Local Broadcasting 2.0
Some very smart and successful people are forecasting the demise of traditional broadcasting. There are now conferences formed around the idea that broadcasting as we know it will soon be history. Should our reliable and trusted neighbor, the local broadcaster, really be worried about their future?
Perhaps. But like the old saying goes, crisis contains both danger and opportunity.
Over the course of the last year or so I’ve found myself in conversations with a variety of traditional radio and tv broadcasters. While each of these encounters came about for a different reason, they all brought back great memories. My media roots were formed in the production departments of traditional local broadcast stations all over Texas and I still remember the “this changes everything” feeling that filled the studio when we started streaming our first station on the web about 10 years ago via an early version of AudioNet. (even a diehard Spurs fan has to give Cuban props for that one)
For these reasons and others there will always be a warm place in my heart for the dedicated local broadcaster working hard everyday to serve their community of license like no one else can. And then you wonder…
Will our cities and towns of the future one day be without a need for the traditional local broadcaster we rely on today?
Looking at the history of how new technology has impacted the media industry the odds are slim that your local broadcaster will disappear like the 8 track tape anytime soon. On the other hand, the chances that the role and profile of the local broadcasters in your community will shift in the near future is something else altogether.
Is it happening already?
The broadcasters I spoke with during this time would tell you that “crisis” is too strong a word for the current situation and that they have time to figure it all out considering that revenue generated from their traditional spot inventory is pretty good right now. One even boasted of a record top line despite a shrinking audience. Record billings from your sales team is usually not the symptom of a crisis.
But even if we accept their somewhat rosy scenario as reality, a common theme was clearly present in all these conversations — the local broadcaster in search of ways to reengineer themselves to more effectively compete in our rapidly changing media distribution landscape. That is surely not breaking news to you if you’re working in or following the broadcast industry, but as my company has recently been focused more on other distribution platforms their insider’s view did help paint a more current picture for me of what is actually going on, today, in the tactical trenches of the old guard electronic media.
You could boil this challenge facing the traditional local broadcaster down to this fundamental question:
How can the traditional local broadcaster not only survive, but thrive, in the emerging new world of the disruptive broadcaster?
After letting that question and our conversations incubate together for a while, a strategy for how the traditional local broadcaster can conquer the disruptive broadcaster emerged.
Become one.
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Obviously many savvy local broadcasters started moving in this direction a long time ago propelled by their own initiative, acumen and appreciation for creative destruction. Kudos to those industry leaders who “get it”. But even today when you look across the hundreds of local radio and television markets it can make you wonder why some traditional local broadcasters appear to remain complacent, or have simply farmed out their new media to others in what sometimes come across as mostly hollow efforts.
Let’s also take a moment to recognize that some of the individual themes presented in believe didn’t originate here and that these types of acronym based strategies run the risk of littering the atmosphere with nebulous promises and consultant doublespeak. Believe strives to avoid those things, but may come up short from time to time. Still, the hope from this keyboard is that believe can make an original contribution by pulling these concepts together into a unifying catalyst that might inspire and empower those hesitant traditional local radio and tv broadcasters across the spectrum (and local newspapers too) to enthusiastically embrace the exciting opportunities ahead.
If you’re a small broadcast group or an independent local broadcaster you may find believe to be the most beneficial. One of the core philosophies here at Content Developer is to identify open source tools and techniques and believe stays true to that by offering solutions that aren’t built upon huge new investments. It’s more about changing how you think about your assets and reorganizing them accordingly. You may not have the deep pockets of your major consolidated broadcast group competitors, and the good news is you don’t need them. The opportunity to create your best possible future is at your disposal, if you’re ready to take that next step.
To capture the essence of what believe is really all about, I’m reminded of a recent lunch with a couple guys from a local television station. While enjoying our stir fry, one of them agreed that change is happening in their industry, but he thought that it was going to take 10 or 12 years still before they were really going to feel it. Well, I half agree with him. It is going to take 10 or 12 years, but that clock started ticking with that first Audionet stream a decade ago.
If you’re interested in reading more, you can download the believe strategy paper here. (5MB PDF) The first draft of the paper was put together in April of this year with an edit and revision in June. That is the version being made available online today.
Images used are part of the Eyewire Photodisc Motion Library, now a part of Getty Images.
tags: radio; tv; disruptive broadcasting; viral video; viral marketing; broadcasting; Post- Newsweek; KSAT; KABB; KISS; Cox Radio; San Antonio; Clear Channel; WOAI; KTSA; CBS Radio; KAHL; KMYS; Sinclair Broadcast Group; IPTV; U-verse; HD Radio; NAB; TAB; Video On The Net
“Broadcaster” - I work at a broadcast station and seldom hear that word.
Ahh. I see where you’re coming from Bob.
Your insightful comment has me thinking though - is “hyper-local” really more a strategy that some local broadcasters plan to use in order to stay relevant, as opposed to a term that can be used to identify those that occupy a certain sector of the media industry?
Case in point. Was watching The Aspen Institute’s panel on The Future of Newspapers on CSPAN and one of the newspaper group CEO’s dropped that term “hyper-local” when talking about his company.
And this, I believe, was from a newspaper guy without an OTA stick like you, the local television or radio station.
If you want to watch this panel discussion, bookmarked the link here:
http://del.icio.us/contentdeveloper/journalism
On a slightly smaller scale, another example is the use of the term “hyper local” in this piece from podtech.net that talks about some of the challenges facing digital newspapers and webzines:
http://www.podtech.net/home/4042/
how-to-build-hyper-local-webzines
So with those voices in the mix adopting “hyper-local” as their own, how does that square with “hyper-local” being the province of the local broadcaster?
Or to put it another way…
Can’t just about any team of content developers armed with some talent and creativity, a strong motivation to serve a community and a basic knowledge of tech be “hyper-local” these days, while only a licensed few can call themselves a “broadcaster”?