Industry Views

Michael Harrison: The Future of Radio Depends Upon What Those of Us in the Business Make It

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TALKERS founder Michael Harrison appeared as a guest Wednesday on Frank Morano’s “The Other Side of Midnight” show (3/13) as part of his current “Scammers” interview tour promoting the new Gunhill Road “Damn Scammers (Get Off My Phone)” music video (www.scammersvideo.com). The conversation illuminated Harrison’s concerns about the rapid spread of scamming and fraud in the digital space but quickly expanded to a discussion about the pros and cons of AI and an existential look at the future of the radio platform itself.

Regarding the insidious growth of scams on the internet, Harrison said, “It is a major problem up there with terrorism, inflation, street crime, pandemics, uncontrolled immigration, and war… it’s corroding the quality of our lives, lowering the bar on integrity, and raising the level of disingenuousness that is becoming a ‘normal’ part of our culture.” Harrison attributes a major part of the problem to legislators being behind the curve on this, stating, “Historically, it takes time for legislation to catch up to changes in technology… now that technology is changing so rapidly it’s increasingly difficult for legislators to keep up with it. In many cases they don’t even have a clue as to how the internet operates.”

Regarding the issue of AI stealing jobs from broadcasters – particularly talent – going forward, Harrison was blunt: “Just like all technology, AI is a double-edged sword and can be dangerous.  But in the case of art, people have always accused new technologies in art as somehow being fake and ‘cheating’ but history has consistently shown that today’s technology is tomorrow’s art. Regarding the loss of jobs for radio talent, it all depends on what you bring to the table. If you are a basic announcer, meaning you read most of your content from a script or apply a very limited range of verbiage such as time, temperature, news and the simple intros and outros of songs – watch out, you will likely lose your job. But if you’re a talk show host, analyst, interviewer, or commentator – all you have to do is work a little harder… you have to be even more original. AI can only draw upon and synthesize what’s already out there. You’ll have to stay ahead of the AI learning curve. All AI can actually do is realistically recreate monologues and dialogue that are in the category of worn-out talking points. If that’s what you are currently doing on the air, you’ll be replaced by AI and no one will notice.”

Regarding the future of radio and its ongoing viability in the digital era, Harrison said that it depends on whether those of us in the industry actively create radio’s relevant future or abandon it out of fear or simple lack of ideas. Harrison warned, “The use of ‘audio’ as a description of this medium is short-sighted. Radio is an esthetic… complex and organic. All radio is audio but not all audio is radio. Putting up a sign on radio calling it audio would be like owning a restaurant and calling it ‘food’ or a specific brand car dealership and calling it ‘transportation.’” Listen to the interview here

Industry News

Mike Church Show Begins AM/FM Syndication

Talk media personality Mike Church – longtime host of the morning drive program on SixiusXM’s The Patriot Channel – is bringing his Internet-based talk program to terrestrial radio. Church’s company, The Crusade Radio Network,” says, “We are delighted to announce that after seven years of singularim devotion to Internet radio broadcasting, we are launching ‘The Mike Church Show’ into terrestrial radio syndication! The launch date of ‘The Mike Church Show’ will be March 1 and the show will begin its repatriation of AM/FM radio in Atlanta, Georgia’s #7 U.S. radio market on WXKG “The King”! Church adds, “We’ve always known that terrestrial radio was going to play a part in our industry leading development of Internet radio, we just didn’t know in what way. Over the last two years, that role began to materialize with the dearth of quality talk shows and the opportunities to fill that gap left by the wrecking ball that was consolidation’s march through local radio properties.” The program airs live from 7:00 am to 10:00 am ET.

Industry Views

Monday Memo: The Local Radio Advantage

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imIf you’re a news/talk station, don’t assume that you own “news radio” in your market. Imaging is important, but it merely talks-the-talk. You walk-the-walk with local news copy that delivers what solid commercial copy does: benefits. Just doing local news makes you special. But do listeners simply hear a station voice… reading something? Are you merely… accurate? Or do you deliver “take-home pay,” unwrapping the story to tell the listener something useful?

In many homes, there are now fewer radios than smart speakers. And nobody has ever said: “Alexa, please play six commercials.” But she can play millions of songs. So do streams and YouTube.

What can make a music station different from all those other audio choices is the way you help folks cope, how relevant and empathetic you are, how you sound like you have-their-back as day-to-day news has them wondering “What NEXT?”

And boosting tune-in exposes your advertisers better. So, Time Spent Listening is still the ballgame. Specifically, you need to add occasions of tune-in, and this week’s column begins a three-part series of news copy coaching tips that can help bring listeners back more often.

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Simply rewriting source material can make a huge difference. Press releases torture the ear. They’re formal, and prone to jargon and spin (especially from politicians). When they’re from the police, they’re written in cop-speak. And most press releases are written inside-out, emphasizing a process, rather than the consequence to listeners.

Process example: “At Thursday’s work session of the Springfield City Council, a decision was made to move forward with Community Days this year. The annual Community Days celebration is scheduled for June 16 and 17th. Council members made sure the Community Days funds will be handled by an independent accountant. Councilwoman Sharon Grant said…”

Re-write to lead with consequence: “The annual Springfield Community Days celebration will be June 16th and 17th. After last year’s controversy, Council members made sure the Community Days funds will be handled by an independent accountant. At Thursday’s session, Councilwoman Sharon Grant said…”

That simple tweak is well-worth the minimal effort. Listeners are mentally busy. Remove “Styrofoam words.”  Example: “State Police say they are investigating a possible case of child endangerment after a seven-month-old child was treated for severe injuries.”

Simply delete “say they.”

Next week: Ripped from the headlines… 

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of The Local Radio Advantage: Your 4-Week Tune-In Tune-Up,” and “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry News

Nielsen: Radio Can Grow Reach of Political Campaigns

Audacy SVP and head of research & insights Idil Cakim dives into a new political study by Nielsen (commissioned by iHeartMedia, Audacy and Cumulus) that suggests advertising on radio can provide political campaigns with an edge and help “connect with key voter groups and amplify other political advertising.” The Nielsen study – Optimizing Political Campaigns in November – concludes that “if a campaign reallocated 20% of existing ad dollars to radio, it couldim reach 17% more voters.” The study references Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s 2022 campaign, noting that it deployed radio to reach voters in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In doing so, it allocated 20% of media dollars to radio and generated a 10% lift from radio above the local TV campaign, amounting to 676,000 additional voters at no extra cost. Audacy SVP of strategy, partnerships and analytics Jon Blum says, “When campaigns activate a TV plan, they should activate a corresponding radio plan and incorporate it into the mix with TV. The portion of the population that isn’t reachable via TV could be the swing vote and what throws it over the top for a candidate.” Nielsen’s study noted that if a campaign moved 20% of ad spending to radio, the optimized media plan would connect with 15% more Democratic and Republican voters and 23% more unaffiliated voters. See more about the study here.

Industry News

FOX News Digital Leads News Set in Multiplatform Views and Minutes

FOX News Digital reports that, according to data from Comscore, it finished January continuing its streak as the top news brand with both multiplatform views and minutes. FOX News Digital closed outim the month reaching 3.27 billion total multiplatform minutes, compared to CNN.com’s 1.85 billion, and NYTimes.com’s 1.59 billion. FOX News Media attracted 1.66 billion total multiplatform views, compared to NYTimes.com’s 1.49 billion, and CNN.com’s 1.17 billion. When it comes to total digital unique visitors – similar to radio’s cume – CNN.com still holds the lead with 112.7 million. But FOX News Digital (109.7 million) has gradually been gaining ground on CNN.

Industry News

Edison Research: Radio Grabs 36% of Americans’ Audio Listening

According to data from Edison Research’s Q4 2023 Share of Ear study, Americans 13+ spend 36% of their audio consumption listening to AM/FM radio. Edison says, “AM/FM radio continues to make up theim largest share of listening, accounting for more than one-third of daily time with audio among those age 13+. The vast majority of that listening (31%) is to AM/FM over-the-air signals.” (The other 5% comes from radio streams.) Behind AM/FM in listening is streaming music (20%), YouTube (14%), podcasts (11%), SiriusXM (8%), owned music (4%), TV music channels (3%), audiobooks (3%) and other (1%).

Industry News

Audacy and Veritonic Renew Relationship

Audacy and audio analytics and research platform Veritonic announce they have renewed their partnership. Audacy SVP of research and insights Idil Cakim comments, “Measuring the impact of ourim total Audio campaigns — including radio, streaming and podcast advertising— with Veritonic allows us to show the power of Audacy’s content in connecting with audiences and mobilizing customers. We’re thrilled to continue our partnership and enable our clients and advertising partners to leverage audio to achieve the utmost in competitive edge, reach, and ROI.”

Industry News

Neuhoff Media Sells Six Brands in Ongoing Exit from Radio

The Neuhoff Family Limited Partnership, the parent company of Neuhoff Media-Decatur, LLC and Neuhoff Media-Danville, LLC announces it is entering into an agreement to sell radio stations news/talk WSOY-AM/WSOY-FM, sports talk WDZ-AM, hip hop WCZQ-FM, and country in Decatur, Illinois (plus NowDecatur.com) and news/talk WDAN-AM, hot AC WDNL-FM, and classic rock WRHK-FM, in Danville, Illinois (plus VermilionCountyFirst.com) to Champaign Multimedia Group for a sum yet to beim announced. Neuhoff states in announcing the sale that this “transaction is part of an overall strategic decision on behalf of the Neuhoff family to depart the broadcast industry after nearly 70 years,” according to Julian Hickman and Makena Neuhoff, trustees of the Neuhoff family. The company still owns 13 radio brands spread across the Springfield, Illinois; Bloomington, Illinois; and Lafayette, Indiana markets and it “expects to make additional announcements regarding future agreements as the Neuhoff divestiture process moves forward.” Hickman states, “We are proud of what broadcast ownership has meant to our family, our employees, and the markets we serve. Our grandfather, Roger Neuhoff, began his ownership in the business during the mid-1950s. He loved the broadcast industry and was proud of the way our radio and television stations served their local communities.” Neuhoff Media president Mike Hulvey adds, “We are pleased to see the iconic local media brands of Neuhoff Media’s Danville and Decatur markets all brought together through this historic transaction with the Champaign Multimedia Group. The next chapter for the Danville and Decatur radio stations and digital platforms will create something very special for each community.” Kalil & Co., Inc. acted as the exclusive broker for this transaction.

Industry News

PodcastOne Renews with Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Pinsky

PodcastOne announces that it enters into a new agreement with podcast host and comic Adam Carolla to continue producing and representing his long-running “The Adam Carolla Podcast”  and “The Adam and Dr. Drew Show.” PodcastOne says, “Since 2009, ‘The Adam Carolla Podcast’ with its host Adam Carolla has entertained millions of listeners. Completely uncensored, Carolla welcomes a wide range of guests such as Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, Nicolas Cage, and Matt Damon in the studio for in-depth interviews and a front row seat to his unparalleled ranting. With an unsurpassed library of episodesim available, ‘The Adam Carolla Podcast’ has remained one of the most popular podcasts on the planet for well over a decade. Fans grew to love the pairing of Adam Carolla & Dr. Drew Pinsky that originated on the world famous KROQ radio and became a cultural touchstone and in 2012 they reunited the partnership for ‘The Adam and Dr. Drew Show.’ In each episode Adam and Dr. Drew take uncensored, nothing-off-limits, calls about sex, drugs, medical and relationship issues. Dr. Drew brings the medicine while Adam’s comedic rants are the spoonful of sugar to make it go down.” PodcastOne president and co-founder Kit Gray adds, “Adam Carolla’s contributions to the medium of digital audio entertainment are immeasurable.  From his devoted audience of listeners and advertisers, Adam has inspired legions of loyal fans who tune in daily to hear his comedic take on a wide array of topics. His camaraderie with Dr. Drew is the stuff of legends. This is a podcasting duo that will go down in history as one of the greatest partnerships. As we have grown as a network, so have Adam and Drew and we are thrilled to keep the momentum growing.”

Industry News

TALKERS News Notes

Edison Research and WorldDAB will present findings from the study “Dashboard Dialogue” in a webinar on January 31 at 9:00 am ET. The webinar will provide an in-depth review of DAB radio’s usability in the car – with videos from consumers detailing their likes and dislikes, plus what they love about radio in the car today. The research was conducted by Edison Research across France, Germany, and the UK. Register for the webinar here.

SiriusXM announces that it will take over New Hampshire’s Red Arrow Diner in Manchester on January 22-23, rebranding it the “SiriusXM Red Arrow Diner” for the special event. Patriot channel host David Webb will broadcast his program live from the diner, which has long been regarded as a can’t-miss stop for candidates along the campaign trail. During the broadcasts Webb will be joined in person by politicians, key campaign surrogates, and top experts.

Industry Views

Pending Business: Cold Calling

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imLet’s take a minute to welcome back an old reliable that has been part of our sales and marketing world since Adam pitched Eve and got the first “yes” on the original cold call. No telling how cold that call really was.

But seriously, here come two shoutouts that should motivate you to re-evaluate the one strategy that has worked since the very early days of sales. Imagine knocking on 3,000,000 doors, making 3,000,000 cold calls. How many sales would you expect? According to The New York Times, a super PAC has knocked on all those doors nationwide, nearly 1,000,000 or one-third in Iowa alone, asking for the order. That’s a lot of cold calling and leave it to Iowa weather to put the “cold” back into cold calling.

Everyone reading this column would argue, TV, radio – especially r-a-d-i-o – and social media ads are more impactful, more efficient, and often more emotionally compelling than old school cold calling. Only time and results will tell if the boots-on-the-ground technique succeeded over the millions in media spend. No, this isn’t about modern-day political marketing strategy, this is about recognizing an old, proven technique that still has a role in today’s modern, hyper-speed, tech-driven world.

Do you remember the cold-calling contests that ended on a Friday with your team turning in the business cards that proved you met with those brand-new decision makers? Business cards in hand, you were well on your way to winning that weekly cold-calling contest. Talk about cold-call champions! All those business cards represented follow up opportunities that often led to long-term relationships netting many sellers nice commission checks.

Now comes the selfie, the modern-day version of those business cards, documenting proof positive you met the brand-new decision maker on the way to developing that newfound business relationship. Suddenly the old school cold-call strategy has a new world spin showing everyone on the team you are out and about in front of new business prospects, setting appointments and with newly fueled positive energy writing business and achieving your goals.

Hard to believe we are all connected to Adam’s very first sale, the 3,000,000 nationwide cold calls and the political strategists who earn big sums while still advising candidates to make sure they are getting out there, shaking hands and making those cold calls.

What’s on your planner this week?

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Plan Now for Your Bonus Day

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imTake a day off. You get one free this year.

Programmers: When was the last time you really listened?

— Not the way you usually hear it, at low volume in the office…but “out there,” where/when/how listeners hear radio. Schedule dedicated listening time, away from the station. I promise you will find it an ear-opening experience.

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— In 2024, you have no excuse NOT to take a day to listen…because it’s a Leap Year. You get an extra day, a February 29, courtesy of Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582 (as in “The Gregorian Calendar”). So, heaven help you if you miss this opportunity.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke

Industry News

NAB’s LeGeyt Testifies on AI Impact on Broadcasters

NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law yesterday (1/10) at the hearing, Oversight of A.I.: The Future of Journalism. LeGeyt testified that while broadcasters embrace technologies thatim can advance their mission and enable them to better-serve communities with quicker alerts and more local news, he shared broadcasters’ concerns about AI without appropriate guardrails in place. He presented three primary concerns; 1) that the use of broadcasters’ news content in AI models, without authorization, diminishes their audience trust and their reinvestment in local news; 2) the use of AI to doctor, manipulate or misappropriate the likeness of trusted radio or television personalities risks spreading misinformation or even perpetrating fraud; and 3) the rising prevalence of deepfakes make it increasingly burdensome for both newsrooms and users to identify and distinguish legitimate, copyrighted broadcast content, from the unvetted and potentially inaccurate content being generated by AI.

Industry Views

SABO SEZ: Five Golden Actions for 2024

By Walter Sabo
Consultant, Sabo Media Implementers
A.K.A. Walter Sterling
Radio Host, “Sterling On Sunday”
Talk Media Network

imResearch shows that readers to trade publications like articles with five bullet points. Here are my five bullet points for 2024. If these were to be deployed, you could be thriving by the end of the year. These actions would increase sales and audience share.

1. Radio should be easy to buy. It’s not. Easy fix: Look at your website. Based on the website how would you buy time on your station? It should be as simple as a realtor’s website. Put up pictures of your salespeople with ALL of their real contact information – not a FORM. Offer their email and cell number. Offer a “tour” of the offerings with information about the talent and the audience. What does the host sell best? How about a very brief audio message from each host to your potential advertiser?
2. Every medium creates its own stars. Example – David Caruso, good on TV, bad in movies. Your hosts, good on radio, lousy at original podcasts.  Sure, edit up the interviews or bits and make them into a podcast. But don’t ask a host to get off the air and make brand new content for a podcast. Engage locals who are good at making original podcasts and offer them a stage.
3. Sell the biggest number. Your morning show probably has more listeners than the “Tonight Show” has viewers in your city. 1010 WINS has more listeners in New York than FOX News has viewers nationwide. Go check. Those are the numbers that put radio in perspective!  Stop selling the smallest number, TIME SPENT LISTENING. Who came up with that!?
4. Don’t make potential advertisers jump through hoops. If you have spent your career in programming, you may not know the tyranny of MEDIA CREDIT. New radio advertiser: Good buy, high rate, longterm business. Sounds great. Not so fast. At most companies, new business still has to go through the gauntlet of a MEDIA CREDIT CHECK. End that.
5. What’s wrong with the hosts? Many hosts use a content formula that MUST generate a diminishing audience size and older and older and older demos.  Repeat. WHY? If you start to trust that what you talk about socially, with your friends, your audience will grow and grow younger. Be more like Bruce Collins, PD at WBAP, Dallas. Bruce just hired James Parker who has been featured for years on “Sterling On Sunday.” James is going to talk about life, fatherhood and funny. He joins “New Jersey 101.5” alumnus, Casey Bartholomew, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon, who talks about life, fatherhood and funny.  It’s working so well that WBAP will now be simulcast on Class C2 FM, KLIF.

Five bullet points. Goals: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Walter Sabo was a founding architect of SiriusXM and began the recruitment of Howard Stern. He has consulted RKO General, PARADE magazine, Hearst Broadcasting, Press Broadcasting, and other premium brands. He launched the first company to engage online video influencers, Hitviews. As an executive, he was EVP of NBC FM RADIO giving Dr. Ruth Westheimer her first media job and fostering the creation of adult contemporary. As VP ABC Radio Networks, Sabo hired Ringo Starr to be a DJ for a 24-hour special.

Features

“The Greatest Game Ever Played”

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Baltimore’s Alan Ameche plunges over the goal line for the winning touchdown!(courtesy YouTube/NFL Films)

On the field? Maybe. In its impact on pro football and sports broadcasting? Absolutely!

By Mark Wainwright

imIt was one of those indelible moments in sports history: The 1958 NFL Championship, played on December 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York. The Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants 23-17 in sudden death overtime. 65 years later, the events of that Sunday afternoon still resonate throughout pro sports and sports media.

In 1958, the National Football League was far from the huge phenomenon we see today. Americans generally had much more interest in baseball, and during the Fall, college football captured the attention of sports fans on Saturday afternoons. The annual Army/Navy and Harvard/Yale clashes were national news stories, and fans followed the exploits of powerhouses like Notre Dame and Michigan. For most fans, pro football was an afterthought. Even in cities with pro franchises, the NFL clubs often played runner-up to the local baseball teams.

Baltimore and New York were two exceptions. The Colts were upstarts — Baltimore didn’t get an NFL team until 1953 — and the city quickly fell in love with the Colts; on game days, Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium was described as “the world’s largest outdoor insane asylum.” Meanwhile, the Giants had been part of the NFL since 1925, and they were considered the league’s most glamorous team, located in the world’s media capital. Two very different teams, both with passionate fan bases, playing a nationally-televised title game in New York City… indeed, America was destined to notice pro football that day.

Seventeen Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees were in the stadium that afternoon, along with a Heisman Trophy winner (Baltimore running back Alan Ameche). The Colts were led by quarterback Johnny Unitas and defensive end Gino Marchetti. The New York offense revolved around halfback Frank Gifford, while linebacker Sam Huff anchored the defense.

There were all-stars in the broadcast booths, as well. NBC’s national telecast was assigned to Chris Schenkel and Chuck Thompson; both of these gentlemen are now legends of their industry. Joe Bolan and Bill McColgan called the game for NBC’s national radio feed, while Les Keiter did the play-by-play for WCBS Radio in New York. And Bob Wolff did the radio call for Baltimore’s WBAL. Wolff was assisted by an eager teenager who worked as his spotter… a young man named Maury Povich (yes, that guy).

The first half, frankly, wasn’t anywhere near “greatest game” territory. While both defenses played fairly well, the offenses looked sloppy and disorganized, and the two teams combined for six turnovers in the first thirty minutes. The Giants managed only a Pat Summerall field goal, while the Colts — almost in spite of themselves — took a 14-3 lead into halftime. It could have easily been 17-3, but Sam Huff blocked a Baltimore field goal attempt.

So, what was the halftime entertainment? Over the years, Super Bowl halftimes have featured performers like Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson. What 1950’s superstars would perform in the “super bowl” of 1958? Elvis Presley? Brenda Lee, maybe? Nope. It was the Baltimore Colts Marching Band, with their prancing majorettes looking quite fetching in their red leotards and reindeer antlers…

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The Baltimore Colts Marching Band majorettes, in “reindeer” mode!  (courtesy YouTube/NFL Films)

Baltimore’s offensive woes continued into the second half. Early on, the Colts drove the ball to New York’s 1-yard line, but Alan Ameche was stopped for no gain on third down, then Ameche was tackled for a loss when he attempted to run wide on fourth down. In an interview decades later, Baltimore’s Lenny Moore revealed that Ameche botched the play; it was supposed to be an option pass, but Ameche didn’t hear Johnny Unitas’ signals correctly, and he ran instead of throwing a short pass to a wide open Colts receiver.

That goal-line stand awakened New York’s offense, and they needed only four plays to score their first touchdown to make it 14-10. The Giants then took a 17-14 lead early in the fourth quarter on a Frank Gifford touchdown reception, and while the Colts responded with two effective drives, they came up empty on both possessions; one ended with a missed field goal, the other ended when Unitas was sacked twice, taking the Colts out of scoring range. The Giants’ offense only needed a first down or two to ice the game, but Frank Gifford was stopped on a critical third down run. For decades, Gifford insisted he made the first down; Baltimore’s Gino Marchetti suffered a badly broken ankle in the pileup, and Gifford often said that amidst the chaos and confusion of tending to Marchetti’s injury, the officials did not spot the ball properly. However, when ESPN restored the footage for a 50th anniversary broadcast in 2008, an accident reconstruction expert analyzed the images and determined that Gifford was, indeed, just short of the first down (more about that ESPN program in our Epilogue). The Giants chose to punt the ball, and the Colts took over on their own 14-yard line.

This was the moment when Johnny Unitas began his ascent to legendary status. With just two minutes left, he moved the Colts downfield quickly. While there were several misfires, he made four critical completions, including three straight passes to his star receiver Raymond Berry. Those last three plays moved the ball 62 yards to the Giants’ 13-yard line, and with just seconds remaining, the Colts rushed Steve Myhra out to attempt a tying field goal. Myhra had struggled with field goal attempts all season, and Baltimore fans held their collective breath until the ball went through the uprights. The fourth quarter ended tied 17-17.

So… what happens next? Many of the players and coaches weren’t sure. It was not unusual for football games to end in a tie, but this game was for the NFL title. Would the teams be declared co-champions? Fortunately, the NFL had recently instituted an overtime rule for championships, and it would be decided on the field. The teams would play pure “sudden death.” The first team to score in any manner would win, and they would play for as long as it took.

The Giants won the toss and chose to receive, but they were not able to mount any kind of drive, and they punted the ball back to the Colts. Unitas now had all the time in the world, and Johnny U methodically moved the Baltimore offense to the New York 8-yard line. It was first-and-goal, and then, suddenly… the NBC Television feed disappeared! Nothing but snow on the screen!

This caused immediate panic in NBC’s control room, not to mention in homes across the nation, as viewers — particularly in Baltimore — bolted from their living rooms and scrambled to find the nearest radio. It was one of the worst possible moments to lose the live feed of a TV broadcast. And then…

A fan ran onto the field! Play was halted for nearly a full minute before New York’s Finest chased him down and escorted him to the sideline. Over the years, there has been endless rumor and speculation about this incident. Photographs show the fan was well-dressed and appeared very cooperative when the cops took him away; he certainly didn’t look like a drunken lout. Who was this guy?

Whoever he was, he is now the stuff of sports broadcasting legend. More than six decades later, it is widely believed that he was an NBC employee who realized the broadcast was interrupted and ran onto the field — or perhaps was told to run onto the field — to delay the game long enough to give the TV crew enough time to find a loose cable and fix the connection. As far as I know, he was never identified and the story has never been confirmed. One hopes the fellow received a bonus and a promotion for his quick thinking!

When the game resumed, the Colts ran two plays to reach third-and-goal from just over a yard away. A field goal attempt might have been the obvious choice, but Baltimore coach Weeb Ewbank was leery of sending a struggling Steve Myhra in to kick. Meanwhile, the coach trusted Unitas completely, and he left Johnny U and the offense on the field. A routine handoff to Alan Ameche secured a 23-17 Baltimore victory.

The game was breaking news nationwide. It was a big topic of Sunday afternoon dinner conversations, and it was headline news on front pages and in sports sections the following day. NFL and television executives soon realized that professional football could become a very valuable property, and they started making plans for increasing television coverage and boosting marketing exposure for the teams, the star players, and the sport overall. And down in Dallas, Lamar Hunt — a son of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt — started thinking about owning his own football team. Those dreams eventually led to his role in establishing the rival American Football League, which merged with the NFL just over a decade later. Historians and sportswriters have studied the 1958 title game, and they generally agree that event was the start of professional football growing into the colossus it has since become. It was the aftermath and the impact  — as much as the drama of the game itself — that led them to calling it “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”

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EPILOGUE

As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, television did not put a high priority on archiving sports events back then. There is no known videotape of the game; videotape was in its infancy, and while NBC presumably had one or two of the early machines available, it seems nobody bothered racking them up. There is no known kinescope film recording of the television broadcast, either. Fortunately, there was plenty of film footage of the game, both from overhead and from sideline views. This footage was shot by NFL Films, as well as various newsreel cameramen working for different organizations.

On the 50th anniversary of the game in 2008, ESPN produced a special documentary that used the old footage to re-create much of the action. The historic clips were colorized for broadcast, and the action was interspersed with comments and memories from players, fans, and broadcasters who were there. (Sadly, many of these gentlemen have passed away in the fifteen years since.) Most of Bob Wolff’s Baltimore radio broadcast was saved, and the NBC national radio call was saved almost in entirety. This historic audio was used in conjunction with the preserved video. Several versions of the ESPN special can be found on YouTube; here is a link to one of those.

Others have collaborated on an almost-complete reconstruction of the game, using the original newsreel and NFL footage, some of the colorized ESPN content, stock footage, and still photos. The audio portion uses the NBC national radio call by Joe Bolan and Bill McColgan (complete with vintage commercials!). There are several uploads of this project on YouTube, and there is also a version on the Internet Archive, available here. If you’ve never seen any of “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” punch it up on your laptop and enjoy!

Mark Wainwright is a long-time radio personality and voiceover performer. He was most recently the morning host at WSYR in Syracuse; he is also a Baltimore native and life-long Baltimore Colts fan (and he still hasn’t gotten over the Colts leaving town and moving to Indianapolis decades ago!). He can be reached at: markwainwright@earthlink.net

Industry News

Todd Starnes Show Inks Simulcast Deal with Newsmax

Starnes Media Group reaches an agreement with Newsmax for the cable news channel to simulcastim an hour of the radio program “The Todd Starnes Show.” Additionally, Todd Starnes is hosting an exclusive, one-hour television program on Newsmax 2. Starnes says, “I’m honored to be a part of the great lineup at Newsmax. And it’s exciting to see the synergy between radio and television.” Next month, Starnes’ radio program launches in Houston on KYST-AM “920 Patriot Talk.”
Industry Views

New York Festivals VP/Exec Director Rose Anderson is This Week’s Guest on Harrison Podcast

The New York Festivals Radio Awards, currently accepting entries for 2024, honors radio content in all lengths and formats and across all platforms from radio stations, networks, and independent producers around the world. Embracing all aspects of the radio and audio industries, its categories mirror today’s global trends and encourage the next generation of storytellers by recognizing innovators in many category groups. (The organization also has divisions for advertising and TV.)  NY Festivals longtime VP/executive director, Rose Anderson is this week’s guest on the award-winning PodcastOne series, “The Michael Harrison Interview.” Anderson brings tremendous practical experience to the table in her role at NY Festivals. Prior to joining, she was director of production of the Sports Emmy Awards for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. She has been an associate director of the CBS Sports Olympic Unit as well as having served as associate director of ABC Sports.  She was a history major at the University of Massachusetts and earned a Masters degree in Broadcast Journalism at Boston University. As the international broadcasting community looks forward to celebrating World Radio Day on February 13, Harrison and Anderson discuss the global state of radio and storytelling. Listen to the podcast in its entirety here

Advice

Six Reasons Radio Listeners Ignore Your Morning Show

By Gary Begin
Sound Advantage Media

imYou know the routine.

Your radio station introduces a new morning show, and you sit back and wait for the magic to happen.

And you wait…and you wait.

Still, the audience doesn’t know them, doesn’t care about them, or knows them and still doesn’t care about them.

Why is this happening?

There are six reasons:

One: Because they’re just not that good

It’s true! Radio managers are not famous for spotting and nurturing talent.

And a result: Being good is hard!

There’s a reason why Howard Stern was fired to the top. There’s a reason why it’s a safer bet to plug in Ryan Seacrest than to take a chance on somebody nobody knows (for better or worse). There’s a reason why the freshest young voice with a unique point of view prefers to launch a YouTube channel rather than work its way up the long, hard slog of the radio ladder.

Radio fans know what they like and don’t like, and everything else will likely fall in the vast, bland, vanilla middle. And while that vast, boring, vanilla middle can be tweaked with a bit of coaching or a new producer, there’s an old saying:

“You can’t polish a turd.”

Two: Because they’re not meaningfully different in a crowded field

Guy’s name and Gal’s name in the show title? Check.

Impeccable technical execution? Check.

Show producer/board op? Check.

What about plugging in all the radio morning show best practices? Check.

The problem with formulas for what makes a great morning show is that every station has access to the same procedures. And when every radio station is playing the same morning show game for the same audience at the same time using versions of the same bits, the audience will default to the show they’ve listened to longest, even if it’s not necessarily the best – because it takes a lot of time and effort to find the “best” and no time or effort at all to succumb to habit.

So why should I change the listening behavior that has served me well for years to sample YOUR show?

Three: Because listeners are barely exposed to them

It’s not only about how long a show has been on the air but also about how much exposure that show has had while it has been on.

I have a saying:

Listeners don’t listen to your morning show today; they listen to every episode of your morning show they have ever heard – today.

In other words, listeners bring their relationships with talent to each listening occasion. This makes intense morning shows powerful: They have a longstanding connection with their fans. It’s also why you can stream a market and listen to the dominant morning show without knowing why it’s so successful.

So, when you envelop your show in music, or the host opens the mic to announce a song, do a live read, announce another contest winner, check the weather, or emote some breezy phrase that dissipates into the radio ether within seven seconds, then the audience has less to know and fewer opportunities to realize it.

Why bother?

Four: Because they’re DJs and not humans

While there’s something comforting about a human voice on the radio, not every voice appears human. I’m not talking about voice-tracking here; I’m talking about content.

Humans have three dimensions – strengths and weaknesses, flaws, and blemishes. All on display.

When those dimensions are not displayed in a movie, we call the character “shallow.” And nobody (willingly) makes friends with shallow beings (although we’re happy to laugh at their expense TV).

Five: Because management doesn’t want a great morning show, they want a cheap morning show to be great

Too often, we’re not aiming for greatness; we’re aiming for extraordinary cheapness.

That’s not how Jimmy Fallon got the “Tonight Show” gig or how excellent radio talent is born. We fool ourselves into thinking the cheap voice can be better if only the audience catches on. And then we are disappointed when they never do.

This is not to say you always get what you pay for, but you certainly never get what you don’t pay for.

I recently ran into an old radio friend – a former morning host – now long out of the business. He was approached by a station in his market to do a weekend gig – live. And for this, he would be paid what he described as “the kind of money I made just out of school.”

Either he will say “no,” or the station will get from him what it’s paying for, which is precisely what it wants and much less than it pretends it wants.

Six: Because “liking them” and “listening to them” are two different things

Your new morning host may be a great guy and a model citizen, but if I’ve got 20 minutes of drive-time, I intend to spend it with the most compelling, entertaining, or informative morning show I can find, not with an audio Boy Scout.

Gary Begin can be reached at garybegin10@gmail.com.

Advice

Welcome to No-Brand Land!

By Gary Begin
Sound Advantage Media

imBroadcasting executives spend millions building their radio station’s brand in the marketplace. But is it being spent in the right place?

The frontline salesperson is a marketer’s greatest asset in creating brand justice and impact. But if you ask brand managers to look at their brand-building budgets, you’d probably see expenses allocated opposite to what drives brand purchase decisions.

Brand marketers continue to pump big bucks into extensive ad campaigns while doing next to nothing to deliver relevant, brand-supporting messages at the all-important, more significant level—the distance between a company’s sales voice and a prospect’s purchase decision.

What’s the answer?

It probably lies somewhere between (1) the unwillingness of radio stations and brand managers to go further “downstream” with their strategic recommendations and (2) the lack of useful tools to get them there.

Welcome to No Brand’s Land

Increasingly, a company’s branding success depends less on what they sell and more on how they sell it. Selected experts in branding seem to be coming around the idea that the power to make or break your brand-building effort lies not in the quality of your advertising but in the customer’s experience at the point of sale. In radio, that’s your over-the-air product and how your ad rep handles the advertiser.

On one side of No Brand’s Land, brand marketers can control all the implementation, ensuring the advertising campaign is right on, the media coverage generated by your on-air promotion is consistent, your Web site looks the same, and your corporate design is in place.

But on the other side of the No Brand’s Land, salespeople are still doing their own thing. They are cutting and pasting old proposals with outdated information and incorrect messages. They’re fabricating homegrown collateral tools and PowerPoint presentations that are, at best, inconsistent with corporate positioning or, worse, downright inaccurate.

The most frightening thing for brand marketers is that these cobbled-together documents must walk the halls of prospective customers, representing the company’s brand at the most critical points in the sales process. Ouch.

Adding insult to injury, the field-fabrication virus spreads exponentially as this lousy information is perpetuated across the channel on the brand’s intranet.

Crossing Over No Brand’s Land

To navigate and successfully cross No Brand’s Land effectively, marketers must start by adapting brand message creation and delivery to today’s strategic sales processes. Two trends will drive marketers’ efforts to create brand-supporting content that helps salespeople sell.

Trend #1: Value Selling

For more than a decade, sales training and methodology experts have focused on improving the consultative selling skills of salespeople—especially in complex selling environments. The concept is simple: first, salespeople identify customers’ needs; then, they demonstrate the ability of a solution to respond to that customer’s specific needs successfully.

Often called Value Selling or Solution Selling, this dynamic and interactive sales process replaces previously static, one-way techniques that debate the merits of competing features and functions.

While salespeople move toward creating a much more customized sales experience for each prospect, most marketing departments continue to deliver generic messaging using static collateral tools—a one-size-fits-all approach for a one-to-one world. No wonder salespeople are forced to scramble to create custom content, piecemealed from various sources, to demonstrate they have listened to the customer.

The first thing brand managers can do to help is translate their high-level positioning into street-ready value propositions and solution messaging that speak to customers the way salespeople have been trained to sell:

  • Create customer empathy by identifying and demonstrating a proper understanding of the critical do-or-die issues facing your customers. Do that for each level of the decision-making team and link it back to how they do their jobs today.
  • Next, determine and articulate the risks if they do not address these issues. Also, firmly establish and highlight the rewards if they do act. Take special care to find out how your customers will define success—determine what they want to brag about if they are successful in achieving positive results.
  • Then demonstrate how your company’s solution helps them respond specifically—and successfully—to their key do-or-die issues.

Trend #2: Dynamic, Personalized Collateral Building

Value selling has raised the bar, forever changing customer expectations about sales experiences. Customers expect company interactions to be personal, relevant, and tailored to their specific needs.

Meanwhile, marketing departments have tried to keep pace by adopting segmentation strategies, doing their best to tailor messages and create more customer-relevant positioning. However, the tools to deliver these increasingly sophisticated messages through the sales channels have lagged. So, we’ve seen a proliferation of static collateral tools designed to fit every occasion.

Unfortunately, salespeople are neither warehouse managers nor librarians, and they have difficulty tracking and finding suitable materials when needed. In response, marketers have set up sales intranets to supply 24×7 access to support materials.

While these intranets improve accessibility to materials, they don’t resolve the most significant issue facing today’s value-selling salespeople: the need to provide prospects with dynamic, personalized sales communications. With only static documentation, salespeople begin creating unique, customized documents for each sales situation.

Typically, this happens at the expense of the brand and the company. The lack of consistency between radio stations and from salesperson to salesperson—undermines the millions spent on brand awareness advertising. The extra time spent by salespeople crafting these personalized proposals, presentations, and collateral pieces keeps them from time better spent with customers.

Marketing’s big win is that every radio salesperson, even within a multi-entertainment environment, will now communicate a consistent company message. Imagine the brand-building power unleashed when sales reps begin delivering a persuasive, powerful, and pre-approved message at every point of customer contact.

Gary Begin can be contacted at: garybegin10@gmail.com.

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Be Conspicuous When Competitors Are MIA

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imIn a recent column, I outlined win-win radio/TV station alliance tactics. This week, as stations are finalizing 2024 budgets, a tip for advertising your station on TV.

Dominate in January. Why:

— It’s a buyer’s market then, and your message won’t compete with other stations’ promotion. Slaves to conventional wisdom, they will be running DURING the Spring book, because they forgot that radio listening is habit, which will be set long before diaries and PPM will collect data. Smart stations derive a benefit message and set that habit BEFORE the book.

im

— If you can trade for over-the-air stations, the price is right. In January they’re lean too. Can you trade – or afford to pay cash for – cable? Two reasons cable might be a better deal:

1. You can target your signal pattern better than over-the-air channels, whose coverage footprint is bigger than yours; and

2. You can buy channels with programming similar to yours. FOX News Radio affiliate? Buy FOX News Channel (and Newsmax).

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke