Gordon Hastings is president of ghhMANAGEMENT. He is the founder of the Broadcasters Foundation of America and the former president of Katz Radio and Katz Television. He is a founder of the Radio Mercury Awards and the Broadcasters Foundation of America Celebrity Golf Tournament.
The announcement of the $60 million dollar deal with Ryan Seacrest is bold, beautiful and buoyant for the entire radio industry. What a fabulous way for Bob Pittman the newly named chair of media and entertainment platforms to come out of the box!
Hidden in the excitement is the biggest news of all! The development of a record label! Yes, a record label and this is something that every major radio company should be doing right now! Once again, Clear Channel is leading the way and I take some small pride in advocating this very idea for over a year. See my earlier postings. This move will not go unnoticed by the recording industry in the PRA negotiation.
It is all about content. Control the content and you will drive the audience and the advertisers to your door. Clear Channel and the radio industry have an enormous ability through their stations and Web presence to Crowdsource new artists, develop stars, make recordings and control the content. And yes, radio can have its own version of American Idol!
This bold move has already turned heads throughout the media world. What a great Seacrest quote in today’s New York Times story. nytimes.com “I kept coming back to the power of Clear Channel’s distribution. I honestly went to bed the last couple of weeks thinking about whether I would be disappointed if I didn’t have that, and would miss the dialogue I have with listeners every day.” That from a man whose American Idol reaches millions each week!
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