Over-the-Air may be the origination point for content, but the destinations are many for the endpoints of today’s entertainment, information, and community connection. Podcasting, Streaming, Social Media, Smart Speakers, and apps are all new attraction points.
The strength of audio has never been greater and utilized more to build brands, create images, attract an audience, and sell advertisers’ wares, products, and services. Creating content, as radio does, should universally evolve with multiplatform distribution in mind. Radio as an origination point magnifies audiences by being everywhere. It seems obvious that the way to compete with digital and one-point platforms is to be multiplatform.
Being multiplatform means more than simply putting radio audio everywhere.
It means crafting and curating content in a way that it can be edited and appropriately used for each platform on which it is delivered. That’s where it becomes tricky and requires forethought and planning. Content creation must be designed for mass distribution as well as presented as bytes and snacks across the many platforms of today. Content has to be able to live on its own, and yet be a part of a bigger or greater context.
The MacBook debuted in 2006. Smartphones started their meteoric rise by including app technology in 2008. Spotify was also born in 2008. Web browsers Google Chrome and Firefox took off. Apple cemented its place in music distribution.
All of this is a sliver of technology-driven media that has grown into formidable competitors of radio.
For the most part, radio has been what it was when first launched over 100 years ago.
Transmitters, tubes, radio receivers, and studio operating systems. What’s changed beyond the content, and what’s the greatest opportunity for growth, is how many different locations where the radio can originate content today and the many different ways it can be heard. The delivery and distribution of radio is at the root of the opportunity before us.
The pandemic taught us that talent can be located almost anywhere. Technology has been developed to allow for that. Cloud-based operating systems enable studio elimination, if so desired. The elimination of the FCC rule requiring a studio or office in the stations city of license created a cornucopia of ways to connect to an audience and the various on-site locations from where one can broadcast.
Radio still wins by dominating in vehicle listening, but that then means including more than simple RDS technology. You’re likely aware of Quu, which is a patented software platform that allows radio stations to schedule and display synchronized text, logos, and images on vehicle dashboards and connected devices. It’s all about listener engagement and advertiser enhancement. They have researched listeners’ habits when using radio in the car, and they’re adamant that stations have to win the last listen. You want the driver to leave the sound system on your radio station when they exit the car, so it’s on your station when they return.
What remains most exciting is the ability to take advantage of the many platforms on which radio can be heard. Beyond the main Over The Air channel, there’s HD2 and HD3, Social Media, Podcasts, and Streaming Channels, some free and some subscription-based.
Shows are available on Apps, on Websites, and on demand. A listener can start listening or watching a show at the beginning of the program or take it live. The convenience of modern technology is there, but yet to be fully taken advantage of by many.
In many cases, audio content delivery includes video. Many of the most successful podcasts win with video. More and more radio stations have cameras in the studio. The best of the best apps for radio include video along with audio. They allow for on-demand listening and the ability to rewind. All of this plays to an expanded social media presence.
In a world where citizen journalists report news, weather, and traffic conditions, radio has to do more than simply keep up. It has to lead. The last thing we should want to do is look inferior to the media we’re competing with daily.
Today’s media matrix requires almost fly-like vision to think about all the distribution points while creating content in order to maximize its engagement across many platforms. It’s important to understand the best approach for each delivery system.
- Social Media 1: Repurposed Content is audio & video from an actual program, but unless your content is very compelling and/or unique, keep it brief and make the visual aspect the centerpiece of the post. Go for the punchline, the payoff, the point of the segment.
- Social Media 2: Unique Content is an excellent vehicle for introducing someone to a program, a brand, and/or a new feature. That post should be unique and have never been a part of what was Over The Air. This approach is also good for the “after show” that some programs present after the OTA program concludes.
- Podcasting 1: This can be your program (sans music on music stations) providing compelling content and a destination for what didn’t make it to air. It gives the audience another reason to listen. It allows for longer and deeper conversations. Note: rambling is not something any listener searches for on any media platform.
- Podcasting 2: On Demand is an opportunity for a listener to listen no matter when they want to hear your program. It’s simply a repeat (again without music on music stations) but allows for the convenience of hearing what is wanted when it’s wanted. It’s important to note that if the podcast audio is encoded for Nielsen PPM and it’s heard within 24 hours of its original airing, you can get credit for listening with the rating service.
- Website: It should go without saying that your website must have a Listen Live link. One for audio only and one that includes video, and your programs should have links connected to the talent for on-demand. High-profile personalities do more than intro music and are prime candidates for video shorts taken from the show. The website also allows for unique videos shot expressly for the station website.
- Apps: The best apps allow for listening live and on demand, linking to podcasts, and providing content akin to what one would find on the talent’s social media sites. My favorite attribute about great apps is that they allow for unique channels. Imagine being able to carry content on app channels that aren’t over-the-air. The local connectivity on a micro level is superb for both the audience and advertisers.
The majority of the distribution platforms I’ve mentioned fall into the category of niche media. Mass media is still needed to drive an audience to niche media. What we in radio have that hobbyists lack is mass media. The sum of the two parts is greater than the whole. It’s algebraic.
