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How TED Changed My Life

Though I couldn't really afford the $5,000 price to attend my first TED conference several years ago, I had a suspicion it would be worth every penny. So I held my breath, wrote the check, and never looked back. A friend had suggested I attend, and he told me it would be unlike any conference I had ever attended. And he was right.

I Was Out of My Comfort Zone
No one could possibly have described the TED experience. Even though I'd felt as though I was well informed, I quickly had my eyes opened to how much I did not understand. Information was flowing like an open fire hydrant, and my brain couldn't hold it all. The night after the conference, I couldn't sleep. My brain was more stimulated than it had been in decades and I was alive with thought.

A few days later, it all started to gel, and suddenly I was a changed man. These ideas took my business life in an entirely new direction, and I've never been the same since. It was the most stimulating conference experience of my life.

Modeling Convergence After TED
Though nothing can touch the likes of TED or South by Southwest, my creation of the Convergence conference was patterned after my TED experience. My goal was to stimulate the brains of radio people so we can embrace change we may barely understand. That all started in 1999, and each year I have to top previous years. And that's the hardest thing to do.

Happy Customers
Those who have attended Convergence know what I'm talking about:

"Convergence remains the best conference I have attended over the last 30 years." -- Gary Roberts, Managing Director, Nova 93.7/Perth, Australia

"Your conference should be mandatory for all broadcasters! As a Convergence virgin, I was blown away by the quality of the speakers and the knowledge base in the room! I left Convergence more excited about radio's future than I have been in years, and I'm one that has always believed that radio and digital together can create tremendous disruption and engaging content." -- Tom Sly, Chief Revenue Officer, 10LocalCoupons.com

"Convergence set me on a path of exploration and discovery and ultimately, to rethinking radio. Though they tell you how great it is, you don't know it till you experience it." -- Carl Magnuson, Social Radio

You have my guarantee that your head will be spinning and you'll be swimming in ideas, excited, and reinvigorated about radio and new ways you can make money by attending. But you'll need to act fast, because Convergence starts Monday, June 4.

Register today 561-655-8778 or
www.Radioinkconvergence2012.com

PS: Speakers Nolan Bushnell, Rob Glaser, Rob Curley, and Ken Rutkowski are worth the trip. You won't want to miss a chance to meet these tech icons and hear how they will change your view of the world.

TED is a registered trademark of TED CONFERENCES,LLC. Radio Ink Convergence has no affiliation with the TED conferences.

My New BFF

We've all been there. We've met someone with whom we instantly connect, and feel like kindred spirits. That's exactly what happened when I spoke to Nolan Bushnell yesterday. I feel like he is my new best friend forever.

This Is Big

Nolan Bushnell is a major score for our Convergence conference. We've had many of the major players in Silicon Valley, and Nolan is probably one of the two biggest ever. No radio conference ever gets this level of speaker. Ever. This is big.

Changing The World

You probably know there is a movie, Atari, being made about this brilliant man's life, and Leonardo DiCaprio is producing it and playing Nolan. I'm sure you know Nolan invented the multi-billion dollar gaming business when he started Atari, and he's the one who made all of our kids happy by founding Chuck E. Cheese. But there are literally hundreds of other things Nolan is associated with that you probably don't know about, including founding more than 20 companies and being named one of Newsweek's "50 Men Who Changed America."

Changing Business

Nolan has created many innovations in business culture that have become the norm, including unique business-planning sessions; flat, egalitarian management organizations; casual work attire; play/work environments; creativity as a competitive weapon; and the innovator’s bonus. All can be traced to their first uses at Atari and Chuck E. Cheese and were later instilled at Apple and other Silicon Valley corporations. (Steve Jobs had his first job at Atari.)

Loads Of Choices

I met Nolan yesterday for the first time by phone to discuss what I wanted him to talk about at Convergence for the opening keynote. He suggested lots of options, like:
- How to hire the next Steve Jobs
- How to foster and capitalize on innovation
- How to encourage and build a culture of intrapreneurship in companies, helping established entities stay on the cutting edge
- The key elements of a successful entrepreneur
- What are the trends in education now, and moving into the future? How will classrooms and learning be different in the years to come?
- The future: What tools have been used in the past to be on the cutting edge as technology becomes available and cost-effective? What are the trends that every company and discipline need to be aware of?
- Success and failure: While there have been many successes, there have been spectacular disappointments when businesses failed to launch.
- Fun: What is it about fun that makes products and companies successful?

Something Special For Radio
I told Nolan about the state of radio, the changes in the digital world impacting radio (he already knew), the reluctance to embrace game-changing technology, the lack of deep investment in innovation, and dozens of other things. Without skipping a beat, he said, "I know exactly what they need to hear. Is it OK if I'm a little controversial?" He said he would be touching on many of the subjects on his list, and some he usually saves for special audiences. I got the impression he believes he can help the industry change and evolve in ways that have never been discussed.

Not On Radio's Radar
Because I love great minds and love to talk about innovation, we discussed how Nolan is changing education and how children will learn. He talked about migration trends that will impact everyone -- and radio listening -- and he raised an issue that will not only change the world significantly, but will change how people use radio and impact time spent listening, by way of a new technology few people are even aware of. It was so eye-opening and logical, and it's not on anyone's radar. We must have talked for an hour and chased lots of subjects. I cannot wait to meet Nolan in person when he shows up for the opening keynote at Convergence.

I encouraged him to hang around for the day so everyone can get some one-on-one time with him, which he indicated he would do. Everyone in radio will be blown away by this major shift that is right around the corner. I hope you'll consider Convergence 12.I guarantee Nolan Bushnell will be worth making the trip. We are offering a group rate so you can bring the entire team at a very reasonable price, and learn and strategize together.

Eric Rhoads

PS:

Why Should You Care About Convergence?

The biggest challenge for those running radio stations and companies is that you're so consumed with survival or the day-to-day activities of your job that it's hard to be focused on anything else, especially something you may believe is not going to be immediately productive. Many radio managers simply feel as though they cannot make money with digital, they don't have time to focus on the future, or they don't want to invest in something that is coming. I get that.

And the problem with that? We're not bringing you a bunch of futurists. We know of success stories. We know of serious money being made by radio companies in many different markets, formats, and environments. You may be so focused on existing that you're not looking at important opportunities. Worse, there is a major migration of the digital generation to control of media and business -- and they will not buy ads from ANYONE who can't offer deep digital components. (Websites, texting, banner ads are not what they're referring to.)

This reality is something we've talked about for years, and it's upon you now. Grab it, understand it, grasp it, and manage it, so you don't lose out. If you're a manager, a programmer, a sales manager, an owner, a digital director, or a corporate executive, you need to be at Convergence. It's the only conference focused exclusively on digital media revenues for radio, and it's been going on since 1999. Isn't it time you considered attending? If survival is on your mind, if career survival is important, whether or not your company sends you, you should attend. It's all about relevance in the media marketplace we live in today.

Go to www.radioinkconvergence2012.com to register for Convergence online, or call 561-655-8778.

Twitter: #RICV

The Loss Of Radio's Monopoly

Radio was in trouble. Its Golden Era was over, and television had been invented. Suddenly radio was no longer the only electronic media — and it had no pictures. It was over, and radio was struggling.

These are the words of a broadcaster who lived through the era when it looked like radio was facing almost certain death at the hands of television, the new golden media. But right about the same time, radio became ubiquitous in the automobile. Soon thereafter, rock ’n’ roll gave it new life. Radio had a monopoly on the car through the ’50s and ’60s.

In the late ’60s, the 4-track tape was introduced, and that was soon followed by the superior 8-track technology. I was there, and it was pretty cool. Soon there were cassettes, and then the ’80s brought the compact disc. Each of these mediums was said to be the death of radio — yet radio still owned the car.

As Bill Burton of the Detroit Radio Advertising Group always says, “A car is nothing more than a radio on wheels.” Half of all radio listening takes place in the car, and radio has dominated this private space. Cars and traffic reports go well together, and radio is a natural part of a wakeup routine and the debriefing on the way home after a long day.And that radio dial in the car brings all in-market listening.

A few years ago, radio lost its cool and tried to defend itself against a merger of XM and Sirius because it was afraid satellite radio might eat into revenues. Looking back, that fight seems pointless. The addition of subscription audio in the car did offer listeners who were willing to pay some new choices, and it’s worked out well for Sirius XM, but it doesn’t appear to have carved very deeply into local radio listening.

But what happens when the car radio doesn’t offer just your local stations, but a choice of a quarter of a million stations from around the world? Or potentially millions of Internet-only streams? This turf that radio has controlled as a monopoly will soon be shared. This has already happened on in my car, on my smartphone, and in my home radio listening. My wife listens to KFOG in San Francisco, her favorite station when we lived there. I listen to NRJ in Paris and other international and online stations.

Because I’ve only been living in my current town for two years, those local brands have none of my loyalty. The movement to install digital devices in cars — with the popular Pandora, or TuneIn offering stations from all over the world — means you will be competing for listeners in a way you’ve never needed to before.

What will you do then?

Radio may have been winning in the car by default. How many stations do you know that run continual branding campaigns? How many stations are out in the market doing local promotions, touching local listeners, fighting to be known locally? Not enough. Failure to promote may not be a problem when you have a monopoly, but lack of localism, local involvement, and deep promotion won’t build your brand and keep people loyal. Voicetracked talent and no community presence won’t protect your brand from erosion.

Sure, it’s cheaper, but when you know you’re about to be attacked, you have to ramp up your defenses. The new Internet-equipped cars that of today will be the used cars sold five to seven years from now. That mean, in roughly seven years, virtually every car in America will have these new audio capabilities — sooner if the economy improves. Radio may think it’s smart to invest almost nothing in programming to maximize its return. But those days will end unless the brands are strong, connected, and committed to local communities.

Ten years ago I suggested radio stations need to up the talent instead of becoming jukeboxes that just segue records. I said something online would eventually do it better and crush that. Can you say Pandora?

Consider this fair warning. The dashboard is about to change. This is so important, so serious, that we’re devoting a tremendous amount of time to it at our upcoming Convergence conference, being held in Silicon Valley in June. If you know a storm is coming and you don’t get prepared, you can’t complain when the house goes down.

Radio can prepare and ensure a stronger future, or wait till the environment has already changed and new brand loyalties have been established. By then, it will be too late to make the change.

What will you do now?

Is Digital Media A House Of Cards?

 

"I just knew it," said my buddy, who runs a medium-market cluster in the West. "I knew this whole digital thing was a house of cards that was about to collapse. Now it's coming true. It won't be long before people will be returning to radio, TV, and print, because they work better than digital." He was referring to an article in the Wall Street Journal headlined "The Big Doubt Over Facebook," questioning the valuation of Facebook and its effectiveness as an advertising medium.

From my perspective, nothing in that article indicates that a "digital house of cards" is falling. Though it mentions a couple of advertisers like KIA, who are questioning Facebook's effectiveness, the Journal also highlights Ford Motor Co., which spends 20 percent of its media budget on Facebook and directly attributes a 104 percent increase in sales to the site. The story also mentions that WPP Group, the largest advertising agency in the world, is increasing its spending on Facebook to $400 million for Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Though my friend interpreted the article as an indication that digital media is crashing, I read it as indicating even greater success for digital is ahead.

We tend to filter information to support our hopes. My friend and I drew two different conclusions from reading the same article. My friend, like many of my colleagues in the radio industry, believes digital is a passing fad and that one day advertisers will come to their senses, realize that digital doesn't work, and return to traditional media like radio. What do you believe?

The Broadcaster's Dilemma
Most managers and owners are so focused on meeting revenue budgets that digital isn't on their radar. Some don't believe there is much, if any, income in digital, so it's not really worth the effort. So why bother? Why invest time? Why invest resources? Why not just wait and see what happens and jump on it once it's proven out? The fact is, there are stations in all sized markets that are experiencing significant digital success -- some are even seeing digital bring in 20 percent-30 percent of total revenues.

Is Radio Treating Digital Like FM?
If you were around in the '60s, '70s, and '80s, you may recall stations abandoning their FMs because they thought it was a waste of money to run the transmitter. Most believed that if FM eventually became successful, they could always buy FM stations later. Very few believed that FM listening would ever exceed AM listening.

Then, in the mid-'80s, FM listening began to overtake AM in several markets. But even then, many owners and managers were still in denial. By the time they came around to believing, FM properties had become scarce and prices were soaring. History is repeating itself. If you play a wait-and-see game, you're likely to lose opportunity and allow others to become established.

Perception Is Reality
Members of the first digital generation are now controlling more local, national, and advertising businesses. The head of advertising for a major car company (confidential) tells me that over 50 percent of their local dealers have turned the business over to their kids. He claims the new generation want to make their own mark and no longer want to use traditional media.

Agencies report that clients are requiring all media buys to have digital components. Though the reality may be that traditional media continues to be very effective, the perception from this new generation is that digital media is better. Those trying to change their minds are looked on as being stuck in the past.

Information Is Power
You and I both believe in radio. We both believe radio audiences have remained strong. Yet successful businesses must mirror the needs of their advertisers. Radio will thrive if it responds with the digital initiatives advertisers demand. Yet too many radio managers are ignoring digital requests -- or not even seeing them, because advertisers are buying digital alternatives not measured by ad-monitoring services.

The media business has changed, and your survival depends on your deep grasp of the new digital realities. Reading a couple of articles a week at Tech Crunch won't make any of us digital experts. If you're going to compete, you need a comprehensive understanding.

Being Clueless
An agency executive recently told me he was pitched by the manager of a major-market cluster. When asked what digital initiatives the station could offer in addition to a radio schedule, the manager started talking about banner ads. The executive said, "I just shook my head, thinking this guy doesn't have a clue how far behind he is, and I wasn't about to take the time to educate him. I just stopped returning his calls. This manager thought he was digitally savvy, but he didn't know how far behind he had fallen."

Digital Immersion
My biggest fear is being irrelevant -- being clueless, not knowing what I don't know. In just a few weeks, you have a chance to make sure you're not clueless. Because Radio Ink's Convergence is designed specifically to help the radio industry get up to speed on important digital trends and learn about income opportunities we can put into action immediately. It's held in Silicon Valley to help us attract great brains who will open your eyes to things you need to understand.

You may not know their names, but after hearing them speak, you'll be blown away by what you've learned. You can try to learn about digital on your own, but at Convergence, you'll be immersed for a couple of days, away from your busy environment. Consider it a crash course in generating digital income for your stations. It's not a bunch of futuristic theory, it's meat and potatoes for today.

After each Convergence, we hear attendees say, "I wish my team had been able to hear this," or, "I wish my boss was here too, so he could understand what we need to do." It's too hard to explain two days of intense data after the fact. Last year one person told me, "I brought my manager this year because I couldn't get her to sign off on the things I wanted to do, since she didn't understand them. Since I got her to come to Convergence, she can grasp what we're saying, and we've implemented some innovative and money-making programs. This conference opened her eyes."

If you delegate attendance and have others report back, you'll hear a couple of highlights, but not the important information behind the concepts. Leaders need to understand nuances and what is possible to provide directional leadership and vision. By having your entire team together, you can build a strong strategy. We highly recommend the core team of the manager, sales manager, program director, and digital director attend Convergence, and we've built a special team package to allow you to attend cost-effectively.

Limited To 600 Seats
Convergence continues to grow, and continues to sell out. If you've never attended, you should know we offer a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. We believe every radio management team will benefit from attending together, and we've returned to the Santa Clara Convention Center so we can accommodate your entire team.

You'll find Convergence is different from other radio conferences -- we're not rehashing the same old tired concepts, we're bringing in outsiders to help you see possibilities, and we'll stay focused on action items you can immediately put to work.

It's time to jump in, understand where things have gone, and make sure your station gets a piece of it. Now is the time for you to attend Convergence. It's not only about keeping your stations relevant and generating new income, it's about staying personally relevant by investing in your career. You cannot be in media today without a clear understanding of the digital world. Register today. (For team rates, phone us at 561-655- 8778).

Eric Rhoads

PS: I've very pro-radio, but we could still go the way of newspapers. Most newspapers failed to embrace the Internet and refused to admit how much it was eroding their audience. We could be in the same boat if we're not attentive to these issues. Your revenue increases will come from the digital initiatives you need to master. We hope you'll join us.

Convergence is set for June 4-5 at the beautiful Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, and it's packed with speakers and panels that will give you the real, practical help and information you need for success in the digital era. Click here to see the agenda so far -- and there are lots of additions and updates to come.

 

Click here to register for Convergence online, or call 561-655-8778.