From the Corner Office

Anyone who has attended the February RAB get-togethers over the years has gotten used to expecting sessions about selling above the cost per point, or getting beyond the buyer.  While these and other topics were always valid, they focused on the traditional, over the air, agency-transactional parts of our business.

Well, this year is going to be different. How so, you ask?

Let's start with the keynoter for this year: Chris Anderson of Wired magazine is the man who wrote "The Long Tail", probably the most challenging concept to contemporary mass marketing.   "The Long Tail" is one of those rare books that opened my eyes to the seismic shifts that are overtaking our traditional marketing, advertising and radio selling philosophies.  I look forward to his view of radio's place in the changing consumer-centered universe and how we can profit from it.

Sheila Kirby and the RAB program committee worked very diligently to look at radio's complete inventory of assets from a number of different perspectives.  We're going to look at new interactions with our listeners, such as streaming, mobile, and other digital initiatives and how it can expand our usefulness to marketers and make new dollars for us.

New terminology such as "sponsored audio content" and "multiple consumer touchpoints" is being used by familiar names at new jobs or companies, such as Jimmy DeCastro, Deb Essayain, Mike Agovino, Ivan Braiker; the people who "went digital" when it was just a concept with potential.

There are many more topics and speakers packed into this year's event, and I invite you to visit the RAB website and check out the entire program for yourself.  If you have not kept up with the emerging digital marketplace, this is a great catch-up course for any of us.

And catch up we must, if radio as a business is to keep its local relevance and connection.  These digital extensions of our free, over-the-air signals are no longer just speculative ventures that may or may not pan out; they are necessary recreations of our core business that will keep us in contact with and relevant to our listeners and advertisers.

We are in the middle of an exciting expansion of radio's horizon and capability with the digital revolution.  And, despite all the naysayers, radio's doing quite well. With all the new choices available to consumers, radio has lost less than 5% of its total listening.  Radio components  within new devices are expanding our reach.  Did you know that one of the most popular and well received accessories for iPods is the FM tuner?  Did you notice that Microsoft included a radio tuner in its Zune device?  Technology companies have embraced radio; it is high time for radio to embrace the technological tidal wave, rather than swimming against it.   Regardless of the delivery system, radio will always have the unique advantage of being the local content provider.  We've got the facility and the talent; all we lack is the vision to move aggressively into custom, tailored content for these new delivery systems.

We need to understand all aspects of this rapid evolution in order to leverage our existing relationships with listeners and deepen and broaden them for their benefit and the benefit of our advertisers.  Radio must become "sponsored audio (and video) content" on a local level.  And that's a core redefinition of our business.

The sooner we get on with it at meetings like RAB2008, the healthier the future of our business will be.  These are the meetings that radio has to have to grow and thrive.

I look forward to seeing everybody in Atlanta.

Please feel free to e-mail me by clicking on the "Ask Peter" icon posted below. I would love to hear your feedback or answer any questions you may have.