Why I'm Thankful For Radio

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know you're a radio geek when .... You're thankful for radio.

But think about why we should be thankful.

We work in an industry that EVERYONE in America relies upon every day. Ninety-seven percent is pretty impressive. What product has that kind of penetration?

We work in an industry that has 100 percent distribution in automobiles. You cannot buy a car without a radio. (As Bill Burton at the Detroit Radio Advertising Group always says, "A car is a radio on wheels.")

And as the average in-car time increases due to traffic congestion, these people spend more time with their radios. There is a silver lining in everything, and here's it's a captive audience for our advertisers.

When people want to be entertained, they turn on their radios.

When people want to be informed, they turn on their radios.

When a disaster strikes, they go to their radios.

We have a medium people can use passively in the background when they are doing other things and they turn us on to fill the silence.

People sing along with us. Their favorite radio personalities are family members and have been part of their lives, in some cases, for decades.

We can go in your pocket, on your phone, on your computer, on your iPad, on your home stereo system.

Every home has loads of radios -- I believe the average is 5.2 radios per home. People rely on these radios to wake them in the morning at their bedside, inform them about the weather and news in the kitchen in the morning, tell them about traffic and entertain them on the way to work, play in the background while they sit at their desks, entertain and inform them on the way home.
If you were inventing a new medium today, you could not invent one that would become so ubiquitous.

Am I thankful for radio? Absolutely.

I feel blessed we live in a place where we can say what we want on the radio, no matter what our opinion. No country in the world has our on-air freedom of speech, and we must protect it at all costs. Our democracy depends on radio, which fills a void not filled by others in media. Radio can change the world with our words.

Think about it:

We work in an industry where we get to go to work to entertain and inform everyone in our communities. How cool is that?

And we get to invent ideas for businesses to help them grow. Think of the hundreds of times you have personally been responsible for filling a car lot with customers or a retail store with shoppers. We are helping drive the economy and change the lives of business owners.

And though commercial radio just turned 90 years old, unlike newspapers and television, we have NOT lost our audiences. And even with the world of digital media devices expanding, research indicates that radio is actually growing among young people.

We have much to be thankful for.

Best wishes to you for a happy Thanksgiving.

Eric Rhoads
Radio Ink

PS: I have lots more to be thankful for. We made some tremendous strides at Radio Ink this year.

We launched an iPad-iPhone version of Radio Ink via Zinio.

We launched our first radio iPad, called PastBlast.

- We launched our Mighty Red 2 HD Radio, with new features like on-screen album covers and station logos, live pause, and bookmarking.

- We sold out our Convergence digital media conference.

- We're about to sell out our annual Forecast conference, set for December 7 in New York, and we even got Bob Pittman, the new Chairman/Global Media & Entertainment Platforms for Clear Channel, to keynote, as well as Arianna Huffington, Andrew Ross Sorkin, and Dave Ramsey.

- Best of all, Radio Ink magazine helped thousands of radio professionals with thousands of ideas to help them sell more ads and make their radio stations more compelling. 

- I'm blessed with a killer staff who are working hard to develop stories, ideas, and tips on behalf of radio.

- I am also blessed with a life of laughter with triplets (age 8) and a wonderful bride. A true blessing.

And I've been blessed with many great friends in this industry, which I truly love.

We take our responsibilities very seriously. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve radio.

Comments

[CSR Racing Hack]

Great article! This is the kind of info that are meant to be shared around the internet. Disgrace on Google for not positioning this submit higher! Come on over and talk over with my site . Thank you =)

[Richard Frank]

Hey Eric --

Your email is always a good read - we specialize in the creative and production of radio campaigns (not a radio station and all of those issues).

You're a bit off in the number of radios per households, I dug a little and found this 2006 Census report stating EIGHT per household (8 is better than 5.2 - The .2 must be the ones where the radio works but the alarm doesn't :-) )... can't imagine it changed all that much.

http://books.google.com/books?id=epBIhmdsfxMC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=average+number+of+%22radios%22+in+homes+today&source=bl&ots=9IbTF2r2LJ&sig=nBx5bDDrhQeZUiIaf_R1lYwTtjk&hl=en&ei=NFLtTIviH4musAP5ms3UDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

You may want to score some social media marketing points... after perhaps researching a bit more, click on the link below and answer the question.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_number_of_radios_per_household_today

Best,

r.

- richard frank
- world wide wadio | wadio.com
- 323.957.3399

[Drew Bartlett]

Fantastic Article. We do work in a fantastic industry, and we should be thankful every day when we go to work, that we are doing what we do!