I Applaud The Secret Meeting....

but not the secrecy   

When we first learned of the secret "Future of Digital Radio" meeting at the Radio Show, our sources told us they'd been sworn to keep their participation secret. The goal, I was told, was to develop a sound digital strategy for these cutting-edge companies, to combine their resources to develop and launch a robust strategy that puts them at the forefront of the migration to digital, ensuring a strong future for radio content to be delivered in other platforms.

This consortium is smart. It allows these groups to pool their resources and compete against solutions being offered by bigger companies like Clear Channel and Cumulus Media.

But why the secrecy? Clearly these women and men want their privacy to discuss the future they are planning together. It’s understandable that they'd look for a competitive edge -- but to think they could keep something like this under wraps in the middle of a radio convention was probably not well considered.

My e-mail today has been buzzing with insulted parties asking why they were not invited, why they were not asked to present. Every person who's approached me this morning at the Radio Show has been talking about this story, revealed by our editor in chief, Ed Ryan.

This industry is ripe for change -- finally. All signs are that our strength remains our content, not any single form of distribution. Though this very morning RAB CEO Erica Farber reminded me that everyone she talks to listens to radio, including teens, it's my goal as publisher of this 20-year-old magazine to help us keep our competitive edge. Admitting that all industries change, and that listening devices are changing as well, is the first step to embracing our future. I'm thrilled these progressive thinkers who attended the secret meeting are addressing those issues.

This forum is smart, and it's critical that radio to address its inevitable future. Especially if what I wrote recently about the changes ahead comes true. Collaboration is smart, but wider collaboration is smarter. This needs to be an industry-wide initiative, a deep forum exploring where we must go and what we'll need to get there. Frankly, that’s the sole purpose of my annual Convergence conference -- attended each year by many of the leading thinkers who attended this secret meeting at the Radio Show. I encourage everyone to take this dialogue to the full industry at Convergence 2013, where we will be surrounded by the world’s leading digital minds.

Again, though I applaud the creation of a consortium in an age of collaboration, I feel a fully embraced collective industry initiative is critical. Jeff Smulyan tried something like it in 2000 with the Local Media Internet Venture, but it may have been premature, and the venture didn't end well. I hope we'll take the lessons from that visionary attempt and seek full-industry adoption. When it's time to determine the industry's future, we should all be invited to the table.

 

Comments

[Robin Solis]

The move to from terrestrial to digital delivery of radio is already figured out and currently in process. It's a system using SpotMagic's base technology now called Synchronicity(tm). The roll out is planned out and being executed by the same people that invented and built DG Systems, Inc. (*not* the people who ran the company after the first year). We welcome all top-level inquiries. Early birds can own a piece of it. Radio will operate the same but will have all the interactive abilities it wants and needs. It's just software. But it is the radio brains behind the software that makes all the difference.

[Robin Solis]

Snychronicity(tm) not the easiest word to type :D

[Robin Solis]

The move to from terrestrial to digital delivery of radio is already figured out and currently in process. It's a system using SpotMagic's base technology now called Synchronity(tm). The roll out is planned out and being executed by the same people that invented and built DG Systems, Inc. (*not* the people who ran the company after the first year). We welcome all top-level inquiries. Early birds can own a piece of it. Radio will operate the same but will have all the interactive abilities it wants and needs. It's just software. But it is the radio brains behind the software that makes all the difference.

[MIKE KNAR]

Another HUGE waste of time by people that are NOT leading this industry except into the DARK. Finally and Incredibly Radio Ink reports some of the trouble with our business except patting everyone on the back constantly. We cant get ahead with garbage like this going on. Want a secret meeting than dont tell anyone about it. Radio has zero digital strategy, its not a secret, while the planet moves ahead radio doesnt. Who to thank - well thank the CEOs of the majority of the large companies. More interested in counting their money than figuring out the future.

[Jim Hooker]

The problem with this meeting is that they are not taking a thoughtful problem solving approach. It's a group of highly confident, nostalgic people who are expressing their personal agendas without any conceptual framework. While they were having their secret meeting, I was in Chicago listening to directional media people discuss their change plans at the BIA/Kelsey Conference. It would be constructive if some of these captains of the radio industry would take the time to listen to what these people are doing instead of talking. It's amazing what these old line companies have done to morph themselves into digital marketing companies. Many lessons to be learned from folks that are successfully selling digital programs to SMB's in every radio market across the country. The time for meaningful change strategies is shrinking daily. Radio has about 2 years to get going or they will loose the game and become like old railroaders who thought they were in the railroad business instead of realizing they were in the transportation business.

[Carl Magnuson]

[Comment redacted due to meeting secrecy] but you can read more here from someone who was there:

http://socialradio.org/blog/post/2012/09/19/Social-Radio-Discusses-Mass-Personalization-and-comment-redacted-at-Secret-Digital-Radio-Meeting-in-Dallas.aspx

[Geri Jarvis]

Re: Erica Farber,

I've watched and respected Ms Farber as she went to the top at R and R. She's always been a goodwill ambassador for radio.

As a journalism school graduate and a working tvjournalist before I went to radio, I feel someone must speak out. Ms Farber,your writers are not your stenographers. Let them come to their own conclusions. Otherwise this respected publication should be called CHATS WITH ERICA.

Respectfully,

Geri Jarvis

[Rick Anderson]

With all due respect to Erica Farber...I speak at CSU Chico twice a semester and I always ask who listened to the radio today, you know the box with speakers and a dial...no one raises their hand...who listened this week...no one raises their hand...how do you hear about new music...the internet or friends is the answer...AND IT'S A RADIO CLASS.

Radio has to accept the fact that new "listeners" will come from non traditional devices and you better get a mobile app for your station and embrace the future.

[Mike Stiles]

Unfortunately, planning a secret strategy meeting in the middle of one of the highest profile radio gatherings there is reflects the same intellect radio used when it ridded itself of the one thing you pointed out is needed no matter what the delivery method, talent and content.

[cash]

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there. secret out.