The Blog According to Buzz

The Canadian Newspaper Association is meeting in Toronto this week. To jive with the annual conference, the CNA is placing ads in their properties blowing their own horn with the following campaign and a “Know better. Newspapers.” tagline.

Okay, so 16 million Canadians a week read a newspaper. Woah -that’s a lot of paper getting used once, or twice and getting tossed - isnt it?

Enviromental concerns aside, I’ve got to think the CNA is starting to wise up to the reality that newspapers are in trouble. And they’re scared as hell.

SMALLER IS BETTER

For the record, I dont think newspapers are totally doomed. I mean, movie theatres didnt go out of business after the advent of the VCR. But just as music companies, radio stations, tv networks and other “old” media companies face new challenges in an internet world they’ve been slow to harness, newspapers are feeling the pinch.

Newspapers, especially the small dailies like 24hrs, can carve out a niche in our busy lifestyle. They fit in your pocket, and give you all the news you can read on a bus ride. Big, thick juicy newspapers that are hundreds of pages, are the ones that are really in trouble. Most of the stories are cut and pasted from news service websites, much of the content is syndicated and repeated across multiple platforms - including the internet.

WHAT DOT COM BUBBLE?

It’s the web that’s squeezing papers, just have a read of Jeff Jarvis‘ column on a weekly basis. He’s constantly ringing the death bell for large print operations.

The public is online, the new means of gathering and sharing news is online, the medium is more efficient and cheaper to run, the old business model is shot. [source]

Much of the advertising that is still in newspapers will vaporize. Much of it already has vaporized. Papers in top markets are down tens upon tens of millions of dollars each in classified revenue that has disappeared. Those former advertisers are using free or near-free substitudes to bring in and serve customers: craigslist, real estate agents’ own sites, car dealers’ own sites, and other new competitors. [source]

Those in Silicon Valley are licking their lips, waiting for the beast to die and dig in to the estimated $42B ad carcass that will be left rotting in the sun.

After another jarring 3.5% decline over the past six months, print-paper circulation will drop to about 50 million this year–the lowest level since 1946 (62 years ago). That’s during a period in which the US population has doubled, meaning that per-capita newspaper consumption has been cut in half. [source]

And internet usage, the place where people are going to get their news, and the place where the ad revenue will follow, is not slowing down, either. Here are stats from 2 1/2 years ago.

94 percent of young people access the Internet from home, with students as early as Grade 4 beginning to rely on the Internet to stay connected to friends and explore social roles. [source]

That’s a generation that in another 10 years will have as much use for a newspaper as they have for a VCR.

RADIO’S AT IT TOO

The CNA is not alone in making a useless effort to try and revitalize their industry in the eyes of the public. The National Association of Broadcasters unveiled a campaign to promote radio listening at their convention last month.

Complete with retro lightning bolts, it was mostly laughed at.

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?

Here’s the deal - instead of wasting dollars promoting your current broken business models, spend some time and energy to figure out new ways to do things.

Add more content to your websites. Turn yourdailynewspaper.com into THE portal for local news.

Give me updates throughout the day, don’t make me wait to read a cut and paste syndicated piece the next morning.

While you’re at it, lighten the load of your paper, toss the classifieds and stock quotes, and give me something I can read cover-to-cover in 20 minutes.

Want to take it one step further? Stop printing your paper altogether and just put it on the web. That’s what a newspaper in Wisconsin did.

Cmon newspapers, you should “know better.”

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

Radio Perez starts Monday on 95Crave.

You can hear fresh reports twice a day, 6:15a with Nat and Drew and 5:15p with me.

Check out his chat with Nat and Drew this morning announcing the arrival of the Queen of All Media.

 

 perez launches radio perez with nat and drew [3:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I like that Home Depot has free classes to show you how to do things. Install a toilet, build an interior wall, roof a shed. The slogan is “You Can Do It, We Can Help” and they live up to it.

They’ve got all the gear, they want to show you how to do stuff so you can buy the gear there.

With the weather turning, and our mud pit of a backyard starting to dry up, Jen and I are rolling up our sleeves and getting it fixed up this spring. New lawn, new plants, new gardens, new deck.

Guess what Home Depot has in their big flyer this weekend? Decking materials on sale, and classes on how to use said decking material.

We’re going to the Build a Deck class on Saturday morning at 9. Check out the site for a calendar of other classes being offered.

This type of marketing is brilliant. You have a product, you educate people, for free, on how to use it. You gain some good will and they come back to buy their supplies from you with their new confidence and knowledge.

Imagine if grocery stores did the same thing. They have all the supplies, why not have free cooking classes?

Computer stores could do it too. How many people know how to get the most from their computer or software? Why not offer free, simple, basic classes?

Arm your customers with education and they’ll know more to be able to buy more.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I’m listening to a presentation from Mark Ramsey right now. He’s talking about the challenges radio faces in a digital age, the way advertising is going to change and how radio needs to rethink.

He just dropped one of the best lines ever: “Radio is like smoking, you’ve got to start them young.”

It’s true. So many people ignore the 12-18 demo. Top 40 radio gets ‘em “for free,” the whole while trying to target adults. You never want to be seen as a “kid station,” because the lucrative adult market will tune out.

But guess what? Those teens grow up and become 18-24, then 25-34… That’s how Z became a big fat beast of a radio station back in the day. That’s how I’ve managed to stay on 95.3 for nearly 15 years. I’ve grown as the radio station has grown. We were an energetic Top 40 station in the beginning, and we still are, but with an adult focus and a demographic people who have grown in life right alongside me.

When you look at overall tuning numbers for radio, teen listening is down. They’re listening to online radio, iPods, or playing video games.

So, in the future, that means adult listening will be down. In order to survive, radio needs to get younger. It needs to be able to quickly adapt to technology and the demand of an audience to have what it wants when it wants it.

It’s a big challenge. If you’re a radio nerd, check out the presentation.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

… sort of…

One of the things I’m excited about is the way old media can use new technology to better serve their audiences. I’ve been critical of the way print does it in the past, I’ve celebrated the way television has moved to adapt, and today half-kudos to the print gang.

The New York Times, when it first came online, had a subscription model. You had to pay to get the content. It didnt work.

Vivian Schiller, Senior VP and General Manager of the NYTimes.com attributes a significant part of the increase to the end of the subscription model called Times Select. Fueling the growth, she also cites popular multimedia features, blogs and a successful search maximization strategy. Way ahead as destination for newspapers, Schiller says the paper is heading to compete with news portals and cable television sites. [source]

Recently they have opened up their entire paper to the internet and you can scan stories and archives for free. They’ve also taken the power of the web and used it to enhance their print content. Often you will see stories in the paper and then given a chance to watch or listen to complete interviews that were used to write the story. The paper also produces unique content you can only find on the web. The Times has grown beyond being a “newspaper” to becoming a full and complete multimedia company using all their resources to seed content online.

It’s a bold and brilliant step.

Other newspapers have seen the success and are making strides to do the same. The Vancouver Sun, for example, now has an RSS feed not only linking to stories, but giving you a rundown of the events of the day and other articles coming in the days ahead. The feed is impossible to find on their front page, so just type “vancouver sun” into Google Reader to get it.

They’ve also taken the leap of adding multimedia on their site, but you’ll have to do some work to find it. Here’s a direct cut and paste from today’s RSS Feed.

Today @ vancouversun.com
Vancouver Sun
Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008

Read Iain MacIntyre’s take on new Canucks GM Mike Gillis and hear excerpts from his interview under “Editor’s Picks.”

See a video and a narrated slide show of Sun writer Ian Walker’s botched bid to become a jockey.

Hear Christy Clark interview Landcor Data Corp.’s Rudy Nielsen about myths and realities in B.C.’s real estate market.

Hear Westcoast Homes editor Mike Sasges narrate a slide show on Morningstar Homes. [source]

Not one hyper link in the bunch. They simply took the text from the paper and put it in their template, nothing to make it web friendly at all. That’s the rub. I’m on the website and would like to see the slide show of Ian Walker. Instantly. Instead, I have to hunt and peck through the disastrous number of menus surrounding the page to find the link.

The Sun gets marks for trying. They’re just not quite there - yet.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

When the VCR came out, the forecasters said Hollywood was dead. Why would we go to the movies, when we can watch them at home?

Well, 20 years on, we’re still going to the movies. Actually, box office records are being set. Even with the advent of big screen tvs, and home theatre sound, and high definition quality, we’re still going to the movies. Yes, internet piracy cuts into the bottom line a bit, but it’s the personality of the place is what we love. The smells, the tastes, the big comfy chairs. So we go back.

Many thought satellite radio would kill the traditional broadcast model when it was launched. Hundreds of channels, continent wide, no commercials? That will kill the local morning zoo for certain, but it hasn’t. In fact it’s struggled. Long haul truckers and those in remote regions are fans of the service, but in the big cities, radio is doing fine.

But with one hypothetical press announcement this week, it could all change. Hollywood weathered the VCR, but can radio make it past the iPod?

Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices.

The “all you can eat” model, a replica of Nokia’s “comes with music” deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apple’s hardware. [SOURCE]

All your music whenever you want - for “free”? Wait, isn’t that what radio does?

No.

As one chain is famous for boasting, radio plays “what we want.” As in, the station, not the listeners. If you feel like Jack Johnson, your iPod can do that now, the radio might have a format that’s “like” Jack Johnson, but they’re not playing him right now.

Want some Ella? Well, the standards smooth jazz station might be playing Ella this morning, then again, they might be in their John Tesh, Kenny G megamix hour.

Radio can’t win this fight on music alone. Once the WiFi abilities of the iPod Touch and iPhone are more widespread across the platform, you won’t even have to wait to sync your iPod at home to get your music. If you want to have a Megadeth marathon while waiting in line at Starbucks, you can get it with a few clicks.

This idea, if it happens, could effectively nail the coffin shut on radio. If more manufacturers put plugs in cars to attach iPods, all music radio could be obsolete within a decade.

Which should not be taken as a eulogy, but rather as a challenge to step up the personality on the air - an iPod may have all the music ever made, but it has ZERO personality.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I’ve never really understood the union movement. To be honest, I think it rewards longevity over initiative. If you’ve been punching the clock the longest, you’re in line for the promotion, regardless of how slack your work ethic has become. And if you do get lazy, good luck getting fired, because it will get grieved and nothing will happen.

We all get complacent and comfortable in our jobs. Look at the Canucks. Who puts in more effort Ryan Shannon or Markus Naslund? Ryan is at the bottom, fighting to keep his spot, while Nazzy’s been doing it for 15 years, has millions in the bank and can get by without “really trying.”

I get why unions came into existence, but I think in 2008, they stifle innovation and creativity.

Actually, you don’t have to be in a union to have that happen. The way of the webbed world is passing many a media veteran by, and those who understand how to work in this new media are quickly replacing those who were more comfortable editing their copy on an Underwood than with Google Docs.

After 32 years of writing sports for the San Berdardino Sun, Paul Oberjuerge was let go. And instead of bitching and moaning and whining …. Okay, there is a bit of bitching and whining and bitterness in his original list, I’ve cut it down to the stuff I think is relevant.

Embrace the web. It’s going to be extra work, and you’re going to be on your own 24-hour news/opinion cycle. But that’s how it is; you can rest up when you’re dead. Management is keenly aware of the foot-draggers on this front.

Don’t wait to be ordered to “serve other platforms” of the paper. Volunteer. Blog. Post photos. Consider video. Offer podcasts. Do web-only quick-and-dirty news stories. You’re a multi-media machine now!

Go to staff meetings. Speak up. Volunteer ideas.

Produce. This is no time to coast. This is no time to insist you have more time to work on a story. Even at the metros. Get your byline in the newspaper at every opportunity. Like, daily.

Achieve excellence. Five years ago I would have listed this first. Now, it barely makes the list. Competence is a defense, but it no longer is first, second, third or ninth. But, all things being equal, if the cut is between you and someone else who is just as fat and bitchy as you are … the person who is better at their job will survive. (Till next time.)

I’ve been on about how radio needs to change the way it thinks and approaches new media. Right now those in print are feeling the pinch, radio could will be next.

Those tips were written by a print guy trying to tell other print guys how to diversify and save their ass. He could also have been writing it for everyone in radio on how to save the industry.

If you’re on air, and not doing the things above, you’re not just hurting your career, you’re hurting the industry. We need people to take initiative, have fresh ideas, and new ways of thinking.

Punching the clock simply won’t cut it anymore.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

Lately I’ve been obsessed about how radio can do things better.

I think we offer great a great product, provide a necessary service, but the way it’s marketed and is moving into the future could use a shake up.

Enter Seth.

Back in 1996, Z95.3 was the first radio station in Canada to get a website. For over a decade we’ve been online, but we’ve not really done anything with it. At a recent music conference, programmers from across the country were talking about strategies for the internet etc.

“As the web evolves, it’s becoming more and more obvious all the time that this is a whole new medium.”

That’s the problem right there - it’s 2008, and we are, just now, planning for this “new medium.”

Radio has been online for almost 12 years, with no direction. Stations have websites cause they know how to make them, and think they should have one. But there’s no true strategy about how to make it work to enhance the brand, generate revenue and build listenership.

Check out the website for this wine store by someone who truly understands how to mix this “new medium” with an old business.

I’ll have some ideas on how radio can get it right coming soon.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

Last week I lamented how mainstream media was lagging behind the online world when it comes to getting news to the audience when it happens.

Today, CTV got it’s ducks in a row with the launch of ctvbc.ca.

They even quoted some of the things I was highlighting in last week’s post. For example, as footage of a story is coming in and being compiled for the 6p news, it’s being put on the website. Special feature stories are broken out of the newscast and archived individually on the site.

It’s all about time shifting. We, as an audience, want to know what happens when it happens, and we want the ability to be able to go back and get it if we missed it.

The Province has stepped up a bit too, with more frequent and timely updates to their website and The Newsroom feature. Unfortunately, it’s still lacking a convenient RSS feed for the site. Click on the “Have The Headlines Come to You” tag on the left side of their page, and you get an explanation of how RSS works (posted last July) but no usable link.

Their blog roster has also been chopped from what was a huge list with few updates, to a more manageable dozen and a half that actually have content.

I’m not going to take credit for any of the above, but I will say “I told you so.”

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

I write for a local newspaper, 24hrs, and a local magazine, Vancouver View.

The odd thing is, I don’t really read newspapers or magazines, I get most of what I need to know from the web.

Now that model doesn’t work for everyone, I get that, so I believe there is a place for print in our world - but that place is getting smaller.

SOME WORK, MOST DON’T

Free dailies, like 24hrs, are brilliant. They are tightly packaged commuter papers. You get the headlines, some features and basically just enough information to be able to read the whole thing cover to cover before you get to your stop.

It’s the big newspapers that are feeling the pinch. In the US, newsrooms are laying off staff as circulations shrink and revenues plummet. Craigslist’s free service is sucking the revenue out of the Classifieds, while the web is getting people their information as it happens, not a day or two later.

But there is a way for big daily newspapers to become relevant again. They have the staff, they have the resources, they have the content - they’re just not using it properly.
(more…)