You’ve heard about zombie banks and some of you have an affinity for movies about zombies, but have you noticed the zombie radio stations right in front of our ears?  In talking with a group owner recently, he estimated that 40 of the top 50 group owners are either in receivership/bankruptcy/default or on the doorstep of officially being declared bankrupt.  That means about half of U.S. radio stations are in some form of financial default. 

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Will the elephant in the room please stand up?  Everyone seems to agree that being “local” is a lynchpin of broadcast radio’s future, yet when I listen to radio stations around the country, very few of them actually fulfill that position.  Paragon is a proponent of the New Radio Model, which is founded on a combination of hyper-local content and multiplatform distribution that also includes non-traditional revenue streams (not just on air and digital streams, but live events, too).  Hyper-local content is just the ante to get into the game, but unfortunately, many stations are so financially constrained they have yet to pay the ante and are anything but locally relevant.  Some stations, on the other hand, are definitely in the game and doing a great job at carving out new local territory to own. (Read More)

It’s remarkable the way collisions between the past and the future occur.  Tiger Woods’ future will never be like his past again.  Who would have thought that possible a few weeks ago?  I often wish radios’ collision between its past and future would be just as quick, transparent, and permanent, but it’s not.  This week might be as close as we come in the radio business to hearing “Taps” and “Revelry” played at the same time. (Read More)

At the end of 2008, I made 16 predictions for radio in 2009, nine of which came true.  Here are the 2009 predictions that did come to pass with comments:

1. Advertising spending will stall or fall.  (Fell by double digits.)
2. At least one major radio group, and several smaller ones, will go belly-up.  (Still waiting for the “major” group to fall, which will be early next year at the latest.)
3. Two distinct radio group tracks will emerge.  (Led by new entrant Alpha Broadcasting and joining Bonneville and a few select other “operators”.)  
4. A new radio “operator” will emerge.  (“Alpha” means first, and it was.)
5. Talent prices will escalate for the few, and will fall for the majority.  (Yep.)
6. News, talk, sports and business formats will grow.  (Now borders on a mass movement.)
7. Conservative talk will grow.  (Big time…led by the emergence of Glenn Beck.)
8. At least one of the radio trade publications will fold.  (Goodbye R&R.)  
9. Arbitron will see its radio ratings monopoly challenged.  (Hello Nielsen.)

So, what’s in store for 2010? (Read More)

Yes I still believe content is King, but knowing which content and tools are best for our listeners is even more important.  In a time of not enough money or resources to do all this cool Web and social media stuff, how do we figure out where to start and focus most of our limited resources? (Read More)