Episode 1004

Dave Beasing's 10 Secrets to Making Sound That Brands for YOU!

Dave Beasing is a distinguished, seasoned consultant and media brand creator with a remarkable track record at MTV, VH1, ABC, CBS, NPR, iHeart, Lions Gate, and radio. Dave's ongoing creativity positions him at the forefront of the industry as the founder of SOUND THAT BRANDS.

Starting Nebraska station, Dave later contributed significantly in Tulsa, Detroit, and LA, even launching Ryan Seacrest's first full-time radio job at LA's Star 98.7.

As the visionary behind 100.3 FM The Sound, also in LA, Dave revolutionized radio programming with on-demand video and social media, setting a new standard for audience interaction. His accomplished team produced chart-topping podcasts like Dirty John, Unfictional, Business Wars, COLD, and many, many others.

The team Dave has brought together at SOUND THAT BRANDS possesses decades of combined experience in marketing, consumer engagement, audio entertainment, and brand management. This diverse skill set uniquely equips them to tackle intricate business challenges. As the tech landscape continually evolves, Dave remains a leading influence, steering the team towards success.

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Transcript
Dave Beasing:

Broadcast dollars are shrinking.

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How can I serve with all of this

digital content and monetize that?

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Every heritage brand, be it newspaper,

TV, radio, what have you, should be

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thinking, how can I take that content and

make it more on demand and more relevant?

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Welcome to BRANDwidth On Demand,

your guide to rebooting radio.

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My mission, my New Year's resolution,

uh, for the side hustle that I have of

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still working with a few of my friends

in broadcast is to help them figure out

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how to monetize the on demand content,

the digital content, because it's

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They know how to make that content.

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What they have not figured out is on a

local basis how to sell that content.

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VO: BRANDwidth On Demand.

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Rebooting radio with a different

take on all radio can be.

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Now your guides through the

mediamorphosis, David Martin and

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author of the book BRANDwidth On Demand

Media Branding Coach Kipper McGee.

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Dave Martin: This time around, we hear

from a seasoned consultant, media brand

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creator with a remarkable track record.

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Places like MTV, VH1, ABC, CBS,

NPR, iHeart, and Lionsgate.

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After a long run as senior consultant

and Fred Jacobs right hand guy really

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at Jacobs Media, Dave pioneered

the use of video in social media.

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As the architect of 100.

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3 FM, the sound in LA.

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Gosh, we miss that station there.

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Now he creates Digital Audio as the

founder and CEO of Sound That Brands.

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They produce podcasts that are part

of marketing strategies of big brands

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like AAA Motor Club, mattress firm

Pepsi, and a popular grocery chain that

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shall remain contractually nameless.

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Dave Beasing: Although I will

mention that I ate a lot of Jingle

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Jangle over the holidays, too much.

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Dave Martin: Oh, okay.

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Dave is still, in his heart, a radio guy.

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He was a top broadcast strategist

and now, he can take a look at

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the industry, that being radio,

strengths and weaknesses with a unique

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perspective, that of a digital guy.

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Brand with On Demand is proud to

welcome the founder of Sound Brands.

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The very well known Dave Beasing.

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Hey, Dave.

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Kipper: Hey.

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Hey,

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Dave Beasing: thank you, Dave.

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Thank you, Kipper.

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It's a pleasure to be here.

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Love what you guys do.

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Kipper: And it's great

to have you back, Dave.

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So we talked to you a couple of years

ago, but I guess the question now

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that I've got is what do you see as

the state of podcasting for:

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Dave Beasing: It's, it's good overall.

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I mean, it's Is it difficult for the

average content creator to make a living?

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Absolutely, but that's nothing new and

it is difficult for content creators

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in any media to, to make a living

these days, sadly, because of the

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long tail, but we won't get into that.

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Internet Advertising Bureau, their

stats, they say in:

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it's all added up, there'll be a

25 percent increase in revenue.

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So 2.

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3 billion for the podcast industry,

a long way to go still, but 25

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percent year over year growth.

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If you can find another medium that

can boast that, I want a piece of it.

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The problem, I guess, is that the

podcast sales managers Projected

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a 40 percent increase for 2023.

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Some of them, and of course going

into the year, it looked that way,

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but the podcast ad market, all of the

market was very difficult in:

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So they had to settle for, for, for 25%.

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Kipper: So what are they?

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Radio sales guys?

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Dave Beasing: Yeah, right.

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When it's 20.

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Yeah.

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Well, you know, this was a

tough year for everybody.

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And I think the radio sales

people missed their projections

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for the most part as well.

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Roughly 10 percent of podcast revenue

is a category called branded podcasts.

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That's what we specialize

in at Sound of Brands.

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And these are podcasts that are part of

a brand's Marketing strategy we start

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with the client and then build the

content instead of the other way around.

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Dave Martin: Well, Dave, you've

written a lot on podcast measurement

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metrics, especially those KPIs,

the key performance indicators.

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What do you tell your clients to look at?

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What would make the world

different for radio station?

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Dave Beasing: Well, the KPIs that we

look at in podcasts, and I think there

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are some definite parallels because

broadcast as I know you want to talk

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about, has to rethink things a bit.

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Immediate sales is certainly a big part

of what podcasts are able to tout and what

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we tout with the branded podcasts as well.

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We were proud to work on a project

for iHeart for a mattress firm where

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they were able to do some really

sophisticated research and track direct.

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results at the cash register

at mattress firm stores.

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Second would be brand

awareness and affinity.

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We do a lot of research in the

podcast business about what the

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impact of sponsoring a podcast is

on the perception of the brand.

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So rather than think reach and

frequency, we think about impact, about

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deeper connection with the audience.

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And you, there's a great story to

tell there in podcasting with I think

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Signal Insights says on average from

a branded podcast like we do, 6 in

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10 listeners are going to go away

saying, Oh, yeah, I'd have a much more

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positive view of the sponsor of that

podcast, even though the sponsor of

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that podcast was only subtly mentioned.

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usually in that content.

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And of course, the intention and

engagement and, how does it affect

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other perceptions of the brand?

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Earned Media the grocery store podcast

that you delicately mentioned, gets a ton

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of earned media on the Today Show website,

on People Magazine website, you name it,

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every time we put out a podcast for them.

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Because, that brand Is beloved and so

it's clickbait online, but earned media

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is certainly a possible impact as well.

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Kipper: Well, Dave, when we were talking

a while back, you said that linear content

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is really the next basic frontier, but can

you define what you mean by linear content

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and also then how it might apply to radio?

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Dave Beasing: Well, what my

mantra has been is that Heritage

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Media is too linear, , Kipper.

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That's the us to them effect of we put

on a show for you or we deliver this

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and you can listen or watch or not.

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That's going to soon be I shouldn't say

that it'll be a thing of the past, but

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it's definitely diminishing in importance.

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The Edison Research shows that on-

demand and digital content, audio

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content has now the lines have crossed.

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It is now surpassed linear

content in listenership.

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So the traditional forms of audio, radio.

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Even satellite radio and streaming

where you have no control whatsoever

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over what song is next, as an

example, that's linear content.

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And that's definitely on a decline

over the past 10, 15 years.

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The trend is very clear.

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So my mission, my New Year's resolution

for the side hustle that I have

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of still working with a few of my

friends in broadcast is to help

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them figure out how to monetize.

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The on demand content, the

digital content, because they

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know how to make that content.

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What they have not figured out is on a

local basis, how to sell that content.

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They're selling great digital

stuff that's national.

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, they're helping local advertisers

find their way into search

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and social and other websites.

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But what they're struggling

with is how to get advertisers

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on their own owned digital media.

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Dave Martin: Dave, again, council to

station guys, what kind of on demand

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content should they be creating the

sales issue aside for a moment...

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What about the content itself?

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Dave Beasing: Sports is a huge

opportunity for a lot of local brands.

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News is too.

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I think, uh, If you look at what KSL, the

Bonneville folks in Salt Lake City, and

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they've done it as well, starting to do it

at least in Seattle and Phoenix with their

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news stations, KIRO and KTAR, they're the

, big stations, Heritage Stations, they

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are, Cheryl Worsley in Salt Lake City.

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It has created lots of very popular

podcasts, national podcasts,

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including two number one rated

podcasts right out of Salt Lake

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City in the news department there.

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They've won the Crystal Award

from the NAB for podcasts at least

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two years in a row as I recall.

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So those opportunities

are definitely there.

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Yes, you can repurpose your shows

from earlier time shift them, but it's

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the individual features it's taking.

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If you, if you think of it as a

hub and spoke sort of a model,

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what content are you creating?

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That could be repackaged in

some way, a tiny piece of that

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content might become social.

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A tiny piece might become a podcast.

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A tiny piece might become video.

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How do you take all of that content

and put it out into the all these

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different spokes away from the

initial hub of the content itself?

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Kipper: Interesting.

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So what would you say to the broadcast

manager or group person who is totally

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convinced that podcasting is really

declining monetization is impossible

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and that despite the data to the

contrary that you're talking about that

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online revenue is going to always be

digital dimes versus broadcast dollars.

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Dave Beasing: Broadcast

dollars are shrinking.

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That's what I would say to them.

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And yeah, they better

be thinking about this.

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Those digital dimes, I think they're

up to digital half dollars by now,

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and they're getting bigger and bigger.

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The trend is clear.

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Now if your plan is to retire in

two years, don't worry about it.

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But if you need to build.

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Something for the long haul.

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If you have a heritage brand that

you want to continue to matter well

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into the future, and that's where the

biggest opportunity is for these big

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heritage brands to figure out how to

be less linear that us to them, linear

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content, audio stream, and instead

figure out, okay, if I'm the big sports

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station in my town, or I'm the big

news station, Or, I want to be a great

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community servant in a smaller market...

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how can I serve with all of this

digital content and monetize that and

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not be a quote unquote radio station?

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I've got nothing wrong, there's no

beef here with the term radio, but

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every heritage brand, be it newspaper,

TV, radio, what have you, should

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be thinking, how can I take that

content and make it more on demand

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and more relevant for, for the future?

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And, I think having started in small

town radio myself in Nebraska, what we

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would use to do is anything that somebody

would sponsor would go on the air,

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whether it was high school sports or the

obituaries or the, yes, lost pet patrol

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or the training post or the, uh, the

hospital admissions report, or whatever.

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You know, putting somebody on the

air from a small town 30 miles away

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that could tell you what all was

happening in that tiny town, whatever.

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\ Think of all those things that we

used to put on small town radio,

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and maybe still do in some cases.

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And, how can we now put

that on the website?

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How can that become digital content?

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High school football games, with video.

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And by the way, Maybe you don't

need to have a professional play

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by play person go out and do that.

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Maybe there are student crews that

could be trusted with doing those.

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And you could have 10 or 20 different

games on your website on a Friday night,

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and every one of them will be sponsored

and produced at a fairly low cost.

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There's a station in Carrollton,

Missouri near and dear to me because I

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used to work there, KMZU, they created

a whole website for local sports.

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And so they cover all kinds

of local sports over central

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Missouri or Missour-ah, excuse

me, I should say it right.

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And they're serving that local

community with these highly

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monetizable digital products.

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Dave Martin: Good stuff.

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We are with Dave Beasing.

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What a sharp guy.

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He's the CEO of Sounds that brand.

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Somebody you'd love to hear from.

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We'd love to hear your suggestion.

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Just email show@BRANDwidth On

Demandondemand.com or reach out

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to us on social BRANDwidthPlus

that's BRANDwidthPlus.

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On Gram, Facebook, and X.

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That's BRANDwidth PLUS, BRANDwidth Plus.

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Kipper: And if you're finding this

information helpful, we'd love to have

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you give us a five star review to help

other people realize that BRANDwidth

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On Demand might help them, too.

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Dave Martin: Coming up, Dave Beasing

shares one opportunity for station

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people that may be hiding in plain sight.

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Spot 1: Musicmaster.

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Less stress, more yes.

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Hey, this is Dave Tyler, and maybe it's

just me, but I love up tempo songs coming

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out of the Legal ID at the top of the

hour, as well as out of my stop set.

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It's kind of like saying,

alright, we're done with business,

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let's get back to the party.

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To do this, I use clock filters

in these Positions that only

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choose medium up or uptempo songs.

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Sounds great every time.

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And it's easy to set up.

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If you have any questions, just shoot

me an email at dave@musicmaster.

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com Musicmaster music

scheduling the way it should be.

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Keep up with what the

hottest stations are doing.

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Replay Radio will schedule

and record any streaming radio

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station or show automatically.

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And the integrated media guide

makes it easy to add a station

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or show with a single click.

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Try Replay Radio free by clicking

their ad at brandwidthondemand.com

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VO: Opportunities, hidden and

sight,,,BRANDwidth On Demand.

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Dave Martin: We're with one of

radio and media's A students.

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We can all learn something from him.

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Dave Beasing, Dave thinking

about it for a moment.

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What's the one opportunity that

station people may find hiding in plain

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sight, that's really obvious to you.

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Dave Beasing: It's selling

what you already have.

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So many of your content folks are

taking the initiative and sometimes

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with a nudge from management to create

fantastic digital content, whether it's

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a video for social media, whether it's

doing great blogs and posts or getting

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out and about doing things on the side,

some places, you know, I think of the

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morning show on KVGS in Las Vegas, like

many others, but he's an expert at it.

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Doing live video of the morning show

and I'm thinking of one morning

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show that has a great video feature

about cool local things similar to,

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uh, for Southern Californians, they

would remember the Huell Hauser show

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on, , Southern California public

television, where he would go to

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local landmarks and everything.

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Dave Martin: Sure.

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Dave Beasing: John Smith is doing

this in Salt Lake City for 103.

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5 the Arrow.

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Cool stuff in Utah.

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He calls it, and it's a great feature.

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These things can be sold, but...it

isn't vabout reach and frequency.

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It isn't about the traditional spot sale.

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You need to get out there and find

people that want to be associated

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with these features, even though

they have pretty big audiences.

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Don't sell the audience size.

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Sell the qualitative aspects

of that audience, and how great

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it'll be for your brand, Mr.

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or Ms.

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Advertiser, to be associated

with that content.

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Dave Martin: Our thanks to Dave Beasing.

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He's terrific at the sound that brands

guy, we have links to his website,

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some great blog posts, client podcasts,

and more all in the show notes.

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Just scroll down on your phone.

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Kipper: We want to thank our exec

producer, Cindy Huber for putting

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this all together and Hannah B.

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who helps out with booking.

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Dave Martin: That's a wrap, Kipper.

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Take control of your destiny.

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It's next in One Minute Martinizing

because it's all about your movie.

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I'm Dave Martin.

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Kipper: And I'm Kipper McGee.

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May all yourBRANDwidth be wide.

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Kipper McGee