shiny and new, got to always go back to the connection with the core audience. There are rules; it’s a new world order. There are masses opportunities within your majority audience, it’s about how do we do it better."

BROOKSBANKS said the agency model will change and  we will be doing more planning in real time, it will take time but in five years, it will look very different.

Special One-One One NABOB and National Marketer Session

KJLH VP/GM KAREN SLADE and TOYOTA USA VP/African-American Strategy and JAMES COLON gave some eye opening information on the subject of Ethnic minority perception.

COLON presented factual statistics for Ethnic consumers. The metrics say by 2043, ethnic majorities will become the majority. "It is impacting our business now, one out of every four new cars is being purchased by ethnic consumers. The car industry is hot. This might be the best year ever."

Including Asians, Hispanics and African-Americans, over one million luxury vehicles are purchased by ethnic minority consumers. These metrics come from car registrations. By the way, the #1 luxury brand for African-Americans is the MERCEDES.

He added these dramatic shifts are huge and not just in small towns, it’s small and large cities across the country. AMERICA loves pick up trucks and small SUVs, etc. African-Americans are buying trucks, sedans and luxury cars. Women are driving growth to the automotive business; they comprise 40% of what is going on. Women are influences on automotive decisions. There are regional differences among women and car purchases.

SLADE added, "We need to understand his initiatives, goals and objectives of who we are selling to. She summarized, knowing these things will allow opportunities for us to sell a client."
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National Marketers Panel

CUMULUS/WESTWOOD ONE Chief Marketing Officer PIERRE BOUVARD introduced moderator ONE SOLUTION Pres. DETAVIO SAMUELS. On the panel were WALMART VP/Media WANDA YOUNG, STATE FARM Senior National Marketing Analyst CYNTHIA DAVENPORT, St. JUDES CHILDRENS RESEARCH Hospitals JASMINE BOYD, and NATIONWIDE INSURANCE Senior National Marketing Analyst RUBEN MINOR.

Before the panel got under way, BOUVARD shard with the audience, TV numbers are dropping sharply -- the reach is not the same. Radio levels are still consistent.

YOUNG noted African-American audiences are growing. DAVENPORT said, "We believe in radio, we do partnerships with a lot of companies. We believe in radio and measure our media results.  Radio has been good for us.  We want the highest return for what we spend."

MINOR told the room that he uses other platforms, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, SNAP SHOT and all the social media outlets to reach the consumer.  DAVENPORT said, "We love leads at STATE FARM. We look for what kind of branding we can get, what partnerships we can form."

SAMUELS posed the question “What are the touch points you are using to reach the audience?”

DAVENPORT said, "it's less transactional and more about relationships. We don’t like one-offs .. how can we connect, are we reaching the consumer culturally through our sponsorship? Gospel is a loyal market for example; the faith-based is all about education."

MINOR explained the element of trust is important, the listener needs to feel authenticity, as you market to the community, get the trust. YOUNG said, "We try to get the trust every customer across the racial spectrum. We are about reaching families. African-American women care about their families and we want to keep focusing on what the consumer thinks."

BOYD commented that at ST .JUDES, "We have loyal supporters, we are a brand a station partners with that has national trust. We have research to show why you should team up with us." DAVENPORT added, "The trust factor for us is very important. We don’t have a tangible product, with insurance, we sell trust. Building trust is a huge part of touch points with audiences."

SAMUELS asked the room to look at The power of Black media today.

MINOR explained, "Black media brings intentional branding to the table." MINOR pointed out, "As long as African-Americans exist, it will exist. Sometimes the influence floats to the negative, and things get blinded by the bling sometimes. We need to be responsible." YOUNG added, "We promote diversity, our company is designed to be diverse with general media, and Black media. Black media is Black culture."

BOYD countered, "We have a responsibility and we also have to recognize all Blacks are not monolithic. Media's responsibility is to reach people where they are. Minorities are diverse in themselves; one brush does not fit all. We have to look beyond segmentation, but I want to be everywhere."

YOUNG said, "I want to see me, but I want to go to Black media for intentionality to market to African-Americans."

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