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Weekend Listener Drop-Off and Syndicated Programming

R

Rantek9

I hope this is not an unwelcome intrusion - for a class project I'm working on I have a couple novice radio questions I'm unable to wrap my head around and would much appreciate any insight someone could offer. Specifically ...

1. Do syndicated radio programs generate revenue from their national spots when they air in unrated markets? And, if so, how? For instance, I've noticed, a lot of short-form programs like Rudy Maxa's Travel Minute, or the Success Journal, or the Fresh Grocer, claim dozens or hundreds of affiliates, but as far as I can tell most or all of these seem to be in unrated markets. How do they sell barter spots to a national advertiser with no audience numbers? On the syndicators end, what is the incentive to air a national show in an unrated market?

2. How big is the weekend listener drop-off with "popular" syndicated shows like Leo Laporte or Bob Brinker? In a mid-major market like Syracuse or Madison, what would be considered an "average" audience for a show like that? What about a Cleveland or a Denver-size market?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Rantek9 said:
I hope this is not an unwelcome intrusion - for a class project I'm working on I have a couple novice radio questions I'm unable to wrap my head around and would much appreciate any insight someone could offer. Specifically ...

1. Do syndicated radio programs generate revenue from their national spots when they air in unrated markets? And, if so, how? For instance, I've noticed, a lot of short-form programs like Rudy Maxa's Travel Minute, or the Success Journal, or the Fresh Grocer, claim dozens or hundreds of affiliates, but as far as I can tell most or all of these seem to be in unrated markets. How do they sell barter spots to a national advertiser with no audience numbers? On the syndicators end, what is the incentive to air a national show in an unrated market?

2. How big is the weekend listener drop-off with "popular" syndicated shows like Leo Laporte or Bob Brinker? In a mid-major market like Syracuse or Madison, what would be considered an "average" audience for a show like that? What about a Cleveland or a Denver-size market?

Thanks in advance for any help!
Click to expand...

I can answer part of this.

The companies sell the barter spots without audience numbers the same way sales people in unrated markets (or ones that don't subscribe to Arbitron) do. They sell. The sales person could talk about the number of markets, or number of potential listeners, etc. Ratings are just a tool for sales. If you don't have that tool, you use another one.

As far as exact numbers on audience of weekend shows, that's going to be hard to find without someone breaking Arbitron's rules.
 
Ravens said:
I can answer part of this.

The companies sell the barter spots without audience numbers the same way sales people in unrated markets (or ones that don't subscribe to Arbitron) do. They sell. The sales person could talk about the number of markets, or number of potential listeners, etc. Ratings are just a tool for sales. If you don't have that tool, you use another one.
Click to expand...

There are ratings for every county in the US once a year. And there are "network" ratings for syndicators which consolidate all the national data from rated markets.
 
Thanks to both of you, very helpful!

One other question - do stations usually have difficulty selling advertising in the local breaks of syndicated weekend shows? On a weekend program I listen to there are a lot of PSAs during what I suspect are the local breaks during several of the syndicated national shows. I wasn't sure if that was just unique to the station I'm listening to or not.
 
Rantek9 said:
Thanks to both of you, very helpful!

One other question - do stations usually have difficulty selling advertising in the local breaks of syndicated weekend shows? On a weekend program I listen to there are a lot of PSAs during what I suspect are the local breaks during several of the syndicated national shows. I wasn't sure if that was just unique to the station I'm listening to or not.
Click to expand...

Most sales on any station are based on Monday-Friday 6 AM to 7 PM. Anything outside that period often is sold at lower rates, or is sold as part of a package where the low rate night and weekend spots average down the pricier M-F spots.

Of course, on talk stations there may be clients who only buy a specialty show, like a computer repair shop or a network installer buying on a computer show or an automotive provider buying on a car show.
 
Rantek9 said:
One other question - do stations usually have difficulty selling advertising in the local breaks of syndicated weekend shows?
Click to expand...

Doesn't have much to do with the weekends. If you listen to a daytime program on the station that runs all those PSAs during Leo Laporte, you'll probably find quite a few unpaid announcements.
Successful stations usually have something better to run than Ad Council spots, but unsuccessful stations don't.

Having said that, lots of talk stations in medium to small markets aren't very successful.
 
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