Two very different things have happened in the last 24 hours. First, mega star Bob Pittman was named in a senior management position at Clear Channel. This was a huge move for Clear Channel and big boost for radio.
The other, not so good thing, was a survey report that found poor passion for radio among fans. According to a study reported in Inside Radio "Nearly four-in-ten (37%) people say if their local station went off the air tomorrow and they had to get music and news from another source they’d miss the station a lot. But the balance of respondents is a lot less passionate about their local station. And that could leave an opening for rival media."
My thought is that Clear Channel is out ahead of this report and this is one of the reasons to bring on someone like Pittman. Not only is Pittman an unabashed fan of radio but one of the industry's cutting edge purveyors.
Seeing the future and what radio can do with all of the assets lined up in the right direction is what has been missing on a large scale. Only a company like Clear Channel, with more assets than any other company in the business, and someone like Pittman, who has been there and done that for NBC and MTV, can radio expect to find the leadership that we need.
I suspect that many companies will be getting ready to follow the leader and, not hire someone of Pittman's stature, institute the same kind of things that we'll be seeing from Clear Channel in the months ahead.
Hopefully we are all paying attention to a company that appears committed to building on their strong brands and developing new channels of distribution.
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