Your Digital Commandments

In a just completed study by Bridge Ratings, we learned new insight for the future of radio.

While trending confirmed that tune-in to AM/FM radio stations between 2002 and 2008 had been slipping, that attrition seems to have stopped among the total sample of 12+ listeners when this study was done mid-2009. In fact, the sample gave us reason to project more tune-in in the next 12 months!

Of more concern is the time spent with AM/FM radio. While we've known for some time that young listeners were finding alternatives to radio and thus spending less time with it, even adults over 30 display similar behavior -- just not to the extremes of their young counterparts.

However, when combining AM/FM time-spent listening with on-\line simulcasts listening is actually improving compared to 2007. This is excellent news, but what does this portend for the next year or two?

The Bridge study confirms that brand extension of terrestrial radio to at least three digital distribution points enhances the totality of time spent with radio. The study's data reflects the initial benefits of this formula; as an industry we have a long way to go and our energies, resources and interest in digital extensions of our brands cannot waiver.

The radio industry has had a tough year, but the year's turmoil in some cases has prepared us for the future. Unfortunately, some of the limitations learned from 2009's cutbacks and reorganizations will follow the industry into 2010 and 2011. The industry's business leaders have quickly learned that generally they can exist with inferior quality product for less cost.

When the economy stabilizes and revenues begin to return, much of that new profit should be earmarked for improving the industry's digital infrastructure.

The research is showing that the seeds of this strategy are effective even at the minimal levels initiated by corporate directives over the last two years. But this is the way radio does business: when someone succeeds at something, the rest follow. In many cases, this is not necessarily a positive thing.

In the case of more companies following their radio brethren into the world of digital brand extension, this is definitely a good thing. Going forward into the new year, sit down with your managers and staff and review these six Digital Commandments:

1. You are streaming your primary product online ... and you are monetizing the audience;

2. You are building a station "VIL (Very important listener) e-mail club" and communicating with them, but not with useless spam. Give them a reason to read your station-branded e-mails that will cause them to use your station more frequently. Be sure you are monetizing this database.

3. Investigate building a station-branded social network so fans of your station on a local level can be a part of what you do and monetize.

4. If you have hot, interesting or otherwise compelling talent, have them produce special podcasts and make them available on your website. Instill interest in that talent's fans to become more involved with their lives on and off the air and remember to monetize.

5. Use many of the digital solutions now offered by syndicators and other independent companies to further engage your listeners so your brand can expand beyond AM or FM -- and be sure to find ways to connect with your listeners through their phones regardless of age.

6. If you are linked to a cluster of stations, do all of the above and monetize the cohesive audience segments.

The Bridge study also unveils a remarkable nugget that cell phones are a legitimate distribution point for radio. The technology has seeped beyond young demos and is effective with adult lifestyles as well. Thanks to the smartphone's pervasiveness more and more listeners of radio are being engaged with technology that is not an AM or FM radio.

Don't be afraid of this technology or that it is slicing off your listeners. Think bigger picture and understand that the landscape has changed. Today there are many facets of radio listening and if you do not embrace it, your listeners will find other options that aren't associated with your brand.

And perhaps the best part of this Bridge Ratings study is that the audience has a desire for radio to do more.

Younger listeners tell us in this study that they want radio to help them with music discovery. Radio's vast market penetration and ease-of-use is fueling this interest from all demographics that radio offer more. More interesting talent. More compelling programs. More ways to engage with the lives of their listeners.

Much of what you read about radio's demise is misinterpretation. Remain positive. Be proactive.

2010 holds the potential to allow the radio industry a rebirth of sorts.

Yet that rebirth is riding on your shoulders. Seize the opportunity.