Many years ago, I worked for a small town radio station that went bankrupt. A new owner came in, commissioned a local radio listening study and determined very few people were listening to the station at the time.
The new owner understood that, even though only a small audience was listening, sufficient frequency of spots would produce "reach" to the small audience. He reckoned that if anyone went into the businesses and told them they listened to our station, the advertisers would be satisfied that his ads were working. And that would give him time to stabilize and improve the programming on the station (the previous format was AOR - all over the road), which would eventually mean increased listenership.
So, initially he only sold advertising like this:
5 - 10 second spots per day, 7 days a week for $35 a week.
10 - 10 second spots per day, 7 days a week for $50 a week.
5 - 30 second spots per day, 7 days a week for $50 a week.
10 - 30 second spots per day, 7 days a week for $75 a week.
Being down, dirty and cheap, the spots began to sell (the price was too irresistible not to try). The spots worked. The station's small group of listeners reacted.
The station's revenue picture picked up, the programming improved (I became PD for 2 years and learned a lot working for this guy). He eventually purchased the other radio station in town...and sold both when he retired for 7 figures.
Moral of the story: run enough spots, and even a station with few listeners can produce results. Don't know if that's the game this guy is playing or not...but if the programming's OK, it "could" help them.
