Dan Mason says radio can do better.
At the annual UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, the president/CEO of CBS Radio said our industry must reinvent itself given the new world of electronic measurement.
He also said radio needs to better sell its story. He pointed out, for example, that, in New York, “more people listen to radio than read all three newspapers combined, or visit Google, Yahoo or AOL on a monthly basis,” but that perceptions of radio as an old, doddering medium persist.
Radio should embrace new audience measurements, he said. “Under previous measurements, radio listening has been severely under-reported. With PPMs, we are seeing substantial cume increases because this new technology reflects actual listening as opposed to perceived listening. I have no doubt PPMs will level the playing field, and provide us better metrics in telling our story.”
Mason also urged radio to go more after political advertising, embrace new media and invest in better programming.
Over the past two years, he said, CBS Radio’s online streaming audience grew at an annual rate of more than 140%, achieving fourth place among all Internet broadcasters.
