The Infinite Dial

While we try to cover the blending worlds of radio and the Internet here at The Infinite Dial, no one has more insight into where radio is going than our friend James Cridland, blogging from the UK.

James was a long-time technology director at Virgin Radio, and now travels the world as a "Radio Futurologist", consulting stations on applications of Internet and technology.

James is finishing an around-the-world tour where he has been both sight-seeing and visiting stations. The insights and information have been fantastic -- check them out by clicking here.

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I'm sharing the stations that I've bookmarked now that I'm finally streaming mobile audio. Here's the R&B/Hip-Hop list. Ground rules are the same as Friday's Top 40 list -- no New York stations (they're on my car presets), and who I've chosen isn't necessarily a reflection of my favorites as much as the stations that were easiest to grab from the various aggregators, and stations that filled a need that wasn't necessarily satisfied by a local.

KBFM (Wild 104) McAllen/Brownsville, Texas
KFZX (Z105.9) Lafayette, La.
KHHT (Hot 92.3) Los Angeles
KHYL (V101.5) Sacramento, Calif.
KKDA-FM (K104) Dallas (and wish that KKDA-AM was available)
KMEL San Francisco
KRJO (OI' Skool 1680) Monroe, La.
Radio IO Classic R&B
Skyrock 96.0 Paris
WBHJ (95.7 Jamz) Birmingham, Ala.
WBTP (95.7 The Beat) Tampa, Fla.
WDAS-FM Philadelphia
WDIA Memphis
WDKX Rochester, N.Y.
WERQ (92Q) Baltimore
WGCI Chicago
WGVN (Groovin' 1580) Lexington, Ky.
WHHL (Hot 104.1) St. Louis
WIKS (Kiss 102) Greenville, N.C.
WJBT (93.3 The Beat) Jacksonville, Fla.
WJLB Detroit
WJHM (102 Jamz) Orlando, Fla.
WJMH (102 Jamz) Greensboro, N.C.
WKKV (V100) Milwaukee
WPEG (Power 98) Charlotte, N.C.
WPGC Washington, D.C.
WPWX (Power 92) Chicago
WQUE (Q93) New Orleans
WRBO (Soul Classics 103.5) Memphis
WUSL (Power 99) Philadelphia
WVEE (V103) Atlanta
WWHT (Hot 107.9) Syracuse, N.Y., (Top 40 but effectively the market's R&B/Hip-Hop station)
WZMX (Hot 93.7) Hartford, Conn.

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I know I spend a lot of time extolling the latest advancement in digital radio initiatives from the UK's Absolute Radio, but at the same time, they keep doing things that I haven't seen from anyone else.

Watch the video, and see how they have quickly responded to the opening up of the Kindle platform to make their podcasts available. The Kindle is a lot newer in the UK than in the US, and I'm not aware of an American station that has gone this way, even with the longer lead time.

Absolute is showing a commitment to being available to anyone on any platform. Of course the podcasts are sponsored - Absolute is not giving away their content; they are finding new ways to make money off of it.

If you are interested in learning how Absolute is putting their podcasts on the Kindle, or how it is going for them, shoot me an email.

Absolute Radio Kindle Podcasts from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

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Yesterday, Edison released a study we conducted in partnership with the Association for Downloadable Media, NPR, Wizzard, RawVoice and Revision3 that looked at consumer attitudes about podcast advertising. One of the data points from that study was that 30% of the sample indicated that they regularly listened to commercial radio, by far the lowest self-reported usage of any media channel we tested. Now, we all like to recite the statistics about radio's 90% reach, so clearly this self-selected sample is not quite in the middle of the bell curve.

But, that's exactly the point. These active podcast consumers, whether they are understating their radio usage or not, are telling us that radio plays a very small role in their lives, and that channels which enable them to control their media experience, like podcasting, are vastly more important. We know from our Infinite Dial series with Arbitron that 1 in 4 Americans have ever listened to a podcast, and 1 in 10 are at least monthly consumers of podcasts, so while podcast consumption is not a mainstream activity, it is still enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans.

And, overlaying yesterday's study results with the Infinite Dial data, we see that those tens of millions are generally better educated, more affluent, and bigger spenders than the average American. So they are certainly a compelling advertising target. What a sample of the most active podcast listeners told us in our most recent research is that they HATE traditional mass media interrupt advertising. That hatred, however, does not extend to contextual, relevant advertising. Far from it--in fact, these "left of center" media consumers actually welcome advertising messages delivered in context, especially if they are delivered by the hosts of their favorite podcasts themselves (you already know how effective this is; radio has sold live reads at a premium for years.)

It is tempting to look at the results from our survey and dismiss these active podcast consumers as not representative of radio's audience (they aren't) and "unreachable." That, however, is a false choice. Podcasting never did become the "new radio" as many once speculated, but it is a viable plank in a cross media strategy. No, the folks who are active subscribers and downloaders of podcasts are not the same people as your average radio listener. So why give them the same content? Radio doesn't have to make this false choice--it can pursue the mainstream on-air, and the potentially lucrative niches of the podcast audience off-air, with different, portable and relevant content focused around a specific niche (and in conjunction with a specific advertiser that makes sense.) The big story from our Edison/ADM study for radio is this: your efforts in podcasting shouldn't be redundant, because the audience isn't redundant. But by no means are they "unreachable." They just want relevant content--whether that content is your content, or advertising content--and they will, in fact, take action upon hearing those messages. They've got the money!

The key is to adapt to them, and not to make them adapt to you. Time-shifted clips of the same old content is only a baby-step. Bite-sized snacks of unique content--passionately delivered, and laser focused--are they key to reaching the unreachable. Now, you can make this content, or you can ask your audience to help you make it, but the demand is there, and the prize is worth winning.

If you missed our latest podcast research presentation, or have an hour and want to relive the magic :), here it is:

The Edison/ADM Consumer Attitudes To Podcast Advertising Study from Tom Webster on Vimeo.

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As long as there's been The Infinite Dial, I've resisted the temptation to choose the stations that would comprise my ultimate radio dial. There were just too many potential landmines and sins of omission. Too many choices between what I would listen to and what I thought, in the abstract, I should listen to. In other words, it would be hard to choose between the perceived "best in category" and a station that filled a hole on my local dial.

But now that I have an iPhone (just in time, I realize, for the rest of the world to start talking about the iPad or at least the Nexus One), the stations that I chose as my "presets" are less of an abstraction. There are, of course, a boatload of them, far more than I've actually listened to in my month of iPhone ownership. And enough that even just listing them one format at a time, I risk making many of you glaze over. But the list is shared here to show you both the plethora of choices that your own listeners face and some of the biases that go in to choosing them.

Because so much of Top 40 here is owned by a handful of groups, it was easy to load up on Clear Channel stations in iHeart Radio or Entercom stations in Flycast or CBS Radio stations. There was definitely a lot of "oh, yeah, I should listen to them" at play here. The smaller guys can take some comfort in knowing they were really top of mind for me to search them out in my WunderRadio app. You'll also see a ton of Canadian stations here (again, I was looking for what I couldn't get from stations between New York and Philly).

But here's the Mainstream CHR list -- spread out across five aggregators (which is another reason why I certainly haven't listened to all of these equally) since last month. If your station isn't here, it doesn't mean I don't like it. (It also doesn't mean that I might not have listened on my desktop. And there are stations bookmarked on my desktop that I somehow never got around to here.) It just means that a station wasn't yanked off the shelf during my initial shopping spree of going through all my new apps for stations to bookmark. And not every inclusion consttutes an endorsement -- some are there because I needed to keep up with a market. But, for today, here's the list:

.977TheHits -- Figured it was time to check them out and they were, of course, easy to find/bookmark because of how most aggregators list them.
BBC Radio 1
Capital FM London
CFBT (the Beat) Vancouver
CFUL (Amp 90.3) Calgary
CHBN (the Bounce) Edmonton
CHUM-FM Toronto
CIHT (Hot 89.9) Ottawa
CJCH (the Bounce) Halifax, N.S.
CKMM (Hot 103) Winnipeg
CKOI Montreal
Clear Channel's "Hit Nation" (essentially the Premium Choice Top 40 feed)
Fun Radio Paris
Goom Radio Just Hits
HKGFM.com's Top 40 format
KBFM (Wild 104) McAllen/Brownsville, Texas
KDWB Minneapolis
KHKS (Kiss 106.1) Dallas
KIIS Los Angeles
KJLT (The Breeze) Tyler, Texas
KLSX (97.1 Amp Radio) Los Angeles
KLUC Las Vegas
KMVQ (Movin' 99.7) San Francisco
KPTT (95.7 The Party) Denver
KRBE Houston
Krone Hit Radio Austria
KZHT Salt Lake City
Mix Megapol Malmo, Sweden
NRJ Paris
Nova 96.9 Sydney, Australia
Pandora -- my Top 40 channel which was created 18 months ago and thus will forever be known as "I Kissed A Girl" radio!
Radio DIsney
WAKS (Kiss FM) Cleveland
WBZW (B94) Pittsburgh -- they hadn't yet announced a pending format change
WDCG (G105) Raleigh, N.C.
WDJQ (Q92) Canton, Ohio
WEZB (B97) New Orleans
WFBC-FM (B93.7) Greenville, S.C.
WIFC Wausau, Wis
WKFS (Kiss 107) Cincinnati
WKQI (Channel 95-5) Detroit
WKSE (Kiss 98.5) Buffalo, N.Y.
WMEG San Juan, P.R.
WSPK (K104.7) Poughkeepsee, N.Y.
WXKS-FM (Kiss 108) Boston
WVMV (98.7 Amp Radio) Detroit
WWHT (Hot 107.9) Syracuse, N.Y.

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The other day I was chatting with a group of commercial radio managers. During the discussion I mentioned "the best show on the radio, 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!'"

Of course, I experienced disappointment when several had never heard of the show. (For the record however, several had and backed my assertion).

So discussion of why the show is so great ensued. And I heard myself utter the following words: "You need to understand, it is like old-fashioned radio. A group of talented people work all week on creating one awesome hour of radio".

I was taken aback as I realized something so blazingly obvious: No wonder most morning radio sucks. We are asking the impossible. We are asking way too few people to produce way too much radio and attempt to make it entertaining. We are asking ever-smaller staffs to create TWENTY HOURS of magic every week.

Through this perspective, it is amazing that morning radio is as good as it is. But it also speaks to how good radio could be if somehow the model could change and allow for a greater number of talented people to work on creating less radio, not more.

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People who know me, know that I'm one of the biggest Apple fan boys ever, so it might surprise them to learn that I'm going to take a pass on Apple's new iPad. Your mileage may vary, but I have two particular use cases for such a device: First, I'm a road warrior--an inveterate frequent-flier--and I'm on the road for at least half the year. So, I'm looking for something lightweight, powerful and travel-friendly that I can work on. The second use-case I have is for something I can work on in coffee shops/restaurants or anywhere else I can snag Wi-Fi, since I don't work in a traditional office setting. For those scenarios, again what I need is something I can type on that has significant battery life, in case I need to be away from a power strip for a prolonged period of time.

Yes, the iPad is thin and light, and yes, it does purport to have up to 10 hours of battery life (which, using the MacBook Air Battery Distortion Calculator I'll take to mean 6 hours.) But--and this is a very big but--did you watch Steve Jobs try to type on that keyboard during his live demonstration? Did that look comfortable to you? I haven't seen a device so tailor-made to produce an ergonomic injury since Steve Martin invented the "OptiGrab" in The Jerk. You already know how the touchscreen keyboard is going to feel if you have an iPhone, and just because your typing surface is larger doesn't mean it's going to feel natural or comfortable. Without the haptic feedback of a physical key, the "give" that prevents fatigue from settling in as I type, there is just no way I am going to want to write on that thing for more than 10 minutes (go try it on your window for 5 minutes and tell me how it felt.) The promo video for the iPad trumpets its ability to adapt to how you want to work, but that is only a meaningful distinction if your greatest usability concern is whether to work in portrait or landscape.

If you are a knowledge worker, you already know you can't work on this thing for long. If you are a traveling knowledge worker like me, that means that you'd have to pack the iPad AND a laptop (and an iPhone). In other words, a third device. Jobs claims that the iPad is in fact a third category between the iPhone and the MacBook, but as a consumer I didn't ask for a third device to carry. Apple's marketing team would tell me that it isn't meant to replace the laptop, but if it can't at least stand in for one, it's too big to cart around in addition. The iPad implementation of iWork is pretty, but "I Work" with a keyboard. Even a stylus and some Newton-era handwriting recognition would have been a welcome addition.

This leaves the iPad as media player, and surely it is a beautiful one. Blows my Kindle away for eBooks (though the screen glare might prove fatiguing), and presents a superior experience for movies. Again, however, for my personal needs I am looking for things that travel light, and the single greatest feature of the iPhone is that it gives me the iPad experience in my shirt pocket. Had Apple started with the iPad and then come out with the iPhone a few years later, I might view the iPad differently. Instead, they made the iPhone bigger, which--again--I didn't ask for.

For my criteria as a hard-working, well-traveled knowledge worker, this is not a transformative device like the iPhone was. And yet it was built up to be just that--Apple fostered the hype prior to the event, and then pitched it like it was Moses' third tablet, not a computer. The icing on the cake was Jobs's positioning of the iPad's price point as some kind of boon to humanity. Maybe if it dispensed clean water, or cured TB he'd be doing the world so great a favor. But in the end, it's a big iPhone. Too big for my front pocket, too poorly suited as a writing tool, it is relegated to a coffee table curiosity, something cool to have laying around when your Windows-using friends drop by for drinks. My coffee table books are rarely read.

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As most readers of the Infinite Dial know, our business, Edison Research, has concentrations both in political research and media research.

Later today, two highly anticipated speeches will be delivered. First up, Steve Jobs will finally debut the iPad and then tonight President Obama will deliver his "State of the Union" address.

Which will we remember better five years from now?

I'm reminded of a fascinating poll taken in 1999, at the height of the internet boom. A legitimate pollster asked: "Who is more responsible for the current economy, Bill Clinton or Bill Gates?" Gates won by a large majority.

Americans seem to know instinctively that while the President is vital, the real driver of our advancements don't come from Washington.

I'm betting Mr. Jobs's speech is far more recalled down the line.

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We’re thrilled to announce that, in conjunction with the Association for Downloadable Media, we will present the results of our recently concluded Podcast Consumer Attitudes study of nearly 5,000 regular consumers of audio and/or video podcasts in a webinar is scheduled for Thursday, January 28th at 3:00pm EST, 2:00pm CST, and Noon PST. The webinar is free, but registration is required at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/909488120

I'll be presenting the data, which should take about 30 minutes, and we'll have plenty of time at the end for you questions. The results of this groundbreaking look at the attitudes and behaviors of these active podcast consumers will include:

• A comparison of the effectiveness of advertising approaches across various new and traditional media channels.
• An examination of post-exposure purchase and trial behaviors for consumers exposed to podcast advertising.
• A quantification of the “halo” effect of podcast advertising for prospective brands and sponsors.
• A look at the rapid adoption of mobile audio and video consumption.
• The effectiveness of pre-recorded advertisements, sponsorships and host-read messaging in podcasts.

The online study was conducted in November of 2009 among listeners and viewers of podcasts from many of the largest aggregators of downloadable media. Please be sure to share this news and then join us on January 28th!

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Okay, you may not seek out non-commercial radio pledge drives. But if you were willing to listen to one, Triple-A WFUV New York has structured theirs as "Five Decades In Five Days." It kicks off today (Monday) with the '60s and a few of the nuggets heard in the last hour or so include Blood Sweat & Tears' "Without Her," the Byrds' "Goin' Back," Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers," and Lovin' Spoonful's "Rain on The Roof." Listen here.

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Looking for patterns and trends in PPM data as it rolls out in market after market is fraught with danger. Every time you think you find a consistent pattern, another market blows it up.

That said, I do think it is telling us a lot about radio brands. We have long seen, even in diary days, that complex branding is challenging. Ask any station that was "Howard Stern all morning, [fill in format name] all day." They could seldom get the second half of the story to attach itself.

One of the real surprises of PPM has been stations with 'no morning show' turning out to be highly competitive in morning drive. What are they doing instead? Basically, what they normally do. Whether it is Soft AC's playing familiar favorites, or all-news-all-the-time stations delivering 'Traffic and Weather Together Every Ten Minutes', stations that stay in format all 24 hours seem to be strengthened by their consistency.

Of course there are morning shows doing remarkably well in PPM. But by the same token a lot of stations that weren't getting much action in mornings with the diaries (especially Soft AC) are doing way better with passive measurement.

Sadly, these findings have put a lot of talented morning performers 'on the beach.'

But isn't this maybe what we are being told: Maybe when you are the Classic Rock station people really want Classic Rock no matter when they tune in. And if you are the Big Morning Show station...maybe you should be the Big Midday Show station and the Big PM Drive Show station too. Maybe the industry should be re-deploying its fired shows into stacks on one station, instead of the history of them being spread around on each, all competing with one another.

If studying radio for 22 years has taught me anything, it is that brands matter. Maybe PPM is telling us this. Whatever that thing you are famous for might be -- maybe you should be "All that, All the time."

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Clear Channel recently introduced a capability to insert radio spots after certain types of content or programming on a context-dependent basis. The ability to offer even vaguely contextual ads on radio is certainly a step forward for the medium, and Clear Channel should be applauded for doing something to raise the game. It should be noted, however, that these ads aren't targeted to listeners, per se, merely to content tags, a la Google AdWords. So there is no guarantee that a listener will find the advertising more relevant to them, but Clear Channel's early results seem positive.

Still, the example given by Ad Age somehow fails to inspire. The Wal-Mart campaign they cited involved playing spots for AC/DC's new Wal-Mart-exclusive album, "Black Ice," immediately after AC/DC songs were played. Relevant, yes, but perhaps too literal to ignite the imagination. Your intrepid Infinite Dial staff believes it can do better. Ahem:

Cascada, "Evacuate The Dancefloor," followed by a spot for Beano
Katy Perry, "Waking Up In Vegas," followed by a PSA for Alcoholics Anonymous
Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance," followed by a local spot for couples counseling
Police, "Every Breath You Take," followed by ADT Home Security Systems
Beyonce, "Single Ladies", followed by Dewey Cheatem and Howe, Divorce Attorneys (apologies to Click and Clack for that one.)
Snow Patrol, "Chasing Cars," followed by Dewey Cheatem and Howe, Accident Attorneys (shameless).
Fray, "You Found Me," followed by a Private Investigation service
Owl City, "Fireflies," brought to you by Orkin
50 Cent, "Baby By Me"...and know for sure with a $79 Paternity Test from American DNA Associates!
Jay-Z, "Young Forever," with a Plastic Surgeon sponsor (these things write themselves after a while...)
Rihanna, "Umbrella"...
Hmm. Drawing a blank.

C'mon, folks, I'm a researcher--not a comedy writer. Help me out here in the comments.

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The announcements broke within a few minutes of each other on Monday, Jan. 4. Classic Rock WCSX Detroit was replacing its high-profile morning team of the last year, Deminski & Doyle, with a more music intensive morning show. Similarly formatted KGB San Diego was parting ways with its longtime morning show, "Dave, Shelly & Chainsaw"--the third such change in Clear Channel's San Diego cluster in recent months.

By then, only the timing of the announcements was remarkable. The departure of high-profile talent became a regular occurrence in 2009 -- Steve Dahl and Jonathon Brandmeier in Chicago; Don Geronimo in D.C., Jeff & Jer--a team that had never left without announcing a new station before--at KGB's Hot AC sister KMYI; the syndicated Michael Baisden being taken off afternoons at Urban AC WMXD Detroit (although continuing more happily elsewhere).

Stations' financial travails, combined with the realization that some high-profile talent didn't perform as well in PPM as in the diary measurement era, were usually explanation enough for most people. Urban radio was particularly shaken -- after years of reshaping itself as a full-service personality format, stations were told to become a music utility again, although doing so hardly seemed to solve all their PPM issues.

Since last Monday, it seems likely that any managers who hadn't already been huddling on the place of high-profile talent on their radio stations have been prompted to do so. If your discussions are ongoing, here are a few things to consider:

1) With or without PPM, budget related personnel changes would be taking place anyway right now. It's the first of the year.

2) Budget considerations are still steering some managers toward more personality -- e.g., those who bring in Ryan Seacrest, John Tesh, or other more-content shows.

3) PPM hasn't proven a disinterest in high-profile personality--ask Elvis Duran, Preston & Steve, Seacrest, etc. If anything, it has disproven the adage that no format is a music utility strong enough to survive without a high-profile morning show.

And without saying this is the case in any of the above mentioned situations, it is easy to imagine any decision about a high-profile personality being informed by a decade of management vs. labor back-and-forth. Why have yet another difficult 10 a.m. conversation with your morning show? They're no longer worth fighting with. Just move on.

To some extent, of course, managers exacerbated their own struggles. Three years ago, the enlightened approach to the 10 a.m. conversation was just to decide that your morning show was right -- their compelling content was way more important than your dumb ol' six records an hour anyway. People could get their music anywhere. And with the knowledge that this isn't always /em> true, programmers aren't sure how to create a middle ground.

Offering companionship to listeners and still playing more music was in most programmers' skill-sets in the era long before people talked about their skill-sets. It was discredited in the Howard Stern era. In many cases, managers are going to view talent as an all or nothing issue. But finding the right balance will be the next breakthrough, even if some stations find it easier to throw their hands up and move on.

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