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Tim Moore
Managing Partner
Audience Development Group |
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Time usually hangs heavy on a media executive at this point of the year; too late to affect the ending year, too soon to orchestrate events of the next. Of one thing we can be certain; never in the archives of American media has a decade opened with such promise and closed with manifest disillusionment and uncertainty.
Facts and statistics foreshadow outcomes. From the false promise of the "pay-anything-it-takes" crowd in 2000 to the lost billions of equity haunting CFOs and fund managers now, radio has come full circle. But we'd be myopic dwelling on the last decade, turning attentions instead to four conclusively positive outcomes from 2009. These four headlines are the vanguard of a rising tide for the intrepid; those equipped to read rhythms of change and bold enough to act on them.
Larry Wilson Returns: Like General McArthur's historic return to the Philippines, the swashbuckling Wilson who launched Citadel in the early 90's announced he would begin acquiring stations earlier in the year then backed it up with his new Portland-based Alpha Broadcasting. Reassembling his former all-star team of mavericks like Bob Proffitt and Scott Mahalick, Wilson fired the shot heard round the radio world. We worked with Larry's company in those formative days out west and look forward to working with him again. Wilson's business maxim goes something like this: Who says we shouldn't have fun while creating a cash-positive business? Without hyperbole, Larry Wilson's historic transubstantiation in 2009 seals the likelihood of other imminently qualified people entering the business in the years ahead.
Traditional Print and Broadcast Television Wane While Weekly Radio Listening Grows: When an empire or an industry dies, it dies like a cloudy day, without a visible moment of sunset. It's not announced in formal context, nor pronounced dead in clinical terms. Nonetheless it's inevitable. The print and original broadcast TV industries have fatally depleted their currency, giving way to technological and sociological shifts. Radio on the other hand sees massive weekly trial by listeners of all ages while radio's on-line consumption grows annually. Even after years of gross neglect with programming creativity, facts govern. Radio is alive if not entirely well, poised to take full advantage of the next era. Financial implications for radio are insanely positive.
Bridge Ratings Reports: "Radio via terrestrial & internet has grown significantly." Bridge Ratings is an acclaimed research resource whose data knows no emotion. As 2009 drifts into the next decade, sustaining disappointment should give way to fact. Illusion is an anodyne, but one that saps our vision and appetite for really important plans and actions that lie ahead. Radio as a medium is in an enviable place. One more time; radio's loss of value is about debt, not audience.
Katz Reports: "Demand for inventory is on the rise in Q-4 and in early 2010." As a national resource to radio, this is hardly a Christmas surprise to Audience Development Group.
Slowly across the last two quarters, our team has been hearing buzz of budgets-met while traditional account categories gingerly take the path back to radio where targeting and tonnage combine for highly efficient return. If we can last the riptides of the past decade's flawed business model and greet the future with Wilsonesque enthusiasm and operating élan, we'll be party to the next run of radio prosperity. When Time recently asked Larry Wilson about his decision he offhandedly shrugged and said, "Well, I thought I should get back in." Good idea, Larry. |
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Sincerely,
Tim Moore
Managing Partner
Audience Development Group |
When you're in a ratings war it's best to aim high. When you're in a budget war it's best to aim low. Do both with one nationally proven, multiple format consulting partner: one firm, one culture, one travel expense, one consolidated fee. Call us today...before your competition does.
Audience Development Group:
239 513 9234 Naples / 616 940 8309 Grand Rapids | |
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