Infographic: History of Radio

From hi-fi manufacturer Sonos, The History of Radio:

Infographic: Changing News Habits

From a multinational survey of news consumers - and presented by a company marketing its own news app platform.  Still, there's some significant findings and trends on display.

• 75% of smartphone owners and 70% of tablet owners check news through mobile devices several times a day - compared to the numbers using at least weekly for TV (74%), radio (55%), newspapers (38%), print magazines (18%) [TV includes broadcast, cable, and DBS sources]
• Use of tablets to get news has doubled in the last year
• The only media where half the respondents report consuming news for more than 30 minutes a day are TV and smartphones (both at 52%); 40% of tablet owners do, which is a higher share than any other medium
• Thankfully, "accuracy" remains the most important criteria, although "fresh" (i.e. current) and "free" are cited as important by 57%.
• 95% of news consumers get their news from aggregators (which includes traditional news outlets as well as online providers), although social media continues to make inroads. 43% report getting news from Facebook, and 28% from Twitter
• EU news consumers report higher usage of traditional news media (newspapers, radio, TV) than USA news consumers.

“Due to mass adoption of consumer mobile devices, the access and appetite for trusted news continues to increase. People want to remain informed in a timely manner, more so now then ever before in our world’s recorded history,” said Gilles Raymond, said mobile industry veteran and CEO of Mobiles Republic. “We’ve found that reading news on tablets has more than doubled year over year. This is because the tablet allows for new trends in news consumption─ news snacking, for example, and because news syndication apps that provide all of a users favorite news sources within one app is a ready cure for information overload while increasing the user’s level of being informed on personal topics.  We believe our research can reassure the world’s primary news outlets, while also confirms they must have multiple streams of mobile news distribution in order to reach the mobile audiences and continue to thrive.”

Source - 2013 Infographic - the change in news reading habits,  Mobiles Research press release

Radio - Music try revenue-sharing

As older traditional business models are having trouble with a significantly larger and more competitive media environment, firms are seeking new options for revenues.

In a notable turn-around from intense competition with one another for shrinking revenues, mega-label Warner Music Group and radio mega-group owner Clear Channel for revenue-sharing and cross-promotion.  (It doesn't hurt that Clear Channel is also heavily involved in online radio and concert promotion).  In a nutshell, WMG gets a cut from all of Clear Channel's platforms, dedicated digital channels, and guaranteed promotion of its artists.  Clear Channel, in return, gets greater access to WMG artists and content, and (probably, but unstated) relief from emerging performance rights concerns

"WMG is showing the way for what a true 21st century music company can be – a music company built for the digital age,” Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman said in a statement. “The team at WMG understands that old formulas don’t work as well as they must in the digital age, and that we have to think differently to build a robust future for the music industry. Today, music companies and media and entertainment companies need to be more supportive of each other’s needs. This agreement begins that new era, and will help both companies thrive in the digital world.”

The move reflects the collapse of the old market barriers, and would seem to enable better coordination and collaboration in music promotion, distribution, and sales.  There may even be some scale and scope efficiencies to discover.

Source -  Clear Channel inks royalty deal with Warner Music Group,  Inside Radio

Radio goes mobile

An agreement between Sprint and a group of leading radio broadcasters has taken radio mobile (again).  This time, its on/through your smartphone.  Sprint will offer the NextRadio app on those devices that are FM-enabled (includes an FM receiver on a chip integrated into device hardware). 

  The NextRadio app will allow enabled smartphones to receive and play local radio station signals.  Those stations that register with the system can have logos and other information displayed, and related social media links displayed on the phone while listening to the station.  Eventually, the app hopes to be able to match listener habits with highly targeted advertising delivered to the phone.  A promo for the app and service can be seen here.

  The advantage that NextRadio will have over traditional streaming radio (though iHeart, Pandora, and others) is that the radio signal will not count against your service plan, as it uses regular radio broadcast signals rather than data streams.  That is, if your smartphone is FM-enabled.  So far, only two recently-released smartphones from HTC include the FM chip and NextRadio app.

Source  -  Radio Industry Delivers FM-enabled Smartphone App to Consumers,  Broadcast Newsroom

Global Digital Radio on a Chip

The radio industry has been pushing Congress to require receivers be included in all mobile devices.  But for a global industry and market, the problem is dealing with all of the various broadcasting standards and systems in use.  Thankfully, digital offers a solution - in this case the announcement by Silicon Labs that they have developed a single chip that can receive all current global digital  radio standards - a global radio receiver on a chip, if you will.
  I remember when the first digital global TV on a chip came out in 1994, and basically transformed the multistandard consumer electronics market - and made translating programs from one standard to another simple and easy.
  I don't know if this chip will do the same for digital radio, which has had a slower-than expected growth rate, in large part due to the relatively high cost of digital radio receivers.   A cheap chip that can be integrated into a wide range of consumer electronics can help speed up diffusion and adoption around the world.

Source -  Silicon Labs Announces Single IC Supporting Global Digital Radio Standards,  Radio TechCheck

Radio and Local Online Ads

A new study from Borrell is predicting that radio's "turning the corner" in digital ad sales, with a forecast of $420 million in total local online ad revenues for 2013.  In a survey of 1075 stations, 17% indicated that the expected their local online revenues to grow more than 30% this year.
  The gains, however, are not evenly distributed.  Over half of the radio stations and clusters reported online revenues of less than $250,000 in 2012, while the upper 3.4% reported online ad revenues of at least $3 million.  And while hopeful, the growth in online ads revenues in radio (14%) fall well below the overall growth rate for local online advertising (30.8%).  And local online remains a minor revenue source for radio, reaching 2.5% of radio ad revenues in 2013.

Source -  Radio's Local Online Ad Revs Rocket 14%,  MediaDailyNews

Online music royalties tidbits

A couple of interesting items, as a bill to restructure online music royalties in the U.S. makes its way through Congress.

  At GigaOm, a piece discusses a blog post from cellist Zoe Keating, who posted

"The law only demands I be paid in money, which at this point in my career is not as valuable as information. I'd rather be paid in data," Keating says, referring to listener data that could be gleaned from online services, which she in turn could use to boost ticket and CD sales.

The current rate (about a tenth of a cent per play) means that only the most popular artists can count on substantive revenues from web plays.  For most artists, revenues come predominantly from touring and merchandise sales.  Ms. Keating notes that data on her fans can be much more helpful - she already uses basic postal code information from iTunes sales to help plan her tours.

Keating understands that in order to prosper in a world of digital music — just like in the world of e-commerce, digital publishing, you name it — information is power. 

 Meanwhile, a Billboard story addresses a recent report from an economist at Washington and Lee University.  He looked at what broadcasters would end up paying, if the proposed online royalty rates were applied to them.  His analysis is a bit seat-of-the-pants, relying on some rather simplistic assumptions to equate the "per play/stream" online rate to an estimate of songs played times aggregate radio audience (12+) (total songs per year x listening audience x royalty rate) - and comes up with a total of $2.47 billion.  The article tweaks the numbers a bit (adjusting for what it says is the 17% of radio programming that is non-music), but still reaches a total over $2 billion, which would be about 20% of total radio revenues.  The Billboard piece also notes another study by the same academic that suggested that if radio had to pay the same royalty rates for their broadcast signal as they do for their online stream, it would amount to $4.7 billion (or 37.8% of total revenues).
  A lot of the people advocating for raising online royalty rates argue that it's a matter of fairness.  I'll note that online music streamers are already paying royalties, both directly and/or indirectly (through licensing fees), so it isn't that online music streamers aren't "stealing" anything.  The bill's about increasing royalties and setting vastly different royalty rates depending on how the music is accessed or sent - and about making people pay extra to stream music they own from the cloud or their digital content lockers) for their personal use (but that's a different post).  The research being reported in Billboard shows that it's not as much about fairness as about privileging one music distribution system over another - and where's the fairness in that?

Source -  Data isn't just the new oil, it's the new money. Ask Zoe Keating,  GigaOm
Business Matters: If Big Radio Had Pandora's Royalty Rate, It Would Owe Billions,  Billboard.biz

FCC to move on cross-ownership

The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to periodically its ownership rules, primarily to consider whether the existing limits can be relaxed or dropped.  The FCC's actually a cycle or two behind schedule, due in part to the inevitable legal challenges that surface if they change any of the previous rules.  Still, the word in DC is that the FCC is planning on releasing a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on ownership rules before the end of the year.  That's normally the last step before formally adopting the proposed rule changes.
  The last formal proposals included dropping the rule against owning a TV station and radio stations in the same market, and loosen restrictions against owning both TV stations and newspapers in the same market.  The FCC is expected to leave its local market ownership limits for radio and TV as they are.  And if past history is any indication, they might propose some minor increases to the current national ownership limits for radio and TV.  The FCC has also floated a proposal for dropping the national ownership limits for cable - but the negative reaction to that proposal at that time suggests that they may try raising cap limits substantially rather than dropping them entirely.

  While there's likely to be the same hue and cry from various interest groups to any proposed changes that relax ownership limits, I have to say that they make sense - particularly if the rationale is to preserve existing channels and service.  The FCC's worked hard to keep local radio stations on the air, and with the coming economic changes facing smaller TV stations, allowing radio-TV crossownership in local markets might keep stations on the air.  On the other hand, relaxing TV-newspaper ownership limits (in top markets) are designed more to keep newspapers alive, letting TV station profits help subsidize failing newspapers.  As for concerns about concentration, national caps for broadcasters were mostly irrelevant anyway, as stations operate in local markets, not in national markets - and the FCC's likely preservation of local market ownership limits is what's important in that regard.
  The cable national caps issue is probably the most controversial.  Initially, cable systems were local monopolies in almost all communities, and the national caps were there to protect against cable MSO's using their monopoly power against cable networks, equipment manufacturers, and advertisers.  Since then, however, DBS systems have gone national, AT&T and Verizon have been implementing their own multichannel video programming delivery services (and with Google just starting), and online video streaming services have taken off.  It's increasingly difficult to make the case that cable systems are local monopolies (here in Knoxville, for instance, we have access to 5 multichannel providers).
  It's also becoming apparent that platform-specific ownership limits aren't that helpful in controlling concentration and monopoly power, as two of the top 3 MVPDS systems (in terms of subscribers) are DBS systems, and another 2 of the top 10 are telco MVPDS.  On the other hand, one of the problems that the small local cable operators face is the cost of upgrading their systems to be competitive.  The larger cable MSOs have the know-how and access to capital that could help smaller cable systems to upgrade their systems to be competitive with other video delivery platforms.  Lifting caps, particularly if targeted towards acquisitions or partnerships with small systems, could be beneficial for viewers and communities.
  I look forward to the new ownership proposals, and to the debate they'll engender.

Source  -  FCC Sources: Chairman Wants Media-Ownership Vote on Nov. 30,  Multichannel News
 

Really? CBS buys NY FM to simulcast AM sports talk

CBS has signed a definitive agreement with Merlin Media to purchase its New York station, WRXP-FM, for $75 million.  CBS Radio will reportedly use the FM station to simulcast its powerhouse sports talk AM station, WFAN.  Analysts suggest the move was prompted by ESPN radio moving its sports talk programming to an FM station.

“This is an extremely exciting opportunity to expand our radio presence in the nation’s largest market,” said Dan Mason, CBS Radio CEO. “Sports is a very popular format and a huge growth category for our business. As a result of this new asset, we look forward to The FAN building on its position as the leading sports radio franchise in the country.

For Merlin, the sale of its NY station will allow the company to pay off debt and focus on its stations in Chicago and Philadelphia.

CBS's move in "simulcasting" its AM station programming may seem a bit weird initially, as FM stations have the lion's share of audiences and revenues in radio markets.  But if you look at it as a way to bring a venerable and valuable sports talk AM to that more lucrative FM portion of the market, it makes a bit more sense.

Source - Merlin sells WRXP to CBS Radio, RBR.com

Radio Evolution Conference Proceedings

Last year, an academic conference was held in Portugal with the theme "Radio Evolution".  The conference proceedings, comprising 47 research papers in 7 thematic areas, is now being made available online.
  You can access and download individual papers, as well as the entire proceedings, here -

Radio Evolution: 2011 ECREA Conference Proceedings

Legislative Moves by Broadcasters

American broadcasters and their trade group, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) are actively lobbying Congress and the FCC on two current issues with possible economic impact.
  In one case, radio broadcasters are lobbying against some possible changes in intellectual property law.  Recorded music embodies several separate intellectual property rights - copyright, which covers the authors/composers of music, performance rights, which covers the artist's performance of that music, and mechanical reproduction rights, which address the right to make and sell copies of performances.  The last, mechanical reproduction, are held by the record companies.  And broadcasting has always had to pay for copyright permissions.  However, in the early days of radio, there was an informal quid pro quo on performance rights and radio that became formalized in copyright law - since radio was (and still remains) the ore-eminant promotional tool for music, artists and labels waived performance rights fees to maximize radio's capabillity to play new artists.  The logic behind this is solid - adding performance rights fees to copyright fees raises the costs of music to stations.  This may be less of a problem with music that has an established value, as long as that value is higher than the rights costs - but it will discourage playing of lower valued (special interest or limited interest) recordings, whose value is less than the costs of rights fees, and new music whose value is uncertain.  Positive costs in terms of rights fees will discourage broadcasters from serving minority tastes, and reduce stations' interest in airing new music from new artists (where the value of that music is unknown and uncertain. 
   On the other media, most other media channels, where music is often more peripheral to their main service value, has been paying performance rights.
  The music industry, who short-sightly sees this as a new revenue stream for existing music catalogs, has been pushing Congress to overturn what amounts to radio's waiver from paying performance rights.  It may be "fair" to treat all media the same, but not all media have served as a primary (and free) promotional tool for the industry.  Adding costs through adding rights fees may generate more revenues for the performances that artists have already recorded.  However the vast bulk of revenues for music companies and artists comes from reproduction rights, not copyright or performance rights.  And the added costs of performance rights will likely have a negative impact on the demand for new performances and recordings - as radio outlets reduce the amount of new recordings played, and as artists and labels would likely have to pay more to get new music out in front of potential audiences and consumers.
  There are two competing bills circulating in the House. A draft of the proposed "Interim FIRST Act" authored by Democrat Jerrold Nadler was released this week, and would force cable and satellite radio stations to pay performance rights, and would require online streams from broadcast radio stations and other Internet radio services to pay performance rights at an even higher rate.  While proclaiming that it would level the playing field and treat all players equitably, it would embody three different sets of rates - broadcast radio, which would still be exempt; cable and satellite radio, which would pay one rate for performance rights, and online and Internet radio (including streams of broadcast stations) which would have to pay a still higher rate.  Republican Jason Chaffetz is working on a bill that would impose the same performance rights fees on all digital music sources - cable and satellite radio, Internet radio stations, and music streaming services.  It would also call for the rates to be negotiated between music outlets and the music industry, rather than being set by a Federal tribunal.
  While broadcasters would prefer to avoid paying performance rights fees altogether, they are more supportive of the Chaffetz approach rather than the Interim FIRST Act - and the latter's attempt to make broadcast radio stations pay more for their digital streams that other digital music outlets.

  The NAB and broadcasters are simultaneously continuing to lobby for legislation that would require smartphones to be capable of receiving and playing FM radio broadcasts.  Most smartphones already have a chip built into their devices that would do that, but that application is turned off by virtually all U.S. wireless operators.  The initial arguments were phrased as a trade-off for reintroducing performance rights fees.  Broadcasters are adding a new argument - public safety.  They point to the role that radio plays as the primary means of distributing information to the public during natural disasters or other emergencies, when normal information services are interrupted.  In filings to the FCC, the NAB argued that most broadcasters have built-in redundancy in case of emergency, and that the broadcast nature of their service and the widespread availability of receivers make radio particularly well-suited for emergency communications.  Besides, it's already the designated government Emergency Broadcast System.

"It is time to seriously consider steps needed to improve consumer access to free, over-the-air radio via smartphones and other mobile devices,"  (the) NAB said.

While analysts generally doubt that activating FM chips in smartphones will dramatically change radio and music listening behavior, it at least expands the options for consumers.  And its likely that it could prove useful when traditional communication channels (and wireless service in particular) is interrupted.

Sources -  Nadler circulates draft legislation on music royalties,  The Hill
NAB: Broadcasters Are Answering Call for Reliable Emergency Info,  Broadcasting & Cable

Radio uses Web for News

Another portion of the RTNDA/Hofstra study of broadcast newsrooms focused on their use of websites to post local news.  The study reports that almost all radio stations, and every TV station airing local news, have websites, and that 80% of those sites have at least some local news.  Even when breaking results by market size, the proportion remained fairly consistent (83.3% in major market websites, 84.6% in large markets, 78.9% in medium markets, and 76.7% in small markets).
  The study also found that few radio stations offered their own apps.  Roughly a quarter of radio station websites included web-exclusive content, and only 6.7% included user-generated content.  In other words, most news on radio station websites is ported from regular station news content.  Also, almost 60% of radio news directors couldn't tell if their web news operations was profitable or not - which is more likely to reflect a situation that web operations and revenues are bundled with other operations (and not considered as a separate cost center) than it is reflection of news director's ignorance.  For those who did separate out website operations, about 13% reported they were profitable, 13% broke even, and 15% reported losses.

Sources -  2012 RTNDA/Hofstra Newsroom Study Looks At Station Websites,  AllAccess.com
Full Study -  2012 TV and Radio News Staffing and Profitability Survey

NAB - HD Radio Install Base Grows

A post on the NAB's TechCheck blog tries to make the argument that what has been a slow adoption of HD-Radio (formerly known as Digital Radio) is poised to take off, largely as a result of its inclusion in car radios.  The industry sees greater inclusion of HD-Radio recievers within the growing options of what the auto industry is now calling the "center console" (previously, car radio). iBiquity digital, the trade group behind HD-Radio, states that some 28 auto makes now offer HD Radio (9 only as an option, 13 as an option on some vehicles and standard equipment on others, and 6 hi-end brands include it on all vehicles sold in the U.S.).  The auto industry estimates that HD Radios will be installed on about 20% of the cars shipped this year.  In addition, a J.D. Power survey touts HD Radio as the most likely "emerging" technology that consumers will add when purchasing a new vehicle.

  There's a bit of hype in the post - 20% penetration in new models is not a huge number, particularly when looking at the entire number of autos consumers use.  In addition, most new models are replacements for older ones, with the result that the actual user base growth is likely to be significantly slower that what's suggested.  Then, consider that many of the new "center consoles" are likely to contact connections for digital music players and/or the Internet and you start to realize that you're adding direct competition (and for many consumers preferred substitutes) and its likely that the actual growth of HD Radio audiences from car installs is likely to be slower than the post and its accompanying graphic (see above) suggest.  (Another problem with the graphic is that it shows the number of "vehicle lines" and brands, not the number of vehicles sold, or audience for HD Radio).
  The post is right that it's a good sign that manufacturers are offering HD Radio in vehicles - you need the tech out there for people to sample and decide what value they place on HD Radio services, and whether it will have a role in their listening repertoire.  But in an increasingly competitive media environment, will their be enough additional value to HD Radio, compared to alternatives, to attract the audiences necessary to supplant FM or Satellite Radio, or challenge other digital music delivery systems for the dominant listening alternative?  A few years ago, many of the same arguments about availability in autos was made for Satellite Radio (Sirius/XM), and diffusion and adoption of that outlet has stalled.  I'm not ready to declare that HD Radio has hit critical mass yet.

Source -  HD Radio Automotive Penetration Grows,  Radio TechCheck

TV Web Revenue - Growing Strong

A new report by Borrell Associates predicts that online ad revenues for local TV stations will increase 25% this year.  This outpaces the average growth potential for all media and continues local TV's share of online ad revenues growing from 0.4% in 2003 to 12% of the market in 2011.  They predict that total online ad sales for local television stations will surpass $2.7 billion in 2012.
  Online ad revenues for radio, however, saw only 6% growth in 2011.  Citing several initiatives in the radio industry, Borrell predicted that the radio industry should earn $409.9 million in local online ad sales in 2012.  Ad revenue from local station's online streaming efforts still significantly trail pure Web radio outlets ($67.4 million compared to $206.3 million).

Source -  Borrell Expects 25% Boost In TV Web Rev,  Net NewsCheck

The Market for Radio Station Sales

After almost three years of stalled radio station mergers & acquisition (M&A) activity, 2011 started with several major transactions.
  “Challenging industry fundamentals and a lack of capital had stalled radio station M&A for the better part of three years, especially for cash flow negative (stick value) stations. However, we saw three interesting transactions that affirmed radio station multiples somewhere in the low to mid-8.0x EBITDA area. First, Hubbard tested the waters, paying in the low 8.0x area ($505 million) for 17 stations in four markets, purchased from Bonneville International. Second, Cumulus completed an impressive radio rollup, using a complex set of transactions to create the second-largest radio station company in the United States, by acquiring the 75% of CMP Susquehanna it did not own and larger rival Citadel Broadcasting in a deal worth $2.4 billion. Last, we were surprised to see one stick value transaction, where Emmis Communications sold three large market stations for approximately $130 million to Merlin Media,” Cheen and Hebert, analysts with Wells Fargo Securities, said.
  So is there a prospect for more action?  The analysts noted that in 2008, both Clear Channel and CBS explored selling up to 50 stations each, before the collapsing economy soured prospects. As conditions improve this year, those stations may yet come back on the market.  (Although Les Moonves of CBS has indicated that their is currently no interest in putting those stations back on the market).

Source -  Trying to gauge the market for radio transactions,  RBR.com

Clear Channel Rebrands

Clear Channel wants you to know that they're more than just the largest radio broadcaster, operating more than 800 radio stations across the U.S.  Thus, it's renaming itself Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, and pushing their proliferating digital channels, including the iHeartRadio digital platform, and it's content-creation activities (including Premiere Radio Networks and the Total Traffic Network.

While not abandoning the radio business that first brought Clear Channel to national prominence, it has slimmed down the broadcast station side, spinning off about a third of the stations acquired in an acquisition binge that followed the 1996 Telecommunications Act's lifting of national radio ownership caps.  The shift in focus to content creation and distribution through a wide range of media and outlets can be seen as a reflection of what's seen as the limited growth potential of local radio broadcasting vs. the increasing demand for content and the rapid rise of digital and mobile media platforms.  The iHeartRadio platform is configured both as a mobile distribution platform for radio stations and as a social media platform, hoping to create synergy between mobile, social, and audio media use.  On the other hand, the corporate emphasis on tightly controlled national programming feeds for its local stations may save some operating costs, but ignores the real competitive advantage of local broadcasting - the ability to build relationships with local audiences.

Clear Channel Communications also owns Clear Channel Outdoor, which focuses on display ads in a variety of venues (billboards, venue displays (stadiums, airports, malls, transit systems, etc.), and is building a network of digital billboards and displays.

Source -  Rebranded Clear Channel Downplays Radio, Pushes Cross-Platform,  MediaDailyNews

BlackBerry will flip FM Radio switch

For some time now, the radio industry has been pushing to get mobile device builders to include FM receiver chips in their sets, and if they didn't, to get Congress to mandate installation and use of those chips.  For several years now, manufacturers have been including the chip in handsets, but mobile systems in the U.S. have kept them turned off.
This week, RIM and Blackberry announced that they'll be the first of the major operators in the U.S. to turn the chips on.  Customers who use several of the Blackberry Curve units and install the forthcoming BlackBerry 7.1 OS will find an app that allows them to use those devices to listen to local FM stations, without having to rely on data services or data plans.

International experience suggests that this new potential audience is not likely to significantly impact radio listenership or solve radio's financial problems, but it shouldn't hurt, either.

Source:  BlackBerry Flips on Radio Switch,  RadioInk

RockStar Radio Network Set to Launch November

Post contributed by Zuri Walker -

  Former personal manager for Axl Rose (Guns N’ Roses), Craig Duswalt is set to launch his new radio network, RockStar Radio Network November 28, 2011. The network will encompass over 50 live radio shows along with podcasts, re-podcasts, and cd like quality sound, live commercials and more. Duswalt’s goal is to teach others how to become “Rockstars” in their own industries. Specialty shows will be hosted in topics such as health, business, pop culture, education and much more. Duswalt hopes with the launch of the new network entrepreneurs will be able to get their message and ideas out to others. 

  With a background in the music and marketing industries, this network looks to have a huge impact on listeners and hopefully will benefit them in more ways than one. Listeners will be able to access this network this November at www.RockStarRadioNetwork.com.

Source - RockStar Radio Network Launches on November 28, 2011 Featuring the World's Best Radio Shows on the Internet,  SFGate

Tips For Interviews

Post contributed by Austin Moyers -

Here are a few interview tips for sports hosts from Talkers.com  -

• You don’t always have to over prepare questions for interviewees. It doesn’t hurt to come into the interview a native curiosity. However, a good middle ground for interviewing is to ask the basic questions and follow up accordingly. This also establishes a natural rhythm to the interview, and makes it easier to ease into the more serious issues you may have with your interviewee.
• There is no need to establish your own credentials with a subject. It can lead to citing your own opinions rather than inquiring to the interviewee.
• If you fear the interviewee is going on to much, and could be boring your audidence, it is alright to interrupt the person. Make sure you do it the right way though. Be polite and respectful.
• Most of your audience probably already knows your own views. There is no need to truncate a quest’s reply.
• Lastly, be careful about arguing a point with your guest. Sometimes this makes for great radio or television, but you run the risk of drowning out interesting comments by those who are actually on the front line.

[I'll add my own summary interview tip - in interviews, be more of a listener than a talker.  Pose the question, but then get out of the way, and listen to the response rather than thinking about what your next question will be.  Ben Bates]

Source -  Interview tips for sports hosts,  Talker.com

"Sports Guys” In Sports Talk

Post contributed by Austin Moyers -

This may come as a disappointment to guys like me who are not athletes but would love to get into sports talk radio, but a lot of people around the nation are calling for more former athletes to be on the shows as opposed to regular people like you and I.
   In a unfortunate way this does make sense. You can turn on any sports talk show and here some Joe ripping apart an athlete for his performance. What does this guy know bout what an athlete goes through? Bringing in more athletes to do the shows brings a more credible opinion to the show.
  However, for the regular sports fan/journalist, this is terrible news because this will take jobs away for us trying to break into the industry. I understand that the everyday sports broadcaster doesn’t fully understand what a current athlete goes through like an former athlete would, but you don’t have to be a former athlete to form a formidable opinion on a player or game.
   Regardless, station managers are looking for more former players to be on air so we’ll see how far this goes down the road.

Source - We need more jocks in sports talk radio (and I don't mean former disc jockeys),  Talkers.com