Anybody remember the Bush/Clinton election?

It shouldn’t have been close. George Bush Sr. was coming off a massive victory in the Gulf War. But the economy was in recession. The Bush strategy was to ignore it – sort of pretend it didn’t exist.

But voters vote with their wallets, and Democratic strategist James Carville observed, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

While Clinton talked big ideas, Bush confessed that he was never very good at “The Vision Thing.” We all know how this ended.

The similarities between that election and the current state of commercial radio are striking, if you simply tweak the phrase to “It’s the content, stupid.”

While owners, operators, and bankers run around talking about new media, the fact is, unless they start seriously concentrating on the content – the vision thing—it’s not going to matter much. Even in the New Radio Model, lousy content across multiple platforms is still lousy content.

A Tale of Two Radio Conventions

I’m fortunate to work in both commercial and non-commercial radio. Recent conventions on both sides have convinced that, indeed, “It’s the content, stupid.”

The NAB in Philadelphia was packed with suits – CEOs, bankers, and top-level executives –who, by the way, essentially barred the door for their radio employees. Content people were nowhere to be found.  Several elephants in the room were more prevalent.

On the other hand, the Public Radio Program Directors conference, which happened in Cleveland the same week, was a different picture altogether.

Instead of a wake, it was a vibrant scene featuring a working business model, increasing ratings, a significant under-30 crowd, and a party at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Amazing the kind of people you attract when you allow them to do creative and meaningful work – much less the audiences they, in turn, attract.

The difference lies within the business model. Public radio is funded in part by direct contributions of the audience, so that forces the stations to pay very close attention to their needs and wants.

While commercial radio does tonnage, concentrating on passive cume, non-commercial radio concentrates on the individual customer and mission – “The Vision Thing.”

The Medium is Fine, The Content – Not So Much

Case studies abound. We know there’s nothing wrong with the medium because NPR affiliate stations have been growing — sometimes in leaps and bounds. NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition now serve more than 21 million listeners – up from 14 million in 2000.

But it’s not just the NPR juggernauts. Indie Rock-based Emerson College’s WERS, staffed entirely by students, cumes a staggering 182,000 Bostonians. Ranking 23rd in Boston, it beats WFNX in share, and is within striking distance of AAA WXRV.

While Santa Monica’s eclectic KCRW suffers a PPM black eye, it still delivers nearly 2 million podcasts of its excellent specialty programming each month, and it regularly out-bills many big names in the market, so there’s more than one way to skin a cat.

There’s something to be said for “The Vision Thing,” and commercial radio would be wise to wake up to it.

If radio really wants to turn things around with a New Radio Model, it needs to realize that it starts with the product – the content. “The Vision Thing.”

Paul Marszalek
Managing Partner, Media Mechanics
Member of The Radio Workout Team