R~4io Must Be “E—Boi-n”
Gary Fries’ State of Radio Sales Address at the NAB Show
Summary:
•Beibre a packed house, Gaiy Files dellvererj his customary “State of the Industry” address at the NAB Radio Show in Orlando.
• One topic that Fries emp.’lazlzed was the imp~itance of Radio’s relationship with its /&eners.
and the ,~J for Radio to reinvent that relationship for its advertisers.
• Fries a/so discussed the role of the Internet in Radio’s Mum~. ~th as a marketing pa,tnet and -thra~’h dot-corn adveits,ng - as an important dient.
• F1’ies noted the ~t,eful lack of trainir~v most new Radio sales professionals must struggle with, and spoke of the new Radio Sales Training Academy developed by R~4B.

Radio Must Be E-Bom
Gary Fries’ State of Radio Sales’ Address at the NAB Show
One thing that attendees of the NAB Radio show have come to expect Is the semi-annual “Radio Sales State of the Industry” address from RAB’s President and CEO, Gary Fries. The 1999 show, held in Orlando, FL, was no exception. Speaking In a room packed to the rafters with Radio professionals and advertisers, Fries held forth on Radio’s present and future alike. This Issue of Radio Sales T~,y gives a glimpse of some of the highlights of Fries’ speech.

Radio’s Sbength: Relationships
One topic that Fries returned to again and again was the Importance of Radio’s most valuable asset: Its relationship with Its audience. Citing that bond of loyalty and trust that Radio enjoys with Its listeners, Fries noted that any other medium that wants to become as effective as we are will have to do it by cop~,ing Radio. He also warned his listeners that if stations sit back and do business as usual, they could lose the position of trust they now enjoy with Radio fans. “It’s yours to lose.. .we should focus on providing the best programming, we should be researching our listeners to a degree we’ve never done before, and we should have documentation of how successful we are as a Radio station,” Fries cautioned.

The Internet: Parbier and Resource
Fries also spoke at length about the significant role the Internet has tQ play In Radio’s future. The most Important point, Fries observed, is the fast pace of change in the online world. “People don’t understand how far we’ve come in the last couple of years.. .it’s a lifestyle now. And that is something that is going to continue to grow.”
Moreover, many peoples’ ideas about how to make money on the Internet are already out of date, according to Fries. “We’ve progressed far beyond banner ads. When you really get your mind ~r1dng, you start thinking about e-commerce. There is no question that it’s going to be absolutely huge.”

The key to a station’s success on the Internet, Fries remarked, Is flexibility. Stations cannot rely on the old ways of marketing themselves when it comes to the Net. ‘The person that is a candidate for the e-commerce site or the advertiser’s m~sage is so focused and targeted that their value far exceeds the way we’ve traditionally sold Radio. It’s no longer a cost-per-point situation; [the Net] is making us a results medium. We have to be ‘e-bom.”’
One group of advertisers that Fries held up as an example of a valuable dient are the dot-corn companies and e—commerce merchants or “e-tailers.” where retailers once relied mainly on newspaper and often wouldn’t give Radio a second look, the new breed of e-tailers use Radio as their medium of choice. Most importantly, these companies believe In Radio as a brand-building medium rather than simply a price/sale/promotion medium. The result of this belief? Radio receives 60% to 70% of all dot-corn ad dollars. Fries underscored the importance of this group of advertisers, saying we must work to understand their needs and find ways to serve them. For those in smaller markets, Fries suggested helping local advertisers establish an online presence. “You can take your local bookstore, the one who can’t afford to open a second location, and build them into a dot-corn advertiser. Don’t wait for these dlents to figure out the.NNet and e-commerce for themselves.. .you need to train your people to develop the skills to present them with a turnkey e-commerce solution. That bookstore can be as big as Amazon In Its own market.”

Radio’s Critical Resource: Its People
Training was, indeed, a major point in Fries’ address. Fries remarked, “It’s hard to find good people. We find them - and then we see them succeed in some other field because they don’t get trained.” Fries went on to remind his audience of the new Radio Sales Training Academy developed by RAB and getting ready to open soon.
Fries continued his remarks with an update on the activities of the RAB National Marketing Department, relating successes with national advertisers such as Procter & Gamble, Wendy’s, Ufe Savers and more. He finished with a prediction that Radio would finish 1999 with overall growth in the 12% to 13% range, which would allow the Industry to capture more than 8% of all measured media for the first time. Finally, Fries reiterated the need for stations to evolve with the times, saying, “[RAB] can only plant seeds. You have to harvest them.”
For those Interested in hearing Gary Fdes’,~madcs. the audio will soon be placed on RadioUnk at s~v~mb.ctyn.