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Embracing Technology Starts With Consumer Pressure

An incredible thing is happening for radio. In July, AT&T agreed to allow FM chips to be activated in U.S. customers’ smartphones. Then, earlier this month, Paul Brenner of NextRadio created a video outside a T-Mobile store featuring a consumer telling T-Mobile CEO John Legere that she wants radio on her smartphone — something the mobile carrier was not offering. Brenner had the woman ask Legere to enable the FM chips so she could listen to radio on her phone, for all the reasons NextRadio is promoting: low battery consumption during continuous listening, no data charges for audio, and FM radio when cell networks are down.

 

The pressure worked. Legere, to his credit, saw the message and stepped up, saying on Twitter last week that he will have chips enabled on T-Mobile phones. (Most phones already have the chip in place and only need to have it activated by the carrier.)

 

In spite of all the arguments condemning radio as “old technology” and the belief among some that everyone is migrating to online, self-programmed stations, Nielsen data shows that radio continues its domination. Radio should do everything in its power to pressure wireless carriers to enable the chips.

 

Interestingly enough, tens of thousands of radio spots encouraging listeners to go to their carriers to demand FM didn’t create enough pressure to persuade T-Mobile. Yet one video outside of a store that spread on social media apparently did the trick.

 

What matters is that T-Mobile said yes. Now NextRadio needs Verizon.

 

If radio stations in every city in the United States started having their morning teams create videos outside Verizon stores, would Verizon be persuaded?

What if stations staged promotions on the streets asking listeners to carry signs asking for FM on their phones, getting that on video — along with the station logos — and getting local media coverage?

 

Radio is the best at on-the-street promotions, and if we can get all the phone carriers to enable FM chips, it will be a major step toward getting radio on every device.

 

The smartphone is like a Swiss army knife: It has just about every device you might need. But it could have a working FM radio, and it doesn’t. Why not tout this to your listeners?

 

Let’s start with Verizon: Remember, most phones already have FM chips. They simply need to be activated.

 

We want to see your promotions and videos. Post them online, and be sure to mention the CEO of Verizon, Lowell McAdam, and use the #Verizon and #LowellMcAdam hashtags.

 

Your campaign:  “(CITY) wants radio on all smartphones.”

 

We’ll highlight your videos, your promotions, and your efforts to talk this up on the air and get your town asking for Verizon to let FM live on its phones. Talk about how T-Mobile is doing this, and be sure to mention Sprint, which got on board with the FM chip a couple of years ago, and how grateful its customers are.

 

If radio makes a collective effort to make this issue known through promotions that are then shared on social media, we can knock down the mobile providers one at a time through consumer pressure. But keep it fun, appropriate, and respectful (we don’t want to see anything backfire).

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Does Hubbard Know Something You Don't?

Yesterday Hubbard announced that it had purchased 30 percent of Norm Pattiz’s PodcastOne network for a reported $10 million. Why would a traditional broadcaster buy into a podcast network?

 

First, it is common knowledge that Hubbard owns the second highest-billing radio station in the United States, WTOP in Washington, DC. What is less well known is that Hubbard also has the highest-billing digital operation in terrestrial radio. And that happened because of a proactive attitude that understood the future and embraced it. Hubbard President/COO Drew Horowitz and former boss Bruce Reese have studied digital for a long time (we know because one or both has consistently attended the Radio Ink Convergence conference). Hubbard embraced digital early, and, unlike most, has figured out a way to make a lot of money with it.

 

Curiously, Hubbard came very close to investing in online radio when I was fundraising in 2001 for my online radio startup, RadioCentral, but that was disrupted and ultimately fell through due to the World Trade Center attack a week before we met. Perhaps they quietly invested in another online radio company. But clearly, this disruptive technology was on their minds almost a decade and a half ago.

 

What does Hubbard know that you don’t know?

 

Hubbard understands that change is inevitable, and they have a history of being in the middle of change or ahead of it. For instance, it was Hubbard that launched DirecTV, which disrupted the television business — and when they did it, they had a huge investment in broadcast TV properties. They didn’t fear cannibalizing their own stations; instead, they wanted to control what was likely to disrupt them.

 

What can we learn from Hubbard?

 

Hubbard CEO Ginny Morris told us yesterday, "We're interested in learning where that part of the industry is headed." She believes podcasting is more than repurposed radio shows; it's part of the radio landscape that's here to stay and she wants to be a part of it. “How big it's going to be, I don't know,” she said. “I'm convinced it's not going away. I'm excited to see the trajectory. The space is young and we want a front seat."

 

It is critical for all of us is to understand that something always disrupts the status quo, and it's better to own a part of what disrupts you than to have it bankrupt you. Along with fighting to hang on to what we’ve got (which we also have to do), we all need to look at technology that threatens us and find a way to be a part of it.

 

I applaud Hubbard for its investment in PodcastOne and for being so proactive. And I suspect they are quietly seeking to be a part of other disruptive technologies — not because they believe radio is dead or dying, but because they want to be in technologies that have the potential to disrupt the status quo. Clearly podcasting is on a second wave and real dollars are flowing, as are giant audiences. Hubbard will reap the rewards as this increases.

 

People spend a lot of time fighting change rather than embracing it, but rarely does fighting change work. Rather than fighting it, we should all seek ways to be a part of it.