Radio Broadcasters Must Adapt to Technology, NABOB Speakers Say
Radio broadcasters need to adapt their businesses to keep pace with technological change, speakers on numerous panels said Wednesday at the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters' Fall Broadcast Management Conference. The increased competition in media, rise of online advertising and the shift toward measuring viewership through portable people meters (PPM) has changed the way stations now need to operate in order to remain viable, said Tony Gray, CEO of Gray Communications. The current climate has reduced the importance of radio personalities in generating an audience, Gray said. "This is the reality of the industry," he said.
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The ratings of stations that have long blocks of radio personalities talking have tended to fall under PPM measurement, Gray said. Stations that quickly return to "playing the hits" do better, he said. "I can put a computer on the air and get the same ratings or better" than with a DJ, Gray said. Cumulus' urban radio stations each have only a single on-air personality, Gray said.
Not everyone at the conference agreed with Gray. On-air personalities are important for stations to distinguish themselves from one another, especially to advertisers, said ad broker Sherman Kizart, managing director of Kizart Media Partners. "When we have one of the top programming minds in our industry make this kind of statement, that's scary," Kizart said of Gray. The current media environment doesn't mean radio stations should get rid of on-air talent, but hire and train talent adapted to the new media requirements, Emmis Communications Program Director Skip Dillard said. Such DJs should be digitally savvy, ready to work in shorter segments and combine their audio work with online video, Dilliard said.
Radio stations need to increase their focus on digital advertising, said Reach Media National Director-Sales Pandora Yeargin-Johnson. "It's only going to get bigger," she said. Digital ads will be an increasing chunk of radio revenue going forward, said Jeffrey Meyers of Personal Selling Principles. Stations can improve their engagement to digital advertising by investing in personnel familiar with online outlets and in tools to provide better analytics, said Radio One Director-Sales Samuel Tatum. Online advertisers expect robust analytics, he said.
The rise of online media has made it tough for radio broadcasters to attract investors, since it was believed the medium is obsolete, said Steve Roberts, president of Roberts Radio. In recent years, as radio has largely stayed steady, investment interest in radio has picked up, he said. There are increasing opportunities for minority- and female-owned broadcasters from investment funds that specialize in "emerging managers," said Edwin Shirley, senior adviser at Fairview Capital Partners. The FCC's newly loosened foreign ownership rules may also be an opportunity, panelists said. A coordinated effort to secure foreign funding for minority broadcasters, overseen by an organization like NABOB, would be the most effective, Shirley said.