A burgeoning trend among many web-savvy businesses is to create microsites to help their efforts stand out.  A great example of this in radio is KQRC/Kansas City.  They've built a microsite for their upcoming all-day concert event, Rockfest.  Users have access to resources that include a venue map, ticket info, rules, lodging options, the full line-up, and even a MySpace profile.  In short, everything you need to successfully navigate Rockfest '08.

Other stations have pulled this off, too.  Sites that are specially set up for a "Rock Girls" competition, an at-work program, a major contest, and anything that ought to stand out can be highlighted with a microsite.

Why create a separate URL and go through the time and work to make this happen?  Well, if you've spent any time on most radio station sites, they are often extremely cluttered.  Between the standard info (DJs, shows, features, contests, advertisements, etc.), it is often difficult to find what you're looking for.  As a result, a great event like Rockfest (or a station's major anniversary or big contest) can simply get lost in the web morass.  And a big event deserves the attention that a new URL can offer.

This is happening outside of radio, too.  Last week, we talked about Metallica's new site that tees up their new album.  It's noteworthy that R.E.M. built five microsites around their album Accelerate.  These include:

• remdublin.com (which highlights their Dublin performances)
• ninetynights.com (a countdown site with video clips that fans could edit)
• supernaturalsuperserious.com (an interactive video site with 10 takes of the album's first video single, tied in with YouTube)
• remaccelerate.com (a general site that highlights the album, the tour, links, news)
• iLike.com (the debut of the album on a music social network with links to iTunes and Amazon). 

Maybe that's taking the concept a bit further than most stations would consider, but it's all about building awareness for the band, and showcasing some of their big concepts.

As radio station websites - not to mention their on-air sound - become more cluttered, sponsored, and difficult to navigate, using the infinite inventory of the Internet is a smart way to go in order to make great content stand out in a big way. 

At a meeting held this week, the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) adopted Guidelines promoting the use of "posting" or audience delivery guarantees for the radio industry.  While these guidelines are voluntary, and no doubt some broadcasters will not adopt the practice, those who do should be aware of the political broadcasting implications.  For years, at political broadcasting seminars that I have conducted around the country, the question of how posting affects the political broadcasting obligations of television broadcasters has been much discussed. In its 1991 policy statement on Political Broadcasting, which essentially established the rules that broadcasters have followed in the years since, the Commission's entire discussion of how audience underdelivery make good spots affected a station's political broadcasting obligations was essentially addressed in two sentences - essentially saying that such guarantees must be made available to candidates in the same manner as commercial advertisers.  The 1992 reconsideration added a few more sentences, making clear that any make-good spots provided to meet any delivery guaranty would not need to be considered in determining the lowest unit charge of the time periods in which the make good runs.  What the Commission leaves to the broadcaster, however, is to fashion a way to compensate the candidate for underdelivery when the underdelivery may not be discovered for months (when the next ratings book is released), which will usually be after the election for which the candidate purchased the spots. 

In the television industry, where posting has been common for years, stations deal with the political implications in many different ways.  First, not all purchased spots will have delivery guarantees. Under Commission rules, spots that have different rights can be considered to be spots of a different class, and each class of spots will have its own lowest unit rate.  Thus, spots with audience delivery guarantees will likely have a higher price than those that do not have the guarantees.  As the make good spots for any underdelivery of audience will be of little value if they are not available until after an election, the candidates will usually opt for the lower priced spots without the guarantees.  Alternatively, stations can offer candidates a discount off of their lowest unit rates for spots with guarantees in exchange for the candidates agreeing to waive any underdelivery make-good spots.  In a few cases, candidates agree to take any make-good spots to which they may be entitled, and use them after the election to thank their supporters or to convey policy positions to their constituents.

One more political broadcasting issue needs to be taken into account when a station adopts posting - the need to disclose its posting policies in its political disclosure statement.  The Commission's rules specifically require that the station's political disclosure statement include:

An explanation of the station's sales practices, if any, that are based on audience delivery, with the stipulation that candidates will be able to purchase this kind of time, if available to commercial advertisers.

With any new sales practice, stations need to take into account the political broadcasting implications, especially in a hotly contested political broadcasting year like this one.  So consider those new policies carefully.  And, for more information about the political broadcasting rules, see our Political Broadcasting Guide. 

The Commission today published notice in the Federal Register revising the dates for submitting comments in its rule making "In the Matter of Promoting Diversification of Ownership in the Broadcasting Services."  If you will recall, this is the rule making proceeding that seeks comment on a number of new proposals, including whether to revise the definition of "Designated Entities", possibly expanding the FM band to include TV channels 5 and 6, possibly adopting rules to allow AM expanded band stations to retain those stations or transfer them to Designated Entities, and whether Class A LPTV stations should be afforded must-carry rights on cable systems. 

Although the FCC had initially pegged the comment date at July 15th when it first published notice a couple of weeks ago, apparently that date was a miscalculation.  Thus, the dates for commenting have now been revised, and Comments in the proceeding are now due on or before June 30, 2008, and Reply Comments are due on or before July 14, 2008.  This means that interested parties have a couple of weeks less than initially thought to prepare and file comments in this proceeding, so start drafting now.  See our earlier summary of this proceeding for more information.  A copy of today's Federal Register notice can be found here.