Worldwide Radio Summit 2018 Friday: Talent, Music, Marketing

Full Day Of Events

The WORLDWIDE RADIO SUMMIT (WWRS) 2018's final day of sessions at the W HOTEL HOLLYWOOD included talk about talent, marketing, and music, with an all-star lineup of panelists and presenters.

FRIDAY's festivities began with CUMULUS/WESTWOOD ONE VP/Social and ALL ACCESS "MERGE" columnist LORI LEWIS moderating a panel looking at the future of radio marketing, with    TOWNSQUARE MEDIA SVP/Programming KURT JOHNSON, ENTERCOM Classic Hits Format Captain and Classic Hits WCBS-F-Hot AC WNEW (FRESH 102.7)/NEW YORK PD JIM RYAN, BAYERN 1-BAYERN 3-PULS/MUNICH PD WALTER SCHMICH, and CUMULUS VP/Top 40 CAT THOMAS participating. 

The panel discussed what makes radio brands iconic (RYAN called SCOTT SHANNON "the multi-million dollar advertising campaign we couldn't afford," instantly establishing WCBS-FM's credentials as an '80s music station; THOMAS advised "consistency, persistency, adaptability" and creating a "four-word mantra" for internal use to describe the station's brand, goal, and what it represents), evolving stations to remain relevant to the target audience, keeping stations in the moment, and extending brands with podcasts and social media (LEWIS pointed at TOM BARNARD's podcast as a successful use of that medium to extend his brand; JOHNSON advised "playing to the talents' strengths and amplify them" rather than forcing them to try to do everything).

SCHMICH told the story of how his BAYERN 3 morning team spontaneously created the "[R]Ed Club" in an interview with ED SHEERAN that went viral; THOMAS discussed how "the branding has to come from great content first," with examples of emotional morning show segments; JOHNSON brought up the power of TOWNSQUARE MEDIA Talk WKXW (NEW JERSEY 101.5)/TRENTON's "ASK THE GOVERNOR" show in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, with then-Gov. CHRIS CHRISTIE talking to affected listeners directly on the phone.

The panel closed with advice from the panelists; THOMAS advised stations to look for opportunities to be a part of listeners' lives, SCHMICH looked for enthusiasm on all platforms, RYAN told stations to know the answer to the question "what do you stand for?," and JOHNSON said "iconic brands are truth, because listeners know when you're lying."

DMR/INTERACTIVE President/COO ANDREW CURRAN focused on the relationship between radio listening and employment, a theme he referred to in his panel appearance THURSDAY, in a presentation that offered insights into AM/FM radio's dominance in the audio field (190 billion

gross minutes of listening in an average week versus 8 billion for streaming smartphone audio, including pure play digital services; for a month, radio gets 720 billion more minutes of listening than digital, and 19 of every 20 minutes spent with audio by Adults 18+ is with AM/FM over-the-air radio) and how radio disproportionately reaches people who are employed (and therefore would have more money to spend).  The unemployed, he said, are more likely to be home watching TV, explaining the ubiquity of commercials for trade schools and personal injury lawyers on daytime television.

CURRAN noted that younger audiences are "not great radio listeners," but that while 63% of employed 18-24s listen to AM/FM radio, 85% of the 25-54 employed audience listens, attributable to being more likely to work full-time.  He advised radio stations to deploy marketing strategies aimed at the employed to take advantage of the situation.

The winner of BENZTOWN's 7th annual IRON IMAGER contest is GLOBAL Top 40 95.8 CAPITAL FM/LONDON Audio Production Assistant SAM WICKENS, defeating defending champion NOVA ENTERTAINMENT Top 40 3MEL (NOVA 100)/MELBOURNE Network Imaging Producer BRAD LEASK.

Both entries were Top 40 promos incorporating Alexa and Siri voices to promote smart speaker skills.  BENZTOWN Director of Programming and Imaging SCOTT MAYTON (the artist formerly known as JUSTIN CASE) presented the championship belt to WICKENS.

A split panel on production and imaging sponsored by VCREATIVE's VPromotions platform featured voiceover stars RANDY THOMAS, HOWARD COGAN, and RACHEL MCGRATH and agent LISA MARBER-RICH of ATLAS on the voiceover segment and IMAGING BLUEPRINT/CONTRABAND MEDIA CEO ADAM BURGESS, MERUELO MEDIA Top 40/Rhythmic KPWR (POWER 106)/LOS ANGELES Imaging Director ANDREW SMOOTH, EMMIS Top 40/Rhythmic WQHT (HOT 97)/NEW YORK Imaging Director DOM NERO, and SOUTHERN CROSS AUSTEREO HIT NETWORK and 2DAYFM Head of Production and REELWORLD producer DAVID KONSKY for the imaging segment.  K3 CREATIVE President and former iHEARTMEDIA VP/Imaging "KELLY KELLY KELLY" DOHERTY moderated both segments, which delved into how v/o and imaging work to create effective branding for radio.

On the voiceover panel, COGAN ran down some of the lessons he learned as the longtime voice of JACK FM, including the need to write to the voiceover talent's voice rather than to the voice in the agency writer's head, imaging should fit the station's brand, "imaging won't make you rich" (because radio companies don't want to spend money and too many people are doing it), "be polarizing if you want to win in the end... nothing interesting happens if you try to be all things to all people," and "what you don't do is as important as what you DO do."

MARBER-RICH offered some essentials for success in voiceovers, characterizing a good voice and a good studio as the "bare minimum"; the goal is to become part of the station's team and to be indispensable.  THOMAS, after taking a moment to offer kudos to "Radio's Best Friend" ART VUOLO in the audience, discussed her glass-ceiling-busting achievements, noting that she has been the primary voice on most of her client stations.  And MCGRATH talked about the advantages of being a Millennial in the business, being able to advise copy writers on making material authentic for younger generations.

The imaging panel offered advice on production that ranged from SMOOTH talking about imaging that gives the PD "a boner" to BURGESS, discussing the politics of working on a station staff, asserting that staff imagers don't get the love from programmers that they deserve (nor the equipment they need, which, for him as an independent, is no longer the case).  NERO said that he does not want his imaging to get in the way of the music, because listeners "aren't there for the imaging."  KONSKY said "our role is to create a piece of audio that sells an experience" to draw people to listen to the radio station.

COLEMAN INSIGHTS' WARREN KURTZMAN, JOHN BOYNE, and SAM MILKMAN followed with a presentation counseling radio to look at their stations from the outside to understand how listeners truly see them. BOYNE stressed the need to know what "real consumers" think about radio, and outlined differences between "inside" and "outside" thinking, including how those inside a station think people "care deeply about radio" when they don't, are paying close attention when they're really don't notice a lot of what radio does, and can be easily manipulated. MILKMAN added that outside thinking reveals that people do things like listening to radio out of habit, and that listening occasions are driven by basic needs -- reliving memories, mood improvement, relaxation, staying in touch, and avoiding boredom.  

KURTZMAN looked at the importance of managing perceptions, getting your radio station to be top-of-mind when a potential listener decides to turn on the radio; he showed COLEMAN's "Image Pyramid" to explain how successful stations develop images that are more than just the base music or talk position, adding personality, specialty programming, contesting, marketing, news and information, and community. He also said that great radio stations wrap the elements in a "brand essence" that resonates with listeners, and the most successful stations stress both a strong brand and great content, illustrating the latter with COLEMAN's "Brand-Content Matrix" and noting how some brand enhancers -- such as radiothons -- may both reinforce the station's community connection but also be a tune-out for listeners. KURTZMAN explained the importance of language in establishing how people describe and think of radio stations, using the correct words to convey what the station is all about, and he closed with a talk about understanding listeners' lifestyles.

The pre-lunch session centered on the rise of playlists as a key to music consumption by Millennials and how that impacts radio as the more traditional curator of music listening. The panel, moderated by consultant ANDREW PHILLIPS, included iHEARTMEDIA EVP/Global Music Marketing ALISSA POLLACK, NIELSEN MUSIC Dir./Radio HALEY JONES, SIRIUSXM VP/Pop and PD of HITS1 and VENUS KID KELLY, WARNER MUSIC GROUP Dir./Playlist Programming & Development MICHAEL STEELE, PANDORA Sr. Dir./Artist & Label Relations MIKE FINK, and 7DIGITAL Deputy CEO PETE DOWNTON.

The Industry Awards Luncheon, sponsored by STEVE KAMER VOICEOVERS, included the announcement of the winners of the honors and a performance by SHAYNA LEIGH.  See the separate story in NET NEWS after 2:40p (PT) for the complete list of winners.

The annual live music test conducted with STATEGIC SOLUTIONS RESEARCH meters and SOUNDOUT research, moderated by A&R WORLDWIDE's SAT BISLA, pitted a panel of radio and music pros against radio and music pros in the audience; the panel featured D&D ENDEAVORS' DAVID NATHAN, MERUELO MEDIA Top 40/Rhythmic KPWR (POWER 106)/LOS ANGELES' DJ FELLI FEL, CONCORD MUSIC GROUP SVP/Promotion JILL WEINDORF, ENTERCOM Alternative KROQ/LOS ANGELES MD MILES ANZALDO, DISNEY MUSIC GROUP SVP/Creative and Head of A&R MIO VUKOVIC, and CUMULUS VP/Hot AC Programming and Hot AC WRQX (MIX 107.3)/WASHINGTON PD ROB ROBERTS.

PHILLIPS returned with an panel on music discovery on a global level, with METRO RADIO FM94.5/BEIJING Channel Director YIRONG DAI, SABC/SOUTH AFRICA GM LEUBA RAMAKGOLO, RTE2FM/DUBLIN Dir. of Music ALAN SWAN, and COLUMBIA EVP/Promotion LEE LEIPSNER.

Sessions closed with the annual panel of air talent, this year moderated by ENTERCOM Classic Hits WCBS-F/NEW YORK morning host SCOTT SHANNON and featuring iHEARTMEDIA Alternative KYSR (ALT 98.7)/LOS ANGELES and syndicated "THE WOODY SHOW" morning man JEFF "WOODY" FIFE, RIVIERA Top 40/Rhythmic KKFR-K241BQ (POWER 98.3& 96.1)/PHOENIX morning host and syndicated host TINO COCHINO, SERVICE BROADCASTING Urban KKDA (K104)/DALLAS and COMPASS MEDIA NETWORKS host DEDE MCGUIRE, "ASIA POP 40" host DOMINIC LAU, and ENTERCOM Top 40 KLUC/LAS VEGAS morning man CHET BUCHANAN.

The session included stories galore, including WOODY telling about meeting SHANNON when he was in high school in NEW JERSEY and SHANNON was doing mornings at WPLJ/NEW YORK, resulting in WOODY wearing a hot pink WPLJ t-shirt.  BUCHANAN had his own SHANNON story, getting a call from SHANNON while working in SEATTLE and thinking that it was someone doing a SCOTT SHANNON impression, then interviewing with SHANNON for PIRATE RADIO and failing to dress the part.

DEDE related her origin story as a receptionist at a Country station in KILLEEN-FORT HOOD, TX, getting a shot for an on-air job at the station owner's behest (as "Misty Morgan") but after hearing a comment about the station not wanting to "put a black girl on this station," she sent a tape to the competition and got a job doing middays, where a staff meeting she thought was meant to fire her turned out to be a celebration of her having the station's highest ratings.  COCHINO said he walked out of junior high school to find a radio station remote in the parking lot and was inspired (and encouraged by his grandmother) to pursue a radio career, going to station remotes and getting recruited to be on the street team.

WOODY talked about starting "WJKR," a fake radio station, to make tapes, crediting ALL ACCESS' own DAVE HOEFFEL, then at WPST/TRENTON, with helping him, then getting an internship while in boarding school in BEND, OR before becoming a radio vagabond in several markets; asked by SHANNON when he knew he could be good at radio, WOODY said that he hasn't felt that way ("I'm my harshest critic") but got into the business just because "I love radio."

The secret to doing a good show, according to DEDE, is to "keep the room light," recalling her experience as co-host with the late DOUG BANKS ("the best teacher ... he had that likability thing going on, and I hope to God I got it"). COCHINO stressed relatability and being on every platform; BUCHANAN talked about being a "bigger than life" part of the community, from scrambling to get on the air live from SAN DIEGO when the OCTOBER 1st mass shooting took place in LAS VEGAS to growing a playoff beard for the VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS and getting the city to ban teal (the primary color of the SAN JOSE SHARKS, the KNIGHTS' playoff opponents).

Regarding PPM rules and benchmarks, WOODY said that "our show should never work" but does because of chemistry, prep, authenticity, and keeping things moving ("we have so much content"). Reading a quote that said "never trade authenticity for approval," he criticized people who, for example, have jumped on the VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS bandwagon and pretend to be big fans despite not knowing hockey, preferring that they admit not being fans but that they're now getting into it.

SHANNON warned against relying too much on putting content on social media, saying, "If you suck, you're gonna suck on multiple platforms;" WOODY suggested that PPM has "screwed up radio," leading to short boring segments, breaking at exactly :13, and over-reliance on "science," asking if ORSON WELLES would have been able to do "WAR OF THE WORLDS" in a PPM era ("Do you think ORSON WELLES could have convinced people that aliens landed on Earth in PPM?"). Early on in PPM, DEDE said, her PD would hand her transcripts of breaks with word counts, and challenged her to say the same thing in fewer words, an exercise she said helped her be more concise.

The panel also discussed the use and definition of cast members and characters (WOODY saying character development is "who we are" but voicing a dislike for regular callers as characters), and SHANNON took a shot at CUMULUS ("We kill radio stations! ... I know, MIKE (MCVAY), that's over now"). And the stories weren't confined to the panel, as SHANNON's Z100 compatriot KID KELLY took the mic to exchange stories with SHANNON.

The day, and the SUMMIT, will conclude with a networking cocktail party sponsored by ABC RADIO and featuring performances by JULIAN and JAGMAC and DJ AUTO.

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