Radio Needs Outstanding New Approaches – Walter Sabo

Radio needs “new.”

Very few executives seek and put new approaches into action for good reason: New means risk, and risk means the possibility of failure and missed mortgage payments. The other reason “new” is hard to do in radio is that there is no cultural support for innovation. Other industries reward innovation; radio rewards legendary.

Best New Format. The Daytime Emmys give the award for Best New Approaches to an existing format. They recognize and reward the risks essential to change. Radio executives are much better and more effective at evolving existing formats than they are at starting new ones. Ground-breaking work should be formally recognized. A NAB Marconi Radio Award for Best New Format Approaches would be welcome.

New Formats today can’t earn awards because new formats are not on the list. An award that respects “new” would ignite a positive change in radio’s cultural support for innovation.

Best New Engineering Technique or Product. Guglielmo Marconi would have appreciated a reward for new engineering solutions. Today one engineer has to support multiple stations. Software and hardware that makes her work more effective will help take radio from the tower business to the world wide distribution model.

Other logical awards: Best New Sales Technique, Best New Executive.

These awards are not my idea. They were created by the organizations representing other media: publishing, television, Australian broadcasters. Innovative broadcasters should be able to anticipate the sound of applause from their peers rather than the likelihood of a hiss. “Best New” awards would begin to lead radio executives to optimism for the future, and optimism for radio’s future will result in higher station values and greater investment.

Walter Sabo is the Chairman of Sabo Media, a company that offers executive-on-demand services.He has worked on-site to build out new digital content platforms such as Sirius/XM. His team was the first to discover the marketing clout of web stars, Internet organic video producers. They founded OMMA award winning HITVIEWS. The company placed brands such as CBS, TiVo and Mountain Dew inside UGC. In FM broadcasting he is a leader in the profitable sector of FM Talk and held executive positions at NBC and ABC Radio. He can be reached at walter@sabomedia.com.

Read all Walter's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Sabo Strategies.

Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggers.com
Follow our Twitter updates at @MediaBizBlogger

The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggers.com management or associated bloggers. MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries.