In this and other articles, Radio World is profiling how radio broadcasters are deploying AI. One company that has embraced these tools is NRG Media. Four of its executives took time to meet with me to discuss what they’re doing.
Headquartered in the Midwest, NRG provides content and digital marketing services through 36 radio stations to listeners and advertisers in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.
One way NRG uses AI is to create videos for clients using Waymark technology.
“Radio has always done a really good job at spec spots,” said Director of Integrated Media Erica Dreyer. “But creating video ads involves various steps, from storyboarding to filming and graphics. It’s time-consuming. Waymark simplifies this process, allowing us to fast-track video production. This helps our clients better visualize themselves on TV.
Digital Sales Strategist Andrew Warner likes that the process requires little from the client. “We just enter an advertiser’s website, then give the AI some direction about what the advertiser is trying to say.”
The tool will suggest videos, images, voices and text based on context. “It gets you 80% of the way to a really good spot,” Warner said. Then NRG can add, edit and tweak to bring the product to completion.
“Advertisers ask, ‘Gosh, how did you guys even produce this video in the first place?’ It levels us up,” Warner said. “Often it serves to open a conversation — though in many cases we’re also using Waymark to deliver fully produced videos, with further collaboration with the client. And the videos can be optimized for mobile, TV, whatever placement or format.”
NRG Director of Programming Jeff Winfield uses the tool to create promotional and social videos.
“For example, we have a sweepstakes starting next week with a bank sponsorship,” he said. “You choose licensed images that show cash winners or the idea of putting money toward a house, and then you generate a script to fit into a :15, :30 or :60.”
A video is then created based on that script. “And you can regenerate it as many times as you want until you’re happy with the product, choosing male or female voices, speaking fast or slowly, with a deep voice or with an accent.”
NRG’s market team in Wausau, Wis., recently used Waymark to create a recap of a large fundraising event. “They uploaded pictures and created a really nice ‘thank you’ video that they could share across social media, showing the impact they made within the community,” Dreyer said.
But AI tools have spread across the NRG enterprise. They’re being used for radio copy creation, show prep, developing prospect lists and writing “valid business reason” emails.
“Our executives use tools like Grammarly. Our demand-side platform now has a robust AI component,” said Warner. “I’m sitting here looking at my Chrome extensions bar and I’ve got tools that will grab fonts for me or scrape images from social or pull color codes.”
The sales team uses ChatGPT to generate ideas about approaching clients. “We can equip sellers with a starter kit of conversation prompts,” said Director of Sales Enablement Phil Forrester. “It helps me raise the game of the seller. If I can go to ChatGPT and say, ‘Give me the top five things that a local pest control company would care about in trying to grow their business,’ I’m equipped to have a better conversation.”
The intention is not to have a salesperson just follow a script. “We really want this to be the seller’s voice, so again the AI is a way to get 80% of the way there, then 20% is personalization that makes it meaningful and gets to the desired result,” Forrester said.
NRG also creates websites. “One of the biggest barriers in building websites for clients is when you say ‘Give me copy to describe the product or service that you do,’ but then you wait for a month while they try to turn themselves into copywriters,” Forrester said.
“If we have a client selling water heaters, we have the ability to direct the platform with a prompt, ‘Give me a paragraph on water heaters directed at women 25–54 who are researching a possible purchase.’ And it will generate it. We can turn our customers into editors, not creators. We now give them content and let them react to it, which speeds up the process significantly.”
NRG recently told its general managers about Scribe, a Chrome extension that turns any process into a step-by-step guide.
“It enables us to create SOPs very quickly,” Dreyer said. “For instance, navigating through the complexities of streaming inventory includes numerous steps for the markets. With Scribe, I can easily document my screen as I navigate through each step. No longer do I need to type out instructions, take screenshots, and repeat the process. Instead, I simply work through the process while Scribe records my screen. In less than a minute, it generates a comprehensive guide detailing every step and click. This recorded process can then be easily shared with others, transferring knowledge within the organization.
“We’re continuously exploring additional AI applications,” she continued. “Recently, I had to conduct training for a market under a tight deadline. Being aware of the concerns likely to be raised by the staff and account executives, I leveraged this insight to tailor the prompts and create a personalized training session. AI is helping us save time in the things we’d be doing anyway.”
Like several broadcasters who spoke to us for Radio World’s latest ebook, NRG also is experimenting with AI on-air talent. “AI Tory” does overnights on KFMW, “Rock 108” in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, created with Futuri AudioAI.
“Overnights is a good place to start,” Winfield said, and their team has had fun with it, creating a striking avatar and airing promotions that feature AI Tory making mistakes.
Winfield said the deployment of the tool has prompted useful conversations internally.
“If I’m voice-tracking a weekend show and I flub a word, I can choose to scrub that and make it sound perfect, or I can leave it in and make it sound more like the dope I am on a regular basis. We’ve had these discussions about how that applies to AI. And there were some concerns from personalities wondering if this would be a corporate initiative to take jobs. No, not at all. We wanted to learn how to use it and see what it can do. To be able to utilize all of these different tools is to our benefit.”
To learn more about how other radio companies are using AI-based tools in 2024, read “Artificial Intelligence in Radio,” a free 39-page ebook.
[Read More Radio World Stories About Artificial Intelligence]
