It's All About The Content

"It's all about the content" -- that phrase is becoming cliché, and that's the problem. It's become so cliché, in fact, it's easy to forget. At the same time, there is a lot of technology buzz going on in our business. HD, streaming, satellite, and podcasting are most common. And we can expect the list of delivery methods to increase over time, not decrease.

All of these new methods for delivering content to our listeners are good news, but where is the content going to come from? As programmers, we need to think less about technology and delivery systems and focus on what we do best: creating unique and compelling content.

I promise you that consumers don't think about technology or delivery systems. They didn't sign up for XM or Sirius because they think it's cool to listen to music and programming on a satellite from up in space. They bought it because of the content. Commercial free music, plenty of diverse music choices, plus non-music programming that they cannot get anywhere else... like Howard Stern, sports, etc. Quiz your friends and neighbors or anyone outside of the radio business who has signed up and you'll find this to be true.

XM and Sirius seem to get the idea that they are in the business of creating unique content, without regard to delivery system. They certainly are not marketing the technology. They are marketing the content. It seems that we are doing just the opposite right now with the marketing of HD Radio. Most of what I've heard is focused on selling the technology and not specific programming choices. We need to market this technology with real benefits to the consumer, and that comes down to content. Even better if the content is market specific, or at least has a local twist.

Now, are XM and Sirius better than us at creating content? Of course not. Hey, where did they come from? Not "satellite radio programming school." They are simply creative programming people who are doing exactly what they have always done, perhaps with the advantage of fewer distractions than many radio PDs.

As programming people, we cannot afford to be distracted by technology or anything else that prevents us from focusing on creating and selling unique programming choices offered on all delivery platforms.

Local content is one advantage that terrestrial broadcasters have over satellite or Internet programming. But don't fool yourself. While local is very important, content is #1. If the content I want at the moment is local news or information, my local station wins. If my favorite personality is on a local station, my local station wins. If I want to hear great Classic Rock music, will my local station win? Depends. I have hundreds of places I can go to get great Classic Rock. What's going on (or NOT going on) between the songs is what will compel me to choose one over the other. The fact that it's a local station will have little to do with the decision.

Think about content that may or may not be music related, particularly for streaming. Many stations shy away from streaming because of royalties and other issues. What can you offer listeners and promote on-air that is unique to your radio station (brand) and your market?

Consider local high school sports, important council meetings, the old "radio swap-and-shop," re-broadcasting your morning show continuously each day (remove music and spots), a local music show, or a continuous loop of your morning newscast, updating it every 30 minutes. I'd encourage you to hold a brainstorming meeting with your staff and I'll bet you could fill a few pages with great ideas for content that you could develop easily and inexpensively that would truly be interesting to your audience. This content also presents separate sponsorship opportunities for your sales team.

It won't be long before the delivery system is totally invisible to the consumer. Hop in the car and the "new radio" will be capable of receiving every available platform and will navigate smoothly between them. Listeners will have thousands of choices at their fingertips. They may go to a local AM station for news and traffic, then over to a favorite morning show on FM, finally settling in on their favorite "all music" channel on the Internet. It will be as simple for them to move between these different delivery platforms as it is to navigate between stations on the AM-FM dial today.

This is no different than the way we watch television now. If you have cable or a dish, you surf between hundreds of choices without ever thinking about whether or not your favorite channels are "broadcast," "cable-only," or a "premium" service. You simply pick your favorites and navigate to them for one reason: the content you want at a particular moment.

Much of my listening at home and in-car these days is Internet radio. It's great because I can tune in to client stations while eating breakfast. I have wi-fi at home and listen on portable devices and in-car on my commute with my cell phone. My provider offers unlimited national broadband access for a reasonable monthly fee, so there are no "per minute" charges, and the phone connects to my car radio so the sound is quite good. I travel quite a bit, and have found very few places where the connection is not rock solid, even in some very remote locations.

I admit that my listening habits these days are a bit "geek" and perhaps ahead of the curve for the average consumer, but the curve is moving quickly and has come a long way in the past year.

The technology is here. We have new delivery platforms available today. What are we going to do with them? Niche music formats are not a bad idea, but if our creativity stops there we're dead. If you are a country station and decide to create a co-branded "new country" channel on HD-2 or the Internet, what will you do between the songs that nobody else can duplicate?