SNL Finds Success, Again

Saturday Night Live has gotten rave reviews this political season doing what they have always done, with varying degrees of success, since the mid 1970's. Let's be honest, some seasons have been nothing short of painful. Thus far, this season has been a home run. The writing, the topicality, the guests, and the performances have been excellent. The Palin factor. And the buzz on the show? Off the map. Not to mention the huge live TV audiences and the even larger on-line audiences.

What the show tries to do every week closely resembles what entertainment based radio shows try to do every day--also with varying degrees of success. So much of a shows success starts with the prep and the writing. Typically, winging it is not the best path.

Last night on Charlie Rose (on PBS) SNL's Lorne Michaels, Seth Meyers, Darrell Hammond, Fred Armisen and writer James Downey appeared to talk about the process, the prep, the performance, and, yes, this season's success. Pull the curtain back and get a peek into their process.

No Brainer!

Stream.

Arbitron and Edison Media Research just released their Internet and Multimedia study and it's no surprise that on-line radio listening in the workplace is growing fast. In 2007 12% said they listen on-line while they work compared with this years study which grew to a very robust 20%.
We don't question the expense of keeping the transmitter on the air and we can't (shouldn't) question the cost of streaming when it is very clear that our listeners are moving their radio listening on-line.

In many ways this is a dream come true for broadcasters. No building penetration issues anymore; no disparity between Class A and B/C signals anymore; and the opportunity to provide visual artist/song/promotional information accompanying every stream. There are few desktop radios that have RDS.

Of course, with it comes new competition and infinite choice. So we better be at the top of our game. No one ever said it was going to be easy.

Here's a short steaming basics checklist:

>Make sure the stream sounds good.

- decent audio quality (equal to FM)
- well produced
- no dead air
- DO NOT repeat the same PSA over and over and over again

>Monitor your stream feed to ensure it does not go off the air

>Remember your stream lags behind your terrestrial signal and will impact call-ins and contests

>Aggressively promote on-line listening as you would your terrestrial signal

>Make your stream open access (don't limit the stream to a proprietary player)

>Streaming listeners, already computer friendly, are strong database prospects--don't miss out on that opportunity.

>Use your stream to leverage your other on-line initiatives

Imagine When It's Really Portable

Arbitron and Edison Media Research pre-released their annual Infinite Dial 2008: Radio’s Digital Platforms study today with some compelling stats:

• 13% of all Americans 12+ have listened to on-line radio during an average week: 33 million up from 29 million. Nearly a 14% increase in just one year.
  
• Social networking sites have attracted 24% of all Americans (those who have a profile on social networking sites) and nearly two-thirds (63%) of on-line radio listeners have a profile on sites like MySpace, Facebook, Linked-In and others.

These numbers paint a very conservative, yet vivid picture of what the media landscape is likely to look like in the years to come. Dare I say, going forward it will be difficult to be in the radio business without being on-line--streaming, social networking, connecting listeners with clients in new and creative ways, etc.

This is not going away, it will only get bigger and more omnipresent. Take these numbers to heart and prepare now for the inevitable and exponential growth that is just around the bend.