You're Not In The Content Business
Written May. 28, 2009 by Tom Webster in Content + Marketing + Terrestrial Radio with 3 Comments
Tom Taylor had a great piece in his daily Radio-Info newsletter lamenting the fact that guys like Richie Balsbaugh are disappearing from radio. I couldn't agree more. Richie--and the whole Pyramid team--believed in talent, in spending money to make money, and in continuous listener feedback. I didn't come from a radio background, so when I started doing research for Pyramid back in 1994 I just assumed that's how radio was done. You cannot cut your way to growth, and Pyramid made meaningful, strategic investments in big events (like the KISS Concert), big talent, and significant amounts of research. Most of all, however, what owners like Richie knew was that his stations were not in the 'content' business. Anyone who puts pen to blog is in the content business. Pyramid's stations were in show business. That distinction, above all others, made those stations larger than life and important to their local communities. Tom writes today that "you can't help thinking [Balsbaugh] might've found a way to keep from cutting the talent and marketing budgets at WNUA." I firmly believe that. I'm still too young to get all cranky about the 'good ole' days,' but I can tell you that, one cut at a time, we have come very, very far from 1994. Death by a thousand paper cuts generally comes one cut at a time, and you never notice how much blood you've lost until it's too late.
Reader Comments
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I think about Richie and Pyramid a lot. The quote that resonates: "Let's make some money, and have some fun." I truly believe the two were valued in equal measure. Another one: "We need (your call letters here) to be an institution."
Thank God you stood up and told everybody to shut up about being in the "content business." It IS show biz, nothing else. Why would you care about being the one-millionth blogging or podcasting voice? Why would you want to be the fourth A/C station? Richie won by creating and defending unique positions in the market, whether it was Oldies or Smooth Jazz. Do that, then serve your constituents by getting involved locally, taking care of your advertisers, researching what your listeners want, and promoting efficiently.
It ain't rocket science, and it doesn't even matter what the demographics are. Pyramid had the winning formula with with 12-17 formats, as well as 45-64 formats. If you do it, you're no longer competing with other radio stations or anything else. Nothing can touch you, not even the iPod. You've become an institution.
And you were even closer to it than I was, Tom, as one of the great PDs Pyramid had. Which also reminds me how many amazingly talented programmers there are who came up through the Pyramid 'system'--what are today's new, up-and-coming PDs learning? And who are they learning from?
Today's programmers and jocks are simply NOT learning why you do what you do and they simply have no clue as to who Todd Storz was and what he discovered...absolutely clueless as to who Bill Drake was, and they just do not know why you play a jingle OUT of a stopset instead of going INTO one!
They do not "get it" that it SHOULD be "show business" but usually it's contrived foolishness and any "research" is off Google and it's just bad!
A big voiced pro, polished...prepared...G rated...
Superbly articulate...is what I want as a listener! No weenie jocks, no kids, nothing about Brittany...or who got voted off the island...it's RADIO...RADIO!!!! Play the songs... talk to me!
BE a "star"! Don't play me an E-Quest or say the words DOT COM...ok? Entertain me and inform me...is that so difficult? Aircheck yourself and then listen to the garbage, or the gold...and self-correct!