Here is the 2008 WLS "Rewind" Tribute, produced by Art Vuolo, for Memorial Day, 2008.
Real Personalities..Enjoy!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
12 Broadcasters Making A Difference
Commentary: They create a buzz and shape opinion
From Jon Friedman, MarketWatch:
Get the list here.
I can think of broadcasters who are making a difference today. They have a buzz. Viewers notice their work. Other journalists talk about them. Their successes are noted — and, yes, Gawker is likely to take an extra special delight in their flubs.
I’m not saying that any of them is necessarily the best at what he or she does, either. This list goes beyond the Nielsen ratings, critics’ favorites and pedigrees. It is wholly unscientific. It focuses on another kind of aesthetic.
Let me put it this way. If any one of these folks walked through Michael’s restaurant -- the hub in Manhattan for the media industry -- at lunch time, heads would turn. That, more than anything else, is my main criterion for determining who has the buzz.
Get the list here.
Limbaugh Taken In
The Judge Was Not Loaded for Bear
Anyone listening to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show Tuesday could be forgiven for thinking that Judge Roger Vinson has the federal government dead in his sights
The nytimes.com reports Limbaugh spent some time profiling Judge Vinson, a senior judge on the Federal District Court in Pensacola, who had just announced he would allow a legal challenge to the new health care law to advance to a full hearing. The radio host informed his listeners that the judge was an avid hunter and amateur taxidermist who once killed three brown bears and mounted their heads over his courtroom door to “instill the fear of God into the accused.”
“This,” Mr. Limbaugh said, “would not be good news” for liberal supporters of the health law.
But, in fact, Judge Vinson has never shot anything other than a water moccasin (last Saturday, at his weekend cabin), is not a taxidermist and, as president of the American Camellia Society, is far more familiar with Camellia reticulata than with Ursus arctos.
Apparently, Mr. Limbaugh had fallen prey to an Internet hoax.
On Sunday night, and again Monday morning, someone identified only as “Pensacolian” edited Judge Vinson’s Wikipedia entry to include the invented material. The prankster footnoted the entry to a supposed story in The Pensacola News Journal. The article — like its stated publication date of June 31, 2003 — does not exist. The same person who posted the information removed it on Tuesday afternoon, Wikipedia logs show.
Read more here.
 |
| Pensacola News-Journal photo |
Anyone listening to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show Tuesday could be forgiven for thinking that Judge Roger Vinson has the federal government dead in his sights
The nytimes.com reports Limbaugh spent some time profiling Judge Vinson, a senior judge on the Federal District Court in Pensacola, who had just announced he would allow a legal challenge to the new health care law to advance to a full hearing. The radio host informed his listeners that the judge was an avid hunter and amateur taxidermist who once killed three brown bears and mounted their heads over his courtroom door to “instill the fear of God into the accused.”
“This,” Mr. Limbaugh said, “would not be good news” for liberal supporters of the health law.
But, in fact, Judge Vinson has never shot anything other than a water moccasin (last Saturday, at his weekend cabin), is not a taxidermist and, as president of the American Camellia Society, is far more familiar with Camellia reticulata than with Ursus arctos.
Apparently, Mr. Limbaugh had fallen prey to an Internet hoax.
On Sunday night, and again Monday morning, someone identified only as “Pensacolian” edited Judge Vinson’s Wikipedia entry to include the invented material. The prankster footnoted the entry to a supposed story in The Pensacola News Journal. The article — like its stated publication date of June 31, 2003 — does not exist. The same person who posted the information removed it on Tuesday afternoon, Wikipedia logs show.
Read more here.
WSJ Story: News Sites Study Social Media
Publishers Seek Best Time to Send Out a Tweet
News organizations are getting more scientific about studying the value of the online readers they are hooking through social media services like Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc., as they seek new ways to exploit the channels without cannibalizing their businesses.
A story by Jessica E. Vascellaro at wsj.com reports Sports Illustrated is researching the habits of its 1.2 million Twitter followers through informal surveys and polls, and examining what they click on. Kenneth Fuchs, vice president of digital for Sports Illustrated Group, says he hopes the work will help the company build products that resonate with its core fans.
The Time Warner Inc. magazine is also tracking the impact of stories that spread virally, such as a recent project on the best NFL performers by jersey number.
At the Washington Post, managing editor Raju Narisetti says his team is looking for patterns that could illuminate whether certain types of stories are more appealing to audiences in social networks than on other sites but that it is "very early in the game."
The paper has started compiling a daily tracking report showing what social networks are driving audiences to the Post and what those users are reading. "The cause and effect" of how an action from the Post, such as tweeting a story, affects the story's viewership is still "fuzzy," Mr. Narisetti said, "but over time, it will get better."
The efforts come as publications are reporting surging traffic from social media, as they rush to load up their sites with new tools that encourage readers to share their content among friends on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Google and others.
Forty-two percent of social-networking users regularly or sometimes get their news through social-networking sites, according to a report released this week by the Pew Media Center. That is leaving some publishers with the sense that they are better off trying to reach users where they are congregating than trying to corral them on their site.
News companies have been pursuing a more metrics-driven approach to disseminating their stories for years. To date, they have often focused on quantifying the impact of search traffic, studying what keywords usually land people at their sites.
Read more here.
News organizations are getting more scientific about studying the value of the online readers they are hooking through social media services like Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc., as they seek new ways to exploit the channels without cannibalizing their businesses.
A story by Jessica E. Vascellaro at wsj.com reports Sports Illustrated is researching the habits of its 1.2 million Twitter followers through informal surveys and polls, and examining what they click on. Kenneth Fuchs, vice president of digital for Sports Illustrated Group, says he hopes the work will help the company build products that resonate with its core fans.
The Time Warner Inc. magazine is also tracking the impact of stories that spread virally, such as a recent project on the best NFL performers by jersey number.
At the Washington Post, managing editor Raju Narisetti says his team is looking for patterns that could illuminate whether certain types of stories are more appealing to audiences in social networks than on other sites but that it is "very early in the game."
The paper has started compiling a daily tracking report showing what social networks are driving audiences to the Post and what those users are reading. "The cause and effect" of how an action from the Post, such as tweeting a story, affects the story's viewership is still "fuzzy," Mr. Narisetti said, "but over time, it will get better."
The efforts come as publications are reporting surging traffic from social media, as they rush to load up their sites with new tools that encourage readers to share their content among friends on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Google and others.
Forty-two percent of social-networking users regularly or sometimes get their news through social-networking sites, according to a report released this week by the Pew Media Center. That is leaving some publishers with the sense that they are better off trying to reach users where they are congregating than trying to corral them on their site.
News companies have been pursuing a more metrics-driven approach to disseminating their stories for years. To date, they have often focused on quantifying the impact of search traffic, studying what keywords usually land people at their sites.
Read more here.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Facebook Promotion Idea
We have a format here at Dial Global Radio Networks called SAM "Simply About Music." Gary Thompson is the PD and came up with this promotion for one of our affiliates. It's great. This is from Mark Ramsey's BLOG.
There’s a SAM affiliate in Illinois that’s been with Dial Global for a couple years. Over the last year, the station had flattened out in the ratings. Earlier this year, we developed a plan to get some street buzz for the station. Like most stations they had no money for promotions. On Fridays instead of calling the station SAM, we rename it after a “facebook fan” that we select….its called FACEBOOK FAN FRIDAYS. We re-do new imaging for the station every Friday, calling it stuff like “Tina Smith-FM”. We run promos saying what we’re doing. We play up the fact that “all this great music is thanks to Tina”…and “if you see Tina today, thank her.” Turns out people like to hear their name on the radio ALL DAY, and end up telling their friends. The station’s Facebook friends have gone from a few hundred to a few thousand. And for whatever reasons, the ratings doubled in the last book. I’ve given this idea to other SAM’s, along with producing generic Facebook fan imaging for them.
Interesting tactic that’s less about gathering Facebook fans and more about generating some excitement and word-of-mouth out in audience-land.
Car iNet Radios Pose Threat To Terrestrial Radio
According to a new study: One third of radio listeners would listen less to local radio if they had easy access to Internet Radio built into their cars.
That’s one of the alarming statistics from a recent national study Mark Ramsey Media conducted in conjunction with VIP Research. In the study, which was a national survey of more than 2,000 radio listeners covering 22 markets, Ramsey asked this question:
If tomorrow you could get Internet access from the dashboard of your car and you could listen to thousands of radio stations from all over the world through an Internet receiver on your dash as easy to use as your radio, would you…
a. Listen less to my local radio stations as I explore new ones online
b. Listen just as much to my local radio stations no matter what’s online
Ramsey asked another question:
Which would you rather have, a radio in your iPod or mp3 player or an Internet radio and access to thousands of stations in your car?
a. radio in iPod/mp3 player
b. Internet radio in car
c. Not applicable
d. Don’t know
And the results were equally startling, with 61% preferring in-dash Internet Radio over 28% who preferred radio built into their iPods.
So what these statistics add up to is profound according to Ramsey:
1. Internet Radio in cars has a significant value proposition.
2. What these numbers suggest is that our obsession to get receivers on mobile devices may be misplaced. Indeed, we need to worry about long-term relevance in that most mobile of devices: The car.
Read more here.
That’s one of the alarming statistics from a recent national study Mark Ramsey Media conducted in conjunction with VIP Research. In the study, which was a national survey of more than 2,000 radio listeners covering 22 markets, Ramsey asked this question:
If tomorrow you could get Internet access from the dashboard of your car and you could listen to thousands of radio stations from all over the world through an Internet receiver on your dash as easy to use as your radio, would you…
a. Listen less to my local radio stations as I explore new ones online
b. Listen just as much to my local radio stations no matter what’s online
Ramsey asked another question:
Which would you rather have, a radio in your iPod or mp3 player or an Internet radio and access to thousands of stations in your car?
a. radio in iPod/mp3 player
b. Internet radio in car
c. Not applicable
d. Don’t know
So what these statistics add up to is profound according to Ramsey:
1. Internet Radio in cars has a significant value proposition.
2. What these numbers suggest is that our obsession to get receivers on mobile devices may be misplaced. Indeed, we need to worry about long-term relevance in that most mobile of devices: The car.
Read more here.
Tom comments: No word on whether participants were asked how likely they were to listen to their favorite terrestrial radio station on an iNet car radio.
GM Relaunches OnStar With WiFi
GM adds apps in bid to catch Ford, Microsoft's Sync
General Motors' OnStar is fighting back.
The Detroit Free Press reports next year, GM will provide in-car access to Pandora online radio, Stitcher news podcasts and WiFi. Voice-activated Facebook, texting, e-mail and MP3 player control also may come soon.
Consumers already have heard about many of these technologies -- from rival Ford's Sync, which links to cell phones and iPods. Among digital devotees, Sync, first launched in 2007, has left OnStar's blue button in the dust.
But that will change, GM says. "You can argue that we haven't marketed it, we haven't advertised it, we haven't communicated it," said Micky Bly, executive director of GM's hybrids, electric vehicles, batteries and infotainment. "That communication starts today."
Even with better marketing and new technology, OnStar faces hurdles. The safety-and-security brand hopes to convince regulators it can offer voice-activated Facebook and messaging access safely.
Don't expect to see OnStar abandon the blue button or its core safety and driver-assistance services. Once GM catches up in infotainment, executives say, the help provided by OnStar's built-in phone module will distinguish it from automated, cell phone-based Sync.
While GM had dazzled consumers with its OnStar safety advisers in 1996, in the following decade Ford leapfrogged its rival, using Microsoft's Sync system to access smartphones and music players by voice command.
Read more here.
The Detroit Free Press reports next year, GM will provide in-car access to Pandora online radio, Stitcher news podcasts and WiFi. Voice-activated Facebook, texting, e-mail and MP3 player control also may come soon.
Consumers already have heard about many of these technologies -- from rival Ford's Sync, which links to cell phones and iPods. Among digital devotees, Sync, first launched in 2007, has left OnStar's blue button in the dust.
But that will change, GM says. "You can argue that we haven't marketed it, we haven't advertised it, we haven't communicated it," said Micky Bly, executive director of GM's hybrids, electric vehicles, batteries and infotainment. "That communication starts today."
Even with better marketing and new technology, OnStar faces hurdles. The safety-and-security brand hopes to convince regulators it can offer voice-activated Facebook and messaging access safely.
Don't expect to see OnStar abandon the blue button or its core safety and driver-assistance services. Once GM catches up in infotainment, executives say, the help provided by OnStar's built-in phone module will distinguish it from automated, cell phone-based Sync.
While GM had dazzled consumers with its OnStar safety advisers in 1996, in the following decade Ford leapfrogged its rival, using Microsoft's Sync system to access smartphones and music players by voice command.
Read more here.
'60 Minutes' Launches '60 Minutes Overtime'
New Web site to feature original online content
60 Minutes announced on Wednesday the launch 60 Minutes Overtime, its first Web site featuring entirely original 60 Minutes content.
According to Broadcastingandcable.com, the new site will debut on Sept. 26, the same evening as the news magazine's 43rd season premiere.
Each week, 60 Minutes Overtime will feature three original stories produced exclusively for 60 Minutes' online audience, with content derived from the broadcast's weekly segments as well as the show's archive.
One of the online segments will be promoted on each week's Sunday telecast. The site will also provide a forum for feedback and social media sharing.
Read more here.
According to Broadcastingandcable.com, the new site will debut on Sept. 26, the same evening as the news magazine's 43rd season premiere.
Each week, 60 Minutes Overtime will feature three original stories produced exclusively for 60 Minutes' online audience, with content derived from the broadcast's weekly segments as well as the show's archive.
One of the online segments will be promoted on each week's Sunday telecast. The site will also provide a forum for feedback and social media sharing.
Read more here.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The New Kings of Talk
Roe & Roeper silence the critics
What a difference a year makes!
It was only last fall when the Roe Conn show was left for dead by critics. But with the addition of Richard Roeper and the return of Ron Magers and Christina Filiaggi, the WLS-AM weekday afternoon program reigns supreme in Chicago!
Ratings for his weekday afternoon show on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890) were so low that some critics were confidently predicting his imminent demise, according to Robert Feder at blogs.vocalo.org.
The Sun-Times’ Lewis Lazare cited unnamed “observers in the local radio market” who asserted that “the high-priced WLS talent might not be able to hold on at the station much longer,” while ChicagolandRadioandMedia.com went even further, flatly declaring it “the end of the line for Roe Conn at WLS,” and identifying three potential replacements for him.
Now, just 10 months after those dire words were written, Conn is presiding over the top-rated talk show of any kind — at any hour — among adults between the ages of 25 and 54, according to Arbitron Portable People Meter figures released last Friday. He even outperforms syndicated behemoth Rush Limbaugh on his own station — to say nothing of the competition on Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720). I can’t recall a more dramatic turnaround for any Chicago radio show in the last 30 years.
In hindsight, Feder writes it’s clear that Conn’s worst enemies last year weren’t his competitors or his critics but his own bosses, who’d made so many hasty and ill-advised changes to the show that listeners were bailing out in droves. It just wasn’t fun anymore.
“In all of my years at WLS, I’ve never had one as crazy as 2009,” recalled Conn, a 21-year veteran of the station. “Managers throughout the market were making dramatic changes reacting to the twin perils of a weak economy and the unpredictability of a new rating system. Those running WLS were no different. They literally dismantled the show.”
The promotion in January of Michael Damsky to president and general manager of WLS — followed almost immediately by the return of Drew Hayes as operations director — began the process of turning everything around. “We all understood that when you remove popular members of an ensemble, the audience is going to get mad and disoriented,” Conn said. So they moved quickly to bring Chicago’s preeminent anchorman, Ron Magers, back as a daily contributor to Conn’s show, and they restored Christina Filiaggi to her former role as traffic reporter and female foil. Other improvements followed.
Read more here.
What a difference a year makes!
It was only last fall when the Roe Conn show was left for dead by critics. But with the addition of Richard Roeper and the return of Ron Magers and Christina Filiaggi, the WLS-AM weekday afternoon program reigns supreme in Chicago!
Ratings for his weekday afternoon show on Citadel Broadcasting news/talk WLS-AM (890) were so low that some critics were confidently predicting his imminent demise, according to Robert Feder at blogs.vocalo.org.
The Sun-Times’ Lewis Lazare cited unnamed “observers in the local radio market” who asserted that “the high-priced WLS talent might not be able to hold on at the station much longer,” while ChicagolandRadioandMedia.com went even further, flatly declaring it “the end of the line for Roe Conn at WLS,” and identifying three potential replacements for him.
Now, just 10 months after those dire words were written, Conn is presiding over the top-rated talk show of any kind — at any hour — among adults between the ages of 25 and 54, according to Arbitron Portable People Meter figures released last Friday. He even outperforms syndicated behemoth Rush Limbaugh on his own station — to say nothing of the competition on Tribune Co.-owned news/talk WGN-AM (720). I can’t recall a more dramatic turnaround for any Chicago radio show in the last 30 years.
In hindsight, Feder writes it’s clear that Conn’s worst enemies last year weren’t his competitors or his critics but his own bosses, who’d made so many hasty and ill-advised changes to the show that listeners were bailing out in droves. It just wasn’t fun anymore.
“In all of my years at WLS, I’ve never had one as crazy as 2009,” recalled Conn, a 21-year veteran of the station. “Managers throughout the market were making dramatic changes reacting to the twin perils of a weak economy and the unpredictability of a new rating system. Those running WLS were no different. They literally dismantled the show.”
The promotion in January of Michael Damsky to president and general manager of WLS — followed almost immediately by the return of Drew Hayes as operations director — began the process of turning everything around. “We all understood that when you remove popular members of an ensemble, the audience is going to get mad and disoriented,” Conn said. So they moved quickly to bring Chicago’s preeminent anchorman, Ron Magers, back as a daily contributor to Conn’s show, and they restored Christina Filiaggi to her former role as traffic reporter and female foil. Other improvements followed.
Read more here.
Poll: Consumers Would Pay for Local Mobile Radio
Katy Bachman at mediaweek.com reports a study conducted by Harris Interactive for the National Association of Broadcasters, 76 percent of cell phone owners would pay a one-time fee of 30 cents to gain access to their local radio stations on mobile phones.
The feature would be attractive to all ages, with two-thirds of adults and 71 percent of 18 to 34 year olds saying they would listen to local radio stations if a radio receiver was built-in to their cell phones.
Putting radio receivers in cell phones became a hot button issue for the radio industry. The idea surfaced as part of a compromise being hammered out between the Recording Industry of America, which has been pushing for performance royalties on music airplay and the NAB, which has opposed them.
Though both the radio and music industries would benefit from bigger audiences, the consumer electronics industry is opposed to any government-mandate to put the radios in cell phones.
Read more here.
Traffic Reports Key To 3 Chicago Radio Stations
A lot of listeners take traffic reports on the radio for granted. But three stations -- WBBM-AM (780), WLS-AM (890) and WGN-AM (720) -- certainly don't. It's an important service to which all three devote considerable resources, according to a story at chicagosun-times.com.
Why? Because traffic updates help attract listeners in the big city and boost ratings, which, in turn, drive revenue. "Traffic reports are a very big part of what this station is about," said Ron Gleason, program director at WBBM-AM, which has made a mantra out of providing traffic and weather updates on the "8's" during every hour it is on the air.
Traffic reporting on WBBM dates back more than four decades, but providing that service on the "8's" only started during the 1980s, said Gleason, who plans to stick with the purposely rigid format. As far as Gleason is concerned, predictability is key to keeping listeners happy -- and informed.
At WLS-AM, traffic reports aren't delivered using a formula as precise as that of WBBM. According to WLS operations director Drew Hayes, the station aims to provide five reports every hour during morning drive and four reports per hour during afternoon drive. But the timing of those reports can vary a bit depending on the whims of the host(s). Still WLS listeners can almost always hear reports near the top and bottom of each hour at peak traffic times. Though WBBM has had a traffic tip line in place for a while, WLS only recently installed such a phone line -- part of an effort to further upgrade traffic reporting and give listeners another opportunity to interact with the station.
WGN-AM considers its traffic reports so important that it refuses to discuss what it considers proprietary information. WGN news director Charlie Meyerson would only say that "WGN has the most intelligible, useful traffic reports in Chicago, and we deliver them around the clock seven days a week."
While all three stations certainly aim to deliver helpful traffic reports, their respective styles of reporting the traffic can vary. Gleason said each WBBM traffic report lasts 90 seconds. It might not sound like much, but Gleason's research indicates WBBM's reports are actually longer than those of any other radio station in the country, including outlets in traffic-clogged New York City and Los Angeles.
Read more here.
The Rise of Apps Culture
Cell phone use in the U.S. has increased dramatically over the past decade. Fully eight in ten adults today (82%) are cell phone users, and about one-quarter of adults (23%) now live in a household that has a cell phone but no landline phone, according to a new study released Tuesday by Pew Research Center.
Along with the widespread embrace of mobile technology has come the development of an “apps culture.”
As the mobile phone has morphed from a voice device to a multi-channel device to an internet-accessing mini-computer, a large market of mobile software applications, or “apps,” has arisen.
Among the most popular are apps that provide some form of entertainment (games, music, food, travel and sports) as well as those that help people find information they need and accomplish tasks (maps and navigation, weather, news, banking). With the advent of the mobile phone, the term “app” has become popular parlance for software applications designed to run on mobile phone operating systems, yet a standard, industry-wide definition of what is, and is not, an “app” does not currently exist.
Apps are defined as end-user software applications that are designed for a cell phone operating system and which extend the phone’s capabilities by enabling users to perform particular tasks.
The most recent Pew Internet Project survey asked a national sample of 1,917 cell phone-using adults if they use apps and how they use them. Broadly, the results indicate that while apps are popular among a segment of the adult cell phone using population, a notable number of cell owners are not yet part of the emerging apps culture.
35% of adults have cell phones with apps, but only two-thirds of those who have apps actually use them.
Of the 82% of adults today who are cell phone users, 43% have software applications or “apps” on their phones. When taken as a portion of the entire U.S. adult population, that equates to 35% who have cell phones with apps. This figure includes adult cell phone users who: have downloaded an app to their phone (29% of adult cell phone users), and/or have purchased a phone with preloaded apps (38% of adult cell phone users).
Yet having apps and using apps are not synonymous.
Of those who have apps on their phones, only about two-thirds of this group (68%) actually use that software. Overall, that means that 24% of U.S. adults are active apps users. Older adult cell phone users in particular do not use the apps that are on their phones, and one in ten adults with a cell phone (11%) are not even sure if their phone is equipped with apps.
When compared with other cell phone using adults, and the entire U.S. adult population, the apps user population skews male, and is much younger, more affluent, and more educated than other adults. Overall, the apps-using population also skews slightly Hispanic when compared with other adult cell phone users.
Read more here.
Along with the widespread embrace of mobile technology has come the development of an “apps culture.”
As the mobile phone has morphed from a voice device to a multi-channel device to an internet-accessing mini-computer, a large market of mobile software applications, or “apps,” has arisen.
Among the most popular are apps that provide some form of entertainment (games, music, food, travel and sports) as well as those that help people find information they need and accomplish tasks (maps and navigation, weather, news, banking). With the advent of the mobile phone, the term “app” has become popular parlance for software applications designed to run on mobile phone operating systems, yet a standard, industry-wide definition of what is, and is not, an “app” does not currently exist.
Apps are defined as end-user software applications that are designed for a cell phone operating system and which extend the phone’s capabilities by enabling users to perform particular tasks.
The most recent Pew Internet Project survey asked a national sample of 1,917 cell phone-using adults if they use apps and how they use them. Broadly, the results indicate that while apps are popular among a segment of the adult cell phone using population, a notable number of cell owners are not yet part of the emerging apps culture.
35% of adults have cell phones with apps, but only two-thirds of those who have apps actually use them.
Of the 82% of adults today who are cell phone users, 43% have software applications or “apps” on their phones. When taken as a portion of the entire U.S. adult population, that equates to 35% who have cell phones with apps. This figure includes adult cell phone users who: have downloaded an app to their phone (29% of adult cell phone users), and/or have purchased a phone with preloaded apps (38% of adult cell phone users).
Yet having apps and using apps are not synonymous.
Of those who have apps on their phones, only about two-thirds of this group (68%) actually use that software. Overall, that means that 24% of U.S. adults are active apps users. Older adult cell phone users in particular do not use the apps that are on their phones, and one in ten adults with a cell phone (11%) are not even sure if their phone is equipped with apps.
When compared with other cell phone using adults, and the entire U.S. adult population, the apps user population skews male, and is much younger, more affluent, and more educated than other adults. Overall, the apps-using population also skews slightly Hispanic when compared with other adult cell phone users.
Read more here.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Changing Tide of Internet Radio
A new study by Bridge Ratings supported by data from Internet radio measurement firm Ando Media, concludes that over the last six months consumer passion about Internet Pure Play radio, primarily paced by the strength of Pandora, has increased significantly while listenership to terrestrial radio Internet simulcast has slipped.
Founded in 2004, Ando Media is the leading provider of real-time audience measurement and ads management solutions for the internet audio market.
With recent Bridge Ratings studies showing accelerating growth among Internet radio listeners of all ages, Bridge says they were curious as to the growth as reflected in Ando Media's "Webcast Metrics" numbers which are generated real time by actual listening.
They took the "Webcast Metrics" figures from Ando Media's November 2009 release and compared them to those of June 2010. The numbers reflected here represent Ando's "Average Active Sessions" metric which is a measure of the average number of streams of one minute or more that are active within a time period. The time period reflected in the following analysis is Monday through Friday 6am - 8pm.
Why is Pure Play greatly outpacing terrestrially-delivered on-line radio listening?
Terrestrial radio companies have still not committed to the concept of differentiating their on-line content product from their terrestrial streams. Unique program opportunities exist for traditional radio on-line, yet few companies are taking the initiative to pursue these opportunities.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that program directors of traditional stations don't have the time or ability to devote to proactive content development.
Ando Media's Chief Operating Officer, Paul Krasinski offers three reasons why Pure Play has the advantage:
1. The user content experience is better.
2. Pure Play streaming networks understand their audience better and they have the ability to target those listeners effectively for advertisers.
3. Pricing discipline. Pure Play operators understand both the realities and potential of on-line ad pricing.
Read more here.
Founded in 2004, Ando Media is the leading provider of real-time audience measurement and ads management solutions for the internet audio market.
With recent Bridge Ratings studies showing accelerating growth among Internet radio listeners of all ages, Bridge says they were curious as to the growth as reflected in Ando Media's "Webcast Metrics" numbers which are generated real time by actual listening.
They took the "Webcast Metrics" figures from Ando Media's November 2009 release and compared them to those of June 2010. The numbers reflected here represent Ando's "Average Active Sessions" metric which is a measure of the average number of streams of one minute or more that are active within a time period. The time period reflected in the following analysis is Monday through Friday 6am - 8pm.
Why is Pure Play greatly outpacing terrestrially-delivered on-line radio listening?
Terrestrial radio companies have still not committed to the concept of differentiating their on-line content product from their terrestrial streams. Unique program opportunities exist for traditional radio on-line, yet few companies are taking the initiative to pursue these opportunities.
Perhaps it has to do with the fact that program directors of traditional stations don't have the time or ability to devote to proactive content development.
Ando Media's Chief Operating Officer, Paul Krasinski offers three reasons why Pure Play has the advantage:
1. The user content experience is better.
2. Pure Play streaming networks understand their audience better and they have the ability to target those listeners effectively for advertisers.
3. Pricing discipline. Pure Play operators understand both the realities and potential of on-line ad pricing.
Read more here.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Cable News Audiences in Flux
Overall, cable news continues to play a significant role in peoples’ news habits – 39% say they regularly get news from a cable channel. But, according to the newly released study from the Pew Center for the People & The Press, the proportions saying they regularly watch CNN, MSNBC and CNBC have slipped substantially from two years ago, during the presidential election.
Only Fox News has maintained its audience size, and this is because of the increasing number of Republicans who regularly get news there. Four-in-ten Republicans (40%) now say they regularly watch Fox News, up from 36% two years ago and just 18% a decade ago. Just 12% of Republicans regularly watch CNN, and just 6% regularly watch MSNBC.
As recently as 2002, Republicans were as likely to watch CNN (28%) as Fox News (25%). The share of Democrats who regularly watch CNN or Fox News has fallen from 2008.
In terms of specific programs, Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly have succeeded in attracting conservative and attentive audiences. This is also the case for radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Most of those who regularly watch O’Reilly (63%) and Hannity (65%) are 50 or older; 44% of the public is 50 or older. By contrast, the Daily Show and Colbert Report have the youngest audiences of any outlet included in the survey. Large majorities of those who say they regularly watch the Colbert Report (80%) and the Daily Show (74%) are younger than 50; 55% of public is 18 to 49.
Read more here.
Only Fox News has maintained its audience size, and this is because of the increasing number of Republicans who regularly get news there. Four-in-ten Republicans (40%) now say they regularly watch Fox News, up from 36% two years ago and just 18% a decade ago. Just 12% of Republicans regularly watch CNN, and just 6% regularly watch MSNBC.
As recently as 2002, Republicans were as likely to watch CNN (28%) as Fox News (25%). The share of Democrats who regularly watch CNN or Fox News has fallen from 2008.
In terms of specific programs, Fox News hosts Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly have succeeded in attracting conservative and attentive audiences. This is also the case for radio host Rush Limbaugh.
Read more here.
YouTube Starts Live Streaming
Youtube Sunday launched Youtube live video streaming (broadcasting) for few well known companies. At the bottom of this post you can see live streaming schedule for companies like Rocketboom, HotoCast etc.
Americans Spending More Time Following News
There are many more ways to get the news these days, and as a consequence Americans are spending more time with the news than over much of the past decade, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
Digital platforms are playing a larger role in news consumption, and they seem to be more than making up for modest declines in the audience for traditional platforms. As a result, the average time Americans spend with the news on a given day is as high as it was in the mid-1990s, when audiences for traditional news sources were much larger.
Roughly a third (34%) of the public say they went online for news yesterday -- on par with radio, and slightly higher than daily newspapers. And when cell phones, email, social networks and podcasts are added in, 44% of Americans say they got news through one or more internet or mobile digital source yesterday.
At the same time, the proportion of Americans who get news from traditional media platforms -- television, radio and print -- has been stable or edging downward in the last few years. There has been no overall decline in the percentage saying they watched news on television, and even with the continued erosion of print newspaper and radio audiences, three-quarters of Americans got news yesterday from one or more of these three traditional platforms.
In short, instead of replacing traditional news platforms, Americans are increasingly integrating new technologies into their news consumption habits. More than a third (36%) of Americans say they got news from both digital and traditional sources yesterday, just shy of the number who relied solely on traditional sources (39%). Only 9% of Americans got news through the internet and mobile technology without also using traditional sources.
Read more here.
Digital platforms are playing a larger role in news consumption, and they seem to be more than making up for modest declines in the audience for traditional platforms. As a result, the average time Americans spend with the news on a given day is as high as it was in the mid-1990s, when audiences for traditional news sources were much larger.
Roughly a third (34%) of the public say they went online for news yesterday -- on par with radio, and slightly higher than daily newspapers. And when cell phones, email, social networks and podcasts are added in, 44% of Americans say they got news through one or more internet or mobile digital source yesterday.
At the same time, the proportion of Americans who get news from traditional media platforms -- television, radio and print -- has been stable or edging downward in the last few years. There has been no overall decline in the percentage saying they watched news on television, and even with the continued erosion of print newspaper and radio audiences, three-quarters of Americans got news yesterday from one or more of these three traditional platforms.
In short, instead of replacing traditional news platforms, Americans are increasingly integrating new technologies into their news consumption habits. More than a third (36%) of Americans say they got news from both digital and traditional sources yesterday, just shy of the number who relied solely on traditional sources (39%). Only 9% of Americans got news through the internet and mobile technology without also using traditional sources.
Read more here.
Hannity: FM Ushering in “New Age of Talk Radio”
The Premiere Radio Networks/Fox News Channel talk superstar says, “With younger demos there are some markets where, if you look at adults 25-54, there’s only maybe between 15% and 25% of the people in that age group that even know that AM radio exists.
So the FM invasion creates a great opportunity for the talk business because when young people hear talk radio, the good news is that in all of these markets, they love it.” Predicting that this rapid expansion to FM will now continue in market after market “like dominos,” Hannity goes on to present an upbeat look at the general talk radio picture citing the format as the place advertisers must place their dollars if they want to get their messages out to the most affluent and active consumers.
Read more here.
PPM: Beginning Of The End For Talk Radio Fromat
That's what media pundit/critic Jerry Del Colliano believes. In a posting on Inside Music Media, he gives the talk format on radio, as we know it, another seven years. The reason: Arbitron's new PPM rating system and shorter attention spans. After that, we apparently can expect the talk format to start disappearing from terrestial radio much like Smooth/Cool Jazz formats.
Del Colliano cites how the average talk or news/talk station saw a dramatic decline from 4.6 (12+ average quarter hour) in its four final diary surveys to a 4.0 in April-July People Meter ratings – a 13% audience loss. Some 40 stations in 18 markets were in the study.
He writes:
He quotes TRN's Phil Boyce, former PD at WABC in NYC “In focus groups where dial testing is used to measure talk topics, listener interest wanes after about three minutes on a good topic and after about 30 seconds on a poor topic."
The myth of Gen Y is that they have short attention spans and the reality is that all of us have increasingly short attention spans.
In a nutshell, Del Colliano writes:
Del Colliano cites how the average talk or news/talk station saw a dramatic decline from 4.6 (12+ average quarter hour) in its four final diary surveys to a 4.0 in April-July People Meter ratings – a 13% audience loss. Some 40 stations in 18 markets were in the study.
Older listeners – the kind talk radio still delivers in great numbers --- have nice long attention spans the better to sit through rants, raves, stop sets and promos. It’s all worth it to them to hear their favorite talk show host.Del Colliano notes PPM is forcing radio to cover more topics per hour, sometimes 4 to 5 topics instead of 1 or 2.
But young demographics have other alternatives.
Facebook has for the first time surpassed Google as the online place where Internet users spent most of their time according to a comScore research findings.
In August, online users spent 41.1 million minutes on Facebook, or about 9.9% of the total time spent online compared to 39.8 million minutes (9.6%) for Google.
He quotes TRN's Phil Boyce, former PD at WABC in NYC “In focus groups where dial testing is used to measure talk topics, listener interest wanes after about three minutes on a good topic and after about 30 seconds on a poor topic."
The myth of Gen Y is that they have short attention spans and the reality is that all of us have increasingly short attention spans.
In a nutshell, Del Colliano writes:
Older listeners continue to gravitate to longer radio listening sessions in traditional listening locations guaranteeing an older skewed demographic.Read more here.
The People Meter does not provide the drive-by listening advantage that hit radio stations get when they are played in public and their encoded signal is picked up by meter wearers who may or may not actually be listening to the station their device is recording.
Attention spans have deteriorated in the general population providing an extra challenge to a format that always did well in attracting long listening periods.
An Unexpected Choice Becomes a Radio Staple
When Don Imus departed sports talk WFAN in NYC (April 2007) , Mark Chernoff, vice president for programming at CBS Radio in New York and operations manager at WFAN, had to find a new show.
According to a story at NYTimes.com, after a series of tryouts by other known personalities, including Geraldo Rivera, Chernoff chose Boomer Esiason, the former National Football League quarterback, who was already a polished football analyst on television and radio, including WFAN (660 AM). In selecting a co-host Mr. Chernoff threw his fan base a bit of a curve by choosing Craig Carton, who had been an intern at the station in 1988 and who was one of the hosts on “Jersey Guys,” an afternoon talk show in Trenton that occasionally provoked controversy. (NYTimes photo)
Chernoff saw potential in the colorful, charismatic and highly opinionated Carton, who had spent the previous 20 years working behind microphones in Buffalo, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Denver, in addition to Trenton. Along the way he became equal parts entertainer and sports broadcaster.
“Craig is a radio guy the way Imus and Howard Stern are radio guys,” Chernoff told The New York Times' Vincent M. Mallozi. “Say what you want about the talent of all those other people who tried out, but Craig knows how to run a radio show, he knows how to speak to an audience and how to push the hot buttons that get people to react.”
The pairing of Mr. Esiason and Mr. Carton has paid handsome dividends. “Boomer & Carton” is now New York’s top-rated morning radio show among men 25 to 54, a ranking that Mr. Imus had not achieved at least since Mr. Chernoff joined the station in 1993.
“I always felt that this was the single greatest job in radio, and other than playing center field for the Mets it’s the greatest job in the world,” said Mr. Carton, 41. “There’s never a day that goes by where I don’t look at myself in the mirror and say: ‘Wow, I’m the morning guy on WFAN. It’s a job I’ve wanted since I was a kid.’ ”
The show has proved so popular in its three years on the air that it is now heading to television. “Boomer & Carton” will be simulcast on the MSG Network beginning Tuesday.
Read more here.
Chernoff saw potential in the colorful, charismatic and highly opinionated Carton, who had spent the previous 20 years working behind microphones in Buffalo, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Denver, in addition to Trenton. Along the way he became equal parts entertainer and sports broadcaster.
“Craig is a radio guy the way Imus and Howard Stern are radio guys,” Chernoff told The New York Times' Vincent M. Mallozi. “Say what you want about the talent of all those other people who tried out, but Craig knows how to run a radio show, he knows how to speak to an audience and how to push the hot buttons that get people to react.”
The pairing of Mr. Esiason and Mr. Carton has paid handsome dividends. “Boomer & Carton” is now New York’s top-rated morning radio show among men 25 to 54, a ranking that Mr. Imus had not achieved at least since Mr. Chernoff joined the station in 1993.
“I always felt that this was the single greatest job in radio, and other than playing center field for the Mets it’s the greatest job in the world,” said Mr. Carton, 41. “There’s never a day that goes by where I don’t look at myself in the mirror and say: ‘Wow, I’m the morning guy on WFAN. It’s a job I’ve wanted since I was a kid.’ ”
The show has proved so popular in its three years on the air that it is now heading to television. “Boomer & Carton” will be simulcast on the MSG Network beginning Tuesday.
Read more here.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Jets Investigated For Harassing TV Reporter
Here’s what happened. Sainz, an extremely attractive reporter who usually only covers the Super Bowl, showed up to interview Sanchez. When the rest of the team saw her, they responded by “acting like frat boys,” catcalling her, and intentionally running into her during passing drills as she stood on the sidelines.
Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post referenced the passing drills incident, and based on the tone of his tweet, everybody thought things were fine and dandy:
"Dennis Thurman purposely overthrowing the DBs in drills so they can 'accidentally' run into TV Azteca reporter on the sideline. HILARIOUS."
Maybe not. According to Fogarty, the tweets have been erased, meaning either the Post or Thurman realizes the situation is getting a tad more serious. Serious as in: The Association of Women in Sports Media asked the NFL to look into the incident, which the league described as “troubling.”
Sainz is best known for covering the NFL during the Super Bowl, and it’s not what you would call hard-hitting journalism (her signature move is measuring players’ biceps).
Read more here.
Here is the news: I Quit!
Norwegian radio reporter walks out after two-minute rant
A Norwegian radio journalist had an on-air meltdown and dramatically told startled listeners that she had quit her job and would not be reading the day's news bulletin.
The Daily Mail reports Pia Beate Pedersen announced to listeners of public broadcast station NRK that she was 'quitting and walking away' because she 'wanted to be able to eat properly again and be able to breathe'.
Her comments were part of a two-minute diatribe, in which she accused her NRK employers of putting too much pressure on staff.
She capped hoff the rant by refusing to read the news bulleitn, saying there was no news to report.
'Nothing important has happened anyway,' she snapped before walking out.
Ms Pedersen had worked at NRK for 18 months, and station spokesman Oeyvind Werner Oefsti said her on-air rant and sudden resignation came as a total surprise.
NRK covers the capital Oslo and the Ahershus regions.
Her dramatic meltdown was reminiscent of Steven Slater's resignation via evacuation slide from a JetBlue aircraft last month.
Read more here.
The Daily Mail reports Pia Beate Pedersen announced to listeners of public broadcast station NRK that she was 'quitting and walking away' because she 'wanted to be able to eat properly again and be able to breathe'.
Her comments were part of a two-minute diatribe, in which she accused her NRK employers of putting too much pressure on staff.
She capped hoff the rant by refusing to read the news bulleitn, saying there was no news to report.
'Nothing important has happened anyway,' she snapped before walking out.
Ms Pedersen had worked at NRK for 18 months, and station spokesman Oeyvind Werner Oefsti said her on-air rant and sudden resignation came as a total surprise.
NRK covers the capital Oslo and the Ahershus regions.
Her dramatic meltdown was reminiscent of Steven Slater's resignation via evacuation slide from a JetBlue aircraft last month.
Read more here.
Hitting The Airwaves
High school students tackle tough topics with radio show
Sibling Rivalry. Suicide. Eating disorders. Cutting. Bullying.
There's nothing that these students won't discussm according to posting at heraldnewsonline.com.
Students from Joliet West High School and Joliet Central High School (Illinois) have been talking about these topics over the radio waves and via the Internet so other students will know they aren't alone.
Every other week, the students research and present various topics that effect teens on their radio program, "Say it Out Loud."
Joliet West students broadcast on http://www.party.com/.
"We talk about things that people don't normally talk about and we show people that even though you're not an expert you can still hold a decent conversation about things," said Joe Wolnik, 16, a junior at Joliet West.
"Even though it's uncomfortable to talk about something, it's still something that should be talked about. It's an important issue," Wolnik said,
This month, the Joliet West students started taking questions via the World Wide Web. They received one asking whether the student should call the police if someone is being bullied.
"Whatever it takes to get the problem solved that's the action you should take," Wolnik said.
It's important to speak up and get help because once the bully thinks he has gotten away with bullying, it continues, Wolnik said.
They all agreed bullying is a serious issue.
"It's like people are getting terrorized every day. You have to preplan everything and you get hung up on how to respond or you just feel humiliated. ... It's really uncomfortable because you feel hopeless or helpless," said Sarah Gura, a licensed clinical professional counselor.
Each month, Gura works with the students listening to them rehearse their radio show, chiming in with suggestions or more information on the problem of the day.
On Wednesday, the radio trio practiced their show on self-harming behaviors and eating disorders before they went on live.
Read more here.
There's nothing that these students won't discussm according to posting at heraldnewsonline.com.
Students from Joliet West High School and Joliet Central High School (Illinois) have been talking about these topics over the radio waves and via the Internet so other students will know they aren't alone.
Every other week, the students research and present various topics that effect teens on their radio program, "Say it Out Loud."
Joliet West students broadcast on http://www.party.com/.
"We talk about things that people don't normally talk about and we show people that even though you're not an expert you can still hold a decent conversation about things," said Joe Wolnik, 16, a junior at Joliet West.
"Even though it's uncomfortable to talk about something, it's still something that should be talked about. It's an important issue," Wolnik said,
This month, the Joliet West students started taking questions via the World Wide Web. They received one asking whether the student should call the police if someone is being bullied.
"Whatever it takes to get the problem solved that's the action you should take," Wolnik said.
It's important to speak up and get help because once the bully thinks he has gotten away with bullying, it continues, Wolnik said.
They all agreed bullying is a serious issue.
"It's like people are getting terrorized every day. You have to preplan everything and you get hung up on how to respond or you just feel humiliated. ... It's really uncomfortable because you feel hopeless or helpless," said Sarah Gura, a licensed clinical professional counselor.
Each month, Gura works with the students listening to them rehearse their radio show, chiming in with suggestions or more information on the problem of the day.
On Wednesday, the radio trio practiced their show on self-harming behaviors and eating disorders before they went on live.
Read more here.
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