Innholdsfortegnelse for August 20, 2018 i Radio Ink Magazine

There is always a lot of discussion regarding the importance of attracting audiences, especially millennials, to the radio table. And it needs to be a big table, one large enough to include not only younger listeners, but those on the buy side of media who are also part of a younger generation. Most of the focus of these discussions revolves around platforms, ensuring that radio is on them and accessible wherever and whenever listeners tend to engage. That is of utmost importance. If radio isn’t “there” or easy to find, an engagement can’t exist, no matter how compelling the content. But content does indeed step to the forefront once that platform is accessed by the listener. Just as content is front and center with the tattooed media buyer sitting in…

Have you ever hosted a party and later had to deal with the last person to leave? I have. Not pleasant. You’re worn out and it’s time to get back to work and clean up, but that person is still there, taking up space and not helping. Unfortunately, the same thing occurs in business meetings. When it’s time to leave, it’s time to leave. In fact, the longer you stay, the better chance that something will go seriously wrong, for you. When to leave a meeting is a sense that some people have naturally. Others, not so much. A friend of mine forwarded a post that someone wrote about a big buy that went south, even after the client had initially said yes. The problem was that one of the…

United Stations Radio Networks just began its 25th year in business, and this iteration of USRN is currently the nation’s leading independently owned and operated radio network. Nick Verbitsky was involved in the first USRN, before it merged with Transtar and was eventually sold to Westwood One. That was back in the days of reel-to-reel machines and music on vinyl. Verbitsky’s personal success includes five decades in broadcasting and two successful runs in the network business. He got his start on the ad agency side at J. Walter Thompson following his service in the Marines. From JWT, he transferred from being a buyer to a seller, with roles as an account executive at both the Eastman Company and WCBS-AM in New York. From WCBS, Verbitsky made the leap to upper…

What does radio need to be better at every day? That’s a question we ask every executive, every manager, and every advertiser we speak with on a daily basis, to keep up with the constant barrage of competition radio is faced with for the advertisers’ budgets. We reached out to some of radio’s top leaders and asked them: “If you could change one or two things about our industry, what would they be?” Here’s what they had to say. Grow its people. Raise the level of professionalism in everyone on staff. Concentrate on understanding our clients, creating outstanding campaigns for them that utilize theater of the mind, and selling schedules, not budgets. We need to be versed in all avenues of marketing so that we may become the “go-to person”…

Time flies when you’re doing radio … but it’s still hard to believe that Nick Verbitsky and United Stations Radio Networks are celebrating 25 years. In reality, the company started by Nick and radio legend Dick Clark is on its second iteration. Once sold, and later closed, by its buyer, Verbitsky knew it was still a good thing and relaunched it. That alone says something about Nick Verbitsky. The company he built was robust, a major player and highly profitable, and a few years after it was sold, had been reduced to rubble. This shows a couple of important things. First, the radio network business isn’t an easy business. It takes deep experience, great programming, and tremendous relationships to succeed. Second, it takes a strong, knowledgeable operator like Verbitsky to…

As broadcasters, we need to ask ourselves that question. It continues to amaze me when I discover sales managers and account executives monitoring other radio stations and approaching clients with a focus on stealing their business, versus supporting the clients’ decision to advertise on radio and then providing a valid business reason to add their own station. I recently had a customer share correspondence from a competing radio station. From our conversation, it was clear the competitor’s intention was to find a way to get the client off my station and on to one of theirs. The focus was on all the reasons my station did not make sense to advertise on, how their station could offer more commercials for less money, and how they could offer another station in…

What are your hobbies? Golf. Who is/was your role model, and why? My father. He was a hard worker. What are you reading right now? Tiger Woods’ book. Favorite movie? The Godfather. Favorite TV show? Billions. Twitter handle? None. Name three stations you listened to as a kid. WABC, WMGM, WMCA in New York. What three apps do you have on your phone that would surprise people? There are no surprises there. Do you ever listen to Pandora or Spotify? I listen to Pandora very occasionally. Your most embarrassing career moment. Too many to enumerate — don’t want to dredge up negatives. What one goal has eluded you? I always wanted to be 64 — and remain blond! Most proud career achievement so far? Proud to have helped build United…

Every few months, I remind my Wizard of Ads partners of something that took me way too long to learn. I say, “When a person believes in what they’re doing — even if it’s an imperfect plan — let them keep doing it. Give them advice and try to open their eyes, but don’t fight them too hard, because ‘A person convinced against their will remains unconvinced still.’ So be careful. If you finally convince a person to quit doing what they believe in, and to start doing what you would do if you owned their company, they’re probably going to fail.” People who have spent time with me may find this difficult to believe, but I’m a lot less combative than I used to be. Here is the non-combative…

Podcast Movement 2018 recently concluded in Philadelphia, and I wanted to share some of the incredible energy with you if you weren’t able to make the journey. When I think of how the radio business is seeking to participate in this booming phenomenon, and I consider our own Beasley initiative that we’re building, I can best describe it as scary, daunting, and exciting. By the way, those same words describe how it felt being an on-air talent in wonderful New York City, which was the ultimate adrenaline rush. So it truly is a remarkable time in our business. The audio business has never been so robust, and we all need to embrace the opportunities. Here are 10 takeaways from Podcast Movement 2018: 1. The appreciation of storytelling has never been…