It was at 9:11am at The Conclave Radio Learning Conference when the question was asked: "Name something your station has done in the last six months that is innovative." When no one responded, I felt a little embarrassed for our business. I reminded myself that this was about learning; and I just learned that radio hasn't been innovative for years. Let's be clear that this is not about the 4 people who were on stage because you could switch the cast with anyone in radio and produce the same non-result.
If you are yelling at your computer right now and saying, "That's not true! Our station did something incredibly innovative last year!" Then click here to book yourself a place on my podcast and tell the world about it.
Radio spends too much time targeting current radio listeners, but no time getting people to listen to the radio. Radio is responsible for both parts of the equation. Over the course of the next year, challenge yourself to use the medium in a way that hasn't been done before - then tell everyone.
On this week's podcast, Perry Michael Simon discusses the lack of innovation in radio and what it's going to take for radio to get there. Also, my good pal Hal Anderson who is the 34th Greatest Canadian of All Time interviews Steve Faguy from the media blog Fagstein about job cuts in Canadian media. The interview was recorded last January for MyToba.ca but remains relevant today.