How To Save FM Radio

FM Radio.??Is it going the way of the dinosaur and the “do do bird”???Or is it on the brink of a comeback?

I got a new car about a year and a half ago.??I paid for the Sirius Radio.??I love to plug my phone into the car and I listen to my podcasts and stream Apple music picking song by song.??I have jokingly called my car $50,000 ear pods.

I have a podcast which I essentially give away to 2,000 listeners a week for free.??Frankly, I’m mad I can’t find MORE listeners to take advantage of my free product.

Now, I have listened to content that originated on the radio.??But I’ve used the iHeart app and my Amazon Alexa to listen to radio stations live.??

I think radio is worth saving.

I remember having college professors saying AM News radio was worth saving.??I remember thinking they were dinosaurs.

Am I now that same dinosaur?

If you believe in free market economies . . . it is when things are falling and breaking that things change and become better.

AM radio evolved from where you heard music to an incredibly local talk and news format.

How do we make FM radio, an old fashioned technology, relevant to a generation that grew up with a color TV in their pockets???

I think this is the moment for radio to evolve. I asked fans on my Tom Kelly Show Facebook page:?“What do you love about old fashioned over the air radio? Do you have ideas for how to save radio?”

Here is a list of their ideas and my own:

A Nuclear War Would Go A Long Way – Dan Cook

I wanted to share the worst suggestion first.??It’s a correct answer but an outdated one.??The age old argument for the preservation of radio is that it works during a disaster.??

They said the same thing about copper wire phones.??They’re gone.

Also phone technology is getting better and possibly de-centralized.??

Let Them Wake Up Live To A Friend

Waking Up To Music And A Friend Is Better Than An Alarm – Kristen Barbetta

It’s one of the things that makes morning radio better than podcasts.??You’re not just listening to something.??Morning radio is your friend in the morning.??

Morning radio is like having a good friend nudge you out of bed.

A good morning radio show isn’t just there when you wake up.??They are suffering with you and trying to cheer up with you when you start your day.

Interactive And Live

Cole Cather loved how the shows interact with hosts.??For some reason, interacting on Instagram is either just reading comments.??Are the comments real???Does this man Cole Cather really exist.??It sounds like a fake name.??Cole Cather or Cole Cathedar???

It’s Local

Several commenters in their 40s all wrote that they like how radio is local.?

I’ll argue that during the nationalization of media, there is an increasing demand for extremely local content.??

In the old days, radio stations took the super local stuff.??Now it’s people in their basements with Instagram accounts.

I’ve been obsessed with “Long Island Wise Guy”.??He’s a guy who recycles comedy about Long Island content.??He got tens of thousands of views and likes with a Long Island joke I made that only got a few dozen likes on my own.

Should every radio station also have an extremely local Instagram and TikTok page that rips local content?

Be Small Keep It All

“I love our small town radio stations. They do lost/found pets, traffic and accident updates, local school and political news, fishing and water temp reports for Lake Michigan and so much more!” – Laurie Smith Kelley

In the age of syndication and tracking how do you create the feeling that you are in a town with someone?

Make It More Niche

I hate this answer.??Are the age of broad radio shows over?

Niche it down??. . . is the advice of every social media consultant.??Is that the cure for radio?

Specific content is doing better.

Remember Car Talk on NPR???They barely talked about cars.??But it felt like an auto repair show.

I hate this one.??I want the world to follow Tom Kelly . . . not just Tom Kelly talking about Star Trek.

Is there a gimmick for every hour of the show???

Doubling Down On Old FM Radio?

A few people commented with old FM Radio Answers.

·??????Giveaways people can win

·??????Live contests people can actually call into

·??????Song requests that would be outside the streaming service algorithm.

FM Radio Is Not Stalking You

I don’t know if anyone cares about this one.??But FM radio is the one entertainment service left that is not tracking your every click.??

Big brother knows what podcasts you listen to and what songs you request on the streamers.

It’s not tracking you in your car.

Or at least, we don’t think it is.

Traffic

A lot of people put down local traffic and weather is important.??I also have found that radio based traffic and weather is wrong.??But who am I to argue with the public.

Make Radio Dangerous Again / The Radio Stuntman

Back when you wanted to find out what happened when you swallowed a Tide Pod, you had to listen to your morning show and see if the stuntman did it.

I actually miss audio theater of the radio stuntman going live from locations (which is a great way to make shows local).

But radio doesn’t have to be dangerous to be dangerous.

Maybe it’s a slightly edgier joke?

Actually Discover Music

Maybe being dangerous just means being a bit different??

In the realm of being dangerous without risking a lawsuit . . . radio used to discover music.

Pick three to five minutes a day to discover a new song or artist.

You can’t go all new music.??Large swaths of listeners don’t listen to that.

Madonna credited her rise to being played on FM radio in the 1980s.??When was the last time a radio station broke an artist???When was the last time a radio show celebrated a local band?

Embrace The New Technology

The almighty algorithms are not pushing content that points people back to your shows and websites.

The trick to succeeding on the Internet now is succeeding on the Internet and hoping someone gets curious about you and looks up whether or not you have a show.

There are radio shows releasing podcasts at 5:30 in the morning to remind their listeners who also listen to podcasts that they exist.

I had a clip from my podcast go viral locally on Instagram.??The clip didn’t say I have a podcast.??It earned me about 100 new followers on Instagram.

That can’t hurt.??Right?

Embrace The Old Technology

I’ve had on air performers thank me for telling them to get the e-mail addresses of their listeners.??It sounded like dated advice.??All you needed was Facebook and Instagram followers.

Then algorithms began to change.??Suddenly your posts aren’t reaching 100% of your followers.

Now, personalities are falling back on e-mail addresses.

Sadly, because of improvements in spam filters and increases in e-mails, open rates for e-mails are dropping.

My prediction:??In 5 years you’re going to wish you had the mailing addresses of your fans.??What will you do with those mailing addresses???I don’t know.??But you’re going to wish that you had them.

#radio #iheartradio #audacy #FMTalk #podcasting #podcasts #morningdrive #FM #AM #FMRadio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu__H-0h65A&t=651s