From time-to-time
we publish images from various news sources showing the results of recent
research on media consumption. Some of today’s charts have received a lot of
attention and others didn’t make much of a splash.
1. NIELSEN’S LOVE-LETTER TO RADIO
BROADCASTERS
Last week Nielsen
released the latest edition of THE STATE
OF THE MEDIA: NIELSEN AUDIO TODAY 2017 ad radio is looking good. The
Nielsen report says 271 million Americans listening each week, the most of any
media platform.
That chart on the left shows Nielsen’s estimate
of weekly use of six media platforms sliced-and-diced by age group.
The report examines
the listening landscape today viewed through many different lenses – reach and
audience growth, network radio, podcasting, format preferences, localism and
much more. (Click on the images to expand them.)
The chart on the right is
the chart I found to be the most interesting.
It shows that podcast listeners are different from the general public in
several important ways:
Podcasts listeners are younger, more affluent and
career oriented.
2. COLEMAN RESEARCH: MOST PEOPLE HAVEN’T
HEARD OF PUBLIC RADIO
You will hear a lot
more about this report in coming weeks. The Public Radio Program Directors
Association (PRPD) commissioned Coleman Research to explore public radio’s
visibility with the general American public. The results show that more people
are aware of a local Country music station than ANY public radio station.
Coleman will present the full report at the PRPD Content Conference in August.
I will be writing
more next week about the Coleman/PRPD study.
3. WALL
STREET JOURNAL: MORE APPLE I-PHONES HAVE BEEN SOLD THAN ZIPPO LIGHTERS
Never in recent history has a new device
penetrated the American consumer market faster than Apple’s I-Phone.The chart on the right compares the total
unit sales and time of adaptation with other well-known new devices. Notice how
quickly the IPhone became ubiquitous.
4. PEOPLE WHO DRIVE CERTAIN GM CARS ARE
HEAVIEST BROADCAST RADIO LISTENERS
According to recent
Jacobs Media study, people who buy certain vehicles tend to listen to more
radio than other buyers. The chart on the left shows that people buying Buicks
are the heaviest radio listeners followed by buyers of two models of Chevys.
The Porsche buyers look like an outlier to me.
5. SMART SPEAKERS ARE GAINING IN AWARENESS AND
POPULARITY
The two charts on
the right show Edison Research and Triton Digital’s latest data on the adoption
of Smart Speakers such as Amazon’s Alexia and Google’s Home.
Though the number
of units sold is relatively low, sales are trending up.
To me Smart
Speakers are like a barking dog in the corner of the room. I can’t understand
their popularity.Perhaps some people
are over their love affairs with Siri.
6. ON-AIR PRAYING ISN’T WHY PEOPLE LISTEN TO
CHRISTIAN RADIO
Finney Media
recently conducted a survey – What Women
Want – From You, Christian Radio - to determine why people listen to
Christian-themed radio. The most frequent responses (chart on the left) are
faith, worship and the desire to escape negative messages in society. Listening
to people pray was the least favorite reason.
7. WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THE EXTRA TIME IN A
DRIVER-LESS CAR?
The word cloud on the right comes from Jacobs
Media’s Tech Survey 13. If and when driverless cars become the norm, folks in
the driver’s seat will have free time on their hands.What to do?
Public radio’s
increasingly prominent role in news reporting and innovation is on full display
in the 2017 Edward R. Murrow Awards, sponsored by the Radio Television Digital
News Association (RTDNA). Of the 45 radio awards, 31 (69%) were associated with
NPR and/or NPR member stations.
LARGE MARKET RADIO WINNERS
In the Large Market
Radio category NPR News stations won 10 (63%) of 16 individual awards. KUT (Austin)
won three Murrow Awards, WNYC (New York) won two and WBUR (Boston), KCUR
(Kansas City), KERA (Dallas), WBEZ (Chicago), KCRW (LA), KQED (San Francisco) WBUR
(Boston) each won one Murrow.
Commercial station
WTOP (Washington, DC) won the award for Overall Excellence in the Large Market
category.
SMALL MARKET RADIO
WINNERS
New Hampshire
Public Radio won three Murrow Awards, including Overall Excellence, in the
Smaller Radio Markets category. Public radio stations won 13 (87%) of the 15
individual awards in the category.
Vermont Public
Radio and WVTF (Roanoke) each won two Murrow Awards. Stations that won one
Murrow Award were North Country Public Radio, WITF (Harrisburg, PA), KMUW
(Wichita), KNAU (Flagstaff, AZ), WSHU (Fairfield, CT), WFIU (Bloomington, IN)
and KBIA (Columbia, MO).
NETWORK RADIO WINNERS
In the Network
Radio category, public radio organizations won 8 (57%) of the 14 of the Murrow
Awards. NPR won three Murrow Awards including Excellence In Innovation.
Reveal
from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX and This American Life’s
podcast Serial each won two and American Public Radio won one.
CBS Radio News and
ABC Radio News won most of the commercial network awards. CBS was honored for
Overall Excellence and was highly praised for its Breaking News coverage of
shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
The complete list
of winners is available here. the awards will be presented October 9th at
Gotham Hall in New York City.
WHO WAS EDWARD R.
MURROW?
It is hard to sum
up in a few words.It could be said that
Murrow defined integrity in reporting, perfected on-the-spot news coverage, brought
investigative reporting to radio and TV and set standards that remain today.
Here is a YouTube video about some of Murrow’s best work:
BJ LEIDERMAN RELEASES FIRST ALBUM (WITHOUT
JINGLES)
If you are a public
radio listener, you’ve heard BJ Leiderman’s work. His name might not be
familiar but his musical compositions certainly are. Leiderman is the creator
of the theme music that welcomes you to Morning
Edition, Weekend Edition, Wait…Wait Don’t Tell Me, Marketplace and many, many more
programs. Now he has released his first album BJ.
Last week
Leiderman’s hometown newspaper, the Asheville
News Observer, had a wonderful profile of him [link].I recommend it to anyone who has ever hummed
along with the Morning Edition theme song.
Leiderman has
toiled for many years in the “jingle jungle” – a notoriously fickle business. He
talked about his long-time relationship with NPR to the News Observer:
“I got paid good NPR money. Any money is
good from them. They’ve treated me very well through the years, and I quickly
found out how valuable an on-air radio credit is, especially with a quirky
name. I still get, ‘Are you the REAL BJ Leiderman?’ Like there’s a lot of us.”
I had the
opportunity to work with him in the early 2000s when I was consulting The
Stanley Foundation’s weekly news show Common
Ground. It was impressive to see and hear his composing technique in
progress. He asks clients detailed questions about the aura of the program and
vibe the show’s producers want to convey.Though the Common Ground theme
music is not on his best-of list, I thought it was terrific.
While doing the
research for this story, I found a YouTube video that Leiderman uses as his
demo tape.It is hilarious and captures
his wit and not-too-serious manner:
Leiderman’s new
album, BJ, features The Randall
Bramblett Band and Béla Fleck. You can learn more about it and get a copy here.
ONE-OF-A-KIND TALK
SHOW GIG IS NOW OPEN
Randi Rhodes
One of my favorite
commercial radio talk hosts, Randi Rhodes, is looking for a production wizard
and board operator for her South Florida-based audio and video company.
The Randi Rhodes Show [link] is now
available via video and audio streaming, broadcast radio and podcasts.
The job consists of
mixing the program as it happens live and multi-versioning the content for
distribution on YouTube, Facebook, Periscope and other platforms. Randi is
looking for someone with experience using YouTube, Facebook, Periscope, and Final
Cut Pro/Adobe Audition. For more information contact Randi’s manager Howard
Vine at: howard@randirhodes.com.
This is a slightly edited version of a post
the first appeared on Friday, June 3, 2016. It is one of our most popular
stories. Ken.
NBC’s News and
Information Service (NIS) began on June 18, 1975 with the boast “The Most
Important Day in Radio History.” When NIS died eighteen months later, it was
known as one of the biggest failures in American radio history. What happened
to the 24/7 News and Information network that seemed to have so much promise?
Common wisdom is
that NIS failed because it “was ahead of its time” and was too expense, both of
which are partially true.
According to a
former NIS staffer who asked not to be named, NIS failed because of “Lack of imagination
and poor execution.” Plus it sounded awful – “group-think” at its worst.
(Scroll down to hear what NIS sounded like.)
Forty years later,
NIS could have been a major news source that might have challenged NPR News.
THE NIS STORY
Jack Thayer
In the fall of 1974
NBC Radio was trailing the other big nets ABC, CBS and Mutual.NBC’s O&O (Owned and Operated) FM
stations were languishing. The radio division, run by Jack Thayer, needed a big
big idea that would turn the ship around.
ABC Radio had
revolutionized the business of network radio when, in 1968, they began feeding
four different newscasts each hour designed for specific formats. At the time
most radio stations carried network newscasts.ABC’s bold move allowed them to quadruple its number of affiliates and
ad revenue.
Thayer held brainstorming
sessions to determine NBC’s next big thing. According to the former NIS staffer
several scenarios were considered. One option, pushed by younger folks, was a
live hourly version of Earth News, a
counter-culture news service delivered to stations via scripts and
transcription discs.
At that time FM
listener penetration in many markets was beginning to top AM stations. NPR was
just getting started; their only national news program at the time was a
90-minute version of All Things
Considered. This was before Morning
Edition – some NPR stations at the time didn’t even sign on until Noon.
Alan Walden
Thayer decided to
turn the project over to Alan Walden, an old-school AM radio personality, who had
great success running NBC’s WBAL-AM in Baltimore.
In 1975 a 24/7
national news service was a new idea.This was before CNN.
The model
was local news & weather AMs such as 1010 WINS, KNX and KFWB. So NIS was
breaking new ground and the eyes of the biz were on NBC.
THE ROLL OUT OF NIS
On February 10,
1975, The New York Times broke the
news about NBC’s NIS 24/7 news network. I
t would make full use of the resources
of NBC News in a new way: 24/7 continuous news and information.
At a news
conference Thayer said NIS would provide affiliates with 50-minutes of programming
every hour.
Affiliates were required to pay $15,000 per month in the largest
markets and $750 per month in the smallest markets. Plus stations were required
to air commercials embedded in NIS programming. Thayer predicted NIS would have
affiliates in 75 of the top 100 markets.
Walden went to work
building the NIS staff of over 200 people. Many members of the founding staff
came from established AM powerhouses like 1010 WINS, WCBS and KNX.
Walden crafted a
format clock (shown on the right) with something for everybody: Headlines, features, commentaries,
vox pop and interviews, all sliced and diced into short chunks of time to
fit
into the program clock.
When NIS debuted on
June 18, 1975, it had fewer than 50 affiliates. Even some of NBC’s O&O FMs
refused to carry it.Many stations
balked at the high cash fees and onerous commercial carriage requirements.
So
NBC began marketing NIS as an updated version of Monitor, a weekend news service that was popular in the 1950s and
1960s.
By Spring 1976,
most of the NIS affiliates were old beat up AM stations, many former Top 40
giants like KRUX in Phoenix, KUDL in Kansas City and WPOP in Hartford.
The
ratings weren’t great.
(The Spring 1976 NIS carriage list is shown on the left.)
I looked up the
Spring 1976 Arbitron ratings published by Duncan’s American Radio found on the American Radio History website [link], a truly amazing
historical resource.
At that time NIS was on 10 FM stations and 25 AM stations
in rated markets.
Only 19 stations were
in the top 100 radio markets.
There were also
audio quality issues. Andy Denemark, now Executive VP for Programming at United
Stations, joined NBC in 1980 to market The
Source, NBC’s service for AOR stations.
People at The Source previously worked at NIS and told Denemark about technical
faults of NIS:
“[NIS was] delivered on phone lines in those
days... a 5k equalized line into major markets, a 3.5k un-equalized line into
smaller towns. The high cost of those “webs” of wires (for which the phone
company charged by mileage) was outrageous.”
According to
Arbitron, NIS stations had around 2,000,000 estimated weekly cumulative
listeners. Many of these station only used NIS overnight. The end was in sight.
The New York Times reported on November 4, 1976, NBC had
pulled the plug on NIS. There were fewer than 70 affiliated stations.NIS had lost more than $20,000,000 (close to
$400,000,000 in 2016 dollars).Heads
rolled at NBC.
NIS staff were told that NIS was cancelled from Dick Wald, then the head of NBC
News, at an all-staff meeting. The meeting occurred the day after NIS hadcovered the 1976 election, when Jimmy Carter
was elected President.
After NIS folded,
there was never another serious attempt by any commercial network to establish
a 24/7 news service. In a few years, NBC left the radio news businesses
entirely.
WHAT NIS SOUNDED
LIKE
As I said above, I
think it sounded awful. Give a quick listen to a two-minute scoped version of
NIS on WNWS-FM, New York, during the 6:00pm hour in August 1976:
HYPOTHETICAL “WHAT
COULD HAVE BEEN”
The following is
completely conjecture.
The former NIS
staffer (who did not want to be identified) mentioned that one alternative plan
for what became NIS was to create an alternative news service for Album
Oriented Rock (AOR) stations.Rock on FM
in 1976 was becoming a major success. Stations like WNEW and WPLJ in New York,
KMET and KLOS in LA and WXRT in Chicago dominated listening by folks under
40.What if instead of an AM clone like
NIS, NBC would have set up a specialized news service for AOR and other
contemporary rock stations.
Suppose NBC had
decided to bring in programming folks who understood the potential for FM news
to reach younger listeners with a more modern presentation style and
sensibility. In 1976 key creators of NPR such as Jim Russell and Jay Kernis
were guns for hire.Both had worked in
commercial broadcasting and both new how to do a start up with a lean budget.
Suppose they
attracted the best and brightest young reporters and storytellers.
Suppose it was
still in business when MSNBC got a life in the mid 2000s.
Suppose Rachel
Maddow (a seasoned radio vet with Air America) did a TV, online and FM
simulcast truly using the resources of NBC News. I think it would have worked.
NOTE: This article
is based, in part, on recent posts by two excellent sources. I encourage you to
check both blogs for more information. Consultant Steve Goldstein publishes Amplifi
Media [link] and attorney David Oxenford publishes the Broadcast Law blog [link]. Also, I am not a lawyer and your
situation may be unique. I advise checking with a lawyer before proceeding.
Imagine this
scenario: You are a would-be podcaster and you have a terrific idea for a podcast
based on your favorite cover-tracks of Beatles songs.Will it fly?
Probably not. Unless
you have a rich sugar daddy to pay the bills, legal restrictions on the use of
copyrighted material will prevent you from using music published and protected
by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC.
Welcome to the reality of Intellectual Property.
You might have
thought up the Beatles cover-tracks idea while you were on the air at your
local noncommercial radio station that streams its audio. You can broadcast and
stream Here Comes the Sun by Richie
Havens or Rain by Todd Rundgren but you can not use these tunes in podcasts without paying megabucks. Podcasting is a
different matter than broadcasting or streaming. Podcasts are provided directly to the consumer like a record album.
Playing music on
the radio and streaming audio falls under a different set of rules.
SoundExchange, the organization that handles music licenses for broadcast,
streaming and “pure play” companies such as Pandora, are not covered by
SoundExchange.
Take a look at the
latest Podtrac rankings of podcast in the story below. Not a single one is
based upon music. Some of them, particularly dramas like Serial have incidental music behind scenes. This type of music is
typically purchased.
Perhaps you think
no one will notice your use of music on your itty-bitty podcast. Once your
podcast is available online or via mobile distribution it can be easily found
by sophisticated tracking services. Plus, never screw with the Beatles'
copyrights.See the story below.
HOW TO GET MUSIC
LEGALLY FOR PODCASTS
There are three
ways you can proceed:If the music you
seek is affiliated with a collection organization such as ASCAP, BMI or SESAC
you need to make a deal with the owner of the music. This is often a
time-consuming and costly process. There are companies that provide this
service such as the folks who acquire song rights for movies or television
programs. Their services are also very expensive.
The second way is
to purchase music from a vendor, often called “needle drop companies. I used De
Wolfe Music [link] one of the biggest and most reputable companies.
The third
alternative is to commission new music specifically your podcast. Be certain to
have a lawyer craft the written agreement.
Also be aware that
words and unique sounds may also be subject to copyrights. If you are using audio
previously published elsewhere, be prepared to negotiate with the audio owner.
CLAIMING “FAIR USE”
“Fair use” is a
concept filled with many gray areas. It is possible to use a limited amount of
copyrighted material in a podcast in certain situations. Use in a bona fide news
report is generally okay, as is noncommercial use within educational material.
The line not to cross is any commercial use.Whenever money is involved, such as requiring paid subscriptions, you’ve
likely crossed the line about what is permitted.
Keep in might that
ultimately the original copyright owner, or in a worst-case scenario, a judge, determines fair use. Claiming that you a nonprofit company does not give you an
exemption. However, lawyers do like to look for “deep pockets” for copyright litigation.
DON’T MESS WITH THE
BEATLES
This is a story
about lawyers and “deep pockets.”
A few
years ago a friend of mine was working in the promo department at a TV station
here in Minneapolis owned by one of the nation’s largest broadcasting
companies. The TV station wanted to promote a new meteorologist on the station’s
early morning newscast.
My friend and an associate
decided to use about ten seconds of Beatles song Here Comes the Sun in the
promo spot. They naively assumed such use was covered by the station’s blanket
agreement with ASCAP and BMI. Senior management signed off on the promo and it
began to air.
On the third day the
promo aired, a representative of a law firm who represented the estate of the
late George Harrison contacted the station. The message was “You owe us $6
million dollars for copyright infringement.” Yikes!
Harrison’s lawyer
smelled a “deep pocket” and the estate finally settled with the corporation that owned the
TV station for approximately $1.2 million plus legal fees. Ten seconds of audio
was all that was needed to trip the legal buzzer.
For over twenty
years WVTF, Roanoke has been a regional powerhouse with two mini-networks of
stations mixing news/talk, Classical, Jazz and Bluegrass. But both had evolved
into a hodge-podge program styles. As of July 10, 2017, WVTF will bring clarity
and consistency to both services.
On that day WVTF
will debut 24/7 news/talk on Radio IQ
and mainly Classical music on WVTF Music.
WVTF Music will have Classical from
12am to 8pm weekdays and Jazz at night. On weekends WVTF Music will air Bluegrass, Americana and A Prairie Home Companion.
The changes will be
most noticed by listeners in the Roanoke metro. WVTF’s biggest “stick” – 89.1
FM – will become the flagship for Radio IQ. Classical music in Roanoke will
move to 89.5 FM on translator W208BX via WVTF-HD2. The maps below show the new coverage for both stations in Roanoke.
The two mini-networks
will also swap frequencies in other markets across Virginia. The map below
shows the entire Radio IQ and WVTF Music coverage areas as of July 10th.
Complete
information about WVTF’s changes are here.
KWMU EXPANDS MINI-NETWORK INTO CENTRAL
MISSOURI
St. Louis Public Radio
will roll into Rolla, Missouri on July 1st via a Local Management
Agreement (LMA) with the licensee of KMST 88.5 FM.
KMST has been operating as a
mixed format station for more than two decades. Under the LMA agreement, KMST
will rebroadcast KWMU’s current program schedule.
The new arrangement
highlights the difficulty of running a full-service public radio station in a
small, somewhat isolated area.
According to financial disclosure statements,
KMST in 2015 had operating revenue of $402,000 and expenses of $477,000. KMST’s
licensee, Missouri University of Science and Technology, had to pick up the
deficit. The deal will take the University off the hook for KMST’s operations.
St. Louis Public
Radio is a much, much bigger business with 2016 revenue of $6.8 million. They
also simulcasts KWMU’s programming on WQUB in Quincy, Illinois, located 125
miles north of St. Louis.
Rolla is a small city
with a population of 25,000, located approximately 100 miles southwest of St.
Louis. Tim Eby, GM of St. Louis Public Radio, said the LMA will assure the
survival of public radio in Rolla:
“Public radio is a vitally
important asset to the many communities it serves, so it is important to us to
ensure that KMST will continue serving the Rolla area.”
104.3 THE CURRENT
SPREADS THE LOVE IN DULUTH
Minnesota Public
Radio (MPR) keeps increasing its profile in Duluth-Superior a/k/a The Twin Ports.
Recently MPR upgraded
coverage by moving to 104.3 FM KZIO.They purchased the former commercial rock station earlier in 2017,
replacing a translator at 90.9 FM.
The
Current debuted almost a year and a half ago on 90.9 FM. Most of the
programming is a simulcast of 89.3 The Current from St. Paul.But, increasing amounts of programming now
originates in Duluth.
Now that The Current has made the transition to
104.3 they are throwing a two-day listener appreciation party on July 28th
and 29th in the heart of downtown Duluth.Complete information of the bash is here.
Names of performing artists will be released soon.
Duluth-Superior has
long been known as a hipster town with a vibrant local music scene. It has a
different, bigger vibe than any other city in the Midwest because it is an
international seaport. During the “warm season” – roughly May through September
– the Twin Ports come alive with street fairs, festivals and other
celebrations.