Compass
Sean Hannity
Dave Ramsey
Category: Analysis
Talk Hosts are Wise to Add Writing to their Communication Toolbox
By Lisa Wexler
WFAS-AM, Westchester, NY
Talk Show Host
WESTCHESTER, NY — “Honey, you’re famous,” my husband Bill called upstairs to me on Saturday morning. Really, why so? “Rick the shoe man says he read your op-ed in the Connecticut Post and he agrees with you. He wants me to tell you that. He thinks you are right, told me to thank you for writing it.” Made my day. I haven’t seen Rick the shoe man in about three years. He doesn’t live or work within my radio range. Unless he takes the trouble to find me on iHeartRadio or on-line, I don’t reach this man. Not unless I make the effort to write as well as speak.
Play Ball: Fun with Flagships
By Mike Kinosian
TALKERS
Managing Editor/West Coast Bureau Chief
LOS ANGELES — When considering there are more than one month’s worth of spring training contests; a grueling 162-game April through September regular-season schedule; and hopefully – the post season, no professional sport requires as demanding of a commitment for a flagship as does Major League Baseball.
Sandwich a typical three-hour game between pre-game and post-game programming and a station can devote approximately 20% of its 24-hour broadcast day to being a MLB flagship.
Talking in the UK: Perspectives from an American Talk Show Host Working in London
By Charlie Wolf
LONDON — Working in London, England, as an American talk show host has its challenges. For instance, for the first two-three years of my six year stint as a host on commercial national talk station, TalkSPORT, (Talk Radio UK) doing a political/news-based show – it was the audience’s view that I was not allowed an opinion at all, either as a host and especially as a “Yank.”
For years on the BBC – where there is “speech radio” (drama, news, news analysis – and done very well) there had been very little interactive talk, and even then the host – though he would occasionally explore or challenge a point – was mostly a moderator not an instigator or opinion former. Talk shows on the BBC, now more opinionated than they used to be, are very much in the mould of “on the one hand there is …. But on the other hand…. what do you think?” British radio – due to over-regulation, a fairness doctrine, dominant licence funded BBC, a lack of competition, and a “scared-of-one’s-own-shadow” attitude to regulators – will never have a thriving talk radio market as in the US. There is not the space for talent to truly develop in talk commercially.
Country Music Radio and News/Talk Radio : “Universal Donor” Formats
By Jeff McKay
Talkers
Special Features Correspondent
NEW YORK – Two different radio formats: One plays music by artists such as Johnny Cash, Carrie Underwood and Florida-Georgia Line. The other has voices such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Stephanie Miller. Ironically, both the country music format that does not talk politics and the news/talk format that plays no music each have something in common – they cater largely to the same audience!
When it comes to country music listeners and news/talk radio listeners, especially those who lean conservative, similarities between listeners really depend on their age. Jaye Albright, a consulting partner for Albright & O’Malley & Brenner/RadioIQ, Inc. interestingly calls both “universal donor” formats.
Controversy Proves the Power of Radio
By Walter Sabo
Chairman
Sabo Media
NEW YORK: Let’s review a show that promotes:
• Co-habitation without the benefit of marriage; Sexual stereotypes — girls throw themselves at football players just for a kiss.
• Racial stereotypes. For example, it promotes the need for more black friends in order to be appealing.
• The discussion of condoms.
• Living together and sex with strangers.
Then, it promotes even more living together and sex with strangers and the humor of meeting a possible mass murderer.
That show commands the highest spot rates of any comedy show this year. It is on Fox.
Boston Bombing: How Radio Can Help…
Or Hurt.
By Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
BOSTON — Prediction: The Boston perpetrator(s)’ capture will be crowdsourced.
Today, you will be photographed, possibly hundreds of times. Cameras are everywhere now. They’re in banks and stores. They’re robo-toll-takers, and toll-evader witnesses; and red-light cameras and automated radar traps have become a controversial new municipal revenue stream. Riding mass transit? Smile. Since 9/11, that’s been The New Normal…on a normal day.
Are You Doing Both Kinds of “Radio?”
By Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
BLOCK ISLAND, RI — Based on how people now consume audio content, “radio” sorts into two piles:
1. There’s programming that’s valuable because it’s live:
2. Traffic reports are radio’s MOST-perishable information. Save listeners unpleasant surprises and they’ll love ya.
Big 2013 Consumer Electronics Show: Big Implications for Radio
By Holland Cooke
News/Talk/Sports Consultant
LAS VEGAS — Remember how iPod changed the way we collect and consume music? Decades earlier, Walkman had already rendered songs portable and empowered the listener-as-DJ. Then Apple obsoleted its own game-changer. As lines snaked around the block, again, for 2012′s iPhone 5 debut, sales of iPod and other mp3 players were plummeting 22%. We now tote our tunes on smartphones…which have also disrupted cameras, GPS, etc., etc., etc.
And again this week, 150,000 attendees here oooh’d-and-ahhh’d at 20,000 new products, many seeking to obsolete last year’s 20,000 shiny objects. That alone makes this a useful trek for radio folk. The CES conversation about what’s-new/what’s-next is a real pump-up compared to the “What’s left?” that haunts too much of radio’s shop talk.
November News Nuggets
By Mike Kinosian
TALKERS
Managing Editor/West Coast Bureau Chief
LOS ANGELES — Given the extraordinary nature of what has been happening of late, it is highly appropriate to follow up our recent massive talk radio overview with a similar piece on all-news operations.
There is however one obvious difference: Talk can claim tonnage honors, whereas news is one of radio’s most sparsely-represented formats.
Each PPM market has at least one talk outlet within in its top 20 (6+, November 2012), compared to news accomplishing the same feat in only 15 of the 48 electronically measured metros for a conversion rate of just over 30%.
Four-Month News/Talk Radio PPM Overview
TALKERS Presents Massive Four Month News/Talk Radio PPM Overview. As a follow up to yesterday’s (12/17) analysis by Mike Kinosian about how the non-stop, dramatic events of the past six weeks have presented radio, in general, and news/talk radio, specifically, with the challenge and opportunity to process an enormous amount of compelling material, TALKERS presents a PPM overview of some 140 stations leading up to and including this period. Reflecting on the format’s extremely dramatic November (2012) survey, where more than seven of 10 stations in our large sample were either up or steady (6+), compared to their October stats. Stations qualified to appear in this multi-faceted recap by ranking within the top 20 (6+) in any of Arbitron’s 48 PPM-measured markets (November 2012). Since only subscribing stations are printed by Arbitron in their monthly reports, those are the ones we can consider here. Talk has the distinction of being the lone format to have at least one station in the top 20 of all 48 PPM markets. Each talk station’s 6+-performance over the last four (4) PPM monthlies is shown below. Following the November survey period, Orlando’s WDBO-AM (##) transitioned from talk to sports.
Talk Radio’s Noteworthy November/December Stretch
By Mike Kinosian
TALKERS
Managing Editor/West Coast Bureau Chief
LOS ANGELES — In just an approximately six-week period, Americans have:
• Relished our freedom by participating in our democracy’s fundamental building block – the electoral process – which this year happened to include another historic presidential election
• Helplessly watched parts of our country’s northeast region savagely pounded by the storm of a lifetime
• Attempted to aid our neighbors regroup from “Sandy,” while simultaneously starting the annual tradition of gathering families to give thanks; anxiously began the official start of the holiday season; and heard (many adult contemporary) stations maintain their ritual of playing continuous Christmas favorites
• Been shocked, horrified, and in a state of speechless disbelief as deranged gunmen ended the lives of defenseless victims in a Portland shopping mall and a Connecticut school
I Read the News Today, Oh Boy.
By Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
BLOCK ISLAND, RI — Even as Americans were still processing the Oregon mall shootings came unthinkable new violence in Connecticut.
As the story unfolded, it was uncanny to witness how-far-ahead Twitter was, compared to all the news apps on my iPhone. Not hearsay, but fact-checked posts, first from Connecticut-based media who were first on-site; then from stations and newspapers from neighboring states. By 6:30 pm ET, letter-networks’ anchors were in-place for evening newscasts this gripping story dominated.
Arbitron Client Conference: Format Facts and Forecasts
By Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
ANNAPOLIS — Now THIS is worth a meeting. If your station is an Arbitron subscriber, you should download, devour, and discuss the just-released “Radio Today 2012,” an uncanny mash-up of Scarborough consumer profiles and Arbitron audience data. What you will read about people-who-listen-to your format really fleshes-out the folks you want as heavy listeners, and will send you in specific directions to seem relevant and relatable and habit-forming to ‘em.
And that’s all I’m allowed to say! Because this information is THAT valuable! Read the legal hear-ye-hear-ye at arbitron.com, and you’ll understand that I’m not being coy. But I can share some useful headlines from the Executive Summary Arbitron has released, which follow.
Arbitron Client Conference Day Two: Scary Talk About In-Car, Straight Talk About Sports, Plain Talk About Politics
By Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
ANNAPOLIS — Recently, one auto maker announced that it will no longer factory-install AM radios. In this case, it’s because the high-end car’s high-tech composite body material would interfere with reception. Still, the specter of AM’s fade was jarring, particularly to those in news/talk/sports radio, now actively migrating to FM, but still predominantly AM formats.
Again this week, another such harbinger, this one a whack-on-the-side-of-the-head to FM broadcasters too…
Arbitron Client Conference: Day 1
Time Spent Listening about…Time Spent Listening
by Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
ANNAPOLIS — If the wistful Kenny G. Christmas music wafting through the hotel is nearly-drowned-out by the sound of 250 people typing, it can only be…Arbitron’s Client Conference.
This is an annual Who’s Who of radio Programming, and everyone here admits to the nerdy curiosity necessary to digest a two-day meeting about audience measurement. I do a half-dozen media conventions a year, and I always extract more “take-home pay” from this one than any other.
Here are my notes from day one. More here tomorrow, and more Monday.
Where Radio Fits: Radio’s Strengths
in the Media Landscape
by Holland Cooke
Radio Consultant
DALLAS — This was the best session I attended at the NAB/RAB Radio Show. A summary is available for free download on Arbitron’s client website. This document is a powerful selling tool, and real instructive to programmers and on-air talent…especially on-air talent that sells (and smart on-air talent does).
The presenter was Arbitron senior VP/marketing Bill Rose: “Radio provides opportunities to reach consumers when advertising is relevant to what they are doing.”
The sample for this study is “the buying demographic of 25-54, because that’s where the money is,” per conventional wisdom. Data Bill presented was from USA Touchpoints, a national sample that captures media usage, shopping behavior, emotional mindset, via smartphone app, every half hour, from 10-day panelists.
Sports Talk Radio Scoreboard
By Mike Kinosian
TALKERS magazine
Managing Editor/West Coast Bureau Chief
LOS ANGELES — Ratings results of 40 sports outlets appear in this RadioInfo overview.
In order for a station to qualify, it needed to rank within the top 20 (6+) in any of Arbitron’s 48 PPM-measured markets in the most recent (August 2012) monthly report.
Listed is each station’s 6+ performance over the last six (6) PPM monthlies.
One or two stations that would historically satisfy the (6+) top 20 ranking requirement are missing. Such omissions most likely stem from a March 2012 de-listing issue Arbitron has with non-subscribing stations. Exclusion of those stations is beyond our control.
There have been cases though where de-listed stations have returned as subscribers. In the months in which the station was de-listed, its 6+ share is shown as “###.”
The audio channel for a low-power television outlet is indicated as “LP.”
iPad Creates New Income Opportunity for News Writers
Holland Cooke reports to TALKERS from Blogworld/New York
By Holland Cooke
MCVAY/COOK & ASSOCIATES
News/Talk Specialist
NEW YORK – “Internet attention span?” That’s dang near an oxymoron, we’ve learned, via piles of research, and by observing our own behavior. Thus the tips we’ve heard about writing short, keyword-rich sentences and paragraphs. Keep the eye moving, for just…another…sentence.
It’s familiar lore to radio talent, especially with PPM demonstrating how on-air programming needs to be relevant, one…moment…at…a…time. Heck, Twitter trains us to keep it down to 140 characters! A useful discipline – quite applicable to writing anything for radio.
But, as iPod and iPhone have, stable mate iPad is, once again, demonstrating how facile new devices change the way we consume information/entertainment content – and how we interact.
For several years, Michael Harrison has urged radio talk hosts to migrate to what he terms the “media station,” and these new devices are, in radio parlance, “receivers.”
Clearly observable trend: Longer-form internet content is gaining in popularity for two reasons:
1. iPad – and Kindle/Nook/other tablet devices – make longer text content easier to consume than on small smartphone screens, or less-portable desktop computers, or even less-instant-on notebooks and netbooks.
2. “Internet advertising” for consumer products is becoming the next oxymoron. As a society, we’ve become banner-blind; and we can set our browsers to block ads. That controversial Facebook IPO exposed its vulnerability as an ad medium.
Accordingly, co-founder of the crowd sourcing market place for professional writers Contently.com, Shane Snow, told Blogworld attendees that brands are shifting from online advertising to sharable content of interest to their customers; and they’re spending to create “really good, high-quality content,” done by freelancers he called “real journalists.”
Example: Pepsi.com. Think “the kind of stories you’d see in the BACK of magazines.”
Snow’s company feeds this beast, with the banner atop its web site proclaiming: “Contently empowers professional journalists and bloggers to build careers doing what they love.”
Radio news people — now such an endangered species — might investigate www.Contently.com/network and other similar opportunities online.
As Contently’s Manifesto trumpets: “Quality is king. Freelance is the future. Anyone can be a publisher.”
News/Talk consultant Holland Cooke covers conventions for Talkers. See/hear/read more atwww.HollandCooke.com; and follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke.
Suddenly, Your Blackberry is a Radio
By Holland Cooke
MCVAY/COOK & ASSOCIATES
News/Talk Specialist
LAS VEGAS –– They hadn’t even cut the ribbon to open CES2012 when the biggest radio story broke. Research In Motion admitted to something Apple won’t: There’s a sleeper chip in phones already in use –– RIM’s Blackberry Curve 9360 and 9380. Just download an app, and you activate the FM receiver you didn’t know you were walking around with.
Why this is big:
• Suddenly, there are millions of new radios. Researchers presenting at CES told us that half of all Americans now tote a smartphone.
• Radio is back in the pocket, for the first time since the 1960s.
• You can hear local stations’ over-the-air signals, which don’t consume your wireless data ration the way streaming does.
• Blackberry’s move should nudge Apple to respond.
Why this is a win-win-win-win-win:
A lesson from the NJ101.5 case
By Matthew B. Harrison
Senior Partner
Harrison Strategies
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. –– When choosing to use non-original materials as a portion of programming, it is important to make sure that such usage falls squarely within the accepted affirmative defense of fair use.
A New Jersey federal appeals court recently reinstated a copyright and defamation lawsuit against New Jersey talk radio station, New Jersey 101.5 (WKXW-FM) and its former PM drive team “Carton & Rossi.” Craig Carton currently co-hosts the WFAN, New York morning drive show “Boomer & Carton.” Ray Rossi hosts an evening show on New Jersey 101.5.
The case was simple. New Jersey Monthly (NJM) hired a photographer to take a photo of Carton & Rossi to accompany an article to be published. An unknown employee of WKXW-FM then scanned in the image from NJM and posted it to the WKXW-FM website, among others. The image, as scanned and posted, cut off reference to NJM’s story title, and eliminated the gutter credit identifying the photographer. The station invited visitors to alter the image and submit resulting versions. In all, the station posted 26 of these submissions. At no time did the station or the hosts ask the photographer for permission, and as a result –– the photographer sued.
Are Talk Radio Hosts Libel Proof?
By Steven J.J. Weisman
Legal Editor
BOSTON –– The recent dismissal in California of soccer star, celebrity David Beckham’s libel lawsuit against In Touch magazine has brought attention to the nuances of American libel law. Beckham sued the magazine for an article that asserted that Beckham cheated on his wife with a prostitute in New York in 2007. Beckham provided affidavits to the court that indicated that on two specific instances stated in the In Touch article, he was not at the hotel she claimed. In one instance he was visiting his father in England.
But Judge Manuel Real was unmoved by Beckham’s arguments because to Judge Real, it was irrelevant whether or not the story was true or not. The only issue was whether or not the magazine had printed the story maliciously.
