Radio Nightmare

Last night I dreamed I was back at WJMA, a station I worked for back in the 1980's. It was more of a nightmare than a dream. I was filling in for the regular Saturday afternoon host Even though the format was country (which it is for the station in real life),  I had been asked to play classical music, since that's what I do at WTJU.

There were some nightmarish elements fellow broadcasters could appreciate. There wasn't a log, so I didn't know when things were supposed to happen, like the news feed at the top of the hour. I didn't know what commercials to run, or even where they were in the studio or on the board (had I chosen to run any). Ditto with public service announcements. The studio clock wasn't working, so I was relying on my wristwatch for time checks.

Worse yet, the studio also doubled as the lobby, with a door opening onto the street, so people were constantly coming and going -- and of course talking the whole time, whether the mic was open or not. In fact, the News Director was there, criticizing everything I did, but only while I was trying to talk on air. When I asked him to stop, he replied that if I was doing what I was supposed to, he wouldn't have anything to say. (BTW - I worked with this person at the station, and he's still there. He's a true professional and would never do any such thing in real life).

Apparently I had done this shift the previous Saturday, and he was there with some programming suggestions. The classical music I played before was too hard to listen to. It was too long, and too complex for their country music listeners. So no vocal music, nothing over four minutes in length, and the more familiar the better.

I replied that I only had about four tracks by Bach, another four by Handel, and three by Vivaldi that fit his criteria. "That's fine," he said, "just keep repeating threm." I expressed doubts that running the same eleven tracks in rotation from 1 to 4PM was a good idea. That's when he informed me that I would be on until 5, or possible 6PM when the owner's plane landed.

I woke up.

Yes, it was all a dream -- except for one part. As I've documented in my Classical Challenge, there are quite a few music directors who labor under some of the restraints I was lucky enough to escape when I awoke.  I wonder if they consider their jobs a nightmare, or a dream?

Now This -- WJMA Past and Present

Last night I attended a viewing of "Now This." a documentary that chronicled the first 35 years of WJMA, a small-market radio station in central Virginia.



Long-time readers know I've written extensively about my local station, but watching the documentary and reuniting with former employees (yes, I was one, also) brought some things home.

Orange was a rural community with not much business to support advertising. WJMA, then known as Radio Orange, could also be heard in neighboring counties that also were basically rural with modest businesses: Culpeper, Louisa, Madison, and Fluvanna.

But then-owner Arch Harrison saw real opportunity. These communities all had a weekly newspaper, but (in the 1960's) no other source of information. So WJMA became that daily source.

At its peak, the station had two full-time reporters and stringers in each of the four outlying counties to phone in stories. There was a full-time sports director and some sports stringers. The high school coaches for each of the five counties were interviewed in a "Coaches Corner" segment.

As Tom Graves (no relation) the former sports director pointed out, WJMA not only broadcast local high school football and basketball. They sometimes used the AM for one game, and the FM for another -- covering two local sporting events. And in addition to an announcer and color commentator in the booth, there would be reporters on both sides of the field, and sometimes the referees were even miked.

How on earth could a dinky little station provide such coverage (and win broadcasting awards with predictable regularity)?

All of the former employees in "Now This" cited Harrison's hands-off management style, and -- most importantly -- the freedom to fail. It was OK to experiment. If it didn't work, you didn't lose your job. You just tried something different. And if it worked, well, then you tried to improve upon it.

It's all well and good to wax nostalgic about Radio Orange, but what does that have to do with modern broadcasting?

Everything.

How can radio compete with all of the other media that draws away audience?

1) Local
2) Live

That means investing in people, not automation. It means staffing newsrooms, not subscribing to wire services. It means becoming an integral part of the community, not just handing out balloons at a car dealership sale.

Could Radio Orange work today? Absolutely.

They had a talented staff creating a ton of great local content every single day. Content that would work online. Content for videos. Content for podcasts. Content for web updates. Content for Twitterfeeds. Content to be shared with the local papers of each county, content to be shared with the local television stations, content to be shared with the public access cable channel.

Content the audience couldn't get anywhere else because no other organization would be gathering it.

Radio Orange was equally creative in their advertising structure as they were with their news and sports reporting. Everything was an opportunity for sponsorship, and at rates in line with what local businesses could afford. Ditto in the present day.

There's no reason every online and on-air element can't be sponsored. Not always with :30 spots, but creatively. Maybe just a single line and a link on a web page. A brief mention for the weather. A sponsor name and slogan for the sports scores.

It worked before -- and incorporating new media, I think it can work again.

- Ralph

Day 167 of the WJMA Podwatch. (OK, they finally added the news director's name to the metadata, but we still have no image, web address, etc.)

Now This - The Story of WJMA

One of the coolest things about the media revolution is that resources formerly only available to professionals are now accessible to all.

I'll be attending the premier of a new documentary film on September 28. "Now This" will be shown at the Orange County Historical Society. It's a movie outlining the history of the first 35 years of WJMA, a station that holds a special place in the Orange community.

In the bad old days, this movie would have never happened. The focus is far too narrow, the potential audience far too small to justify the investment of production. But current cameras and video editing tools mean that folks who are interested in the history of this remarkable radio station can produce their own film. And from the trailer, it looks to be a fine film.


- Ralph

Day 150 of the WJMA Podwatch. (Will any of the of the current owners be at the premier? Don't know, but I'm sure they were invited.)

WJMA,, VAB - How to unFAIL

Wondering about how to handle updates on the Interwebtubes? Read on.

Yesterday I commented on the lack of coverage for the Virginia Association of Broadcasters (VAB) awards -- from the VAB and one of the recipients, WJMA.

It's easy to point out something gone wrong. It's a little harder -- yet far more productive -- to offer up some solutions. Here is mine.

How the VAB should promote their awards.

1) Post the results on the VAB website (and home page) immediately after the announcement at the conference. This should not be difficult. The winners have already been determined. Just cut and past the list to the home page -- or better yet, have it hidden, ( is the appropriate HTML code, btw) , and just have someone make it live. It should take about two minutes.

2) New media is like working in a sausage factory: it's all about the links. Said list should, at the very least, have a link to all of the winners' websites. Make the call letters the link. It drives traffic to the stations, which gives them an additional benefit for being a VAB member and an award winner.

3) Have a graphic for the award. There should be a simple graphic for the VAB award that winning stations can post on their website. This graphic should come with a link back to a part of the VAB site that explains what the award is, and the criteria for winning. It's good for the stations to have such an image for their homepage, and it helps raise awareness of the award -- good for the VAB.

How WJMA should promote their awards.

Let's assume that the VAB won't be doing their part, so there's no graphic to place on the WJMAFM.com homepage. There are still some very simple, yet effective, things WJMA can do to promote their win (and help themselves in the process).

1) Have a text announcement with a link to the News page. Suggested text:

"Congratulations to Phil Goodwin for winning the 2009 Best Feature Reporting and Best Newscast, Small Market Radio Awards from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters."

At the very least, this will help with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for anyone searching for "VAB, award, 2009" This should take 5-10 minutes.

2) Build an awards page. This will take longer, but well worth the investment. WJMA has a long and distinguished history of winning awards for their news coverage. It's one thing to have a wall covered in trophies that no one can see (although you can kind of see them behind Phil's portrait). It's another to put it all out on the web where everyone can.

At the very least, you could have a simple laundry list in a grid of the dates, awards won, and the winning journalist and story. But it shouldn't stop there.

Whenever possible, there should be a link from the title of the award-winning story to an MP3 of said story. Now to go back and fill in 20+ years of these stories would take quite a bit of time and probably won't be at the top of anyone's "to-do" list. But what about this year's entry?

Phil Goodwin had to create an audio file to submit to the VAB judges, Why not post that on the website? Most of the work's already done. And while creating a full-blown awards web page would take time, for now, a simple text-based page shouldn't take more than an hour. Here's a serving suggestion (this took about ten minutes, thanks to ISSDNTek)

Year	Award
2009	VAB	Phil Goodwin	Best Feature Reporting, Small Market Radio	"Dog Finds Wallet"
		Phil Goodwin	Best Newscast, Small Market Radio	Noon News, 1/15/09

(The links aren't real - it's just to give you the idea.)

Now why is this important? Simple. Ad $$$$.

I could say this is an "award-winning" blog. And it is. I just gave it the "C.E. Conversations Award for Best Blog Written by Two People Named Ken and Ralph."

Big deal.

"Award-winning" is vague and meaningless. A link to a string of real awards by professional organizations is something else again. And if you're trying to persuade someone to sponsor your newscasts, it's a great way to show the value of the investment.

One final thing. I'd change the artwork for the podcast. OK, WJMA still don't have artwork for the podcast, but let's say they had something like the graphic below. (Pretty snazzy, eh? It took about ten minutes with Photoshop.)

I would simply add a line below it, (like I did on the graphic below) and then the award would be front and center on everyone's iPod, or MP3 player, or media player.

(That addition took five minutes. The secret is to save the original as a PSD, so you keep all the layers. Then it's very easy to make changes -- next year I could just change the text to read "2010 VAB Award-winner" and start using that graphic.)

So there it is, some constructive suggestions on how to get the word out without using a lot of money or human resources. And if anyone from Piedmont Communications is reading this, please feel free to copy and paste those images.

I'd love to end the WJMA podwatch!


- Ralph

Day 85 of the WJMA Podwatch.

WJMA, VAB - Epic FAIL

Last July I posted "Radio in Virginia -- just how old is old media, anyway?". A friend had alerted me that WJMA FM had won some news awards from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters -- but there was no way to confirm that through the Internet; the VAB's website was several weeks out of date, and WJMA's website was still under construction.

Today I got another e-mail from the same friend -- with the same info. Through a second-hand source, they had heard that Phil Goodwin, news director for WJMA-FM had "won something."

Well, it's been a full year since the last awards. During that time people citing the Internet as their primary news source has grown from 40% to 50%. WJMA finally got their website up and running, and according to their blog,

Creative broadcasters, and we hope we’re in that class, are working to create targeted online promotions and features that leverage cause and event marketing, social networking, and other tools in order to provide real value to existing and potential customers.

Cool. So let's see how much things have changed.

I first visited the Virginia Association of Broadcaster's website, to check out the posting of the VAB Award winners of 2009. Nope, sorry. As you can see from the screenshot below, their most recent post is the banner for the conference that's already over.

Surely, though, WJMA -- rightfully proud of their award-winning news director -- as a "creative broadcaster," would let everyone know about this singular honor.

As you can see from this screenshot, there's nothing on the WJMA home page. According to my friend, Phil Goodwin mentioned the awards in one of his newscasts this morning. But it's not in the podcast for today, nor on the news page.

I checked the general manager's blog -- the last post was May 4, 2009. OK, what about the Piedmont Communications Weblog? Last post, June 17, 2009.

Cue the crickets.

So what's changed from last year? From audience makeup, quite a bit. From radio's apparent understanding of new media -- not much at all. Chances are they don't even understand the headline reference.

Epic FAIL, indeed.

- Ralph

Day 84 of the WJMA Podwatch.

WJMA's News Podcasts - Baby Steps

WJMA's news podcasts are improving -- but have they improved enough to stop the podwatch?

Well, let's see. They've added an intro to the news podcast, which helps immensely. Not only does it help identify who's talking, and from where, but it also helps with branding. Because of that intro, played five times weekly for subscribers simply reinforces that information -- which makes their news director (and the station) more valuable.

That's the plus.

But what about the rest of it. You expect a radio station to understand how audio works, but as both Mark Ramsey and Jerry Del Colliano have pointed out, a podcast isn't just recycled audio. It's a different media, which has different requirements (and different ways to be used effectively).

The WJMA podcasts still have minimal metadata. No email address; no URL; not even a graphic. All of which still shows a basic lack of understanding of how the podcast medium works -- and that could be a real problem.

Thought experiment: imagine someone with an extensive theater background who, for professional reason, has branched out into video. You view their video -- it's a stage play filmed with a single stationary camera from the center of the auditorium with no cuts. Obviously, that person's still thinking of storytelling in terms of stagecraft, which doesn't have a one-to-one correspondence to video.

Now imagine that same person positioned themselves as a professional videographer and wants to shoot your business' commercial. If they were a family friend, you might give them a chance. But if you didn't know them, you'd probably want to see their work first -- and them what would your decision be?

Piedmont Communications has received clearance to expand further into the Metro Washington market (DCRTV 4/27). And they've positioned themselves as experts in new media. So what do you think will happen when businesses in this highly competitive market start comparing WJMA's claims against their reality?

Sorry, but I'm going to be just as demanding as those potential new customers. The watch goes on.

 - Ralph

Day 37 of the WJMA Podwatch.

Radio/Podcasting -- Not quite the same

Mark Ramsey makes a good point in a Hear 2.0 post, entitled "Commercial Radio's Podcasting Myth."

The myth of [commercial radio] podcasting is that this long-form way is the way listeners want to consume our content simply because it’s the way they consume our content over the air – a context in which they have no choice in the matter, by the way.

Actually, they do have a choice – it’s to tune in and out, ever-hopeful for a “hit” or “highlight.” And tune in and out is exactly what they do.

When we transform the radio show to the podcast we are thinking about the medium all wrong. In an on-demand world for much of commercial radio, the unit of currency is not the “show,” it’s the “hit,” the “highlight.” Listening to radio over the air is as different from listening on-demand as an album is different from a song.

So let's take a look at our favorite case study, WJMA. They're part of the way there. Their news podcasts are short -- and that's good. But they're simply an excerpt from an on-air podcast -- and that's bad.

As Ramsey points out, podcasts are listened to -- and used differently -- than on-air content. A little bit of shaping would make these news podcasts work effectively as podcasts. They still need a quick intro, a graphic, and some helpful metadata (like station ID, contact info, etc.).

Different media, different requirements.

So we continue to day 26 of the WJMA Podwatch.

- Ralph

WJMA, DCD Records, and the transparent podcast

I've spent a lot of time talking about WJMA's podcasts, pointing out areas where I think they might more effectively do their job. So what makes me such an expert? Fair question.

Well, since February 2006 I've been writing, producing, and hosting the podcast for DCD Records (where I serve as president and chief bottle-washer). Like WJMA, we're distributing "The DCD Classical 'Cast" podcast for a reason.

I want to reach classical music listeners (and more importantly, classical music buyers) in a way that's both economical and efficient. The goal of our podcast is to showcase the classical releases from the independent labels we carry on our website, raise awareness of our brand, and spur sales. Has it worked? I think so.

Let me take you behind the scenes a little and you can judge for yourself.

Format: The podcast is approximately 30-40 minutes in length. We play complete movements, but almost never a complete work. The idea is to whet the appetite, not satiate it. (Listen to our current episode, and you'll see what I mean).

There's always an "ad" in the middle of the podcast. I simply reminds listeners that everything they hear is available from www.dcdrecords.com, and if they type a certain code into the coupon field, they'll receive a ten percent discount off their order -- even if other special offers or discounts have been applied (sorry, I'm not going to provide the code here -- you'll just have to listen).

I also ID the podcast after every piece of music. Why? Because repetition is the key to memory. Over the course of a podcast, the listener will hear our brand name mentioned at least four times. After a while, it will stick.

Metadata: I want each episode to be as effective as possible, so I pay attention to the metadata. I make sure the following are filled in:

Name: DCD [three digit show number] - [show title]
Artist: info@DCDRecords.com
Album: DCD Classical 'Cast
Year: [year of release]
Composer: [Me], host
Comments: This program we play: [composer - work]; [composer - work], etc.
Genre: Podcast

And yes, there's artwork attached.

Note the name. Even though we're only up to show #64, by using a three-digit number we ensure that the programs all line up properly in numerical order on media players and software. Without it, shows nos. 1,5, 10, 11, and 20 would line up as 1, 10, 11, 20, and 5.

And the choice of placing our e-mail address in the artist field was deliberate. If nothing else gets displayed, Name and Artist do. So I want the most important info front and center.

Distribution: We continue to seek out podcast directories to place our program with. You can find us on iTunes, InstantEncore, Feedburner, Mefeedia, Podcastblaster, Podcast Pickle, ZenCast, and many others. We also just recently set up a Twitter feed and a Facebook fan page to help generate interest in the podcast and our brand.

So what's been the result? Well, we started off with a monthly podcast and now produce an episode every two weeks because of a corresponding growth in audience. We've seen a definite link between product sold and product featured on the podcast. No, not everyone returns to our site to buy, but that's OK. Because we also have a store on Amazon, and we're the exclusive supplier of many of our labels to Arkivmusic.com -- so chances are, if you're purchasing something we carry, we'll see some money from the transaction regardless of the site you buy it on.

Subscription rates (it's free, by the way) continue to grow at a steady rate, especially over the past year. We've had over 34,000 downloads, and currently average a little over 500 an episode (although our more popular episodes run into the thousands). Now granted, this is small potatoes compared to say, "This Week in Tech" or a more general interest podcast.

But classical customers only make up about 7% of the music-buying market. And this market's small in other ways, too. Many classical titles -- even from the major labels -- only sell a few thousand copies. Add to that the fact that public radio stations airing classical music have an extremely slow rotation -- it's not uncommon to have six months pass before a track is played again. And most classical record review magazines seem to average a circulation of only around 10,000 readers.

So given all that, I'm very happy to have placed our audio calling card/sales catalog directly into the virtual hands of 34,000+ potential customers (even if they only listen to the podcast once, it's still better than the odds for radio). And outside of the recording gear, there's been almost no expense, save time.

I don't have to eat the cost of promo copies and the postage to ship them to 100+ radio stations where they'll sit and gather dust. I don't have to pay for ads in magazines where at a good response rate of 3% I'm looking at an outside total of 30 sales -- doesn't even cover the cost of the ad. I don't have to bother with the expense of trying to place the product in the shrinking racks of record retail stores (nor worry what happens to my inventory when they file Chapter 11).

We're talking directly to our potential customers, and they're responding either through purchases on our site or through one of the sites we supply.

So that's where I'm coming from when I say that WJMA's podcasts aren't living up to their full potential. Even at this stage of the game, their subscription and download numbers should leave us in the dust. If they're not, then something is seriously wrong. Which is kind of my point.

- Ralph


Day 3 of the WJMA Podwatch.

WJMA Podwatch -- Day One

Looks like it's time to start the WJMA Podwatch. Two weeks ago we offered up some suggestions to make the WJMA news podcasts more effective, both for the listeners and for the station. Simple fixes, really.

1. Add contact and identifying info to the MP3's meta data.
2. Add the date to the title so the podcasts would sort properly.
3. Put in artwork for visual reference (and brand re-enforcement) and add an opener so we know who we're listening to and what they're talking about at the beginning of the podcast -- not at the end.

And after two weeks -- the podcasts are now dated. !?!?

Just doing the barest minimum doesn't help -- and this isn't really the barest minimum. So we'll start the clock and see how long it takes to make these MP3s useful to podcast listeners (who have different needs than radio listeners).

So why does this matter? Well, there are lessons to be learned here for any business with an online component (even those not considering podcasts). And a key one is credibility. Piedmont Communications (who own WJMA), addressing current and future advertisers in their blog said:

Using the web to market your business and sell your product can unquestionably be very effective…. Good web design and maintenance are pricey….we should know. We just completed a relaunch of the WJMA FM website. Once you’ve spent the money to gussy up your site, you’ve got to drive traffic to it in order for it to do you any good.

We feel like in our market, and with our listeners, we’ve got the franchise on emotive, engaging advertising that will make people want to visit your website, leveraging your ad dollars and web investment to create sales for you.

I totally agree. They got the concept.

But if I were a potential advertiser, I'd be looking at what Piedmont Communications is doing to drive traffic to their own website. It's the most effective way they can show their Interwebtube expertise -- and provide some hard numbers to their clients.

As Mark Ramsey said in a recent Hear 2.0 post:

The digital elements in [a station's] portfolio are not "non-traditional revenue," they are "new traditional revenue."... Every broadcaster should be restructuring from the ground up around digital opportunities, not simply tacking on digital strategies like so many strips of duct tape.

How well has WJMA incorporated the digital tools of their "gussied up" website into their product? Well, it took them 344 days to go from a placeholder to a functioning website again. Let's see how long it takes to bring their podcasts (which is just one part of their digital initiative) up to current practice. This is day one.

- Ralph

WJMA Podcasts -- It's a start

Just starting a podcast? Read on.

Friday I outlined a few things that WJMA could do to improve their nascent news podcasts. And it looks like they took some of that advice, so I want to give credit for the changes they made. The basics were pretty simple:

Here is the information this podcast should have to make it useful to anyone downloading it. All of these fields should be filled in.

• Name: WJMA Central Virginia News for 3/24/09
• Artist: Phil Goodwin
• Year: 2009
• Composer: Piedmont Communications, Inc.
• Genre: Podcast
• Artwork - an image of the station's logo with some additional element that says "news."

Looks like someone was busy over the weekend. When I opened up the podcast feed this morning, there was information in place! Specifically:

• Name: WJMA News 3-30-09 (different name than I suggested, but no quibbles - it works)
• Year: 2009
• Album: WJMA News (Yes, we know -- it's in the name field. But what's the dial position?)
• Genre: Podcast

It's a good start, but I'm puzzled as to why they stopped there. We still have no context. Where's the station? Who's talking? Who's putting out this podcast, anyway?

IMHO, you should think of a podcast episode like a business card. It should have all the information about the product to be useful, to strengthen the brand, as well as the relevant metadata to help the listener sort the episode in their library.

If I'm searching through my MP3 library by cover art -- there's none. I don't know what this is. Ditto if I try to sort by artist. These are pretty basic things -- and the absence of them has me convinced that the powers that be still don't "get" podcasting. And most likely don't listen to them at all.

It's a simple fix, fellas. Album art, artist name, something to give a location. You could even get ambitious and add an email address in there. Every blank field represents a missed opportunity. It doesn't cost anything to fill in the other metadata fields. Really.

Let's see where WJMA stands next Monday. That should be more than enough time to create and attach artwork, and fill in the missing fields. Are these podcasts half-baked, or just half-done? I'm still optimistic.

- Ralph

WJMA, Hear 2.0, and the Interwebtubes

The other day in my post "Podcast Review -- WJMA News" I offered some solid suggestions on how our local radio station WJMA could effectively repurpose their news reports as podcasts. It's not that they haven't been. News and sports podcasts are part of the new website.

But as I pointed out, audio clips from a broadcast can't just be thrown onto the web. A podcast is a different medium with a different audience and different conventions. Follow them, and your audience grows. Ignore them, and you'll be classed as an out-of-touch amateur.

Yesterday Mark Ramsey did a relevant post, "More Than Digital Duct Tape," on his blog, Hear 2.0. He cites a recent IBM study that shows an anticipated 63% growth in online advertising (and a corresponding drop in traditional media buys) -- and how media companies simply aren't moving to where the advertisers and customers want to go -- that is, online. He wrote:

... the digital elements in your portfolio are not "non-traditional revenue," they are "new traditional revenue."

Any broadcaster - and there are many out there (although not likely to be reading this) - who thinks our solution is to return "to the basics" and stick our communal heads deep into the sand is a fool.

Every broadcaster should be restructuring from the ground up around digital opportunities, not simply tacking on digital strategies like so many strips of duct tape.

This is a time of amazing opportunity if you have the vision and the will to have at it.

You can't think of a podcast as a recycled radio bit (even if that's the source). It has to be reworked for the new media.

Will WJMA make the necessary changes? I don't know, but I'll keep you posted.

We'll make Monday the official start of the WJMA pod watch. It'll end when the WJMA news podcasts have metadata that include appropriate IDs and graphics and a proper intro. The station had a static placeholder on their site for 344 days before the website relaunched. I'm hoping we don't set a new record here.

- Ralph

Podcast Review -- WJMA News

When the new WJMA website launched, I promised to check out their podcasts and report back.

As I said back in September of 2008, the news content of WJMA would be perfect repurposed as podcasts. Looks like they took my advice (I'll add that my consulting fee) and did just that with their news and sports reports.

Unfortunately, WJMA's podcasts have a long way to go -- the same problems that plagued their website's newsfeed in April of 2008 are still with them.

Here's the 3/24/09 episode of the WJMA News podcast. See if the same things strike you that do me.

Personally, this tells me a few things about whoever's in charge of WJMA's podcasts.

1) They have very little idea of what podcasting's about -- and how they differ from radio content. If they did, they would understand that we need some context for this news. There should be an intro at the very least. The FIRST thing we should here is an identification of the station, the locality, the date and the announcer. This MP3 can be downloaded anywhere in the world, at any time. What state are we in? What day is this news for? Who is this guy talking?

Imagine this: a simple music bed of urgent music and the sound of a teletype (retro I know, but effective). Over top of it we hear "This is the WJMA Daily News Podcast for March 24, 2009, I'm Phil Goodwin. Here are the top stories from around Central Virginia." Then move on to the prerecorded stuff. And have the music bed return briefly at the end. Now I can hear when this podcast starts and stops -- so when I'm listening to several podcasts in a row, I know where I am.

Remember -- once I subscribe, it's unlikely I'll return to this podcasting page. So I won't get context from any of the graphics or the popup player.

2) They probably don't subscribe to any podcasts themselves. If they did, they would know that metadata is absolutely crucial. This downloaded podcast has "1653340" as the title. Now when I see that on my iTunes menu, that tells me nothing. There's no date anywhere, nor clue as to origin of this podcast. That makes it a prime candidate for deletion.

OK, fellas, I'll make it country-simple. Here is the information this podcast should have to make it useful to anyone downloading it. All of these fields should be filled in.

• Name: WJMA Central Virginia News for 3/24/09
• Artist: Phil Goodwin
• Year: 2009
• Composer: Piedmont Communications, Inc.
• Genre: Podcast
• Artwork - an image of the station's logo with some additional element that says "news."

Do all of that, and you'll have something useful and more valuable to the listener (sort of the point, dont'cha know).

3) They have yet to see the value -- both in branding and advertising revenue -- of this repurposed content. Look, what's the point of a radio station podcast, anyway? Doing something just because all the cool kids are is no way to run a business. There are solid reasons why a radio station should be podcasting -- three, in fact.

First, a podcast should should reinforce the station's brand. Second, it should engage a new audience on their own terms. Third. it should be a revenue stream for the station.

Adding metadata (which I discussed above) will reinforce the brand.

Meeting the audience on its own terms? Well, how about placing this podcast in a few directories already? Getting a podcast listed on iTunes is not hard -- even I've done it. Twice. 50% of web browsing on mobile devices is on done on iPhones, and 70% of the MP3 players in the world are iPods. They both use iTunes exclusively. Put the podcast where your audience is -- don't make them come to you (because they won't).

Finally, how about some additional monitization? Is the Culpeper Star Exponent paying extra for mention on the podcast? I don't know, but they should -- if account managers are throwing it in for free then it will be very difficult to charge for them or others clients for placement later.

Remember that opening I talked about? How about a brief spot right after the intro and before the news? I'll sit through one ten-to-fifteen second commercial to hear the news. When the news is over, though, I'm outta there. Placing spots at the end (like for said Culpeper Star Exponent) is a bad idea. This isn't radio. I don't have to sit through the ad to hear what's coming up next. I can just skip to the next podcast.

What kind of sponsor would work for a podcast? One that has a web-based business or a strong web-based component, of course. Even if the business is local, this is the perfect media for driving traffic to a website. Why? Because the people listening are already online. Podcast listeners are comfortable with technology, and have no problem navigating the Internet. So give them an easily remembered link, and go.

Oh - and you can also use the comments field in the metadata to provide URLs for the sponsors. An added service -- for a price. (We won't talk about enhanced podcasts that you can embed links into. I think that might be too confusing at this point.)

Fixing these podcasts is a fairly simple task. But it's one that needs to be done -- and not 344 days later.

- Ralph

(Don't know what to do now that the WJMA web watch is over. Maybe keep a running total of consultant fees I should be charging?)

The WJMA Website – 344 Days Later

Longtime blog readers know that we’ve been keeping watch for the return of the WJMA radio website. The earlier version of the site was something of a textbook case of how one can miss the mark moving from one medium to another. And now, after a significant redesign, the site has been relaunched.

So how is it? On the whole, a major improvement.

The Home Page
The home page should make a good first impression -- and it does. All the important information is there – weather, cancellations, music news and an engaging poll question. All pluses. And there’s a calendar with regional events tied to it. Nice!

Across the top, there’s a scrolling picture display, interspersing country artist headshots with photos from the WJMA coverage area. It’s an effective way to tie the station into the locality. My only complaint is the scrolling, which very quickly started to annoy me. And that header is there on every single page. After a while, I had to fight the urge to bail on the site just to make the *#($&@ scrolling stop. I ended up pulling the window down so the header wasn’t visible. Not sure if that’s the solution the station hoped for.

WJMA Country Club
There’s now something for the listeners. WJMA now has a County Club which, in exchange for registration (read: valuable marketing info for the station) you can become eligible for exclusive offers, contests, etc. Very smart.

Disc Jockey Pages
The air-talent page has a little bit of misstep – the main page has the schedule, but no links to the individual bios. That’s about a five-minute fix. The jocks’ bio pages look good. There’s a way on JD’s page to submit birthday notices (gathering more marketing data, very smart). Unfortunately, the “E-Mail J.D. here” text is just that. There’s no link (that’s another five-minute fix).

WJMA News
The news tab has some good features. In addition to the bio of newscaster Phil Goodwin, there’s also a place to submit story ideas. Good interactivity.

The sports page is just a collection of links to the sports team websites of the various schools (the Orange County High School link is currently broken – another five-minute fix). It would be nice if there was a scoreboard with all the local scores aggregated, but this is a good start.

And it looks like they’ll be podcasting their news. I’ll definitely check that out and report on them in another post.

Local Photos

There’s a photo section – another great opportunity for local content. It’s not clear where the images are coming from, though. And there doesn’t appear to be a way for listeners to submit images (which I would recommend reviewing before publication). Another suggestion – how about some picture captions and tagging? Get some SEO going here!

The Community Section
The community pages look good. There’s info on local events, ways for organizations to submit announcements, and a list (with links) of area charities, schools and organizations.

There’s also additional content for country music fans, such as artist links and music news.

And the new website makes it easy to contact account representatives for advertising (they even have e-mail addresses now).

At the bottom of the page, there are logos for Piedmont Communication’s other radio stations, SAM 105.5 and AM1340 WCVA. Don’t bother clicking on them, though – they just go to the WJMA homepage.

All in all, a very nice, professional-looking website. I’m not sure if it was worth a year’s wait, especially as it appears to be somewhat an off-the-shelf solution. But for new listeners and potential advertisers, it presents WJMA in a very good light – and that’s really what counts.

The only thing I find surprising is the lack of ads. Hopefully, they won’t eventually clutter it up like a NASCAR driver’s jumpsuit, but a few well-placed ads should generate a decent amount of traffic. I’ll check in from time to time and see how it develops.

And that’s the end of the WJMA web watch.

- Ralph

You know, I outlined a lot of this back in 2007 "Creating Compelling Content," "Ted Mack's Original Website," "Radio Websites -- Odds and Ends" et al. Wonder if I should submit a bill for consulting?

WJMA -- Past and Future

There's an interesting correlation between the "golden age" of Radio Orange (WJMA-FM), and the current direction radio needs to move in.

Here's the past:

In the late 1970's, WJMA had a virtual lock on local news. They had two reporters, one who worked primarily in the mornings, the other mainly at night, with an overlap during the day. Between them, they could cover any local government or other important community activity that happened during the week.

They also had five stringers, who phoned in reports from the five surrounding counties. Each stringer gave a weekly report. Each report ran on a certain weekday, so listeners knew, for example, that the Culpeper Report ran on Mondays, the Greene Country Report ran on Tuesdays, and so on.

Arch Harrison, the station owner, offered his own op-ed segment, "Postscript to the News," which ranged far and wide over a variety of topics, of local and national interest. There was a sports director who interviewed the high school coaches of the five counties -- each coach's report airing on a certain day of the week. Sports fans knew that Monday was Orange's Coach K., Tuesday was Madison's coach Eddie Dean and so on.

There was also a public affairs program, "Monday at One," where guests of interest to the community were interviewed -- local politicians, charity heads, visiting dignitaries, event organizers, and others.

Was all that news necessary? You bet. Folks within the listening area of Radio Orange knew that if they passed an accident during the day, they could tune into the next news cast and find out what happened.

Was it worth it for the station? Yes, in many ways. Every single segment -- the county reports, the coaches' corners, the newscast, Monday at One -- all of it was sponsored and generated money for the station. And it built and sustained audiences.

Folks interested in local sports listened to Radio Orange. People wanting to keep up with their community listened to Radio Orange. People wanting to get news before it showed up in the weekly paper listened to Radio Orange.

Here's the future:

All of that valuable content that the old Radio Orange created on a daily basis would be solid gold on a station website.

First off, all of those special segments could live as downloadable audio files on the website -- and they could all be sponsored. They could also be repurposed as podcasts. I would love to subscribe to a "Postscript to the News" daily podcast. And those, too, could be sponsored.

Imagine the "Coaches Corner" as a video podcast (and as a video posted to the website).

Now the old Radio Orange main newscasts went on for a while -- no surprise given all they had to broadcast. A shorter form of the interviews and stories could run over the air, with the tagline for each story being the same: "to hear more, go to our website, WJMA.com/news."

The "Monday at One" segments could also be made  available as downloadable audio -- and if the studio setup was relatively static, a camera or two could be permanently positioned to record the interviews. Not only would video make for much more compelling content (read: more downloads, more traffic, more ad revenue), but there might an opportunity to sell the footage to other news outlets, such as the regional TV stations.

I like to think that if the creative, innovative staff that served the station so well during its golden age was currently producing the same quality content, all of this would have already happened.

So what's happening on the website of the current owners of WJMA? Well, we've been staring at a placeholder with no links for 100 days now.

Sometimes the good old days really are.

- Ralph

Day 100 of the WJMA Web Watch.

WJMA -- Its history

The website devoted to the history of WJMA is without question a labor of love. This online museum was created by Ross Hunter, former program director for the station.

It's a site well worth exploring, even if you don't remember the golden days of "Radio Orange." Anyone curious about radio operation, or life in Central Virginia, or even those just looking for a good story will find lots to look through on the site.

In addition to an overall history of the station, there's plenty of source material documenting day-to-day workings of this small, independent radio station, and even some audio samples. And there's a chat room, which has become something of a living history archive as former employees share experiences and add their information to the site.

Ross Hunter's recently asked for help, putting out the word through letters to several regional newspapers. Hunter writes:

A year from now, in September of 2009, 60 years will have passed since WJMA-AM radio in Orange signed on the air for the first time. 

Over the last couple of years I’ve been involved in a project to document WJMA’s history and locate former employees. To date more than 300 former employees have been identified and about half of them have been located. Almost 90 former WJMA staffers are part of a Yahoo list serve exchanging memories about WJMA. 

A Web site to collect the history of the radio station has been set up. Information is being adding to the online collection as it becomes available. Go to wjma.radiohistory.net to see what has been collected thus far. 

I’m writing today in a effort to locate more WJMA history. Anything you might have: pictures, newspaper ads, newspaper articles, prizes, bumper stickers, audio tape, videotape, movies...it’s all valuable and I’d love to have an opportunity to copy it. Your originals will be returned. Personal stories are also welcome. 

Please contact me via e-mail at wjmainfo@radiohistory.net or by phone from 6 to 10 p.m. at (540) 672-2822. And if you are a former employee and have not yet been contacted, please do get in touch. 

Much has changed in the broadcast world since WJMA AM first went on the air. In 1949 WJMA was an AM only radio station with just 250 watts of power. While the call letters WJMA now belong to an FM station, the former WJMA-AM is now WVCV, but is still broadcasting at 1340 on the AM dial, just where it’s been since noon on Sept. 10, 1949.

Ross Hunter
WJMA 1971 to 1986
Orange

There's been some response to the letters, but of course, not everyone's still in the area. So I'm happy to contribute some space to help get the word out.

And no, I didn't make a mistake in the title -- that apostrophe's absent for a reason.

- Ralph

Day 99 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Thanks for Asking

Yesterday I shared the Alexa.com traffic reports for the WJMAFM.com website. It demonstrated how many links drive traffic on the interconnected web -- even if it links to a dead site.

But, some asked offline, what about this site? How has the traffic for "CE Conversations" changed over the last three months? Fair question.

Over the past three months, our ranking's gone up 3.9 million positions, and our reach has grown 487%. Sounds super -- but remember it's only ten times the reach of WJMA's placeholder page.

(click on image to enlarge)

Are there things we can do to maximize growth? Sure.

One tried and true method is to publish a single-subject blog. If we only talked about radio, or the Internet, or comics, or music, or politics, or any of the other goofy things we blog about here, our traffic would be much, much higher. But most of the content I produce professionally elsewhere is tightly focused -- so I'm willing to trade optimal traffic numbers for the opportunity to write about whatever I want.

And the web is social. The more blogs we link to and the more comments we leave on other blogs, the more links (and traffic) we get back. However, I'm not about to start posting comments on other blogs willy-nilly just to leave our URL as many places as possible. I'll read the blogs I'm interested in, and occasionally post comments when I have something to share.

So I expect we'll continue to grow, but at a slow pace. And that's fine -- because it means we can keep doing this blog the way we want to. And have some fun in the process.

- Ralph

Day 95 of the WJMA Web Watch.

563,445 Missed Opportunities

Actually, I don't know exactly how many missed opportunities we're talking about -- but it's a significant amount. Our favorite radio station test case, WJMA here in beautiful Orange, Virginia, pulled their website offline three months ago.

Officially, it was to make way for a new, improved website -- but that was three months ago.

Now here's the interesting thing. According to Alexa.com, which measures web traffic, WJMA's ranking has actually risen 563,445 positions (as of today). The volume of traffic has increased 42%. Of course, page views have dropped -- but then there's only one page to view.

(click on the image to enlarge)

So why is traffic up? Well, a number of sites link to WJMA, including this one. In fact, I've been including a link to WJMA in every post for the past three months.

And all of that increased traffic found.... nothing. There's not even an email address on the placeholder! It's like a steady stream of potential customers make their way to your store, only to find the doors chained and locked. Is that any way to run a business?

As Ken Dardis of Audiographics (and others) continually point out, it's past time for radio stations to move from just being over-the-air broadcasters and become media content providers.
For a business not to have a website these days is like a brick-and-mortar store that only takes cash. It severely limits the business' ability to function.

If nothing else, the past three months have shown the importance of interconnectivity. I don't know how many people went to WJMA because of this blog, how many from the WJMA radio history site, or how many from the various other sites. But every link helped drive traffic to WJMA's site.

Now imagine if Piedmont Communications had launched their updated website three months ago and been able to take advantage of all that traffic.

Then, I think, we'd have a different post.

- Ralph

Day 94 of the WJMA Web Watch. Yes, I'll keep linking. Why not? We'll check the stats again in another three months.

Mark Ramsey proposes, the BBC disposes

Mark Ramsey, head of Mercury Media Research outlined in a recent post what radio stations need to do to make the shift from just an over-the-air broadcaster to a media content provider. If I was an under-appreciated cog at a big radio group right now... , I'd pitch my group on a digital video series that can be sponsored.

All at once I would be creating:
A) Content to attract online traffic and engagement
B) NTR ("New" traditional revenue)
C) Stuff for the jocks to talk about on-air
D) A reason for me to be not such an under-appreciated cog anymore

Just theory? Not really. Ramsey was talking about GlamourTV, but there's an even better example for stations. BBC Radio 1 has taken their morning team to Los Angeles, where they're broadcasting live every day.

For this special run "The Chris Moyles Show" has upped its podcast frequency from once a week to one a day. And they're also producing a series of videos.

And they're using the strength of each of these formats (radio, podcasting, and video) to cross-promote each other.

Listen to this segment from Tuesday's program. Chris Moyles and company basically spend the time promoting the videos. But listen to how they do it.

They use audio excerpts from the videos. They build interest and suspense by not revealing how the video ends (you'll just have to watch it). And they play off of the audio clips, creating new content in the process.

Now before you write this off as something only the big boys can do, look at the underlying concept, and ignore the superficial details.

Let's take our favorite test case, WJMA-FM in Orange, Virginia. They certainly don't have the budget of the BBC, but that's not important. They've already shot some video (sort of), so we know they have a potential cameraman. But instead of Los Angeles, JD Slade and the other WJMA jocks could do a live broadcast from the Orange County Fair.

Instead of sending members of the team out to find Jackie Chan's house, JD could go look over the livestock. In both cases, the video camera's rolling. And in both cases there are broadcast professionals in front of the camera who are used to being extemporaniously funny -- and can take advantage of the comedic possibilities of their respective situations.

Now you've got video to post on the website (perhaps with sponsorship?), something for JD Slade and company to play with on their own shows, and -- more importantly -- some compelling reasons for listeners to go to the website, driving up traffic and consequently ad rates.

The Chris Moyles Show has shown how it can be done. Look again at Mark's checklist. Check, check, and check. Anyone getting this?

- Ralph

Day 93 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Video for radio websites -- the easy way

I've talked before about how radio stations can use videos to add valuable content to their websites (and thereby increase traffic). Recently, I was reminded that this video doesn't necessarily have to be generated by the business itself.

JD Slade is the morning DJ at WJMA-FM in Orange, Virginia -- the station we're using as a case study to see what works (or doesn't) online. JD's posted some videos on YouTube. They're not official WJMA videos, just clips shot by private individuals. While not great art, they're the kind of fun, casual videos many people post.

However -- even though these are personal videos, they can be potentially valuable content for WJMA's website.

Here's one of JD Slade having fun in the studio while a song plays.



So what's the takeaway?

1. JD Slades's a person who knows how to have fun.
2. JD Slade's full of energy.
3. If you look carefully, you can see that he's not just flailing his arms -- JD really knows how to play the guitar. He's a musician.

Now if this video was embedded in the station's website with info about JD Slade's morning show, the augmented takeaway could be:

1. WJMA's morning show is fun.
2. WJMA's morning man, JD Slade, is full of energy.
3. WJMA's staff (at least one of them) is a musician. They must really know a lot about the music they play.

Here's another one of JD Slade dancing at a local event.



The immediate takeaway?

1. JD Slade is man who knows how to enjoy himself.
2. JD Slade is a good dancer (decidedly better than me, that's for sure).
3. This looks like a fun event.

Now suppose that video was taken at a WJMA remote, and posted to WJMA's website (with accompanying info identifying JD Slade as the WJMA morning DJ). Now the takeaway's changed slightly.

1. JD is a man who knows how to enjoy himself. His morning show must be fun to listen to.
2. JD is a good dancer. He sure has a lot of energy. I bet his morning show does, too.
3. Looks like this is a fun WJMA event. The next time they're going to be out broadcasting somewhere, I'm going to stop by. They know how to have a blast.

Of course, the more videos of this nature the station has on its site, the larger the cumulative effect. By also placing them on YouTube (yes, I know that's where these originated), the station makes the videos available to other folks as well. And every time someone links to it or embeds it in their own blog/email/Facebook page/etc., it just serves as another free plug for, and another link back to the station. And in the realm of social networking, that's the most effective kind of branding there is.

So the simplest (and cheapest) way to generate unique content for a website? Let the staff do their thing with camcorders -- and post the videos that work.

- Ralph


Day 27 of the WJMA Web Watch.

Virginia Media News vs. WJMA - one's here, one's not

If you're thinking about revamping your business website, hopefully, you'll avoid the scorched earth solution of WJMA-FM. I've talked before about how they pulled down their site and replaced it with an unhelpful "under construction" sign, and recently replaced that with a simple placeholder.

End result? A single page site that says virtually nothing about the business. And as some have pointed out, by having no information, the page either suggests a broken website or a business that's gone under.

There's a better way. Check out VARTV.com, the Virginia radio, and television news website. Here's a screenshot of their current (as of this posting) website.

Notice the top story. The site's getting an overhaul, but it didn't disappear like WJMA's. Rather, the editor chose to alert readers that updates will continue, but not at the same rate while construction's going on.

I can handle that. Now when I see glitches on the site, or slightly stale news, I know why. VARTV's protected their reputation while they work on their improvements. The site's still functioning, and I don't expect traffic to decline significantly (if at all).

And that means that whatever ad revenue VARTV generates from said traffic will continue throughout the construction period.

Now that's how to retool a site. Not by going incommunicado the way Piedmont Communications did.

- Ralph

Day 25 of the WJMA Web Watch.