Michael Robertson is best known as the founder of digital music pioneer MP3.com, but today he has an exciting new project, DAR.FM, that promises to transform the relationship radio fans have with their favorite radio content by enabling a “virtual DVR” for your favorite shows.

Michael is uniquely positioned to evaluate the cutting edge of technology and how it will impact radio across platforms, across devices, and even on the open road.

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What follows is an abbreviated transcript of our chat….

Michael, what is DAR.FM and why does it matter to the radio industry?

DAR.FM is based on a DVR concept that allows you to record things you like and listen when you like and applying it to radio. That’s why we call it DAR, the Digital Audio Recorder.

We have built a catalogue of about 5,000 radio stations and also a guide for those stations that allows people to record any of the stations or shows. So, if I’m a sports fan, I can go record Jim Rome. If I’m a politics fan, I can go record Rush Limbaugh. If I’m an NPR fan, I can record “All Things Considered.”

Our system knows what days the program is on and how long the show is. We record all of that for you much like a “season pass” on your DVR, and we do all this on the Internet. There’s no equipment for that user to buy, unlike your DVR and your TV.

Once you record it, you can listen from anywhere and that’s what’s really exciting. You can go to your personal computer at work, you can go to your laptop, you can use your Smartphone and listen to all of those shows, and just like on your DVR you can rewind, fast-forward, and find the stuff that you like.

We’re taking this amazing pile of radio content that today evaporates into space, and we’re allowing people to record it and listen to it on their schedule.

This is important because you’re enabling a degree of control that consumers are increasingly accustomed to in other areas of their media diet: The content should be available to you, the consumer, anywhere and you should have control over it your way, right?

Absolutely. That’s what people expect today. Thanks to the iPad and web pages and DVR’s, people expect all media – print, video and audio – to be available on their schedule and to be able to rewind and fast-forward and this is what we’re bringing to radio. We’re giving that capability to radio content, letting people listen to it on their schedule.

How is radio as an industry doing in giving the audience what they need in that regard? How good are our digital offerings right now?

I look at radio today and see it as basically being divorced from the Internet. There’s really no intersection between radio content and the Internet.

What I mean by that is that if you look at the emails you get or the Twitter feeds you read, you’ll see people saying, “Hey, go check out this article. Go look at this graphic, it’s amazing. This video was astonishing.” You will never see them say, “Hey, go look at this radio. Go listen to this radio content; I can’t believe this was said or talked about.”

Radio is almost invisible to the Internet and that has to change. And the first thing people need to be able to do is to record it, and then people need to be able to tell other people about it and say, “Oh my gosh, listen to what I heard.”

That has to be the evolution for radio to stay relevant in the Internet age.

Right now, I can point people to my stream but what’s on my stream now isn’t what was on my stream when I heard something fantastic, right?

Right.

But I can theoretically point people do a podcast that lives somewhere, can’t I, if something fantastic is there to be heard?

Right. But podcasts are only available for a tiny amount of the content. We looked at the top 20 radio shows, only 4 of them had podcasts. The other 16 didn’t have a podcast.

In other words, they were designed to be ephemeral. They were designed to exist and then cease to exist – no possibility of control, personalization, or sharing.

That’s right.

And the other big problem there is that when people point you to a YouTube video and it runs 35 minutes, you don’t watch it, right? People expect “chicken nuggets” now, not a six-course meal and that’s what radio is. We have these 3-hour blocks, 1-hour blocks, that’s too much. People want to dine and dash. And radio isn’t bite-size yet and it needs to be.

You need to be able to say, “Oh my God, I want to share this little clip with my friend so that that person will learn about this great show host or listen to this highlight or hear this great morning show.” People need the power to invite others to get engaged with radio. And that hasn’t happened yet, but it will come.

But with DAR.FM my ability to record the content that interests me doesn’t necessarily mean I can share that content with somebody else, does it?

It doesn’t today. Today we’re a personal recording service. But I think that’s part of the foundation we’re building up to. First people have to be able to record content.

When you look in our database today, we have about 22,000 radio shows across the United States.

And these are primarily talk shows.

These are primarily talk shows, right.

Ninety-five percent of them evaporate. Once they’re broadcast, they just evaporate. By design.

The first step is to capture them, to store them somewhere. Because once that storage happens then you can enable sharing or group discussion – all the things that people expect on the Internet today.

If you look at YouTube, there are a lot of videos that are a still photo with an audio track.

I know. Isn’t that amazing? People actually go to more effort to put the still photo in than they should have to in order to convey the audio content.

Right. That’s people saying, “Hey, I want to share. I need to share this. I want to include radio in the Internet but it’s just too hard to do,” and that has to change.

Otherwise radio is going to continue to see a decline in mind-share.

Why has radio been resistent to recognize this?

We all have this innate fear of the unknown, and I saw that when I was with the record labels and did MP3. They feared the unknown. They feared what the Internet could do, and it took a long time for them to realize, “Hey, this could be good for our business. We can actually make more money. We don’t have to deal with packaging and we can sell our old catalogue” and all these wonderful things. That’s where radio is today.

When I show people DAR, one of the first questions I get is “Hey, won’t they use that fast-forward to skip the commercials?” And this is not new, right? When TiVo came out ten years ago the TV guys said the same thing and yes, it’s true, some people skip commercials.

But a fascinating thing also happens: More people watch more TV. More people are engaged.

So even if you take out those commercials that were skipped, total TV viewing over the last ten years is up a whopping 40 percent. That’s huge.

So while DAR.FM may allow people to skip the commercials, it also allows people to get more of that content, to share more of it with others, and to turn on other people to the show and introduce new people to the station, right?

Right.

I contend that in any business, your number one issue is always marketing. It’s always awareness. How do people even know you exist?

Attention.

Exactly. And so as a smart business you must use every weapon you have to get that awareness because without that awareness you never get the audience to try to make money from.

And I think that’s where radio is. They’ve got to leverage these technologies so that they stay relevant. So they increasingly grab that attention from users and it doesn’t evaporate to social networks or move to videogames or move to YouTube or wherever.

Consumers don’t understand if the show they want to listen to is on during their drive to work, why can’t they listen to it on their drive home? That doesn’t make any sense to today’s consumer, and I agree with them, and that’s why we’re making Smartphone apps where you can listen to the first half of the show in the morning and the second half of the show when you’re doing your afternoon jog.

In terms of devices, the one we all want to talk about in radio nowadays is the car. How do you see the relationship between the mobile device and the car dashboard in the future? How engaged is your company in what’s going on in that dash?

We don’t spend one second working with any car companies because it’s a strategic choice. But here is our thought; the Smartphone is advancing so fast. If you look at any new Smartphone, the type of computation that’s in there and the screen and the memory is so phenomenal. It is generations ahead of anything in any car and it will only keep advancing.

So we believe what’s going to happen is that the cars are simply going to adapt to the Smartphone. You’re not going to have to work with Nissan and Ford and GM and 27 different car platforms which is what happens today, and it takes years of advance planning to get in there.

We believe the Smartphone is going to take over the entire market and the car is just going to become Smartphone-aware. It’s going to take your display from your Smartphone and stick it on a big screen and everything is going to come from a Smartphone and not from a proprietary car system that’s only in one make or model.

And DAR.FM allows me to circumvent the whole problem of bandwidth, right?

Exactly. Just use one of the apps that we provide which automatically download anything you’ve recorded while you’re at work over your company Wi-Fi. And then when you jump in your car or your subway or whatever, all those recordings are right there and you can play them without any data access. When you get home it will say there are some new recordings, and use your home Wi-Fi as well. At DAR we try to offer both streaming and downloading solutions.

The interesting thing about this is that none of it matters unless there’s content. We can have all the technology you can create but ultimately it comes down to great content worth hearing.

That’s true. And I would contend the content is out there but it’s hidden right now.

I ask people, “What is radio’s Pawn Stars?” It’s buried on the History Channel. You would never watch it except the DVR lets you record it, and it’s one of the highest ranked shows on cable.

What’s that equivalent for radio? It’s out there. But today it’s impossible to find because that great show host might be in St. Louis or Memphis or Tallahassee or whatever, and you have no way of knowing about them and getting that out to the world.

And radio needs to foster new talent so that it’s not just about music because if it’s just about music, they’re going to lose that market share to Pandora or iTunes.

Radio Ink made a classic mistake last week when it celebrated the strength of AM radio by trumpeting the financial success of the top radio brands, many of which happen to be on AM.

Why is this a mistake? Because it confuses the band with the brand.

AM radio is not what makes stations like WTOP and WFAN so successful. WTOP and WFAN are what make WTOP and WFAN so successful.

Indeed, the trajectory for AM radio in general is not pretty.

We generally assume that AM, like FM, is universal simply because it exists everywhere. But existing everywhere and being used by all people are two completely different things. And the usage of the AM band varies quite widely by market.

Arbitron was kind enough to run some numbers for me. They gathered a “market basket” of 15 medium and large PPM markets to answer this question: What fraction of the population in each market listens exclusively to FM stations (and not to AM at all)?

Among persons 6+, the answer was an average of 65%. That is, two out of three persons 6+ across these markets listen ONLY to FM. AM radio may be available to them, but it is not being used.

These numbers obviously vary widely by market – from a high of 81% FM exclusive in one market to a low of 49% in another (Arbitron has asked me not to share the identities of these markets, but if you’re a subscriber you can ping your nearest ARB rep). Your mileage will vary.

But note that the HIGHEST proportion of persons in any market in my sample who use AM radio was only half. And while I didn’t plot long-term trends over time, can there be any doubt what direction they’re moving in?

Well, you might say, but if only there were better things on the AM band then more people would listen to it…Says who? Are you in the business of attracting consumers to your brand – or to your band?! I suggest that the former is infinitely easier than the latter.

Just look at how this compares to online radio….

The most recent Edison/Arbitron stats indicate that 39% of persons 12+ listen to online radio in the last month. While the bases aren’t quite evenly matched (the ages differ slightly and the sample frame for Edison is monthly while for PPM it’s weekly), it’s almost possible to argue that online radio today reaches more consumers (39%) than AM radio does (35%, based on my sample of markets), and the trends are moving in opposite directions.

So the strength of many AM radio brands are testaments to those brands, not the band they live on. It is inevitable in my view that these brands will fare better on FM than on AM over the long run, simply because the distribution potential is greater on FM than on AM. There’s more “there” there on FM than on AM, and from this point forward there always will be.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that you can throw an FM competitor at an AM institution and kill it dead. Distribution may not be more important than institution – at least not yet.

It means that institutions deserve to breathe. They deserve the greatest possible distribution to maximize their audience potential, and the distribution on FM beats the distribution on AM.

The reason Pandora wants into the cars is because of the massive distribution potential there. The reason TV networks get higher ratings than cable nets do is because of distribution advantages. The reason why Living Social is better off with Clear Channel than without it is due to distribution.

Distribution, not “availability,” is what matters.

The future of AM radio is irrelevant. What matters is the future of your brands. Your clients buy your brands, not your tower.

 You should favor more distribution over less.

…or at least, not completely the right idea.

Consider the study from the IPG Media Lab and YuMe.com which examined “advertising in the wild” to assess the effects of “viewer distraction” in a TV-viewing habitat of numerous gadgets and gizmos.

One of the conclusions was that “smartphones are a persistent companion to video content.”

As the authors of the book Social TV: How Marketers Can Reach and Engage Audiences by Connecting Television to the Web, Social Media, and Mobile put it:

The key word here is “companion”—meaning “in addition to,” not “a replacement of.” Mobile certainly is not television’s enemy; it is instead an opportunity for broadcast networks, cable companies, equipment manufacturers, app developers, and advertisers to enhance the TV experience by connecting one medium to another.

In radio, our premise too often is that a mobile app is simply a new distribution mechanism for our existing content in a new channel.

While this is not completely wrong it vastly oversimplifies the opportunity for radio’s mobile experience from every perspective – our brand’s, our consumers’ and our advertisers’.

And it’s all because we’re asking the wrong question, which is generally ”How do I get my radio station on a mobile app in the cheapest possible way?” or “Should I or should I not be on IHeartRadio?”

A better question is “What companion experience to my radio station can provide value both to my consumers and my clients?” Note that the answer may have nothing to do with the radio stream itself., so while the stream has a place in an app it should not be the reason why an app exists.

The app should exist because your brand has fans and your brand has clients and your brand mediates relationships between them and you can monetize those relationships in a mobile space.

So what value can you add to your consumers and your clients, alike?

Consider a sports station or a station with a big morning show. The opportunities to provide interactive mobile games and polls and conversation between fans and on-air hosts boggle the mind. Seriously.

Consider a music station. Does your app allow me to explore the music on your station and music like it? Does it allow me to vote on your songs and pick your playlist?

We need to stop thinking of our mobile opportunities simply as distribution channels and imagine them instead to be companions for our over-the-air experience. New ways to attract and enhance loyalty and add value to consumers and advertisers in the presence of our brands.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO DAILY KOS LABOR ON SUN MAR 04, 2012 AT 12:55 PM PST.

ALSO REPUBLISHED BY DAILY KOS.

Social Entrepreneurship: A Budding Industry (of Sorts) in Detroit

Riddle me this: Where in Detroit or anywhere for that matter can you get a front row seat – free – to a veritable mini-concert of musical magic featuring Dave Mason (Traffic) , Mark Farner  (Grand Funk) and Rick Derringer? Try the UDetroit Cafe in Harmonie Park where these rock legends recently appeared both in person and on UDetroit’s new media offerings: UDetroit Web TV and UDetroit Radio.

The brainchild of Motown’s own musical maestros, Brian and Mark Pastoria, UDetroit’s multiple media platforms are housed in the Pastoria’s storied Harmonie Park Studios, whose soundboard has embraced the electronic impulses of a who’s who of recording artists, including Aretha Franklin, Eminem, The 4 Tops, Tori Amos, Black Crowes, Will.I.AM and countless others over the years.

UDetroit Radio/UDetroit TV is webcasted and live streamed each day and features Bob Bauer, longtime rock radio royalty in this town via his past stints with WABX-FM and WLLZ-FM. The music mix is wide ranging, often eclectic but always interesting, with a mind at all times on how to feature home grown. Where else can you hear Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac followed by The MC5. And, live artist performances and interviews are also a staple of the show, made all the more special with segment lengths that are not dictated by commercial breaks or Portable People Meter limitations, allowing one to really get to know what makes guests tick.

I watched the Mason-Farner-Derringer segment online last week (featuring an acoustic version of “We Just Disagree”) and witnessed Bauer’s show in-person yesterday. He’s a great interviewer and knows just about everyone in that scene. He and the Pastorias are onto something good here. U should really check them out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 at 3:47 pm by Don Tanner and is filed under Don Tanner, digital media, mass media, media, multi-media, music, radio,television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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What lesson does Apple’s just-departed Steve Jobs have for broadcasters?

As one Appler once told me, “Steve doesn’t think anybody listens to the radio.” And while this person’s tongue may have been placed slightly in cheek, it’s certainly true that Steve doesn’t think anybody should be limited to what they hear on the radio.

I once caught sight of Jobs on the Apple campus.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, and there was Steve talking to a coworker a few feet away.  As a result of his health issues he’s a slight man, almost unrecognizable in a crowd.  His presence does not shout “charisma,” nor does he seem to intend it to.  Yet his influence on commerce and culture has been unparalleled.

What broadcasters can learn from Jobs is what makes him different from the rest.

What makes Steve different is the force of his ideas and his ability and passion to execute them.

What makes Steve different is a relentless focus on innovation and an obsession on solving consumer problems elegantly, even ones we don’t yet know we have.

What makes Steve different is a recognition that trends are made to be surfed, and by the way, trends are very often made.

Indeed, “what business you’re in” is a function of the opportunities the marketplace presents as seen through the prism of your own company’s competitive advantages.  That’s why Apple is no longer Apple Computer. And it’s why “radio” is no longer the industry that elevated the head of your group to a leadership role.

Jobs knows that everything begins and ends with the consumer and the consumer is us.

Contrast that with the broadcast leader who tends to think many of the following thoughts:

1. This business hiccup is only a passing phase.  1999 is just around the corner.
2. We are the Great and Powerful Radio and can enforce our will on consumers if we run enough promos to do it
3. Don’t worry about Google and Groupon and Pandora – just sell more spots
4. Everyone who listens to the radio today consumes as much of it as ever – maybe even more!
5. We can defend our importance among consumers and advertisers even as we trim out all that expensive stuff between the songs

To Jobs, the “passing phase” is a trend worth surfing, and 1999 is gone forever.

To Jobs, the power of Apple is in direct proportion to the passion of its followers and consumers and is beholden to that passion

To Jobs, more “business as usual” will get you fired

To Jobs, consumer behaviors are as fickle or as fixed as the entertainment options which attract them.  A better idea executed well that solves a problem has nothing to fear, not even from a 100-year-old industry with entrenched relationships and billions of dollars in revenue.

To Jobs, you don’t cut your way to growth.  You don’t cut your way to relevance.  You don’t cut your way to consumer passion and continued advertiser interest.

What broadcasters never seem to get is that folks think radio is less important nowadays because so much other stuff is more important.  And “importance” is an outcome of consumer passion, not a byproduct of radio industry marketing and PR.

Do things that make consumers love you, stay ever so slightly ahead of their desires, put your consumer strategy before your corporate one.

Then you will know the Tao of Steve.

This is a slightly revised version of the eulogy I delivered for Clarence at his memorial. I'd like to thank all our fans and friends who have comforted us over the past difficult weeks.FOR THE BIG MAN

I've been sitting here listening to everyone talk about Clarence and staring at that photo of the two of us right there. It's a picture of Scooter and The Big Man, people who we were sometimes. As you can see in this particular photo, Clarence is admiring his muscles and I'm pretending to be nonchalant while leaning upon him. I leaned on Clarence a lot; I made a career out of it in some ways.

Those of us who shared Clarence's life, shared with him his love and his confusion. Though "C" mellowed with age, he was always a wild and unpredictable ride. Today I see his sons Nicky, Chuck, Christopher and Jarod sitting here and I see in them the reflection of a lot of C's qualities. I see his light, his darkness, his sweetness, his roughness, his gentleness, his anger, his brilliance, his handsomeness, and his goodness. But, as you boys know your pop was a not a day at the beach. "C" lived a life where he did what he wanted to do and he let the chips, human and otherwise, fall where they may. Like a lot of us your pop was capable of great magic and also of making quite an amazing mess. This was just the nature of your daddy and my beautiful friend. Clarence's unconditional love, which was very real, came with a lot of conditions. Your pop was a major project and always a work in progress. "C" never approached anything linearly, life never proceeded in a straight line. He never went A... B.... C.... D. It was always A... J.... C.... Z... Q... I....! That was the way Clarence lived and made his way through the world. I know that can lead to a lot of confusion and hurt, but your father also carried a lot of love with him, and I know he loved each of you very very dearly.

It took a village to take care of Clarence Clemons. Tina, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for taking care of my friend, for loving him. Victoria, you've been a loving, kind and caring wife to Clarence and you made a huge difference in his life at a time when the going was not always easy. To all of "C's" vast support network, names too numerous to mention, you know who you are and we thank you. Your rewards await you at the pearly gates. My pal was a tough act but he brought things into your life that were unique and when he turned on that love light, it illuminated your world. I was lucky enough to stand in that light for almost 40 years, near Clarence's heart, in the Temple of Soul.

So a little bit of history: from the early days when Clarence and I traveled together, we'd pull up to the evening's lodgings and within minutes "C" would transform his room into a world of his own. Out came the colored scarves to be draped over the lamps, the scented candles, the incense, the patchouli oil, the herbs, the music, the day would be banished, entertainment would come and go, and Clarence the Shaman would reign and work his magic, night after night. Clarence's ability to enjoy Clarence was incredible. By 69, he'd had a good run, because he'd already lived about 10 lives, 690 years in the life of an average man. Every night, in every place, the magic came flying out of C's suitcase. As soon as success allowed, his dressing room would take on the same trappings as his hotel room until a visit there was like a trip to a sovereign nation that had just struck huge oil reserves. "C" always knew how to live. Long before Prince was out of his diapers, an air of raunchy mysticism ruled in the Big Man's world. I'd wander in from my dressing room, which contained several fine couches and some athletic lockers, and wonder what I was doing wrong! Somewhere along the way all of this was christened the Temple of Soul; and "C" presided smilingly over its secrets, and its pleasures. Being allowed admittance to the Temple's wonders was a lovely thing.

As a young child my son Sam became enchanted with the Big Man... no surprise. To a child Clarence was a towering fairy tale figure, out of some very exotic storybook. He was a dreadlocked giant, with great hands and a deep mellifluous voice sugared with kindness and regard. And... to Sammy, who was just a little white boy, he was deeply and mysteriously black. In Sammy's eyes, "C" must have appeared as all of the African continent, shot through with American cool, rolled into one welcoming and loving figure. So... Sammy decided to pass on my work shirts and became fascinated by Clarence's suits and his royal robes. He declined a seat in dad's van and opted for "C's" stretch limousine, sitting by his side on the slow cruise to the show. He decided dinner in front of the hometown locker just wouldn't do, and he'd saunter up the hall and disappear into the Temple of Soul.

Of course, also enchanted was Sam's dad, from the first time I saw my pal striding out of the shadows of a half empty bar in Asbury Park, a path opening up before him; here comes my brother, here comes my sax man, my inspiration, my partner, my lifelong friend. Standing next to Clarence was like standing next to the baddest *** on the planet. You were proud, you were strong, you were excited and laughing with what might happen, with what together, you might be able to do. You felt like no matter what the day or the night brought, nothing was going to touch you. Clarence could be fragile but he also emanated power and safety, and in some funny way we became each other's protectors; I think perhaps I protected "C" from a world where it still wasn't so easy to be big and black. Racism was ever present and over the years together, we saw it. Clarence's celebrity and size did not make him immune. I think perhaps "C" protected me from a world where it wasn't always so easy to be an insecure, weird and skinny white boy either. But, standing together we were badass, on any given night, on our turf, some of the baddest asses on the planet. We were united, we were strong, we were righteous, we were unmovable, we were funny, we were corny as hell and as serious as death itself. And we were coming to your town to shake you and to wake you up. Together, we told an older, richer story about the possibilities of friendship that transcended those I'd written in my songs and in my music. Clarence carried it in his heart. It was a story where the Scooter and the Big Man not only busted the city in half, but we kicked *** and remade the city, shaping it into the kind of place where our friendship would not be such an anomaly. And that... that's what I'm gonna miss. The chance to renew that vow and double down on that story on a nightly basis, because that is something, that is the thing that we did together... the two of us. Clarence was big, and he made me feel, and think, and love, and dream big. How big was the Big Man? Too fucking big to die. And that's just the facts. You can put it on his grave stone, you can tattoo it over your heart. Accept it... it's the New World.

Clarence doesn't leave the E Street Band when he dies. He leaves when we die.

So, I'll miss my friend, his sax, the force of nature his sound was, his glory, his foolishness, his accomplishments, his face, his hands, his humor, his skin, his noise, his confusion, his power, his peace. But his love and his story, the story that he gave me, that he whispered in my ear, that he allowed me to tell... and that he gave to you... is gonna carry on. I'm no mystic, but the undertow, the mystery and power of Clarence and my friendship leads me to believe we must have stood together in other, older times, along other rivers, in other cities, in other fields, doing our modest version of god's work... work that's still unfinished. So I won't say goodbye to my brother, I'll simply say, see you in the next life, further on up the road, where we will once again pick up that work, and get it done.

Big Man, thank you for your kindness, your strength, your dedication, your work, your story. Thanks for the miracle... and for letting a little white boy slip through the side door of the Temple of Soul.

SO LADIES AND GENTLEMAN... ALWAYS LAST, BUT NEVER LEAST. LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE MASTER OF DISASTER, the BIG KAHUNA, the MAN WITH A PHD IN SAXUAL HEALING, the DUKE OF PADUCAH, the KING OF THE WORLD, LOOK OUT OBAMA! THE NEXT BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES EVEN THOUGH HE'S DEAD... YOU WISH YOU COULD BE LIKE HIM BUT YOU CAN'T! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BIGGEST MAN YOU'VE EVER SEEN!... GIVE ME A C-L-A-R-E-N-C-E. WHAT'S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT'S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! WHAT'S THAT SPELL? CLARENCE! ... amen.

I'm gonna leave you today with a quote from the Big Man himself, which he shared on the plane ride home from Buffalo, the last show of the last tour. As we celebrated in the front cabin congratulating one another and telling tales of the many epic shows, rocking nights and good times we'd shared, "C" sat quietly, taking it all in, then he raised his glass, smiled and said to all gathered, "This could be the start of something big."

Love you, "C".

Last Friday I anchored a roundtable of industry leaders to talk about the future of radio. It was the kickoff to the All Access Worldwide Radio Summit (you can watch a replay of the webcast here).

I asked the participants to cook up some of they key themes they see on radio’s horizon. Today, with his permission, I wanted to share with you the contributions of one of those industry leaders: Lee Abrams.  Lee is a legend in radio, of course, and he is most recently Former Chief Innovation Officer of the Tribune Company and Chief Programming Officer of XM Satellite Radio.

Here’s where Lee sees radio’s present and future:

THE BIG TEN

Radio is in an undeniable position of strength in terms of accessibly, but as a fan of the medium, it has the potential for extinction in its current form. Overly dramatic maybe, but there are a lot of red flags that need to be addressed:

1. MERGERS, WALL STREET, THE ECONOMY AND ACQUISITIONS:
If you observe the radio business, the conversation is focused almost exclusively on the economic side. That’s great…this is America. But—when was the last time you heard or read about a radio content war, or a station that’s tearing up a market with a new sound. Content brilliance needs to be part of the conversation. If the excitement in radio is all about the deals, where does that leave the listener who could care less about who owns who. Death by deal is a real possibility as media’s eye is SO far off the content ball, that we simply can’t compete in the Google/Apple era. The business side is what makes it rock, but content is what makes it roll, and you need both. Deals will be done, but it’s the magic that comes out of the speakers and screens that’ll move things forward, and that needs to be the conversation every bit as much as the economics.

2. THE PLAYBOOK HASN’T BEEN UPDATED IN 40+ YEARS:
I heard a “new” Rock station recently and they presented;

–A “big voice” yelling at you about how hard they rock (that worked in 1979 when rock stations needed to re-enforce their manhood again the disco invasion….but that’s over)

–Star Wars laser sound effects complete with ‘man in the box’ filtered effect. (The Empire was destroyed in the 70′s…time to move on..if radio is “theater of the mind” I heard theater of the lame)

–Blocks, Two-fers, commercial free sets (Another relic of the 70′s. That was 30 years ago)

–Lunch. Not sure if it was a retro lunch, an electric lunch or whatever, but it was a “lunch”

–A station van. Cool in ’71 when hippies carried their pot and guitars in vans, now a soccer mom symbol that defines not cool drives a van

–DJ’s playing Free Bird. (What can POSSIBLY be said about Free Bird in this day and age?)

The station was on 70′s focus group auto pilot. We’re in the Google/Apple era but radio is in the “K108 plays more variety” era. The Simpsons and Onion parody this stuff.

Stations should install cliche buzzers—three buzzes and you’re fired. That should thwart “new” ideas like “The _____ Lunch”

Of course this station was raving about how cool they were. Embarrassing.

3. THE STARS OF RADIO:
50′s- Deejays
60′s- PD’s
70′s- Consultants
80′s- Researchers
90′s- Group Heads
00′s- Bankers

God bless bankers, but we are in a creative crisis as much as an economic one. Time to recruit, enable and inspire creative content stars, and not Talk hosts… but content creators. Radio seems to hire based on sales and operational aptitude, driving those with creative aptitude to other industries. That 19 year old creative star will probably look at TV and Radio as the last place they’d want to be. This is a problem IF media has any interest in entering the content war. We have to make our media a creative oasis for thinkers to thrive. Read a job posting from any major traditional media company. Sounds like HR hell. Then read the Apple postings. Wonder why they get the future stars?

4. BALANCE NOT BULLSHIT
It is a content war out there and Apple/Google seem to have the advantage. But Radio and TV has the eyes and ears. Without a balanced people/function configuration, you’re doomed to lose. Need STARS in;

-Business
-Revenue
-Technology
-Operations
and Creative.

I’m not talking about Morning Shows. I’m talking about creative leadership that, though actions and execution, create a creative priority that is equal to revenue priority. Working in sync to win the battle.

I recall waking into a TV station and seeing a mission statement in the lobby. It included lines account being cutting edge, innovating, leading, etc…. I asked the GSM if this was true. He smirked and said—Nope compete BS. Those statements exist throughout media. When you hear “Content is King”…run! It’s not king. Revenue is. Content drives revenue.

Speaking of Bullshit. Stop with the old school slogans. No one believes them. Like in TV News–EVERY station is “Best, First, On Your Side, In It For You, Accurate….etc….). America is too BS savvy to buy that anymore.

5. DENIAL & ARROGANCE:
You hear a lot of;

–Pandora only has 4% of listener ship. Ha Ha

–Radio is great. When a tornado hits, you don’t go to Pandora (Maybe not yet, but then again, what about the 358 non tornadic days?)

–We’re #1

STOP! If you’re talking to Agencies and Wall Street…OK. BUT—internally….STOP!

This stuff sounds like General Motors in 1980.

We are at the most dramatic crossroad in Media History and to be self congratulating ourselves with denial and arrogance is frightening. It’s NOT OK…it’s war. You gotta pull out the weapons, kill the denial and start creating content that’ll win on 21st Century terms. The denial and arrogance is deafening. It’s worse in Radio/TV than newspapers where they still think it’s 1935.

6. THE DIGITAL EXCUSE
Digital is now…and the future. Pretty obvious. But–it’s often an excuse. A short cut that undermines the REAL issue—Dated and tired 80′s rooted content. If a station is tired and dull, a new App won’t magically make it great, but that’s the thinking out there.
You constantly hear how a product is “moving forward” and entering the digital space. Well, that’s simply survival. What is being avoided like the plague is the core product…the brand itself. Fix the product first. I recall being at a newspaper and they were raving about their innovations and it was stunning. But when I asked about the printed paper, I got blank stares and a “we can’t touch that…it’s sacred” response. Same thing in radio and TV. WHAT COMES OUT OF THE SPEAKERS OR SCREEN is the problem that won’t be fixed by migrating it to online/mobile. Take TV News. It’s laughably dated with the Ultra Doppler super action weather, NORAD sets and big haired modern Ted Knight anchors. Will migrating that to Ipad save the day? Of course not. Fix the product first. Get the product in sync with 2011 before you start praying the delivery system will save you.

Then there’s “interacting” with your radio. That’s great, but not at the expense of the listening experience. Listen first…then interact. No one wants to interact with something tired and irrelevant.

7. THE SECRET CONSPIRACY
Seems there’s some secret law that says a Technology company can innovate daily. Version 2, Version 3, Upgrades, White IPhones, etc… Radio? Same playbook with new slogans. Even TV and Fashion has “New Fall Seasons”…radio is on innovation autopilot at a time when, to prosper in the Google/Apple era you need to innovate DAILY. American media is getting beaten by the Phone and Cable companies in terms of innovation. That’s wrong.

Radio has become a stagnant commodity hoping a new App will fix everything at a time when Tech companies have embraced the 21st Century. This ain’t 1975 where you plug in a format and go. It’s a new world requiring constant updating.

8. BUT WE’RE LOCAL!
No you aren’t. Well, the WGN and WLW types breathe local, but most stations are generic. When I was a kid, we’d drive from Chicago to Miami on Holiday. Indy, Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Miami. Every city had stations with character. Maybe it was the Southern accents on WQXI in Atlanta or the undeniable pride that permeated every break. Make that same trip today and it’s a generic wasteland. Everyone sounds the same. Again, you’ll hear the denial. we have a local morning show…we do a blood drive every summer. Big deal. Stations should do a “local audit”…audit their sound and marketing and you’d find hundreds of missed opportunities. In Chicago, there are several billboards and outdoor vehicles, I’ve yet to see ONE that says “Chicago’s W—-”….
Incidentally, “local” can be an excuse too. We are becoming more Global by the minute. But if you commit to local…then DELIVER in EVERYTHING that you touch.

9. YOU CAN’T ABBREVIATE MAGIC
New station launches: “We have AM Drive, billboard, a tested library, some promos and an App—we’re good to go”
HUH??!! You can’t design the future until you understand the past. Look back to KHJ, KCBQ, THE LOOP, KFOG and scores of other ground breaking stations. They created a plan—completeness. Schwartzkopf style planning…a mission. Right down to how the receptionist answered the phone. Some say this/I’m old fashioned and you can’t do that today. Why? Is media so full of itself that a great game plan that REALLY reinvents is old fashioned? I’m one that believes ANY old media product can reinvent itself and kick *** in any market. Money? Imagination is free. In fact, the most passionate and gifted people are the ones you want in there, and they’re not about money. Of course media is driving them away. Winning media wars is hard. It takes emotional and managerial command. Media has to stop living in the Ad Club world and create teams that fight for brilliance…and deliver.

Todd Storz had a timeless line: “First program…then sell.”

Media is entertainment…not utility. In some cases both, but always entertainment. The environment is too cluttered to think call letters, history and an abbreviated game plan will win.

10. MEDIA & INFORMATION IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL.
Rock and roll is arguably on life support as is music radio. It’s may not be apparent yet, but when it starts looking backwards, the best days are behind it. But that’s OK, you can learn from it and build on the NEW Rock n Roll. By Rock being dead, I mean as a driver of culture. Whereas Elvis drove culture, nowadays it’s Facebook…and News. The world is having a nervous breakdown and that’s what s moving the culture. I doubt if a new Beatles will emerge that make everything right…culture is all about media and information. BUT–The M.O. of Rock n Roll is timeless and we need Rock n Roll THINKING, regardless of format or style. The characteristics of Rock n Roll thinking include:

ECCENTRICITY…ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
INNOVATION AS A DRIVER IN EVERYTHING YOU DO
ATTITUDE…A SPIRIT
SWAGGER…A SENSE OF CONFIDENCE
NEWNESS…THE STRUGGLE TO BE FIRST
BIG—MASS APPEAL
RE-INVENTION…A DESIRE AND MOTIVATION TO
CREATES FANS NOT “USERS”
POWERFUL…CULTURE MOVING
CHANGING…ALWAYS PUSHING FORWARD
COMPETITIVE…FIGHTING FOR SUCCESS
ARTFUL…CREATING COMMERCE THROUGH ART (ART IS NOT A BAD WORD UNLESS IT’S BAD ART)
INSTINCTIVE…NOT RELYING ON YESTERDAYS INFORMATION
REBELLIOUS…AGAIN, A FIGHTING SPIRIT
INTELLIGENT…IN A MASS APPEAL WAY
NON ELITIST…FOR THE MASSES

SUMMARY:
Get back to the roots. What a listener/viewer hears and sees from the speakers, the screens and on the streets. Stop with the excuses—Everything will be fine when the economy improves…we have a new App…We’ve been here since 1942….we’re local because our tower is here. Radio has one incredible ting going for it—Reach. Everyone has a radio. Radio and TV are in a position of strength. Just imagine if EVERYone had a Mac. Do you think Apple would call it quits? Radio and TV have, as mediums, given up the content fight at a time when THE MAGIC OF WHAT COMES OUT OF THE SCREENS AND SPEAKERS is more powerful than ANY technology. Combined with technology, its untouchable. Time to get on war footing and start to create the magic on 2011 terms.

Lee – thanks!  You’ve been gone from radio for far too long.

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Using his background in multimedia production, Joe Gough decided to creatively address the need for getting seed funding into the hands of up-and-coming entrepreneurs. 

Gough's "Adventure Capital" is a concept for an "American Idol"-style reality television series that would follow the business launch process from the selection of the companies to a final tournament competition. Judges and the public would vote for the best early-stage company to win a $1 million prize from the sponsoring venture capital company. 

"When you put it on TV, it changes the paradigm -- hundreds of thousands of investors will see it," Gough said. "And then it gives a chance for first-adopters to see it, give good feedback and then give good word of mouth." 

Gough said it's difficult for new companies and entrepreneurs to receive seed funding to get conceptual innovation into prototype- or beta-phase programming. And once in a beta or prototype, he said, there are not adequate marketing vehicles to attract first customers and follow-on investors. 

"The idea of producing any multimedia programming around an entrepreneurial program is that Michigan investors have a tough time getting their arms around the creative realm," Gough said. "The only folks who have gotten around it are people like Josh Linkner." 

Linkner, founder and chairman of Pleasant Ridge-based ePrize Inc., is a partner in the Dan Gilbert-launchedDetroit Venture Partners LLC that has expressed serious interest in Gough's idea.

The next step for Gough's "Adventure Capital" is getting funding for the production costs. Gough has a nonprofit and radio show called "Inspire Michigan" on WDTK AM-1400. The nonprofit focuses on economic development by supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.

What’s the difference between an audience and a “community”?

As David Siteman Garland puts it in his book Smarter, Faster, Cheaper: Non-Boring, Fluff-Free Strategies for Marketing and Promoting Your Business:

A community is not an audience.  An audience passively listens, watches, or reads.  A community interacts, questions, challenges.

An audience is one-way, not interactive or social.  An audience doesn’t participate or share with others.

A community, on the other hand, is a two-way conversation – a living, breathing thing.  Extremely interactive, social.

The biggest problem broadcasters have with their digital assets is that they view these assets as extensions of radio brands which function in a similar fashion.  That is, they mistakenly think the purpose of their digital assets is to attract an audience.

While that will be one purpose it should not be the only one or even the most important one.

But doesn’t it then make sense that page views and uniques are easily the most common metrics used to bonus the performance of radio program directors?  They are being incentivized not to build community but to draw a passive one-way audience!

No wonder it’s not working.  No wonder there’s no community.

This explains why we “push” audiences to the website – because the site is incapable of “pulling” them.

This explains why we have “databases” of listeners rather than “communities” of fans.

This explains why there’s so little opportunity to comment and share station content on our sites – and why so little of it is worth commenting about and sharing with others.

This explains why the average station hasn’t even bothered to create a Facebook landing page aimed at motivating “likes” (i.e., ongoing relationships).

This explains why our “email blasts” are impersonal and contest-oriented (when they’re not client-oriented) rather than value-oriented.

This explains why almost no station connects with Facebook such that I can experience your content with my friends and react to it and share it along with them.

That explains why joining a station “club” is something so few listeners care to do.  Check out this “why you should join” description from a real radio station site – a major group in a fairly large market:

Thank you for your interest in becoming a member. By registering with us, you can…

sign up to receive our members-only newsletters

enter online contests quickly and easily

enjoy other products and features we’ll make available over time

You can almost hear the collective ho-hum from here, can’t you?

Are there exceptions to all this?  Are there stations which “get it”?  You bet there are.  And the list will be growing in 2011.

But broadcasters need to wrap their heads around this notion:  Web “traffic” means people.  People coming to you because they want to – because there are reasons for them to come and come back – not because they have been “forced” to by your considerable on-air assets.  They come to interact and engage.  They come to share.

Not simply to passively consume what little content you post.  Not to see the umpteenth weather forecast or movie listings online.  Not to dodge countless banner ads which in too many cases outnumber the “content” they wrap around.

Before you monetize you must be worth monetizing.

And while you build an audience you must also build a community.

(For more trends that matter and ideas on how to do your job better, “like” me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter)

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