Reasons To Be Cheerful, Part 2022

Would it be out of character for me to be optimistic? Because that's where I'm heading today, for my occasional Let's Look At The Bright Side column, which I haven't actually done since (checks archive) 2013. 2013? Huh. Fans of Grumpy Whiny Me, please bear with me.

This time, it was a panel at the BSM Summit that triggered good thoughts, even though it was nothing I haven't been saying for decades. The panelists were all top executives in sports radio, and it was an enthusiastically optimistic comment by Fox Sports Radio's Don Martin that fueled the positive thoughts I'm having right now: He noted that "this is the best time to be in this business" with all of the platforms available for content.

Well, yes. If you look at what we all do as just making radio shows for radio stations, things can look, if not dire, at least stagnant. Same old same old, no real growth. If you look at things on a (JARGON ALERT) macro level, it's amazing: you can do practically anything and there's a way to get it to audiences and there are ways to monetize it.

But, you say, how can we monetize it? More optimism: Have you noticed how non-radio companies are now in the content game? How sports betting companies are doing huge deals to sign up radio hosts and TV sports analysts to create online and even radio content for them? How branded-content podcasts with legitimate, non-infomercial entertainment are proliferating? How Spotify and SiriusXM have gone all-in on spoken word? If you're concentrating on the traditional media companies' reaction to the influx of new platforms, you're missing how many new entrants are coming in as well, and how many of them are companies you wouldn't think of as media companies. You expected audio content from iHeartMedia and Audacy. You didn't expect it from DraftKings, FanDuel, Trader Joe's, GE, Ben & Jerry, and Netflix. You didn't expect it from people of whom you've never heard, attracting massive audiences on YouTube, TikTok, and podcasts.

Yet here we are. And, as I've told you before, it's necessary to think of your business as more than just radio, more than just podcasting. Everything changed, and change can be a scary thing, but with change comes opportunity. It also means that, creatively, you can do anything you want to do. You are not constrained to the rules of radio. Sure, you can still do radio the way you've always done radio. You can also do visual things, because you can do video. You can stick to formatics or go completely free-form. You can do regular ads, host-read ads, sponsorships, or no ads at all. You can sell subscriptions or take donations or give everything away. You can do things in different languages, for different audiences. You can go local or national or international. You can talk about even the most obscure and specialized topics. You can even do what Dan Le Batard's show did and create a musical, a literal, original musical, about the Super Bowl. The question isn't why, it's why not, and the answer is that if you want to do it, there's nothing stopping you.

Why WOULDN'T you be optimistic about that? Why wouldn't you look at the wide open business as opportunity rather than trouble? If you own station licenses, you might be concerned that their value will crater with unlimited competition, but that's already happened, and most of you don't own stations. Moreover, while they're still saddled with enormous debt, the big broadcasting companies have managed to survive thus far, and they're among many companies investing in new content, just not the same content as before: If you're a music jock, things aren't great, but if you're more than that, if you're creating stuff that isn't dependent on playing the hits, there are more places for you to go, more ways to do things yourself, more opportunities, limited only by your imagination.

So, yeah, optimism. There'll be plenty of time to complain, plenty of time to address the speed bumps. Right now, I'm opting to look on the bright side. The best, I'm hoping, is yet to come.

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And the best needs material to be its best, so don't forget to check All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics show prep page, where we admit that "best" might be relative, but, ah, whatever, just go there. Find it by clicking here, and you can also follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics and find every story individually linked to the appropriate item.

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Oh, hey, we're going to be talking about the present and future of spoken word audio at the All Access Audio Summit April 20-21, and the agenda's been released, so check it out and register. For my session, instead of a panel, I'll be spending ten minutes each with people who'll have plenty to say about where we're going: KFI/Los Angeles' Robin Bertolucci on the talk format, WFAN/New York's Spike Eskin on sports (we'll try to keep Sixers talk to a minimum), Media Matters for America's Angelo Carusone to take on conservative talk radio's future, and one more I'll be revealing shortly to talk about the state of podcasting. It'll be unlike the usual convention panel, and it'll all be online, no travel necessary. Sign up now. This should be fun....

Perry Michael Simon
Senior Vice President/Editor-in-Chief and News-Talk-Sports-Podcasting Editor
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
Twitter @pmsimon