Radio

Has the "Radio" business model been damaged to the point that it will be irrelevant in the not so distant future? There is a message from some in politics and digital circles that radio advertising is becoming less and less effective; that the digital world has now passed "traditional media" in local business ad spending, making it the champion of the advertising world. BIA has released a study that 77% of local small to medium sized businesses now do some sort of digital marketing. Traditional media slipped from 74% to 69% among these same businesses.

Many former radio sideline commentators are also cheering on the digital world's success over local radio. So, what does this mean to the radio business as it sits now? It means Opportunity.

Radio has become a leader in driving listeners to the digital platform. Radio listening is very much alive, relevant and a still a major part of the general public habit. Radio sales reps must send the message to advertisers that with the addition of over the air radio advertising added to their digital advertising, an increase in response will result for the digital. It will also introduce the product to the vast number of listeners radio delivers.

Does this message sound familiar? For those of us that have been in the business since the 70's, it is exactly the message we touted to advertisers who spent large budgets in newspapers. But that is not all. Radio has the same digital platform as digital competitors; it now competes for the digital advertising being spent elsewhere with the added benefit of free over the air broadcasting. We have seen the great combination of on-air and on-line which brings on-the-money results for advertisers. With leadership from both large and small radio broadcasting companies, this message will resonate and we will begin to see radio coming back to the forefront of the advertising decisions.

We still are the reach, frequency and low cost provider in media to clients in the local markets. An all out assault with the digital-traditional message is the solution to changing the trend back in the direction of radio before the damage becomes critical. We are at a cross roads in this industry and this can be an exciting time to re-brand the radio business with a new model to set the stage for super success in the future.

Bruce Maduri has been the President of Genesis Communications, Inc for 22 years. Genesis is radio broadcast group specializing in News Talk and Sports formats. Bruce can be reached at ceo@radiogenesis.com