Radio Trends - Kaiser Report

The Kaiser Family Foundation's latest study indicates youth are using media more than ever before with some interesting math shown for radio consumption.

From the study:

• radios are the most common type of media found in a young person’s bedroom.
• 94% of youth surveyed in 2009 said that they lived in homes with at least one radio
• There are (on average) 2.5 radios in the home of an 8 to 18-year-old
• 75% of youth surveyed have a radio in their bedroom
• 55% of young people surveyed in 2009 listened to music over the radio in a typical day
• 48% who reported listening to music on an iPod/mp3 player
• 43% saying they listened to music on a computer (including Internet radio)
• the average time spent listening to a radio was 56 minutes a day
• The average amount of time that young people listen to music daily is 2 hours, 19 minutes.
• iPod/mp3 player comprises the largest portion of the listening pie at 41 minutes.
• Radio 32 minutes (tied with computer listening via iTunes/Internet radio).

While the report points to considerable access to radio, youth are less prone to investing time in listening to radio.  It's interesting to note the proliferation of cell phones among young people and the amount of time spent consuming music on a phone.  As the number of applications for smart phones only continues to grow, we can only assume more and more time will be spent using the devices.  For radio, this means distribution has to match audience proclivities.  While this generation has access to radio at home, in the car, etc., radio has a responsibility to deliver content to where the audience actually exists. 

Music consumption, according to the study, remains on a growth curve.  The methods of consumption and the devices used, continue to change and adapt.  Broadband internet connection is assumed in the household and the expansion of hi-speed mobility connections means unbridled access to content wherever the user is located.  Radio's toughest days may still be ahead. 

In a presentation made by Gerd Leonhard, he offers:

    Content is King...

    Portability of Content is King Kong...

    Service is Godzilla!

Radio needs to be where the consumer gathers...with content that is relevant and engaging.  With the increased competition available through fast and portable internet connections, radio's franchise is still local...but has to take advantage of global distribution.  Monetizing the effort will require proof among advertisers that the product is being used.  To date, radio has been content to measure its performance internally (radio station to radio station).  Perhaps what's required is a method to measure the audience and how they spend their time...and adjust content and delivery to fill the gaps.

The full Kaiser report is available HERE.

Country 630 - Manitoba Country

A few years ago, I was fortunate to be involved with a rather interesting project that gathered some of Manitoba's most talented country writers and performers.  The Country 630 "Hit Kickin' Country" CD was the culmination of a massive talent search.  We selected ten incredible individuals to record original works under the watchful eye of Randy Hiebert.

Randy, at that point, was a locally reknowned guitar player and had cut his chops on a couple production projects.  These days...Randy spends his time playing guitar for Howard and David Bellamy.  Guitar players fascinate me.  Good ones are hard to find...and GREAT ones are those rare souls who can own a room and make the hair on your arms stand on end.  Randy is one of the great ones.

The CD was cut at John Hildebrand's studios in Winnipeg and released across Canada in the early 90's.  We were pretty pleased when a few of our artists picked up national airplay.  A flood that struck the Winnipeg area a few years later claimed the only copies I had of the project.  I sent a quick email to Randy asking if he had a copy of the disc.  He said, "No, I don't".  And then he added, "...but I have the masters."  Randy dug out the masters, reworked them, tweaked them...and fired them off to me.  I can't thank him enough.

The songs below are the work of some amazing, talented performers and I'm really happy that I was able to collect and share the songs.  A couple pieces have some special undertones as the artists were, as it turns out, a little larger than life.  I have some favorites among the cuts below...it would be great to know yours.

Now, I'm missing the cover art and, as a result, I'm short a few names; if you've stumbled across this post and can fill in a couple blanks for me...I'll happily update the information so the people responsible get the appropriate credit. Contact is as easy as filling in a comment box.

Thanks....and enjoy.

Cool Slick Country Dude (Brad Mazur)

Turn It Up (Chris Bigford)

No Way

She’s Still Mine (Chad Henry)

Crash Landing (Norbert Ducharme)

Getting’ Suspicious (Sandy Serle)

The Greatest Gift (Steve Bell)

What If It Was Love

Ride This Stage (Ron Karlowski)


The Way Love Goes (Sheila Drysdale)

Ford Synch at CES - There's An App For That!

From the LA Times a couple days ago, reporters Alex Pham and Ken Bensinger provide a glimpse at one of the reasons Ford stock has improved over the last couple quarters.  Ford stock was hovering around $1 not long ago...and now sits at over $11.

A while back, Flurkey took a look at consumer trends and proclivities toward connectivity and how it applies to vehicles (Cars-Gadgets-JD Power).  No surprise that this year's Consumer Electronics Show has continued to connect devices, to phones, to cars to....well, anything.  Following the article, a video tour through the new Ford Synch system.

CES: Ford's Sync puts apps into cars

The new version will let drivers catch up on Twitter, listen to Internet radio, check movie times and get free online maps with turn-by-turn directions.  Reporting from Los Angeles and Las Vegas - Need a billion-dollar corporate turnaround? There's an app for that.

Hitching a ride with the fast-paced Internet and consumer electronics industry, Ford Motor Co. on Thursday unveiled new features for its Sync in-car technology designed to turbocharge the company's financial turnaround and create Ford's image as the Apple Inc. of the car industry.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally showed off how consumers could soon catch up on Twitter, listen to Internet radio, check movie times and get free maps with turn-by-turn directions, using Sync's voice commands or 8-inch color touch-screen in the dashboard, in Ford's spring lineup of cars.

"These are the features that set us apart," Mulally said in his keynote speech.  Sporting a homespun look -- a red sweater vest, white Oxford shirt and khakis -- Mulally boasted that his Dearborn, Mich., company had already sold 1 million vehicles equipped with previous versions of Sync as of May, seven months earlier than the goal he announced last January in his first CES keynote speech. 

This year, Ford gave outside developers a chance to integrate their mobile applications with Sync so drivers could use the car's controls to summon, for example, Pandora Internet radio. (The apps themselves sit on an iPhone or other smart phone.)  Ford is also pairing up with companies such as AOL Inc.'s MapQuest and Google Inc. to wirelessly bring street directions and other information to its cars. And it expanded the number of voice commands recognized -- to well over 1,000 from about 100 when Sync was introduced nearly two years ago.

The company also introduced MyFord, which lets each driver of a shared car build a profile with personal preferences, such as cabin temperature and a customized home screen. The car would recognize the individual drivers, by either their personal key fobs or their voices, and automatically apply those settings.  The technology is a key component of Ford's efforts to speed up its rebound and regain market share, which slipped from 25% in the early 1990s to 15.5% last year.

So far, Sync appears to be helping Ford with its turnaround. Cars equipped with Sync sell twice as fast as the same models without the technology, said Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president for global product development.  Of those who bought a car with Sync, about a third said the feature was important, if not crucial, to their decision to buy Ford, and 77% reported they would recommend the vehicle to a friend, Mulally said. 

Ford's financial health also has improved. It turned a profit in the third quarter, and its market share in the U.S. rose more than a percentage point in 2009. Ford stock, which traded as low as $1 early last year, on Thursday climbed 29 cents, or 2.6%, to $11.66, the highest since March 14, 2005.

In-vehicle entertainment and information technology is becoming increasingly common in the industry, which is desperately seeking ways to entice buyers in a tight economy.

General Motors Corp. this week, for example, announced a new application that would let owners of its Chevrolet Volt use their smart phones to remotely control a number of settings, from unlocking the doors to starting up the car. The Volt, a plug-in hybrid, is set to come out this year. A similar feature is being implemented on Mercedes-Benz vehicles.  "Many manufacturers have these kinds of systems," said Rebecca Lindland, director of the autos group for IHS Global Insight, a consulting firm based in Lexington, Mass. "But Sync has really broadened what their cars are capable of relative to the competition."

At the same time, some wonder whether the added options would distract drivers from driving.  Ford maintains that Sync's voice-command feature lets drivers keep their eyes on the road instead of fumbling with their phones. Ford also built in some safeguards, such as disabling the car's Wi-Fi connection once the car is shifted out of park so as not to encourage Web surfing while driving. It also said it would allow only applications that would not endanger drivers, so playing video games would be out.

Sync is strategic to Ford in another way, Lindland said.  In five years, 57% of the car-buying public will be under 50 years old, she said. "That means there will be an awful lot of people out there multi-tasking while they're driving. That is the reality of people's lives, so why not be proactive and let people do those things as safely as possible?"

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Terrifc ADS

Every now and then there's an ad you spot that cuts through the clutter...makes you stop what you're doing...and pay attention. As local television struggles to remain relevant while meeting conditions of license, we can expect that the expensive, inventive video ad will be relegated to viral video status. I'm anxious to see the investment that may (or may not) made for television commercials airing through this year's Super Bowl.

Here's a few from the past that caught my eye:











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