Radio Biz Question

[frye hole]

Has there ever been a case where a radio team have been unhappy with how they were being treated by current management and they decided to utilize current technology to offer their "output" directly to their fans via a paid streaming or podcast service?

Just curious ....

I would think that for something like that to work you would need a dedicated fan base willing to pay for access to the content already.

These days, once you have a fan base established, there's no need for the "middle man".
Ask Radiohead.

[ttom925]

I think a lot of entertainers have been displeased with their current employers , but contracts are worded in such a way (no compete and such) that they cannot go out on their own .
Anthonys Live from the compound has been scrutinized & lawers are most certainly been made aware of it .I believe that even Twitter accounts are frowned upon by employers .
Once the contracts are up / null , they can do what they like .
The only person that comes to my mind is Tom Green ,who was TV , then PC. See Tom Green Live .

[Name]

When Adam Carolla's non compete is up in a couple months (still being paid by CBS) he's going to try and charge for his podcast since he's supposedly paying about 3k a month for bandwith. Maybe a good barometer if this charging for podcast thing could work since his free podcast is number one or two daily on ITunes and broke Gervais' record for a show download. Ricky Gervais' similar attempt to charge didn't go well.

[STC-Dub]

No one has done that yet that I know of.

[Turd Fergusson]

Things are headed that way. We're right on the edge of that happening. The key will be to not charge for content like Gervais tried to do though. To build a large and strong listening base you need to give it away for free. With a large listening base you have the ability to build some strong sponsors to carry the show.

Leo Laporte is (seemingly) doing it quite well right now.

http://twit.tv/ttg

[Tenbatsuzen]

The problem is, delivering the content in cars. Once all cars go Wi-Max, radio as we know it will die very, very quickly.

[Hammond Eggars]

I think you have to be gigantic for this to work, even moreso than terrestrial radio acts going to sattelite. Apart from the bandwidth costs, you have to figure out how to promote yourself so as not to get lost amid all the other material out there.

JV & Elvis tried this after the FreeFM fiasco. The financial and technical challenges were huge and the pressure destroyed their partnership.

[Freitag]

I think you have to be gigantic for this to work, even moreso than terrestrial radio acts going to sattelite. Apart from the bandwidth costs, you have to figure out how to promote yourself so as not to get lost amid all the other material out there.

JV & Elvis tried this after the FreeFM fiasco. The financial and technical challenges were huge and the pressure destroyed their partnership.

Well, wait a second.

Carolla and JV&Elvis did this on their own.

If you tried someone with venture capital - with a new way of delivering content to a rabid audience - it might just work.

As for marketing, it's not that hard to go viral, if you have a good product to put out there. Look at Jason Ellis, who is getting a buzz with minimal promotion.

I agree that the talent can't do everything on their own unless they are named Greaseman. However, if they had a staff that believed in it, it's possible.

EYada.com, a streaming talk radio station, was a format that COULD HAVE WORKED if the tech to deliver the content was there. But because it started with the dot com boom and nobody had any idea how to budget, of course it failed.

[Hammond Eggars]

Well, wait a second.

Carolla and JV&Elvis did this on their own.

If you tried someone with venture capital - with a new way of delivering content to a rabid audience - it might just work.

As for marketing, it's not that hard to go viral, if you have a good product to put out there. Look at Jason Ellis, who is getting a buzz with minimal promotion.

I agree that the talent can't do everything on their own unless they are named Greaseman. However, if they had a staff that believed in it, it's possible.

EYada.com, a streaming talk radio station, was a format that COULD HAVE WORKED if the tech to deliver the content was there. But because it started with the dot com boom and nobody had any idea how to budget, of course it failed.

You might be right, I'm just saying that the audience would have to be very rabid (and large).

That's good on Jason Ellis, but he's also leveraging the buzz he has in other media to make his radio thing work.

Every marketer everywhere is trying to "go viral". I still think you have a better chance of being hit by lightning than of just blowing up with minimal promotion. Maybe I'm just too cynical.