When you talk to radio broadcasters about their podcasting strategy, they tend to see it from the same perspective: The one that relates to their own content. But there’s another way to see podcasting strategy, one that is right in front of your ears. I have a secret podcast project (B2C, not B2B) launching this spring (it’s gonna be killer), and that has given me the chance to chat up some of the key figures in the “business of podcasting” space. I encouraged one to reach ou

Retail stores are closing all across the country. “It’s Amazon! They’re stealing our market!” That’s the refrain. And it’s true, right? But wait… Has America lost its taste to shop locally? And what does that imply for local broadcasters who also compete for the attention of their audiences with platforms not bound by geography? Here’s a reality check from Forrester Retail Analyst Brendan Witcher: Consumer confidence is the highest it’s been in over a decade, and leading reta

From Radio Ink: While the radio industry grapples with what it should be doing about the connected car, there may be some comfort in knowing consumers are still a bit baffled by the connected car as well. Nielsen’s new AutoTECHCAST report shows that nearly one-third of consumers have never heard of these technology-enabled vehicles. “These consumers don’t know what connected cars do, and are not associating vehicle brands with infotainment badging.” Both the auto and radio in

Maybe distribution is king! And… Content is crap. Plus, rants and raves on the ridiculous controversy over Starbucks’ holiday red cup and REI’s Black Friday gimmick. It’s episode 31 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this by email, click here for the audio. For show notes go to the Media Unplugged site. Sample and subs

Last week the Internet melted. And if you’re a Star Wars fan, you know the precise moment: When the latest teaser trailer for the newest chapter in the long-running Star Wars saga was unleashed online. You’ve probably seen it by now. It has been watched more than 40 million times, so I’m assuming at least one of those viewings was yours. So I thought, what can radio broadcasters learn from the pandemonium surrounding this second in a series of promotional trailers for a movie

Who needs an agency when brands want CONTENT, not ADS? And… Disruption comes and goes, but human desire is forever. Then Tom Asacker rants/raves about advertisers who don’t seem to mind that their ads aren’t seen. And Mark rants/raves about his first experience “going viral” with a piece on Leonard Nimoy and how video game breasts are made and why they can go so wrong. It’s episode 14 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Lis

Disney chief Bob Iger is on the cover of the new issue of Fortune, pictured in front of Star Wars’ legendary Millennium Falcon. I can’t imagine a picture that could speak more loudly about content and branding and distribution and the role of fan passion in powering a media behemoth. Highlights of the piece in The Wrap indicate three lessons that should be heard loud and clear by radio broadcasters: 1. Iger focuses on both content and technology “There are a lot of companies

Over the past few weeks I have heard the story more than once: A big segment of a News/Talk show or a morning show was given over to an interview subject whose identity, content, and duration had nothing to do with what interested audiences and everything to do with what advertisers are paying for. Everybody was in on this joke – except for the audience. For them it was just crappy content. It seems quaint to reflect on the fact that advertisers once bought spots. Today, the

Is online video killing the TV star? Absolutely not! Also: What does it mean when the debut novel from a YouTube star breaks records and outsells even Harry Potter? It’s episode 9 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! And if you’re reading this by email, click here for the audio. For show notes go to the Media Unplugged site. Don’t forget to subscribe to Media Unplugged a

Worried about technology crowding out your radio brand? Freaked out about the car dashboard and the latest mobile gadget? Maybe you should worry more about the content you bake into your radio brand that makes it desirable in the first place. Especially when your industry has invested 100 years in content expertise, not flashy technology. Leave it to storyteller extraordinaire Malcolm Gladwell to sum up this point. In a recent speaking gig at the Inbound 2014 conference, Glad

…they fall in love with content. It’s not often I make a post that is purely an image, but I thought I’d make a tiny – and meaningful – exception today. Enjoy. #channel #radio #image #distribution #markramsey #fall #Media #radioindustry #love #content #infographic #markramseymedia

So Disney sells of all of its Radio Disney station assets – 23 AM and 1 FM –  save for its LA flagship, which is evidently a content creation hub and not simply a means of distribution. …and the radio industry goes wild! What does this mean? What is Disney signaling? Does this even matter? These are the questions that were on everyone’s lips last week. But to me, the larger question is this: How come this took so long? Does anyone think Disney chief Bob Iger awakened one brig

If all your favorite audio content is all over the place in a variety of different channels, why can’t you aggregate it all in one place? Well, now you can! J.D. Heilprin is founder of AGOGO, a stealthy mobile-first startup that was recently featured in the iTunes store as “best new app” and “top news app.” Much more than aggregating podcasts, AGOGO is a platform bringing together a world of audio (and the audio form of TV and textual media content made audio) in one place, a

So I read with interest today this distribution-related tidbit from NTS MediaOnline: Cumulus Media-owned Westwood One has announced an agreement with NextRadio that will enable all U.S. radio stations to use advertising inventory to fund the industry’s payments to Sprint. Over the past year, broadcasters have been asked to commit dollars and/or inventory to fund the Sprint NextRadio Initiative, which plans to sell at least 30 million FM receiver-enabled smartphones in the nex

You know the routine. Your radio station introduces a new morning show and you sit back and wait for the magic to happen. And you wait…and you wait. Still, the audience doesn’t know them, doesn’t care about them, or knows them and still doesn’t care about them. Why is this happening? Six reasons: 1. Because they’re just not that good It’s true! Radio managers are not famous for spotting and nurturing talent. And a corollary: Being good is hard! There’s a reason why Howard Ste

Earlier this year, CBS was blacked out on Time Warner Cable in several major markets due to a dispute over content rights fees. CBS wanted more and Time Warner didn’t want to pay it. More than 3 million Time Warner Cable customers lost access to CBS-owned stations, Showtime, and three other cable nets for a month until the standoff was resolved. So what happened? The monthlong CBS blackout for Time Warner Cable customers in major markets was a key factor leading to the cable

There remains a drumbeat among some broadcasters to install FM radio into mobile phones, but what happens when some new technology kills off those mobile devices? From Business Insider: There is a line of thinking that the smartphone era will perish almost as quickly as it began.This is, after all, the natural way of technology. It’s defined by creative destruction. Just as the smartphone killed the flip phone, and the iPad is killing the traditional PC, something is going to

USA TODAY markets reporter Matt Krantz answers this reader question: Why have the large diversified media companies been such strong [stock market] performers, despite the rise of the Internet? Matt’s answer: Investors are starting to pay less attention to the device, and more to the content. Companies that make the entertainment and content viewed on the bevy of new mobile devices, websites and Internet-connected TV devices are winning new appreciation with investors. Disney

…in a world where the networks you pay for content circumvent you by distributing much of that same content online? This is a complicated question, but it’s one that branding authority Tom Asacker tackles with me in this highlight from our conversation at the recent Public Radio Program Director’s conference in Las Vegas. Is it as simple as “more local news” because newspapers are folding (pun intended) all over America? Oh no it isn’t.  Not nearly. Watch (or click on the pos

Sometimes we have this weird notion that platforms are places for us to put the same stuff everywhere. They’re not. The way to make your content “pop” is to re-imagine it for every platform where it appears.  It’s not the same thing someplace else. It’s something new someplace else – inspired by its original form, but not limited to it. Think re-imagined, not re-purposed. That’s how to make your content “pop.” Watch: Prefer audio?  Try this: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (ve