Futuri Mobile Blog Archives

9 Reasons We’re Thankful for Radio

November 25, 2020/0 Comments/in Futuri Fundamentals /by Mia Cross

As radio turns 100 this year, we’re more thankful for the role it plays in our lives than ever. Here are nine (of the many!) ways we’re thankful for radio today. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Radio brings local communities together.

Radio brands know their audiences so very well. The local news, sports, health information, promotions, and more that they deliver on-air, on socials, on their websites, and in their podcasts play a vital role in their communities.

Radio is free, 24/7, 365.

One constant over radio’s 100 years: Listeners can access local radio content at no cost to them. Paywalled or subscription content is interesting and appeals to many, but having the core radio product remain free and available to all without requiring expensive devices is one of the many reasons radio has remained important to the communities it serves.

Radio doesn’t go offline or require wifi.

Other than the rare and brief moments of dreaded dead air, radio is always there for you. When the power goes out, radio is still there. When the internet goes down, radio is still there. When your device isn’t working, radio is still on the air.

Radio provides choices — but not an overwhelming number of choices.

Over time, one cultivates their group of presets or go-to radio brands that they rotate through as their mood or situation changes. You don’t need to scroll through 1,000 stations or put the work into cultivating a playlist. Radio brands work hard to provide content their listeners want to

Radio creates memories.

Think about the heritage brands you grew up listening to. Chances are that you have memories of those brands that are like comfort food for the brain that simply can’t be replaced or recreated with another medium. Many of today’s radio brands are embracing digital methods to create those same types of memories with younger audiences.

Radio highlights local businesses.

Local advertisers + great copy and production = yet another way radio plays a unique, irreplaceable role in its communities.

Radio keeps you in the know.

No other medium can match the speed, accuracy, and trustworthiness of radio brands when it comes to delivering the big news you want to know about. Whether it’s updates on your favorite local sports teams, weather alerts, bad traffic alerts, celebrity life events, or any number of other topics, you’ll frequently hear it first from a station’s broadcast or mobile app notification. Futuri partners WSB in Atlanta and KRMG in Tulsa are two brands that do this particularly well.

Radio personalities are like trusted friends.

You come to look forward to your favorite personalities’ takes on what’s happening in the world just about every day. Personalities that are great about maintaining an ongoing relationship with their audience make their key content available on-demand for those days when you just can’t listen live, or go deeper with original podcast content. Some of our favorites are The Dave Ryan Show on 101.3 KDWB in Minneapolis, Greg & The Morning Buzz on Rock 101 WGIR-FM in Manchester and 100.3 WHEB in Portsmouth, and Dave & Chuck the Freak on 101 WRIF in Detroit.

Radio is made up of incredible people in front of and behind the mic.

While personalities play a big role in what makes radio special, there are so many passionate people working in all aspects of the business. From Programming to Sales to Production to Marketing to Traffic to Digital and more, radio professionals are a truly special breed.

Sayonara, ‘Caller 9.’ Are You Selling Your Station Short with Old-School Contesting?

September 10, 2020/0 Comments/in Resources /by

By Scott Lindy, Futuri Partner Success Team

Hi, you’re caller six, try again.

Hi, you’re caller seven, try again.

Hi, you’re caller eight, try again.

(Deep breath.)

Hi, you’re caller nine! What’s your name and where are you calling from?

It’s radio’s contesting Groundhog’s Day. Been there? Still there?

Although fading from the radio landscape, caller nine contests continue to be the go-to contest method for many stations. Too many. A shift to ‘text to win’ started happening in recent years, which does make things easier for the station and for listeners who play — but at what cost to the rest of the audience?

Smart Program Directors understand why contesting is important: it’s an incentive to listen, much in the same way Nielsen incentivizes diary keepers and to a much larger extent, PPM Panelists. The more savvy PD’s know that contests are also a brand-building opportunity and can help build a database of loyal listeners.

And then, there’s the rare air of radio contest creation.

Listener: “I love listening to that contest on your station!”

DJ: “Do you ever call in so you can play?”

Listener: “No, I just like to play along and hear what happens at the end.”

These are the contests that create a moment in time designed to entertain and engage the entire audience, especially the ones who love your brand but will most likely never play your contests. (BTW, that’s usually north of 90% of your total audience.) They create tension and the need for closure. They make listeners stick around when they’re teased. They pay off for everyone.

Creating a contest that triggers those coveted ‘lean in moments’ comes from the combination of a prize that shows you truly understand your target’s life and your wild imagination. (Or re-imagining a clever contest you may have heard on another station. Amateurs borrow, professionals steal!) Yet, it was a technology that moved radio contesting from unanswered calls and busy signals to a quick text entry resulting in a polite but unmoving opt-in reply. Hardly innovative and emotionally hollow.

Enter the station mobile app. The ever-evolving personal technology sitting in the palm of your listener’s hand. The digital lever to dispatch contest moments that increase tune in, one on one listener engagement, database building, and revenue opportunities all while showcasing your creativity and differentiating your brand image. The technical basics of mobile app contesting include:

Flash Contesting: Push notifications that share info for short-duration contests. (Pro tip: The vast majority of Flash Contest entries happen in the first few minutes no matter how long you leave the contest open.)

In-App Notifications: Contest info seen only when users open the app. Promote them on air or use for surprise and delight.

The contest info shared can set appointments, drive tune-in, offer contest entry in the app, direct link listeners to your web, socials, or even a physical location.

That’s just the technology. The memorable engagement and entertainment happen when your imagination combines with your app’s capabilities. Consider these examples:

Drive downloads, curiosity, and tune in:

‘In 25 minutes, we’re going to ask one question about the video clip you’ll see when you open our app. Oh and a warning: If you’re around people when you watch the video, turn the sound down.’

Give listeners an insider’s edge:

‘The 7:30 Thousand Dollar Minute just got easier. Correctly answer ten questions in sixty seconds and win a grand! Open our mobile app now and get the answers to today’s last two questions.’

Contests that put listeners on the air:

‘Wanna crank up the AC for free? Record the sweltering forecast we’ve posted on the Open Mic page in our mobile app, then listen at :20 after all day. If you hear your forecast call us back and we’ll pay your power bill.’

When you combine audio, video, user-created content, your creative contesting design, well-authored push and in-app notifications, a user-friendly experience, and consistent on-air promotion, your mobile app will become a highly powerful component of your digital engagement strategy. The importance of learning and understanding what’s possible with a dedicated station mobile app has transitioned from being just a ‘cool extra’ to a critical element of your station’s success. When it comes to your app, whether you want to get better or just get started, reach out anytime. We love this stuff, and I assure you, we at Futuri can help.

The 5 Ways You’re Missing Out Without A Station Mobile App

August 25, 2020/0 Comments/in Resources /by

By Scott Lindy, Futuri Partner Success Team

We’re all aware of the massive increase in the percentage of people working from their homes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. What you may have missed, is the recent Nielsen data that shows that adult consumers aged 18+ streaming audio on smartphones increased from 50% every week in Q1 of 2019 to 64% in Q2 of 2020. Of course, that data counts podcasting as well as broadcast radio.

What that data doesn’t take into account is radio stations without their own mobile app. We know that a listener can get to your website via mobile phone or web browser to stream your station, and your stream might be available on an aggregator. But hey, if they’re willing to work that hard to hear your content on their mobile phone, why not give them that and more with a station-branded mobile app?

Without a station mobile app, here’s just some of what you’re missing besides the opportunity to get your audio streaming into the hands of listeners.

Getting Your Brand Into Connected Cars
Yeah, it’s a brave new world created by Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Although many consumers are unfamiliar with how a mobile app works in a connected car, if they have one, user adoption has started. The race is on! Your listeners’ acceptance and growth of these platforms will only grow and move faster in the coming months and years. If your mobile app can’t get your brand and content onto connected car screens right now, be prepared to play catch up for a long time. Your station’s image grows when you’re able to promote your app’s availability for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto — don’t forget about the real estate your brand gets on the connected dash when you have your own app! — but it’s also critical to remember that this is a new tech space for users. Hold their hand and make it easy for them to launch your app in their car. Creating fun videos and graphics with simple to follow instructions that listeners can easily find on your app is a must. Can your app do that? It should.

Mobile Access to On-Demand Audio and Podcasts
Recent industry studies show that nearly two-thirds of all on-demand audio is listened to on a mobile device. That means radio personalities who regularly create podcasts could possibly achieve their full potential of reach and growth by making their episodes available on major platforms like Apple Podcasts or Spotify but at what cost to your station’s brand? Your station’s mobile app should be the single most promoted destination and point of access for the on-demand audio you generate. In this case, no station app equals diminishing brand awareness amongst podcast listeners. A trend difficult to reverse.

Mobile Data!
Usage of mobile devices is far different and usually more frequent than desktop and laptop computers. Tracking your users most frequently used features in your app allows you to shape your strategy for how you’ll generate and promote in-app content and provide data to clients for premium advertising spaces. Tracking everything from pre-roll video views, notification click-throughs and contest entries to on-demand plays, custom features and exclusive ‘in-app only’ content is just the beginning of understanding what your station’s fans like about your app and how you can get yours in front of a bigger audience with the right message.

Generating Revenue
You’re giving up revenue streams that continue to grow at a record pace by not offering mobile streaming audio and video pre-roll. With a mobile app, you can easily display advertising within your apps’ most frequented pages and features, and you can sell naming rights to different sections, and/or the app itself. Mobile advertising assets for a client can also include on-air mentions, website presence, and social media posts. But wait, there’s more! Think of the advertising opportunities made possible within app-exclusive content like exclusive on-demand audio, push notifications, weather alerts, app only contesting, and in-app alerts. Without a mobile app, your station leaves significant listener engagement opportunities on the table and the revenue that goes with it. Bonus: you keep 100% of the revenue you generate.

Going Beyond Your Music Stream With Cool App Features
If there’s anything we can all relate to, it’s those three or four apps we find ourselves using more than the others. When your radio station has a mobile app, you have the opportunity to build a digital bridge that stretches the palm of your fan’s hands to the personalities and music they love on your station. There’s a growing number of things you can only do with a mobile app to build connections with your fans. Features like Futuri Mobile’s Open Mic, which lets users record and share their voices on the air. In-app Flash Contesting from Futuri Mobile was created just for mobile users — say goodbye to caller 9 contests, which are a terrible experience for everyone except caller 9! Push notifications that speak to the targeted content you know your listeners want like weather and traffic alerts, new music about to play on the air, exclusive interviews only available (or available first) in the app. Whatever your listeners love the most about your station can become bigger and more personal to your fans when you use mobile app features in ways only your brand’s creative team can dream up.

No station app means diminishing brand awareness among podcast listeners — and that’s a trend difficult to reverse. Get started now, with Futuri Mobile, by filling out the form below.

TopLine Webinar: Succeeding Through the Back Half of the Year

June 9, 2020/0 Comments/in Events /by kara

Just because Q2 has been rough doesn’t mean you can’t hit your 2020 sales goals. TopLine has put together a webinar featuring some of the most creative and successful radio sales executives from around the country to discuss their approach on topics like:

Today’s new pain points and how they’re addressing them.
What new and emerging categories they’re seeing.
How, or if, they’re planning to continue a WFH (or hybrid) model for their teams.
Team coaching strategies: How they’ve evolved in the last few months.

Moderated by TopLine’s Sophie Fry and AJ Vaughan, Succeeding Through the Back Half of the Year is can’t-miss programming for sales executives who are determined to succeed in the new normal. While this live webinar has already taken place, you are welcome to request access to the on-demand webinar for either session by reaching out to us. Here’s to turning things around and turning 2020 into a success!

Session 1

Panelists:

Mary Rogers, Entercom, Dallas
Jaleigh Long, CMG Atlanta
Paul Blake, Beasley Philadelphia

Session 2

Steve Sinicropi, Entercom Greenville
Kevin Proescher, Cumulus Stockton-Modesto
Jimmy Farrell, CMG Jacksonville
Annette Geiser, iHeartMedia Colorado Springs

These webinars have already taken place. Fill out the form below to request access to these webinars on-demand.

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Webinar: Programming During a Pandemic: How to Defend and Grow Your Audience

March 27, 2020/in Events /by Lynn

The coronavirus pandemic has implications for ratings, digital programming, and even your target listener profile — it’s bigger than the shift to working and broadcasting from home. As overwhelming as it all may seem, there is opportunity in the midst of this chaos. This 30-minute webinar, presented by Futuri Media’s Scott Lindy and Charlie Maxx, explores specific, actionable ways that you can defend and grow your audience today while setting yourself up for growth and success in the post-pandemic world.

This webinar has already taken place. If you’re interested in accessing this content, please fill out the form below.

Futuri Media and the University of Florida Present Major Research Study at CRS 2020.

February 21, 2020/in Events, Industry News, Tech Trends, Uncategorized /by Lynn

The final day of CRS 2020 featured the presentation Defending Your Audience Share: Exclusive Research Findings, the results of a major study conducted by Futuri Media and the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

The study was conducted in January 2020 and surveyed nearly 1,400 people who named country as their favorite music format out of a list of seven options. It also broke out those who listen to AM/FM country radio (both terrestrial and streaming), and those who listen to country music but not via AM/FM country radio.

Presented by Daniel Anstandig, Futuri Media’s CEO, and Rob Harder, Director of Programming / Brand Manager for the University of Florida radio properties, the study aimed to answer three questions facing country radio today:

How do we defend our country audience and revenue share?
How should we extend our country content onto new platforms?
How will we transcend our challenges as the country competition landscape changes?

Key findings from the study can be found at futurimedia.com/CRS2020. Among the findings:

76% of AM/FM country listeners would prefer more video content from their favorite country radio station.
Country radio listeners are tuning in to nearly the same amount of AM/FM radio as in the past, but 23% plan to listen to more country radio streaming in the next three months.
Women 18-34 who listen to broadcast radio tend to be more active on social media than streaming listeners. Throughout the study, data shows that country stations should have a social strategy that targets country fans, especially younger females, with sticky and recyclable content.
Country listeners who have listened to a podcast in the last month name music as their favorite podcast topic genre. This number is 30%; the next highest topic genre is news/politics at 11%. Country radio station are great at talking about music; this presents an excellent time-shifted and original podcast content opportunity.
Quality station-specific mobile apps present a major engagement opportunity. Younger listeners are more likely to install them, and they’re an opportunity for more connected car listening. Of AM/FM country radio listener respondents, 44% have their favorite station’s mobile app installed on their mobile device, a number that jumps to 48% when looking at the 18-34 demo. And 26% of country fans listen to country music via a connected car platform and are highly likely to listen to country music connecting their mobile device to their vehicle.

For more key findings, including many related to driving revenue, visit futurimedia.com/CRS2020.

Posts

9 Reasons We’re Thankful for Radio

Sayonara, ‘Caller 9.’ Are You Selling Your Station Short with Old-School Contesting?

The 5 Ways You’re Missing Out Without A Station Mobile App

TopLine Webinar: Succeeding Through the Back Half of the Year

Webinar: Programming During a Pandemic: How to Defend and Grow Your Audience

Futuri Media and the University of Florida Present Major Research Study at CRS 2020.

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