Radio = Video For Your Show

The whole purpose of this column, the purpose of my career for the past 20 years, has been to deepen the engagement radio stations have with listeners.

If Radio is to survive in any kind of recognizable form, we have to find ways to make it relevant in a world full of iPhones and iPads.

One of the things we have to understand is that content must be available on multiple platforms ... and most important, we have to offer a video component.

As long as cars have radios, people will listen while they drive. We offer information. We offer companionship. We offer entertainment ... in the form of music and non-musical content.

Every bit and story you put on the air at your station should be available, with video, on your website as soon after the live bit airs as possible. Ideally, you'd shoot the video part first, so you could just load it once the bit airs.

These videos don't have to be Oscar-worthy, but they do have to be entertaining in their own right.

So, how do you do that?

First, buy a Flip HD camera.

Second, start using it every day. Learn it the same way you learned the board you work on daily. Practice relentlessly. If you own a Mac computer, you can sign up for unlimited instruction from an Apple Genius for $99 a year. It's the best deal in the world.

Third, try using images and music to enhance the audio stories you've already told that you know listeners loved.

This is tough, isn't it? You might want to actually sign up for a course in your local community college on film or art.

Fourth, now try telling a new story using only video. Yes, you are becoming a mini-film director ... an artist.

Once your video is complete, edited and with music, post it on YouTube.

Now, you get to tell your story to your listeners tomorrow on your show, and mention the YouTube video. As with everything in our lives, you'll get better the more you practice, and there's no doubt that some of you will be more gifted visually than others. You may end up having to hire a videographer to help you.

The important point is to realize that Radio no longer just means something that comes out of little speakers in your car.

Radio means communicating, engaging, entertaining and informing. Story-telling is the easiest way to achieve all of these, and understanding how to tell your stories on multiple platforms can only increase your reach.