As somebody once said, defending and growing radio is like a big game of Whac-A-Mole; we are constantly beating down popular but totally wrong impressions about our business.
Our December 25 issue features a couple of bullish articles on radio, each from a different perspective. (Subscribers can view the issue here.)
Dave Van Dyke is the head of a company that does business with rated markets—which you can probably figure out from their name, Bridge Ratings—so some of the points made in his article pertain more to larger market stations.
Rick Murphy, on the other hand, operates a group of smaller market stations and a company, Influence.FM, whose clients are mainly local broadcasters.
Bigger stations and smaller stations are fighting different battles.
Bigger stations are trying to convince time-buyers and ad agencies to pay attention to data that is outside their normal workflow, however true that data might be, against a backdrop of chaotic, generic programming, slipping listenership, and short-term transactional selling.
Smaller stations are trying to convince their Main Street advertisers of the truth about how radio fits into their marketing plans, with much better results, because the radio stations and their representatives are known, liked, and trusted in the community.
Overall, radio is fighting for a position in the plethora of media choices.
Larger stations are in deep trouble, because they have allowed their corporate concerns—like trying to make a profit, which, for example, iHeart has never done for an entire year in its entire existence—to distract them from the business of serving their listeners, their advertisers, and their community.
Smaller stations, at least the good ones, have been minding the store all along and have a much brighter future. They might have some corporate BS to deal with, but they have their priorities straight: how could they not, when they interact with their customers, their listeners, and the community at large several times every day?