ASIA

Selling Radio Direct with Pat BrysonDiscussion has been ongoing for years about whether real, live salespeople will be replaced by mechanized buying systems. Some of those systems are in place, producing some sort of results.Human nature being what it is, a purchase will not take place until the buyer believes that their opportunity for reward is greater than their risk. And that’s where real, live salespeople enter the sales process. Our job with our clients is to reduce risk factors and create value in our campaigns. Other than offering a cheap price, this is something mechanised buying services have a hard time doing.How do we do this? In our presentationWe can reduce risk by adding several sections to our presentations. Testimonials, stories we tell about other successful clients, are golden. Do you have a bank of success stories? Success letters? If not, this should be a priority as we start 2022. Refresh your testimonial file. Every time a client tells you something great about their results, ask for a letter. If they don’t have time to write it, offer to write it yourself, then have them approve it and put it on their letterhead. When showing it to a client, TELL them the story first. Then give them the written proof. Your stories can be much more elaborate than the written page.My clients also use what we call a “logo page”. This page is full of logos of businesses who advertise with us. It’s an impressive group of advertisers.It says to the prospect: “you will be in good company when you advertise with us. Here are some of the businesses who have had great success using us.” Some of my clients also create a “team page.” This page lists internal people at the station who “touch” a client’s order as it passes through our system. It might include the General Manager, Sales Manager, Salesperson, Traffic Director, Production Director, Copywriter, Business Manager, Program Director. You give contact information for each. Here’s how you use it to assure the prospect:“When you become a client of XXXX, you have a team assigned to your account. I will be your primary contact, but in case I might be on holiday or on  a sick day and you need something immediately, we want you to know whom to call.” Then you walk the prospect through the people. This gives them comfort. It also works well when you are a new salesperson without much experience. You are asking for thousands of dollars and the prospect is wondering if you know what you are doing.If you are new in the job you can say to the prospect: “As you know, I am new. But your team has decades of experience. I have consulted with them in putting together your campaign.”Using these risk-reducing elements will help you to close more agreements.Stacking the value involves linking WHAT you are presenting to WHY you are presenting this particular campaign. What are the benefits to this client? Can you explain WHY you have scheduled the messages the way you have? Campaigns are created based on how the mind learns. We don’t just make schedules up. We create them based on the goals and objectives of the client and the scientific principles that facilitate learning. Advertising is education.When next you present, double-check that you have provided enough relevant value and have risk-reducing elements in your solution. Higher revenue awaits! […]

Content from BPRAre your listeners experiencing “genre fatigue”?  What is it? Pop music goes in cycles.  As a new style enters the mainstream it soon becomes over supplied, over represented and over saturated on radio and other media. Too many artists with similar sounding songs leave listeners tired and bored. This leads to the common complaint of lack of music variety.  We see this phenomenon in several ways…
Songs test with low passion … relatively few pop-based montages produce more than 20% “like a lot” scores …  the music is still ‘liked’ but do listeners choose their station simply because they like the songs that they hear?
The exception in the current pop environment is pop-based dance music … this has broad female appeal across most age groups and is one of the few pop-based styles with male appeal…. an interesting side effect of this is that the few pop- rock songs that make it through to the mainstream continue to test well and become durable hits.
Genre fatigue is a symptom of over supply and the desire to follow the current trend … while individual songs test well the audience as a whole complains the songs “sound the same…”
Solutions…
Examine a typical hour of your music scheduler and ask yourself if too many of the songs sound similar. Individual songs may test very well but the collective effect of hearing too many of them in a short period may have a negative effect on your audience.
Highlight songs that introduce an element of variety in your program. The sense of variety comes in many different forms.  Avoid too many titles in a row by male or female artists.  When possible allow for variation in tempo and energy level.
Do not be afraid to move a current hit to a lower rotation category such as “hot recurrent” even if the song is still testing very well after months of airplay.
When a style or trend appears to have reached a saturation point, look for the next trend that may be just starting to emerge. It may be found in a single song.
Highlight trendy songs before they become ubiquitous and can be heard everywhere in your market. The station that introduces a new trend or hit will often get the credit for having brought it to the listener’s attention.
by Peter Don and Andy Beaubien, BPR […]

This week Triple M Breakfast with Marto and Margaux raised $24,000 for UNICEF Australia’s Tongan Recovery Appeal.Tomorrow, the Vintage Reds take on a Tongan Invitational side at Suncorp Stadium – dual International Lote Tuqiri and fan favourite George Smith will feature in the Tongan side coached by Toutai Kefu while Chris Latham, James Horwill, Scott Higginbotham, and David Croft will line up for the Vintage Reds.Marto and Margaux auctioned off a place in the Vintage Reds side.Rob Flux from Property Developer Network was leading the bidding heading into the final stages, keen to resurrect his rugby career. “The body is a bit brittle, I’ve had three or four knee reconstructions, but this is all for a great cause.”But he was blinded by Sam Delvin from Harcourts Property Centre who come in with seconds left in the auction. “My brother was the First IV coach with Toutai Kefu at Ioana last year, so I’ll go to nine grand on the proviso that Toutai (former Wallabies great Toutai Kefu) doesn’t tackle me.”The pair traded bids until coming to a gentlemen’s agreement to EACH buy a place in the team for $12,000.The duo will take to the field with some of the greats of Australian rugby including Lote Tiquri, Digby Ioane, George Smith, James Horwill, Drew Mitchell, and Nathan Sharpe.Red’s coach and Dual International Brad Thorn also revealed exclusively to Marto and Margaux that he will be taking part in the game. “I always take my boots and mouthguard,” Thorn said. “I’ll play the first half of the match and then put my coach’s hat on for the Reds game against the Rebels.” […]

Astro Radio’s SYOK was awarded the ‘Most Number of Radio Channels on a Mobile Application’ by the Malaysia Book of Records, in recognition of the simultaneous launch of 60 online radio stations on the SYOK app.The award was presented to Kenny Ong, Chief Executive Officer, Astro Radio by Jwan Heah, Director, Business Development, Malaysia Book of Records.With an average of 3.18 million of digital listeners weekly on SYOK, the 60 online radio stations offer users extensive variety and compilations of music, and a Chinese news channel ‘YOU-NEIRONG’ for the latest news and current affairs updates.The stations on SYOK enable users to stream their favourite music genres and categories across languages including ballads, classics, acoustic music, dance music, workout music, K-pop, hip-hop, favourites from the 70s, 80s and 90s, rock, Jiwang, Cintan, Nasyid, Arabic, Bollywood songs, Irama Malaysia, Dangdut and more.Kenny Ong, Chief Executive Officer, Astro Radio, said: “We thank all Malaysians for their support and look forward to continue being pioneers in transforming the local audio landscape. We hope everyone enjoys the diverse and relevant online radio choices available on SYOK and look forward to more exciting offerings in time to come.”Jwan Heah, Director, Business Development, Malaysia Book of Records, said: “We congratulate SYOK for this achievement and we look forward to continue recognising more record creators locally for their feats, achievements and creations in the Malaysian landscape.” […]

The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has renewed the appointment of Ahmed Quamruzzaman as the Director General of national broadcaster Bangladesh Betar from February 7. Earlier, he served as the Director General (Grade-I) of Bangladesh Betar from January 11, 2021 to December 30, 2021.Kamruzzaman started his career by joining the broadcaster in April 1986 as Assistant Radio Engineer under BCS Information Cadre and went on to work in various important departments including radio engineering and broadcasting sections.In October 2014, he took the charge of Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Betar.According to a release by the broadcaster, during his long 36 years radio career, his efficiency, ‍skills and speculation have made Bangladesh Betar a modern broadcasting media that competes with private FM radios and the international broadcasting media.He has launched FM broadcasting channels of Bangladesh Betar across the country and under his leadership, Bangladesh Betar is now broadcasting through Bangabandhu Satellite, online streaming and mobile apps. […]

ABC managing director David Anderson told a Senate Committee hearing last night that public broadcasters in the Pacific have raised concerns about Chinese government pressure to carry state-owned news content.The ABC is lobbying to expand its operations in the Pacific and play a greater “soft diplomacy” role, as China increases its influence in the region. Across the Pacific there are many infrastructure projects funded by China that give it leverage in many areas, including broadcasting.The national broadcaster ended its shortwave Radio Australia transmissions in 2017 under managing director Michelle Guthrie, amidst warnings that shortwave radio was still important and that other countries would extend their influence in the Pacific in the absence of ABC Radio Australia signals on shortwave. In 2018, China extended its shortwave broadcasts into the region on the vacated ABC frequencies.“For the ABC to have an expanded presence there is important, particularly with concerns, frankly, over the Chinese government,” Anderson told the Senate Committee. “The single biggest piece of information that comes back to us from them is concern over the pressure the Chinese government put on them to carry content to broadcast through the Pacific.”The ABC also previously broadcast tv news bulletins into 46 nations including Indonesia and Papua New Guinea through the DFAT funded Australia TV Network, which was closed in 2014 after federal budget cuts. Chinese President Xi Jinping has expanded the state-owned China Global Television Network in recent years, to “make the voice of China heard.”The ABC continues to broadcast in the Pacific region, but at a smaller scale than in previous years.The ABC is currently lobbying the federal government for an additional $12 million to support the expansion of broadcast services to the region again.In his opening statement to the Senate Estimates Committee, David Anderson also outlined the success of the national broadcaster in several areas:“The ABC is the leading Australian radio network with the highest reach and share of listening.“ABC News finished 2021 as the number one digital news brand in Australia with more than 63% of Australians connected with ABC News platforms.“ABC iview was the number one Broadcast Video on Demand Service.“Importantly, 78% of Australians trusted the information provided by the ABC, which is significantly higher than all other media institutions and information providers… In its 90th year the ABC is more relevant to Australians than ever…” […]