Smile - you're on the radio

Got any Power 106 listeners out there in LA Biz Observed land? Well, the L.A. hip hop station (actually it's in Burbank) is celebrating Valentine's Day with something called "Trash Your Ex." The idea is to collect all your keepsakes from past loves and place them into a giant wood chipper as DJ Big Boy describes the action. But here's the best part: you get to actually see the action because "Trash Your Ex" will be streamed on Power 106's Web site. It's the latest trend in radio - video. The offerings range from just having a camera in the broadcast booth to music videos, concerts and other neat stuff. Dianna Jason, senior director of marketing and promotions at Power 106, says there's no such thing anymore as "having a face for radio." From the NYT:

Video now makes up only a tiny fraction of the $20 billion a year that radio generates in advertising sales. But it could represent a much-needed new source of growth in a rapidly expanding online video market that everyone from Google to newspapers to broadcast television wants to be in. Radio executives and personalities say their video efforts will be different because they capitalize on radio’s traditional strength in using on-air personalities and local events to draw in listeners. Taking a cue from YouTube and the rise of user-generated video, a polished, TV-quality product is often not the objective. Another Power 106 video effort featured a staff member, dressed like a shrub, jumping out of a planter to surprise visitors to the station’s office on Halloween.

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Clear Channel, whose Internet efforts are led by Evan Harrison, an executive vice president, has elaborate video programming available on the Web sites of its 1,200 stations, including Tampa’s 933FLZ.com, where “Naked” is featured. Clear Channel has made some 6,000 music videos available for downloading online, but has also been producing original video content that individual stations can feature on their Web sites and disc jockeys can promote on the air.