This is the final post in the series by Mona Seghatoleslami of West Virginia Public Broadcasting summarizing sessions at this year’s Music Personnel Conference. Many thanks to Mona for sharing her thoughts and observations! You’ll find links to her previous posts at the end of this wrap-up.
One day of the conference was dedicated to all things digital: blogging, digital rights, HD Radio, and “Thriving in a Digital World” (mostly the world of new/social media — building an online audience there and making money off of that audience).
These sessions marked a change from AMPPR two years ago in Portland, Ore., where the New Media, New Technology session was only about HD Radio. That’s only one of many new technologies that classical radio people need to understand, and probably not a very promising one anyway.
The day opened with “Thriving in a Digital World,” a talk by Daniel Anstandig, president of McVay New Media.
Astandig confronted what he sees as common misperceptions:
- New media isn’t for traditional media companies.
- Listeners don’t go to our websites anyway.
- On-air staff doesn’t have time to blog.
- New media geeks don’t know about radio.
- All we need is a website and money will follow.
Best Practices
Anstandig recommends that stations have Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube pages — they are well-indexed and therefore help in search engine rankings. He suggests
using these sites to link to your station’s page, but not linking back to them. He compared linking to your Facebook or MySpace page from the station’s site to telling listeners the address of your billboard and encouraging them to go look at it. This makes sense but ignores the social and interactive potential of these sites, views them as simply places to market your station. He also recommends streaming local artists from your MySpace page that fit your format.
For blogging, he recommended that stations involve everyone in your radio station. Look beyond the on-air staff, look beyond the station, keep posts “bite-sized” and current, screen comments, establish policies, yet be open and have fun (let station staff take control of it). He suggested WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla as blogging platforms.
He recommended that stations using YouTube create a channel, make sure their videos are well-edited (he recommended Pinnacle Studio 11, a low-cost editor from the makers of Avid), video in-studio guests, get signed waivers, and watermark videos on the left (because YouTube watermarks on the right).
Patterns of use
Early adopters are getting older (35+) for each successive social networking/interactive phenomenon. Older audiences are also adopting forums, where they don’t have to reveal as much personal information as they do on social networks. He mentioned using Ning to create your own social network, but then said that stations that have created their own networks have had initial booms followed by significant drops in usage.
Traffic and metrics
Anstandig recommended two free, open-source tools to keep track of who is visiting your site: Google Analytics and Quantcast. Across the Web, people visit three pages within a site on average. To make sure that people are spending time on your pages and visiting other pages within your site, you should link further into your site from your main page, make sure you have enough unique content, and organize your site well. You should also identify your bounce points — a bounce is when a visitor goes to only one page within your site and then leaves. You want to have a bounce rate of lower than 45 percent, otherwise you are failing to lead people into other parts of your site through relevant cross-promoting links. Google Analytics is able to track bounce rates.
He also recommends looking at where your website visitors live. Local businesses might be less interested in advertising to people outside of your area who probably won’t visit their stores. Web traffic is good, but specific demographics can be worth more to advertisers. Quantcast provides demographic information about website visitors.
Listener Relationship Manager
Assign one person to be the “listener relationship manager.” This person replies to all questions and comments within 24 hours in a personalized manner and follows up with any issues. Pandora does this well: every e-mail includes a personal response and a link to listen. Your audience is communicating more with you and expects quicker responses than ever.
Underwriting
Astandig said online media recently outsold radio in advertising, and he predicts by 2011 online ad sales will outnumber radio two to one.
He touted the benefit of putting underwriting spots at the beginning of streams and selling these spots to underwriters. He said that as an analogue, a potential underwriter should imagine a listener hearing their advertisement every time they start their car. Other suggestions: Games on your site can keep users there longer. That translates into more time exposed to underwriting on your site, which makes the space more valuable to businesses. Also, consider specific content and category sponsorships. His example was a local apartment-shopping section, but for public/classical stations, I think an arts calendar is a more relevant example of something that could have a paid sponsor or underwriter.
Blogging
Scanning the Dial blogger Marty Ronish started with a reason not to blog: “It’s a burden! Once you commit yourself to an audience and writing something intelligent, and you’ve run out of things to say, it becomes a burden.” She also offered reasons to blog: You’re a gatekeeper on the radio, why shouldn’t you also be a gatekeeper on the Internet? You can tell people about what they might be interested in, and someone should be the voice of reason — why not you? She also pointed out the reader segmentation survey from Adaptistration, where readers discussed their use of various media outlets to find cultural news and information.
John Clare, who blogs at Texas Public Radio and Classically Hip and contributes to Sequenza21, said a blog can be anything you want it to be. You can choose to have it be announcer-driven, PD-driven, or station-driven. He recommended linking to local performing arts groups to build traffic and connections in the community. Clare stressed that you don’t have to deal with the IT department, you can do it yourself immediately by getting outside the system. He then demonstrated how to easily start a blog on Blogger — it took just a few minutes.
Mona’s previous posts:
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Wow!
Weblogs:First, Wordpress is terrific. I just started a weblog (I hate the word ‘blog. That is how the Astros became the ‘Stros, the Seventy-Sixers became the Sixers). I was urged to start writing by a PubRadio person I greatly admire. I had tried twice before, at Bolgger and at Blogster. Neither had the tools I needed so available as Wordpress.
Listener Relationship Manager: I belong to WNYC, WPRB, and WBGO. Previous memberships were also at KUSC, WCNY, and WCPE. All from New Jersey via the internet, the new home of serious music broadcasting.
First, I doubt that even ten LRM’s could handle the traffic at my home station, WNYC. Second, I quit a great station KUSC, not because I did not like the music, which I did not; but because I could not email or phone on-air staff. I needed to go through a gatekeeper. Fortunately, I had a very vibrant relationship with the president, Brenda Barnes, who I admire very much. I was taught twenty five years ago at WNYC that Public Radio is a community. I expect it to behave like one. I was actually able to telephone people at WCPE and real people answered the telephone. These days, I can call the on-air host at WPRB, which I do regularly; and I can email directly to and receive answers from all sorts of staff at WBGO. I do not want a Listener Relationship Manager. I do not want a manager. WNYC taught us to be participants. That is what I want. I do believe that this is a privilege which comes with membership.
Blogs are tough. I do one.
Forums are better. This is one hole in the soul at WNYC. We have this “thing” they call a blog, for each program. But basically it is a listener comment utility. It does not even have a notify box. I know forums require a moderator. That is a challenge.
This wonderful enterprise resided over by Steve and Marty deals with what? “Classical Music in broadcasting.”
Radio and streaming audio are not havens for the few of us left who care about Classical Music after the death of concerts. First, there is no death of concerts. Second, Classical Music in broadcasting is subject to the same whims of public appeal as Classical Music in concerts. I believe that the best thinker in this area writing today is Greg Sandow (http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/).
Public Radio is and will be the best venue for “airing” Classical Music. The previous challange was to get stations to realize that they were no longer local, that the greater competition was now global. That meant streaming mp3, in stereo, with good high bit rates. That challenge has been met.
Now, the challenge is to be relevant. Especially to recognize the need to be relevant to younger audiences. If that means all of the stuff above, Yo’Tube (EGAD, IT’S ACTUALLY YOUTUBE?)Facebook, MySpace- and who can forget Twitter, then that’s what it means.
People have complained back to me that my buying all of my music in mp3 from Amazon, or Innova and bang on a can if and when they sell mp3 does not yield up the revenues of CD’s. Well, so what, mp3’s are the new paradigm. Mark O’Connor’s new work, “Americana Symphony” is already in mp3.
So too, “broadcasting” needs to face its new paradigm to stay vital and current.
Thanks to all of the great people who make this weblog such a vital marketplace of ideas.
Above Richard said,”I do not want a Listener Relationship Manager. I do not want a manager.”
At the conference, I bridled when I heard the idea of a listener relationship manager. As a listener, I don’t necessarily want to feel “managed” when I’m communicating, and as a radio host, I like answering emails and calls from listeners. We programmers/hosts are the best source of information at the station for helping people figure out what piece they heard, answering a request, or just talking about music.
But it can also get overwhelming. It’s hard to take calls while you’re on the air, and sometimes, even with the best of intentions, emails slip by when you are busy.
At our station, we have a central email address for feedback (feedback@wvpubcast.org), and one of the station’s administrative staff answers some basic questions, and then forwards the rest of the letters to the people who can best answer the question. So I don’t end up running around with questions about TV news programs, and our news department isn’t stuck figuring out which symphony was played yesterday at 3:25am:)
Knowing listeners, not just about them through audience data, came up in Mark Ramsey’s presentation at the Gospel Music Association convention:
http://www.hear2.com/2009/04/9-secrets-to-radios-digital-transformation.html
But then, in her NCFB conference presentation on announcing, Marilyn Pittman said “people who call in are just 1 percent of your audience, so don’t think you know your audience just because of the phones.” (http://www.insidethearts.com/scanningthedial/2009/04/22/mike-janssen/977/#more-977)
She’s talking more about people who call just to criticize announcing while you are on the air, but it reminds difference in attitude I’ve noticed between traditional radio and web/marketing. To radio, that one percent might be ignored because they’re not your average listener, but they can also be great supporters of a station and evangelizers who spread the word about things happening at your station (maybe what Seth Godin would call the tribe leaders? I’ve heard others talking about his ideas and not had a chance to read them yet). Online, a small number of strong, vocal supporters seems to be valued.
We’re always told on the radio to imagine talking to one person – can I keep believing that if I can’t answer that one person’s phone call or email?
Ok, I might be getting carried away. Any thoughts?
This is all very interesting. I am probably not a normal listener. I am very pro the stations and on-air people with whom I communicate. If it is not a positive experience, as with KUSC, I am gone.
I will still say that what I do is what I was taught by WNYC.
When a person at WPRB first answers the telephone, he or she seems rushed. But I wait for a longish piece of music and we both then know that they are not rushed.
And, you know what? Sometimes when I call the line is busy. Great!! Someone else cares. So, I wait for another opportunity and call back.
If I call, it is to ask about a piece of music just played or to suggest something. I find willing folk at WPRB, they ask, “How have you been, where have you been?” So, it is good. I got good Keith Jarrett advice and Rhoda Scott from one Jazz jockey at WPRB. I have spoken privately at length from home to home with another person at WPRB. I suggested the Turtle Island Quartet’s Contrane tribute album to a person who airs Coltrane.
Years ago, I asked an on-air person by snail mail about the pronunciation of Henryk Gorecki’s last name. He mailed me a page from a dictionary of Slavic pronunciation.
I learned that a station to which I used to belong had no Peter and the Wolf. I provided two different versions.
That, to me is Public Radio.
I know that this whole thing is tough; but I also know what can work and what does not work, at least for me.