As the last RAB conference in 1996 was heralded as one of the most successful media events of that year, 1998’s had a lot to live up to. Peter Warren, director of Abbott Mead Vickers plc chaired the event and was asked to give a personal view of radio and the four things that had surprised him about it. He said it was bigger than he thought, with 28 million people listening every week (twice the amount of people that get cable and satellite) and even though commercial radio dominates the younger audience, 66% of Times readers tune in.
The other aspects he commented on were the unity of the industry, with everybody working together to build the medium whilst trying to improve relations with the customer; affection was also a point, with many people having fond memories of listening to the radio during the war and remembering the ‘happier’ days; and the creativity aspect, with writing skills playing a vital part in the industry. Warren did say, however, that there is not enough skill employed at the moment and new talent is needed.
The programming director of Radio Clyde, Alex Dickson, then spoke about the editorial environment of radio. The station divides its time into programming hours, for example putting the weather on at the same time at each hour so listeners know when to tune in. They use this method to hook people in and then when they are listening the appropriate adverts will follow. Using a separation tool they also make sure that the same records are not played within the same hour. Dickson mentioned different ways they used to make people aware of the station, including giving away free fish and chips, taking over buses and taking competition winners up in a hot air balloon. He finished by saying that the industry should get together and do a better job for the advertisers, the clients and the listeners.
Peter Cox, chairman of Capital Advertising, touched on the economics of radio and talked about getting closer to the consumer by creating stronger brand loyalty. This can be achieved by making the quality of the service and the product better. The quality of radio is that it is a personal and non-obtrusive media. Cox said that his own company take notice of what their listeners want to hear and said that prospective advertisers must challenge the radio stations.
Paul Brown from the CRCA spoke very briefly about where radio is heading, and mentioned that JICRIT will be launched by the end of 1998. Digital radio will give consumers better reception, higher audio quality and more services. He pointed out that radio overall can only get better.
The last speaker was Hugh Dennis who is now a top rated actor and voiceover star. He has been on both sides of the coin as he once used to work as a brand manager for Unilever. He admitted that when in his old position he only ever used radio as an advertising medium under duress. He gave examples of shows that started on radio and went over to TV such as the Mary Whitehouse Experience, which had 41 shows on radio before it went over to BBC2. He now says his opinions have changed and that he would recommend radio to anyone.
