Beasley Media Group CEO Caroline Beasley kicked-off day two of the 2022 All Access Audio Summit Thursday. The 45-minute ‘Fireside Chat’ with All Access CEO Joel Denver was wide-ranging with insights into how Beasley continues its transformation into a media company.
Beasley started out talking about how the company’s digital initiative is paying off. “I’m really excited about our digital initiative. We ended the fourth quarter with 15% of our revenue coming from digital; our goal for 2022 is for 20% of our revenue coming from digital. We are seeing so much success on the digital side that our total audience is growing. You need to manage what you have and focus on overall growth.”
She revealed that some of the group’s stations now have 50% of the audience listening to the stream.
“What I don’t want people to think is that radio is just over the air radio. For me it’s so much more. And if you haven’t invested in digital, you haven’t invested in your employees to grow your audience.”
Denver asked if she could envision the day when you shut the transmitters off and it’s all digital? “I don’t think that’s going to come for a long time. We will see the day when we have more listeners on the stream than listening on-air, but to actually turn the transmitters off….I don’t know,” said Beasley.
The CEO shared that while podcasting has been profitable for the company; they really didn’t make major investments in podcasting…they invested in Esports.
“We got into Esports back in 2019. We did this because we wanted an outlet to reach the ‘GenZs’. We purchased the Houston Outlaws of the worldwide Overwatch League. We are excited because there is a new game coming out Overwatch 2. Esports is all about the content it’s about the game and we think that is going to attract more viewers.”
“In 2020 we branched out into the global Rocket League and started another team; so now we have two teams in Esports. When you think about radio you want scale. Our goal in Esports is to have more scale so we are interested in building more teams out.”
On Radio as an upper demo tool
“In some respects I have to say it is, but that is one of the reasons we decided to invest in Esports and be a multimedia company; we wanted to reach the ‘GenZs’. We don’t have many listening to our stations or streams…but we do have them viewing our Esports.
On Radios role in breaking new music
“I think radio has become too mainstream and we could do a better job in breaking new music. Stay tuned, because we have some things up our sleeves to do that. I think we need to do a better job of that. Also coming up with something creative to expose new music would be helpful in bringing younger listeners back.”
On the future of AM Radio
“I think many of them will eventually be signed off. I’m still waiting for another use of that spectrum…I don’t know what that would be. I think more and more AM’s will likely sign off or find and FM outlet or stream. Most of the AM’s today have a translator so that is another platform where the AM audience can migrate too.”
On Voice Tracking
“Our PD’s are in our markets, so they are aware of the touch-points for the community to the station. That being said there is a place for voice tracking, but best practices need to be followed. You really have to treat it like another daypart and program it like another daypart. You just can’t slap it on and say OK do it. You have to think about it and plan.”
On the Metaverse
“That’s another platform that we can explore. I’m very positive about it. We are exploring what possibilities we have and what are the monetization opportunities, what are the content opportunities in the Metaverse. I think there definitely are some.”
We were relatively impressed by Caroline’s comments, until her doublespeak about voice tracking. If she doesn’t understand that voice tracking is toxic to the relevance of radio, then unfortunately she absolutely does not see the “big picture”. That type of thinking is putting financial consideration ahead of compelling creativity. Eventually, that is not a sustainable strategy.
She’s not good for a business that needs massive transformation. She’s in favor of VT because nearly all of her PD’s VT their shows, and just send emails and create problems so they can look like the solutions. She’s not innovative or bold. The next generation of radio, or audio, will not be coming from Beasley, as their esports and podcasts platforms have been dismal failures.
The 7p-12a slot on their country stations is an embarrassment. They re-run old interviews and trick the audience into believing they are “hosting” the show. It’s so minor league, but that’s Beasley media.
“But to turn the Transmitters off… I don’t know..” WHOA! Must make over-the-air clients feel pretty confused! Spend your money but we maybe we should just turn this thing off…. LOL!