…first a PSA…we know it as schwag, premium, and station prize closet crap….but we really know it as? I bet I’m asked 10+ times a year for the spelling of? My brother asked me last week…c’mon people…TCHOTCHKE!!! Yep…use it proudly…correctly pronounced “chatch-kah” although we Americans have made it “chatch-key”….now you know! (btw, in the movie “Office Space”, Joanna (played by Jennifer Anniston) works at a restaurant named “Chotchkie’s”, where she forced to wear “flair”….)
So much written and so much debated in the press, the blogosphere and in closed door meetings on the PRA and all that lately that implies…had a great conversation with Jeff Smulyan recently…have read Mark Ramsey’s insightful commentary on the FM chip…Jerry’s rant on the PRA…and other on and off the record chats…here’s some of what I’ve discussed and heard…and then an update on my take….
..Jeff and I talked at length about the PRA, not just our mutual passion of FM chips….he believes the time is right for a deal…a deal that can hold water on the fees for a longtime…the labels are frothing at the mouth to get their hands n 100’s of millions in fees from Europe and Asia but can’t unless they have a deal in place in the good ol’ USA! Greed, it seems, knows no boundaries…..this one issue is a lightening rod amongst broadcasters after years of fighting this hand-to-hand….adding the CRB and FM chips in phones and the seaming commercial issues to this bill may be a way to accomplish many things with one stone in the slingshot….Jeff believes it is time to control the dialogue and get a deal radio an live with on the PRA and also advance critical issues at the same time…hard to argue that logic….(hope I got this right Jeff!)…you can check archives of the trades to see many of Jeff’s thoughts on this entire issue…
Mark Ramsey has been passionate about FM chips in phones and their value to radio and, most importantly, the listener…his views are, as always, insightful and you can read all of them here!
Dave Van Dyke’s Bridge Ratings keeps close tabs on the pulse of mobile, pure play internet radio, and terrestrial streaming with the consumer….the move to pure play is gaining steam….perhaps stations shouldn’t just stream the same over-the-air over commercialed content on their site…but find a way to take the essence and best of their local content, reduce the inventory to say 4 minutes and make music discovery and local talent worth substantial jing?! You can keep up with Bridge’s daily updates on their Facebook page or check their site here!
As I see it…
1. FM chips have a place on cell phones and other devices. I still believe that a combination of RBDS short text alerts and EAS over an FM enables phone is vital and should be mandated. Seems the FCC mandates that radio have alerting capabilities but CMAS for the carriers is “voluntary”…seriously? Seems the carriers will be looking for things from congress in a big way shortly and now is the time for congress to listen to FEMA and get the damn chips in the phones…saving lives is the reason…not song tagging! Now for radio…clean up the EAS mess and stop dumping it solely on the engineers….come up with a standard for RBDS alerting for over the air and in cell phones…AlertFM is a terrific system that has may features for the cell phone and other devices like a sleep-wake function….start there….
2. The PRA may or may not be on the way from a lame duck congress….if a deal can be struck that is 25 years in length at the terms noted by the NAB it seems maybe we move on…the record companies get their dough from Europe and Asia, claim victory, and still don’t have a clue. They’ll probably take some of the money and invest it in the promotion departments to get airplay….perhaps the record companies should look inward not outward….here’s a quote from Vivendi’s quarterly call on Universal Music Group…The same thing we’ve heard for the last decade, according to Vivendi’s press release: "Digital revenues are up, but not enough to counter reduced demand for physical product”
3. The disbanding of the CRB is important not only for terrestrial streamers but also for the hard working and committed and creative folks that do pure play streaming stations!...end of story…bad deal needs to go away….or at least be made in a fair way as part of the new PRA..
4. The separate spots on the stream of stations….I still believe you can force “non-motivated” sellers to sell that inventory separately, not as “value-added = free”…but it was a dumb rule to start with but radio missed an opportunity for incremental revenue, if only a dollar….
…let me get this right…Roger Clemens allegedly lies to Congress and might get 25 years in the pokey and a $250k fine….Charlie Rangel lies to Congress, cheats on his taxes, commits who knows how many ethics violations and he gets to negotiate if he stays or goes and what the penalty is?....here’s the thing…Congress needs to focus on many things not on whether athletes are cheating by using PED….just sayin’!
Good friend and master marketer and now mobile marketing guru David Ross checks in with this nugget:
….”I have now examined over 50 various radio sites at random with my associates from Big Couch Media. We found 6 sites with proper Meta tagging and optimization tools. We found several with tags in place and not being used. We found most with no shot at all of optimizing. Very little SEM.”Folks, that’s a bad sign….
Good to catch up with friends and associates over the past couple of weeks….Bruce Gilbert, Dennis Green , Dave Demers, DVD, Jim Robinson, Gary Bird, Don Wasley, Jim Thompson, Peter Doyle, Spencer Brown, Darryl Brown, brother Art and SIL Tomi….
..working on many cool things for Paa-Ko Ridge Golf Club…this may be the coolest buddy-trip destination on the planet…but you’ll be hard pressed to leave the significant others at home with Santa Fe just 45 minutes up the road …
Heading to NY for the BFOA charity golf outing and the NAB in DC this month…look forward to seeing many of you there….until next week….---teej
….duh!!!
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