Roulston's Media Consultant Jim Meltzer on Terrestrial, Satellite, and Internet Radio

Last month I was interviewed by Rocco Pendola for Seeking Alpha. Today I’d like to expand on some of my comments.

For a guy who has never been an exec in the media industry, Rocco asked some insightful and well researched questions. I could also see by some of the comments after the blog that some of his followers didn’t always agree with me. His followers are investors and I am an operator/consultant. Even though the common goal is increased shareholder value, we all have different points of view.

The radio industry is not dead yet, although their stock prices may cause some doubt. If some operators continue on the same path there will be fewer players at the end of the decade (and I don’t mean just through further consolidation). Radio cannot stay the same when listeners and technology have radically changed.

The operators who embrace new ways of delivering unique, compelling, and addictive content to their users will succeed. I am talking over the air, on mobile, and online. Those operators who create social networks for their like minded users will succeed. Those operators who, like Google and Facebook, learn as much as they can about their users will succeed.

Radio has to move from a “push” medium to one that is interactive. We MUST let the consumer lead our strategic decisions. Consumers want value, not “radio.” They want music and information content on their terms, not ours. It is the wise broadcaster who understands the difference.

A few of the most innovative media companies have already launched lifestyle websites that aren’t even branded with their stations’ call letters. BUT, they are promoted heavily on and sold by their local stations. Due to the existing strong relationships their local advertising sellers have in the marketplace, they are generating new advertising revenue streams.

I stand firm on my comments about most of the media companies discussed in Rocco’s interview. If I had it to write it over again, I would have focused more on Clear Channel’s tremendous debt and less on operations. They do have an understanding of the digital space, but due to their heavy debt load, are not focusing on developing their terrestrial assets (local radio stations) to serve as launching pad, or large megaphone to the Internet. The best way to do that is to serve their local communities with more local, entertaining and compelling content.

Most of the comments generated by the interview were directed at statements I made about Sirius/XM. To set the record straight, my wife and I have 3 subscriptions to the service and are both frequent users. My concern regarding their long term success isn’t about content as much as cost to the consumer. There is no barrier to entry for content providers on the Internet, and how much and if they charge for their service could affect the Company’s growth.

Here is a link to the interview. http://seekingalpha.com/article/267923-thoughts-on-terrestrial-satellite-and-internet-radio-from-jim-meltzer?source=from_friend_client



Jim Meltzer is the Owner of Meltzer Media Management, a broadcast management, sales, internet and organizational firm founded in August 2008. Mr. Meltzer was previously a Vice President and General Manager at CBS Radio. Prior to that, he was a Regional Vice President at Clear Channel Communications. He has over 30 years of experience as an executive in the radio broadcasting industry, mostly for publicly traded companies. Jim will be participating in our June 9th Social Vs. Legacy Media Roundtable at 10 AM in New York City with former Yahoo Executive Larry Cornett.