ktoddstorch @ business thoughts

Being Digital

Getting stuck in the Atlanta airport for a few hours gives me some time to pay attention to my blog...

A lot of my thought process (and a lot of my client's) has to do with building a digital strategy.  What caught my attention was an article on Internet News entitled "Is There Money in MySpace?".

As most of you know, News Corp paid over $500M for MySpace and of course, they want to recoup their investment...fast.

Read this article and see the challenges they are facing with monetizing one of the fastest growing websites out there (as well as the largest memberships).  They are NOT intending on making back their money on selling banner ads...

As Tom Parish has been saying, 'it is a wonderful time to experiment'.  The tactics are very interesting and keep your eyes on the strategies, because they will continue to expand/contract/change.

[read]

The Long Tail

Over the weekend I picked up Chris Anderson's book, "The Long Tail".  I knew the book was coming out, because he has broken through and gotten "hit" status from the mainstream media (ironic!) with his economic theory.

I posted about his Wired article back in October of 2004 (along with a bunch of others!) right when my interest was very high about podcasting.

Expect to hear a lot more from the mainstream media about this "Tail".

Amazon link.

Thank You Peter Drucker!

"Concentration is the secret to all economic success"
                        - Peter Drucker

I read this quote today and it hit home.  Let me first say, that I have been feeling mighty guilty about my lack of blogging, but I do realize, that I have had to concentrate on my current priorities.

So, what have been the priorities?

First of all, a new job and career.  I've been on the road almost every day since May 11th (Tampa, FL, Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC, Atlanta, GA, Washington DC, Nashville/Knoxville, TN sor far).

We are also renovating the downstairs of our home.

Ok, the new job.  I have joined an amazing company call The Center for Sales Strategy (CSS). I am a Senior Consultant working mainly with TV stations, newspapers and radio stations.  My job primarily is to help organizations develop sales management, sales people and sales (read "About CSS").

I work from home and travel to my clients.  It is great to be officing out of my house and I've been on the road a ton meeting clients and learning from other consultants.  Bottom line, this is a perfect job for me.

All the while I've been traveling, the family has been "camping" in our own house.  We had to move out furniture from our downstairs in order to put in hardwoods, remodel the kitchen with granite counter tops, do a bunch of paint and just generally make a ton of dust and mess of the house.

Tara's been handling this chaos great while I've been out of town and we both know it will be great...when it's finished.

Thanks for sticking around and I'll be back to blogging.  I've just been concentrating...

 

Google Changes Everything for Radio

File this one under "why didn't I finish and post it"?  I saved this draft on 12/31/05 at 7:12am.

I'm sure you have to have heard about Google's acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting on 1/17/06.  I truly believe that this is just the start of even more changes in the broadcasting industry.  Be prepared for big, organizational and operational changes.  I purposely left the post unfinished so you could see where I left off...shame on me!

**original draft post below

I believe that Google is one of the biggest threats/opportunities to/for Radio.  Google is keen.  Google is local.  Google is global.  Google is omnipresent.

Ok, what the heck am I talking about?

Google can provide a way to:
1)  cut costs drastically
2)  market/advertise a station very inexpensively

There are many directions and thoughts that I can go on this post, but I'm going to limit it to just a few thoughts.  Let me start from #1 above.

Cut costs drastically
Now, this is a threat to those that work in radio (like me!), but a huge opportunity for a radio station and company.

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tags:  google | dMarc

Podcast Expo: The Radio Panel

I was asked to moderate the "How Podcasting is Changing Traditional Radio" panel at this year's Portable Media and Podcast Expo.

Panel members were:
Mark Ramsey, Radio Marketing Nexus
Sam Levin, Inside Mac Radio
Dan Mansergh, KQED
J. Mikel Ellcessor, WNYC

Questions from the audience focused mainly on monetizing the content and internal support/operations.

Thank you to Expo founder, Tim Bourquin for the invitation to speak.  I hope I get to return next year!

**UPDATE*** - 8pm
[link] to a good Expo recap from Digital Podcast
[link] to iLounge's Expo vendor recap

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tags:  portable media expo

Hurricane Rita Updates via SMS

Radio station, 99.5 the Wolf/KPLX has been using text messaging to keep their listeners updated and informed on all types of things.

The latest is hurricane Rita.

Text in "RITA" to 94525 if you would like the SMS updates.

Disclaimer:  KPLX is owned by SRC, the company I work for

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tags:  sms | 99.5 the wolf | kplx | hurricane rita

A New Blogger and Being Accountable

I'd like to introduce you to a new blogger, Alan Mason.  Alan with 2 others has a company called Goodratings Strategic Services and his main function is to be "a strategic advisor to successful radio stations across the nation".

Alan and I have crossed paths a number times in our careers and we began discussing a blog for his company after some good email exchange.  Every day, Alan sends out an email to his database of clients and subscribers called "Mason's Minute".

I'd like to invite you to check out his newly developed blog here. 

If you have a blog, you remember just getting started and the encouragement additional traffic, comments and emails bring.  Also, I'm sharing August 24th's Morning Minute entitled "Being Accountable" because it is good and gives you an idea of what rattles around in Alan's head.

Being Accountable
To succeed as a team is to hold all of the members accountable for their expertise." Mitchell Caplan,
CEO, E*Trade Group Inc.  The word accountable is a fascinating one.  It means to be held to accounts for your work.  Sounds simple, right? 

Well, too bad it doesn't happen more where teamwork is concerned.  Have you ever been on one of those "teams" where a couple of people do all the work, most of the people do some work, and a few do almost nothing?  It's very frustrating and it's very unfair.  Oh yeah, and it's probably your fault. 

The "slackers" on a team have most likely been taught that slacking is OK, because there are no negative consequences to it.  When we let them slide and not put their full talents into something, we'reteaching them to do it again.  Most people don't like confrontations, and so they avoid them by picking up the slack from others. 

If you've been reading the Morning Minute long enough you know I love to use questions as a weapon. 

When I'm in those situations I'm likely to ask "And what part of this do you want to handle, Fred?"  Next comes "And you'll have that completed by the 13th?"  You might have something like that you use too. It's not such much the technique as it is that you find a way to get these people involved, and then work with the rest of the team to hold them accountable.

Otherwise you'll wind up doing all the work, and they'll never have the satisfaction of working on an exciting project with a team.

[link] to Alan Mason's Goodratings blog

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tag:  alan mason | radio | goodratings

iPods in Autos

Apple has deals with 15 automakers for iPod integration.

This is a serious push to control Drive Time Ear Time.

[link] to iPod - MyRadio for Your Car
[link] to MarketWatch.com article

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tags:  ipod | drive time ear time

Hurricane Relief Efforts: How You Can Help

Information changes by the second with the disaster in the Gulf region.  The main question many of us are asking is "how can I help and make a difference?".

KRBE, a Top 40 station in Houston (Susquehanna Radio Corp.) has just launched a blog to help get this type of information out to their listening audience as well as anyone that needs this info.

[link] to 104 KRBE Hurricane Relief Blog

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tag: hurricane relief | hurricane katrina | flood aid | krbe

Michael Tchong: "A Nation of Control-Freaks"

If you've been reading for the last few weeks, you have notice a number of references to Michael Tchong and the word Ubercool (read posts here and here).  The reason is simple:  he gets it.  Quick back-story:

I first met Michael at the CSS RDQ conference, where he was the keynote speaker.  He gave a great presentation centered around what he calls "Ubertrends" and he specifically spoke on Time Compression.  Quick summary:  most everything in our life is becoming time compressed (ie. TiVo, drive thrus, fast food, iPod, podcasting, etc.).

He started this section by saying "we are creating a nation of control freaks".  I have to agree.

You know I'm an early adopter, so here's a few things that I have going on due to my geekness:

• updating my iTunes based on new podcasts that I receive.  This causes me to set up a "1 Day Old" Playlist so I can classify the new podcasts and put the programs in specific categories (I don't use iTunes to capture podcasts; I still use iPodder because I like the way it handles the feeds and aggregates the programs directly into iTunes instead of through the "Podcast" application)
• updating my TiVo to capture the shows I want/need to watch (lets not forget that Tara is actively setting up stuff for her and the kids as well)
• keeping up with my Bloglines' feeds by deleting and adding new blogs/RSS feeds based on new recommendations or things that help or interest me and my job

The bottom line is that you end up having to be your own "program director".  It doesn't take much time to do this, but it is an activity that needs to crossed off the To Do list.  But, I guess this is what it takes to watch, listen and read what I want, when I want, instead of passively letting info drift to me, right?

Michael, you're right...I am a control freak.

[link] to Ubercool blog, Bringing Trends to Life

[listen] to a great podcast, hosted by Tom Parish, interviewing Michael Tchong

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tags:  ubercool | michael tchong | time compression | tom parish