How 4 Area Radio Stations Ventured Into the Video World
Seems simple enough -- a broadcast radio outlet tries out a new medium like video. Several area radio stations have wandered into the video world with varying success and for various reasons as outlined here.
Since the stations -- 96.5 The Buzz, a commercial station; KKFI 90.1 FM, a community station, 90.9 The Bridge, an affiliate of KCPT-TV; and KDHX 88.1 in St. Louis -- all rely on advertising, underwriting, or listener donations for support, so one reason for delving into video is to attract more "paying customers" to their radio broadcasts.
Another reason is to connect with people in social media spaces they prefer, especially around music.
Any media outlet paying attention to trends in radio and social media would be well-advised to tap into new media in order to maintain their financial base. The problem with this approach is that listeners have many alternative outlets -- for example, Pandora or Apple's newer streaming radio service -- for their listening or viewing pleasure.
96.5 The Buzz (KRBZ 96.5 FM) in Kansas City developed videos as part of their "Kegs and Eggs" series filmed at The Tank Room located in the Crossroads district in downtown Kansas City. The videos feature musical performers as part of an appearance at a nighttime performance at the club. What a concept: beer for breakfast at 6 o'clock in the morning! Some of the videos are filmed with single cameras using shots of audience members or four-camera shoots plastered with advertisements for Boulevard Beer and Sporting KC. Since the videos are best viewed on 96.5 The Buzz website they don't get the number of views that they would on YouTube.
KKFI 90.1 FM, on whose board of directors I serve, has produced 52 YouTube videos on a range of subjects from in-studio music performances to spoken word to debates with political candidates. The community radio station recently live-streamed four hours of the 2014 Folk Alliance conference in Kansas City as an experiment to build an audience for a complementary live radio broadcast. The two YouTube live events garnered about 350 views, a small number, but expected given that the station only has 40 YouTube channel subscribers. What clearly works in YouTube are shorter videos and both events were 2 hours in length. The station is preparing to repeat the events with a live-stream of their annual On-Air Music Fest and Band Auction, running April 10-28, 2014.
90.9 The Bridge (KTBG 90.9 FM), the Warrensburg college radio station recently purchased by KCPT public television in Kansas City, has started a "909 Sessions" YouTube series that features top-notch video and studio-quality sound engineered at Weights & Measures Soundlab. The series has filmed several up-and-coming bands including Grisly Hand, Ha Ha Tonka and Making Movies. You would expect a professional video from the likes of The Bridge/KCPT, and what you get are multiple, fixed cameras, some with wide-angle views, along with a roving handheld camera. The Bridge is building some momentum with the 11 videos they have produced in two months. Kudos to The Bridge for sharing the series, which has generated about 3000 views on YouTube -- lots of room for more viewers. Plus, I wonder how sustainable their effort is -- each video seems to be labor-intensive with 3 people working cameras and an audio board engineer.
KDHX 88.1 FM community radio in St. Louis has created the mother of all YouTube Channels -- they have published 1100 videos, attracting 3500 subscribers with over 3.5 million video views. Video production is not new to KDHX as they maintained a community and cable TV access studio for over 25 years. All the videos feature musical artists in both studio and live audience settings. Each seems to follow a simple model of a single camera arrangement, which allows KDHX to produce many videos. This model is common on YouTube where many popular videos are generated with phone cameras.
Since the stations -- 96.5 The Buzz, a commercial station; KKFI 90.1 FM, a community station, 90.9 The Bridge, an affiliate of KCPT-TV; and KDHX 88.1 in St. Louis -- all rely on advertising, underwriting, or listener donations for support, so one reason for delving into video is to attract more "paying customers" to their radio broadcasts.
Another reason is to connect with people in social media spaces they prefer, especially around music.
Any media outlet paying attention to trends in radio and social media would be well-advised to tap into new media in order to maintain their financial base. The problem with this approach is that listeners have many alternative outlets -- for example, Pandora or Apple's newer streaming radio service -- for their listening or viewing pleasure.
96.5 The Buzz (KRBZ 96.5 FM) in Kansas City developed videos as part of their "Kegs and Eggs" series filmed at The Tank Room located in the Crossroads district in downtown Kansas City. The videos feature musical performers as part of an appearance at a nighttime performance at the club. What a concept: beer for breakfast at 6 o'clock in the morning! Some of the videos are filmed with single cameras using shots of audience members or four-camera shoots plastered with advertisements for Boulevard Beer and Sporting KC. Since the videos are best viewed on 96.5 The Buzz website they don't get the number of views that they would on YouTube.
KKFI 90.1 FM, on whose board of directors I serve, has produced 52 YouTube videos on a range of subjects from in-studio music performances to spoken word to debates with political candidates. The community radio station recently live-streamed four hours of the 2014 Folk Alliance conference in Kansas City as an experiment to build an audience for a complementary live radio broadcast. The two YouTube live events garnered about 350 views, a small number, but expected given that the station only has 40 YouTube channel subscribers. What clearly works in YouTube are shorter videos and both events were 2 hours in length. The station is preparing to repeat the events with a live-stream of their annual On-Air Music Fest and Band Auction, running April 10-28, 2014.
90.9 The Bridge (KTBG 90.9 FM), the Warrensburg college radio station recently purchased by KCPT public television in Kansas City, has started a "909 Sessions" YouTube series that features top-notch video and studio-quality sound engineered at Weights & Measures Soundlab. The series has filmed several up-and-coming bands including Grisly Hand, Ha Ha Tonka and Making Movies. You would expect a professional video from the likes of The Bridge/KCPT, and what you get are multiple, fixed cameras, some with wide-angle views, along with a roving handheld camera. The Bridge is building some momentum with the 11 videos they have produced in two months. Kudos to The Bridge for sharing the series, which has generated about 3000 views on YouTube -- lots of room for more viewers. Plus, I wonder how sustainable their effort is -- each video seems to be labor-intensive with 3 people working cameras and an audio board engineer.
KDHX 88.1 FM community radio in St. Louis has created the mother of all YouTube Channels -- they have published 1100 videos, attracting 3500 subscribers with over 3.5 million video views. Video production is not new to KDHX as they maintained a community and cable TV access studio for over 25 years. All the videos feature musical artists in both studio and live audience settings. Each seems to follow a simple model of a single camera arrangement, which allows KDHX to produce many videos. This model is common on YouTube where many popular videos are generated with phone cameras.
KDHX and other stations like WTMD 89.7 FM (operated by Towson University serving the Baltimore area) prove they can attract large audiences through close identification with musical artists and their fans using social media sites like YouTube.
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