AD AGE FEATURES WNYC • PACIFICA TRIES TO COME TO A CONCENSUS ABOUT FILING FOR BANKRUPTY

Advertising Age, an influential trade journal of advertising, marketing and brand companies published a very complimentary article about WNYC evolution of its old image in the multiple platform environment [link]. 

Peter Weingard

The article by Drew Niesser – What Chief Media Officers’ (CMOs) Can Learn from a 93-Year-Old Public Radio Station – was based on an interview with WNYC’s CMO Peter Weingard.

According to Ad Age, WNYC faces conflicting perceptions of its brand.  In the past WNYC has been like a primitive radio microphone from 1924.  Today it is the largest public radio station group in the United States, generating more than 36 million podcast downloads a month from over 20 different shows.

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So, what can a CMO do to bring a cohesive brand image together? Weingard described the challenge to Ad Age:

"It's like being in a new business all of the time because what the business looks like today is not what it looked like a year ago.”

Then Weingard offered lessons and best practices that the station has implemented:

1. Define your category

Because WNYC has moved well beyond its radio roots,  it is focus on creating compelling content regardless of the channel. Weingard said:

"We are in the curiosity business. We create well-crafted, well-edited stories that have a visceral, emotional attraction to them."

In other words, define your own category based on your own brand essence.

"We can't be your father's NPR. New York City is more diverse than the rest of the country, and we need to reflect the city that we call home. And we do."

2. Make the most of your brand essence

New York City is literally in the brand DNA of WNYC. But Weingard is quick to point out the need for a larger mandate.

“WNYC is the home of ‘courageous conversations’ – "real and authentic conversations, the kind you'd have in the streets of Brooklyn."

3. Involve your audience

Weingard says WNYC has made a concerted effort to create opportunities for audience participation. He cites letting listeners read the credits for Radiolab, designating a listener to share feedback from listeners commuting and also at a Metropolitan Transportation Authority public hearing  on commuting issues.

"What we're doing is actually trying to involve people in the stories, the station and the brand in very significant ways.”

4. Expand your purview

Weingard says as WNYC evolves, so does his role as the CMO.

"I've seen a radical departure from what marketing used to mean then to what it means today. When I started in advertising, [it] was mostly about marketing communications. [Now we] focus on the product, the service, the delivery and the customer.”

5. Iterate your content

WNYC is in the content-creation business, and the challenge is finding out how to get the most out of any given piece of content.

One answer is iteration: creating one primary piece of content and then extending it into other channels. For example, WNYC consider Radiolab now to be a podcast first that also becomes a radio program.

"As a marketer, I'm constantly looking across all of these different properties, all of the different consumers that we reach, and trying to figure out how best to optimize the experience.”

6. Act like a startup

Weingard says WNYC is both a 93-year-old media institution and a really scrappy startup:

"We're building an entirely new business, and that includes developing new business models for the way stuff is created. Today we're talking about podcasts, but already we're thinking about smart speaker systems and how content is going to adapt to that."

PACIFICA TRIES TO DECIDE ON NEXT STEPS AFTER LOSING EMPIRE STATE BUILDING LAWSUIT

The Empire State Building with antenna

There are no new developments as of the time this post is being written about whether/when Pacifica will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  If/when we do hear something we will post it immediately on this blog.

According to rumors, Pacifica’s interim Executive Director Bill Crosier, has encountered resistance internally to his plan to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This dithering is due to Pacifica’s arcane governance system that makes doing business in a timely manner all but impossible.

Meanwhile, here is this an interesting post on one of the New York radio bulletin boards:

From Anonymous

Sunday, October 08, 2017

First, I am not an attorney in any what shape of form, just a former board member of a non-profit.

This came across my desk at one point, and is relevant to WBAI: UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, Case No. 10-15446 (SHL), TERRESTAR NETWORKS, INC v. U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION:

"For the reasons set forth below, the Court concludes that Defendants U.S. Bank and the Note holders have a valid lien on the economic value of the S-Band (broadcast) License, and nothing in Article 9 of the NYUCC or Section 552 invalidates this lien." Note this states the economic value of the license, not the license itself, which would be prohibited by the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.”

In other words, previous precedent shows what might happen if/when Pacifica files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.