Scott Brandon’s latest dispatch from the NAB Radio Show (“How to Make Your Station Website the Newspaper of the Future”):

“We begin with internet problems. Not a good sign. Wish I had my camera. Feels like a college lecture hall. The session is led by Paul Coates from Branson. Roger Utnehmer (DoorCountyDailyNews.com) was scheduled to present but had to drop out due to illness.

Really, this thing was all about why to do it (revenue opportunities, audience movement) nothing much about how to do it. More “ain’t this neat” than anything else. Toward the end people started to push him for logistic info. At some point, Coates lost control and the herd took over. Lots of independent conversations and random questions being thrown out and answers coming from the gallery.

Some notes:

• Traditional newspaper is continuing to decline. That means there is an opportunity to grab those non-traditional readers.
• Radio can drive people to the web and make money. If newspaper drives you to web, they lose your traditional sub rev.
• Your website has to supply news not history.
• You already have news and sports departments.
• You can charge premium price. Print buyers used to spending lots. Too low and it doesn’t seem worth it.
• Sky is limit on content.
• [More internet problems. Everyone in the crowd has advice.]
• Fresh content is needed everyday and early in the morning. By 5:30 or 6:00.
• His unique visitors have leveled out but his per-day visits have gone up. On average, each person visits 3 times a day. Guess what? They update the news 3 times a day.
• “Show-me more” feature on Roger’s site allows sponsors to put up a video of their biz or offerings.
• Hometowndailynews.com is working on adding a feature to their “area dining” section that will allow you to do on-line orders to your favorite restaurant.
• Your site should have different name than station. Must be a full stand alone feel. Otherwise, people feel they are just spending more money/time on your station.
• Did not hire new staff. Shuffle duties of existing staff.
• Now we’re into legal stuff. Is it legal to link to google? Sigh.
• Mistakes he made: 1) Have more patience; 2) Sell it to your staff first; 3) Crawl, walk, run”