• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, July 13, 2005

Why isn't radio focusing on the elements that make it a crucial medium?

This week I had the pleasure of sitting with a local radio personality, Chuy Gomez, from 106 KMEL Jams, in San Francisco. KMEL is the No. 1 Hip Hop and R&B station for the Bay Area, and the discussion centered on the future of radio and how to combat its decreasing listenership.

General radio has been declining over the last 10 years and has picked up steam in the last five as a direct result of new technologies. The growth of the Internet and digital music has had a very large impact, as has the increasing subscriber base for satellite radio. The global phenomenon of the iPod has probably done more to hurt the audience for radio than anything in the last 20 years, even more so than the Walkman, since most Walkman's were also equipped with a tuner dial.

Most every person will make the same complaints about radio; that there is too little variety in what's being played and there are too many commercial interruptions. Satellite radio removes 90 percent of the commercials, and both the Internet and satellite radio offer deeper tracks from records you want to listen to. The one thing they lack, however, that traditional local radio stations offer, is the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the local consumer.

All media, as is widely being touted, is shifting to center on the consumer. The consumer is time shifting their media usage to make it available on their schedule, and in many cases the consumer is actually responsible for generating the content themselves. That's why blogs and MySpace and other community sites have become so popular. Local radio offers a very unique opportunity to engage the consumer from multiple locations and engage in a dialogue. If I were the owner of a station, I would want to focus on the consumer and having them call in to speak with the on-air personalities and become a part of the content.

Think about it... the only segment of radio not experiencing rapid decline is talk radio. Sports talk radio and political radio are still growing and still considered successful. Why is that? Because they offer the opportunity to have a dialogue and they engage the consumer in the discussion. Traditional radio, stations such as KMEL in San Francisco and Hot97 in New York, could stave off the demise of radio by offering the listeners the opportunity to engage in more of the content.

They could battle against satellite radio by offering a local connection and local expression for the audience. When you think back to your younger years and you remember fondly the days of Casey Casem, what do you recall? I bet you remember the "Long Distance Dedication," right? That was user-generated content and it was engaging enough to keep you listening.

It's inevitable, under the current trend, that traditional radio is going to lose a significant portion of its audience base to digital and satellite, but they can still be relevant if they focus on their primary USP (unique selling proposition), which is local contact and local expression. Satellite radio, though offering a stronger selection of music, can never touch local radio in this area. The Internet may come close, but right now you still need an Internet connection. Radio waves are free and widely used by many, many devices.

What do you think?