Eyre Eases Back Into Radio
On his first day as chairman of GCap Media, Richard Eyre told a large audience at the RAB’s Radio 3.0 conference in London why he has come back into radio.
Eyre did a fine job of treading lightly between this new role and his chairmanship of the IAB, as he emphasised the complimentary natures of radio and the internet. However he also said that too many online offerings from radio companies remained well below par.
“Radio is the only live medium left” and as such can build real relationships and provoke word of mouth promotion too, said Eyre as he explained his return to radio. He went on to describe the medium as enduring (listening figures across radio back this up), a medium that “breeds passionate believers”, and “a sector with very significant potential for advertisers.”
Radio listening remains robust despite the rise of internet usage, he stated. “The bottom is absolutely not falling out of our business.”
Of radio’s relationship with online and its future scope, Eyre described the cross-promotional opportunities that existed for radio companies as “very powerful”. Whereas other media such as newspapers had evolved their web offerings, too many radio companies had not moved on. “it’s bad business to send them [your listeners] to something that is rubbish; a lot of radio is just not using the net to do what the net can do.”
Eyre was very positive about the power and scope of the social networking sites. “These are meeting places… and where there’s a crowd gathered it’s a commercial opportunity,” he said.
The social networking sites may struggle to maintain loyalty, he added, but they can be “very strong media partners”. Traditional media need to exploit this via the sites themselves, not expect these audiences to come to them, he concluded.