Broadcaster Delusions And The Fear Of Revenue

I just finished reading a few articles, that when examined together, in context of one another, literally made my blood boil. They are:

• Dialing Down: Saga, Radio One, Entravision - Saga, Radio One and Entravision all reporting double-digit revenue declines compared to the same period last year
• Saga Draws Line On Cost Cuts - Cash flow margins at Saga have fallen to the 26-27% range, so CEO Ed Christian was asked if Saga can pull more cost-cutting levels to get those back up as some other radio groups have bragged about of late. “Yeah, we could, but probably not on my watch..."
• Google Is No Match For The Digital Spectrum - Michael Kokernak, a 20-year television industry veteran, why Google’s search technology is becoming obsolete and that within the next five years digital broadcast television could emerge as the superior form of search.

The context that infuriates me here is short-sightedness and innovation denial.  All 3 messages come out of the broadcast industry, arguably the most efficient way to reach thousands, even millions of people at once. 

Yet what we see here is an industry plummeting off a revenue cliff and instead of leveraging their massive audience with cost-efficient web and mobile social  media strategies to expand their relationship with listeners & advertisers to stop the fall, they cumt costs to hit the bottom faster.

With that in mind, I appreciate what Mr. Kokernak and his company, BackChannel Media, are doing as they are attempting to re-define the broadcast experience, but to simply list reasons why Google is obsolete without a clear path now for how broadcasters stop that fall now, to generate new revenue today, those remarks sound like sour grapes.

The fact is that there are cost-effective, actually just plain cheap, ways for broadcasters to build the top line instead of stripping out their soul by simply tearing down operations.  What it requires, however, is a re-examination of what your relationship is and should be with your audience.

For radio, it is essential that stations, groups, personalities accept that the medium is not the core value; it is just one vehicle.  The core values are the community connection, the brand trust and the content & information that makes it possible.

From there, the business models increase tremendously.