I've got to be honest with you. I was not sure that I'd ever write another commentary about radio unless it was another death of radio stories just like the ones I keep seem to be writing about print media. The oldest of all electronic media keeps shrugging off the death notices however.
Radio was the dominant cutting edge media from the 1920s through the 1950s. When TV came along that was supposed to be it for radio. Instead it reinvented itself as THE music delivery system resulting in a whole bunch of us growing up with transistor radios stuck to the side of our heads. When portable forms of music came along like cassettes and CDs followed by digital music players it looked like the string had run out on radio once again. So explain to me why some of the most cynical, cut throat folks out there are suddenly on the radio band wagon again?
The folks I'm talking about are the advertising buyers, the agencies and corporate advertising buyers. With the economy looking up again some more money is flowing back into the media. You would expect that this would be the time when we would see the big move into the new media and the final stroke for the old. Yet a recent survey by STRATA Marketing shows that while TV is still king and digital is firmly in the #2 slot Radio holds a comfortable lead in third place over fourth slot holder Print. Not only that but the number of buyers who reported being more focused on radio than a year ago stands at an amazing 24%. Equally impressive is that radio is only 5% behind digital in the category of most focused while it is a full 9 points ahead of print. That's right it's closer to second place than it is to fourth.
So the question is why? And the honest answer is no one has any idea. Traditional media is doing better than it has the last couple years. Even print at its perilously low rates is better than it's been recently. So there may be a certain familiarity factor working here. I think there might be another thing working for radio and that is that it translates to the digital world much more easily than Print or even TV. Basically you can just stream EXACTLY what you've been doing for decades. Radio doesn't have to change much at all. TV can require a lot more bandwidth while print needs to learn a bunch of new tricks.
Radio just needs to do what it does best. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was.
Call that the View From the Phlipside.
"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011
My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion. Call this the View from the Phlipside.
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