By: Victor Caballero, VP/Operations, Listener Driven Radio
Finding ways to make your brand work with an interactive platform is important, especially as media morphs into interactive and on-demand formats.
The most popular trends are arguably, in some way, the interactive evolution of a great predecessor. One social network takes what the previous one did and does itbetter. Clear Channel Media & Entertainment took what online music sources did and integrated the best of those features with iHeartRadio. The support for iHeartRadio has been strong and the vision is a step in the right direction for radio. Hulu asks its viewers which ads they’d like to see, and Ford has branded content programs like “Focus Rally: America”, but it goes beyond getting your brand message in relevant content. It’s about creating a relationship with your consumer, listener or viewer…and getting them to come back time and time again.
Listener Driven Radio has built a team of tech-savvy professionals and veteran broadcast executives to create new andinteractive music platforms for radio. In full disclosure, I work as VP of Programming for LDR; however, my passion for crowdcasting goes beyond my time with the company. I was already a fan of the idea, and before I ever began working in Cleveland I knew without a doubt that LDR was clearly the industry leader. I was fascinated with the idea of getting real-time music research while providing my listeners with an opportunity to be real-time collaborators. Before becoming a part of the team, I thought LDR was a great advertising opportunity and that it gave listeners a unique interactive experience with the radio station.
The interaction with crowdcasting goes beyond voting for the music to play more or less on the radio. It creates a personal two-way conversation between a listener and the station. Imagine how great your listener would feel if you called to say that you were about to play his or her favorite song on the radio. Do you think they would tune in to you? Research says, yes! Listeners are signing up for email, text and Twitter notifications that invite them to listen for their favorite songs. Crowdcasting has givenlisteners a voice, PD’s control, and advertisers the platform they want. Listeners are interacting in more meaningful ways and coming back to radio more often because of it.
Radio has quickly moved from a few adventurous programmers embracing interactive platforms, to everyone in the industry looking for ways to do it better. Whether you use LDR’s crowdcasting technology or come up with your own ways to harness the power of interactive programming, there are fun and exciting ways to grow and win in this space. This is a great time to be in radio, and the freshmen class of radio professionals can provide a great deal of insight on ways to be the best in your market with interactive initiatives. Look within the station walls for peers who demonstrate a passion for interactive media, and be the interactive leaders at your station or in your market.