CLEAR CHANNEL EXPLORING ALTERNATE DELIVERY SYSTEMS Paul Heine – Billboard To adapt to today’s shifting media landscape, Clear Channel Radio is moving aggressively to exploit alternate delivery systems for its content. “Anyone who thinks radio is only tall towers in big fields is thinking much too narrowly,” CCR president and CEO John Hogan tells Billboard Radio Monitor. “Any radio company that defines itself by a single delivery method is doomed.”
The radio industry must understand some key imperatives, Hogan says, to continue to thrive amidst the myriad new ways consumers are choosing to receive entertainment and information. “We must see the radio business as content and carriage,” he says. Consumers are following content to new delivery vehicles like the Internet and mobile devices – and radio must extend its brands to those outlets.
To that end, Clear Channel is talking to cellular companies about delivering programming over cell phones by the end of this year. “We must continue to develop top-shelf content by any means necessary, and we must continue to deliver it across a variety of vehicles,” Hogan says.
The company recently hired Evan Harrison from America Online to develop and execute a coherent Internet strategy and conceive new Internet-only content. By May 1, 300 CC stations will be streaming, offering online advertisers full top 25-market coverage. Clear Channel has deployed Jeff Littlejohn, its top engineering executive, to explore and develop new content distribution avenues.
Look for the company to not only repurpose content though alternate delivery means, such as podcasts and cell phones, but to offer variations on existing content by harnessing the power of the Internet and HD radio. Using HD radio’s multicasting ability, “Bob & Tom Raw” -- a bluer version of the Premiere-syndicated morning show -- could be made available to hardcore fans for a nominal subscription fee. Clear Channel is exploring both subscription-based and advertising-driven business models for HD radio side channels -- and a combination of the two.
The company already has a toe in the subscription waters through its Audiovox in-vehicle navigation service.
“Listeners need more choices and better choices for radio to grow,” Hogan tells Billboard Radio Monitor. “To do that, we plan to participate in and embrace new technology.”
Clear Channel isn’t the only radio company exploring alternate delivery options. Infinity Broadcasting’s goal is to eventually deliver content to cell phones and PDAs.
“We’ve been working on a number of initiatives that embrace mobile multi-media devices,” Infinity president of marketing David Goodman tells Billboard Radio Monitor. “There’s a lot of stuff we’re working on. We have a real belief at this company in embracing technology and ensuring that we capitalize on the variety of ways in which content can get distributed today. You’ll see more announcements in the coming months on a number of initiatives that will be happening at Infinity, streaming being one of them.” |