Every high profile brand and personality must now think of themselves as digital brands, but how? Chris Balfe has the answer. He’s a Partner at Red Seat Ventures. Red Seat partners with high profile individuals and brands to build unique digital businesses. Initial clients include Premiere Networks and motion picture producer Blumhouse. Prior to founding Red Seat, Balfe was President & COO of Mercury Radio Arts as well as CEO of TheBlaze. TheBlaze pioneered a brand new direct

One of radio’s greatest advantages relative to competing media are its personalities – or at least that could be an advantage. But a “personality” isn’t simply a voice on the air. For a personality to matter he or she must be a genuine talent, someone with “star power” who magnetizes an audience because he or she is just that good. Anything less is just a voice. So what personalities do consumers think of when they think of radio? I thought I’d find out. I did a flash study w

It’s not about how little you talk, it’s about how much you say. Granted, the ratings generally show that less talk is better on music-oriented stations. Except, that is, when the talk is compelling and the person talking is someone listeners want to hear from. In other words, when the DJ is part of the brand rather than in the brand’s way, he or she is as much a part of what listeners look forward to as any song. You become worth hearing when you have forged a relationship w

In a content-driven, anything – anytime world, the advantage shifts from radio stations to personalities and the entities that own or license them. In the long run, fans of radio will be fans of personalities.  And how will those fans seek out those personalities? By the names of their stations – or by the much more direct path:  The name of the personality? And if consumers are searching by personality name, not by station, then doesn’t the advantage shift to the personality

She’s causing a ton of consternation in radio circles and she’s either unreal or all too real, depending on your point of view. I’m talking about “Denise,” radio’s first “Artificial Intelligence DJ,” appearing soon on one HD station with more to follow, no doubt. Let’s begin by leaving aside the easy jokes about “intelligence,” artificial or otherwise, as it relates to the average DJ in the ears of many listeners. Let’s also acknowledge that this is, first and foremost, a pub

It’s the lowest hanging fruit of social media best practices:  Let’s get our personalities to blog! Yet what I hear over and over is that “our personalities don’t want to blog” or “they don’t want the extra work” or “they want to be paid more if they blog.” Listen, there are two types of talents:  The kind that get social media and are interested in engaging in it – and the other kind.  It is my belief that you should not try to paint lipstick on the proverbial pig.  If the p

"We want our personality to blog, but he wants more money to do it." Or… "Our personality says he'll blog, but he doesn't." So what should you do?  Should you force him to blog?  Push him to tweet?  Bonus him for Facebook posts? I don't think so. And here's why:  You can lead a horse to water – you can even pay him to stand at the trough – but horses have to drink because they want to – not because you want them to. And not because you're bribing them to do so. You know how m