Media Info Bureau

RBR+TVBR featured columnist Ken Benner returns to the fold with his views on what's truly killing media. It's not "fake news." It might just be, in his opinion, hefty fines and fees courtesy of the Federal government.

In late April, the Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones — Mexico's equivalent of the FCC — said sí to new regulations that require all smartphone manufacturers to enable the chip that allows every headset to receive FM radio signals. This makes the nation the first on planet Earth to require everyone from Samsung to Apple to bring local FM signals to one's mobile device. Will the USA be the last nation to take such action?

The iconic marketer died Sunday in Greenwich, Conn., at the age of 82. Trout worked for nearly three decades with business partner Al Reis, and did much to establish the concept of positioning as integral to marketing a product. Without Trout & Reis, perhaps the radio industry would look, and act, a bit differently today, RBR + TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson notes in this remembrance of Trout.

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has released a white paper aimed at helping broadcasters transition to IP with minimal disruption. The paper, titled "AIMS Guidelines to Preparing Broadcast Facilities for IP-Based Live TV Production," presents basic methods broadcasters can follow to make the shift from SDI to IP as trouble-free as possible.

If you thought the smart home gadgetry such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home speak-and-do devices were just a fad, think again. Apple just crashed the party with today's introduction of the HomePod. Should radio industry C-Suite executives be rejoicing over the news? News organzations far and wide are spreading the news like wildfire across the internet. CNet perhaps says it best, with its headline sharing the fact that the new HomePod smart speaker brings Siri home. It also makes Siri, like Alexa, a potentially vital friend for radio stations across the U.S.

Here's a question that every radio and TV sales professional should ask not only potential clients, but also those who have used traditional media — a.k.a. "old media" — for years. You may get a blank stare, or a giggle. But, RBR+TVBR Editor-in-Chief Adam R Jacobson believes it's an important question that illustrates a point the TVB and RAB may want to elucidate on: About 20% of connected adults always use an ad blocker, new research finds.

No matter the size of the media company, one universal truth of sales failure is lack of formal accountability within the sales team. When this Media Information Bureau columnist mentions the word, managers get red and sales people get fire in their eyes. But why? We wait too long, he says.

There's a lot of negative press about the President of the United States. In the view of Roslyn Layton, a Visiting Fellow at AEI's Center for Internet, Communications, and Technology Policy, many tech media conform to this trend. Why? In her view, recent news stories on the FCC have been characterized by a focus on drama over analysis.

Have U.S. consumers become a bit less materialistic than they've been in recent years? New research from GfK suggests that's the case. What can a radio station glean from this study, in particular with its contests and giveaways designed to lure and keep listeners?

Hiring salespeople is difficult. In this latest installment in a series of columns from expert sales coach Barrett Riddleberger, he identifies once again a group of sales candidates who, when hired, fail to meet expectations. Yet, they all have one thing on common: they interview well.

The recently concluded FCC spectrum auction "of a big chunk of old broadcast TV airwaves" was supposed to make the big mobile firms bigger and reduce competition in broadband. In the eyes of AEI Visiting Fellow Bret Swanson, that's the assessment of "activists and a few self-interested parties." As he writes, the "alarmist theory" that went into the auction didn't pan out.

According to a study of close to 5,700 respondents across all Nielsen Audio PPM markets, nearly 60% of likely PPM panelists listen to radio at work. It's far more than the number of those who predict they wouldn't participate in a Nielsen Audio survey, NuVoodoo Media Services finds.

"Eventually, asking our voice assistant to track down a fact or order more cat food will become a normal, everyday interaction – the same as asking it to dim the lights." That's a conclusion from ReportLinker, which late last week released the findings of a May 4 online survey of 508 respondents. Will asking our Amazon Echo or Google Home device to tune to a specific radio station also become a "normal, everyday interaction"?

Now in their seventh year, the digital upfronts continue to shake up the media and advertising industries. But, the relatively novel concept of online TV audiences is still uncharted territory for most buyers. Many still have questions about how to most effectively allocate dollars across TV and digital media. A June 2012 report from comScore remains relevant, and we've traveled into the RBR+TVBR archives to present it once again for our members.

As a Futuresource Consulting analyst sees it, the smartphone will likely remain the most important personal electronics device for consumers for the foreseeable future. As technology progresses, however, we won't rely on or be limited to the smartphone forever. What could this mean for broadcast media's C-Suite?