Tuhat sanaa

How can we keep the radio medium interesting and compelling in the future? You of course know how radio, the good old fashioned linearily-scheduled-talk-and-music -kind of radio, is threatened from all directions by all kinds of satellite and streaming services, not to mention the growing habit of listening to portable personal audio instead.

Radio needs a new edge. Radio needs to overflow. We need overflow radio. A radio station, a feed, if you will, where there's an excess of audio of at least 20 or 30 percent per a given time period. A radio station that sends not just 60 but 72 or 78 minutes of radio programming every hour.

Why? So that the listener can fast forward, if she wants to, or skip for that matter, a song or a talk segment she doesn't find compelling right then.

What's in it for a radio station? A second chance. They get to keep the listener a little longer instead of losing her to the competitor. Skip a dull segment, enjoy the next one. No need to change channel right away.

What's in it for the advertiser? Two things. A listener wants to skip an ad? Good riddance. If she isn't interested, don't bother her. You have an other one buffered for her to play.

What if a listener wants to skip the other ad, and the one after that? Let her, but make her tell, in the end, what is she in the market for and leave the station her mobile number. Collect customer info in return. You will find out that she does want ands, just the kind that are targeted to her. If you deliver that to her via mobile, she will be one satisfied customer.

The same way, if the station runs out of material, if everything buffered for the particular hour has already been skipped, the station still gets chance to ask the listener for feedback. By presenting a humble message on screen (you of course realize that I'm talking about an interactive radio device here) asking what it was that the listener was disappointed with, they might have a chance of undestanding what to do better next time.

That's the concept of ovewflow radio. An overwflow of content for the ultimate customer satistaction.

So who want's to invent the distribution mechanism?

(I did briefly blog about this concept in Finnish earlier, but decided to have a go in english as well in case there's someone out there who gets a kick out of my idea.)

So what do you think?

[Disclaimer: I do realize there are certain technical and perhaps even bigger legal issues in the concept but it is a fascinating concept, don't you think?]