[BC] Really compelling advertising on my HD local - was - HD Radio and its definition

[Bob Foxworth]

My posting follows this included text from Rich, where he says that "The
HD Dominion has blown its wad in the promotion arena long before
anyone could buy a receiver"

> Actually, in my regular "Where in the World is Carmen IBUZ" tours of
> retailers HD means HDTV, not radio. High Definition television. Walk
> into a store and ask for HD Radio. I guarantee you'll be directed to
> the TV department. Ask for digital radio and you'll be sent to one of
> the many satellite radio kiosks with at least a dozen radios and
accessories.
>
> Marketing 101 teaches never to use terms that refer to other
> products. Find one that defines your product. In programming and
> promotion we spend a lot of time and effort positioning our stations
> in ways that clearly separate us from the competition. In fact, we
> try to deny to an audience that there's any competition at all. The
> worst thing you can do is promote that "We're not WXXX." To a New
> Yorker "Give us 22 Minutes and We'll Give You the World" means WINS.
> No question. It's been used for decades and is still as relevant as
> it was on day one. It's one of the most listened-to stations in the
> nation - possibly THE most listened-to. Their positioning is dead on.
> Always has been.
>
> >Why not be happy that people are at least talking about HD Radio?
>
> Who's talking about HD Radio? Consumers aren't. At Circuit City I
> asked people in the automotive department if I was the only person
> ever to ask about it. The answer was "Yes." They have one receiver in
> stock that, with a separate tuner, can receive it along with
> satellite radio. They don't stock the tuner. They do stock both
> SIRIUS and XM tuners for the dozens of models that are SAT Ready.
>
> There's a lot of talk about it within the industry. So what? For
> programming, it's irrelevant since noone in broadcasting can fill out
> a diary. The number of stations in a market broadcasting IBUZ (FM)
> isn't important. No one can receive it and won't for decades to come.
> So long as it doesn't damage the analog signal the upside is the
> facility upgrades it's causing. While every trade magazine is filled
> with IBUZ articles and product ads, consumer magazines rarely mention
> it. When they do it's usually little more than a glowing reprint of a
> press release. Newspapers might do one article about it. They rarely
> do a second unless there's some dramatic change. The HD Dominion has
> blown its wad in the promotion arena long before anyone could buy a
> receiver. In the future, the focus will be on receivers and
> programming. So far, both are breathtakingly undramatic, unworthy of
> a repeat visit.
>
> I've been told often by publishers and editors that once anyone in
> their market has covered a non-news topic they're not interested in
> being second banana.
>


> What's the "Oh, Wow" factor in IBUZ for the consumer? So far, the
> real life response I've gotten when talking to consumers is "Oh,
> that's nice." Would you pay $300 for more of what you already get on
> radio even if there's no subscription fee? The only answer I've
> gotten, so far, is "No."
>
> I may make fun of a not-ready-for-primetime technology on a list
> focused on broadcasters but my questions to retailers and consumers
> are absolutely objective. As a programmer I want to know how to reach
> users of all content. I don't care how it's delivered. I want to know
> how to market the 600-800 million receivers needed to make this work.
> The HD Dominion and the NAB predict it's just around the corner.
> Trouble is, the corner is miles away.
>
> Rich


Here's what I am seeing about "buying a HD receiver" - re: AM.

Here in Tampa we have two AMs using HD so far, WFLA, and a Hispanic
local, WMGG. FLA has begun promo'ing availability of the BA Receptor
with a 30 second "spot", usually at :32 during the midday. It's being
offered
through something called Audioways. When I heard this, I thought
"great...
here's a local store I can go to and see one of these up-front and
personal,
and get some hands-on".  Not too unreasonable, for evaluating a product
going for several hundred dollars. After all, this is not NYC where I
can
hop the IRT downtown to J&R MusicWorld and get some personal eye-candy.

Audioways is linked to from the 970WFLA web page. I followed the link
and
discovered that unfortunately it is not a real store I can walk into and
evaluate the product, but merely a web page where one fills out an
online
aspx form to order product from an unknown (physical) location. Their
site has "home" "shop" "contact us" and "store policy" which are
remarkably
uninformative and have a lot of text redundancy. There are NO e-mail
addresses,
telephone numbers or anything else that would allow the potential buyer
to contact the store, whether to ask questions or anything else. Not
very
encouraging.

Incidentally they could use a good copy editor, as they refer to
"recepter" in
the text and "receptor" in the caption, as well as using a super
"capicitor"
power backup, a device that hasn't been invented yet. Maybe a
replacement
for the "capacitor" of which we all know.

My google search brought up two hits, one of which was an eBay listing
(9744491862) for a BA for sale at "buy it now" of $245, unopened box,
with zero bids and an expired auction. The seller was Audioways, with
a bid history of 23 items and the item location (coincidentally?) was in
Tampa. They had several other un-sold BA's at various buy-it-now prices
offered.

I did a whois on that domain name and found it was only registered in
Feb 2006 by an individual, in California, which sounds more like a
store front operation working out of a post office box. But I could be
wrong.

If this is the marketing we are all waiting for from the HD Dominion,
perhaps we should expect better.

These "spots" have, to me, all the earmarks of a trade deal. Possibly
all part of that $200 million in advertising we've heard of. Possibly
that
my local may not be putting as much effort into this marketing, as they
otherwise might. The fellow doing the HD spots is remembered for
his promotion of something called "Body Solutions" a few years ago.

Incidentally at the :30 break WFLA is saying "now in HD" and they are
doing
this during the night hours as well, when the HD is turned off (they are
100% good about turning off the HD at pattern change) but obviously they
are NOT in HD during the night hours. I wonder if anyone has noticed
that "now" doesn't always mean "now". (Bill Clinton wishes he had
thought of that one...)

Well, the revolution continueth.

- Bob