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K-G-OW!

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

I see it's been a few months since a nice long thread about 1560...

First, I give them credit for putting together this effort, especially for a locally-owned station with a mostly local lineup. But in today's radio business, I wonder exactly how long this venture can continue.

I understand KGOW doesn't encode for PPM... but by golly, when even the likes of daytimer KIKK show up in the PPM's and you don't, that is bad.

At what point would it be necessary for Mr. Gow and Mr. Topper to move 1560 away from the crowded sports radio pool, and into another direction? I know Granato is popular in Houston, so perhaps if they switch to a general news/talk format, they could keep him. There's also several hosts whose shows aren't cleared in this market (Don Imus, Neal Boortz, Stephanie Miller), and I'm sure one host currently on 950 would like to have all three hours of his show aired live.

Your thoughts?
 
I would venture to say it's easier to find people who can BS about sports than to find good talkers with broader interests. I'm guessing their current business plan keeps overhead pretty low.
 
They are selling station shirts at Academy, with the proceeds supposedly going to charity. Richard Topper is using the funds to run the station. I guess the charity is his own pocket.
 
Now where do I start? First off jerrbud – You created the ‘charity’ portion out of thin air. You added the word ‘supposedly’ to provide you with the internet forum indemnification but you made that part up. You should apologize for that.

I guess I will start with a quick history lesson so sit down, preferably in the first couple of rows as I do not want you trying to text your friends under the desk. Please put your gum away. Here spit it in this piece of paper and I will wad it up and throw it away for you. Yuck. Thank you.

Now pay attention because the 2008 version of Radio 101 is going to seem foreign to you. Since around December or January people have been going apesh!t for our t-shirts. I ordinarily steer clear from profanity but when I was digging around my unprofessional mind the only word I could come up with that scientifically described what 1560’s audience was doing in their clamor was apesh!t. We wanted to quell this angst. The people wanted their shirts.

So using personal relationships – oh boy this one is tough – Personal Relationships are these non-legal bindings that two people have. They are like a hybrid between a friendship and a business partner. Radio stations that do not encode for PPM use Personal Relationships to sell commercials and sponsorships. They are built on a foundation of trust and common goals. You know what – we will save that one for another semester. Moving Forward…

So using personal relationships John Granato went to his friends at Academy Sports and Outdoors and said “we would like to buy some shirts and sell them in your stores.” They said, “hmm that sounds interesting. Let’s do it!” We all agreed to do them for real inexpensive because this is a marketing and brand building move not a profit grab and voila! We had 1,000 shirts in 8 area stores a couple weeks ago.

For about 3 hours. They never made it to the shelf because they all sold out.

The good people at Academy Sports and Outdoors were amused and perplexed and ordered more shirts and put them in all of the Houston area Academy locations. So now we have enough to not run out for a little while.

But from what I understand they are still flying off the shelves so I would recommend getting to any Houston area Academy Sports and Outdoors and getting yours today! I would suggest you get the Secret Society one. It is being retired after this printing soon! It is gonna become a collector’s item!!

OK next question was from DtotheJ. Something about changing directions in programming - we are not. We are patient and we are winning. The question should be asked at siete noventa el animal de deportes. ¡Hay Dios Mio! ¿Soy que hace predicciones otra vez? ¡Debo parar el si se asume de que 790 está cambiando a los deportes españoles!

Ok guys thanks for the questions. You may all leave. jerrbud - I want you to stay behind for a minute. I need to fill out a progress report and have you take it home to get signed. Academically you are doing great but your attitude is starting to make me worry. Let's nip this in the bud ok trooper?

Professor Chance McClain
 
Good stuff, Chance. Very funny. You mentioned KBME flipping to Deportes, which I've heard rumored a couple of times, but has not transpired as of yet. Is this for a fact, or is it just speculation? No disrespect to you or "The Game" but KBME is a much clearer signal this far north than KGOW, and top that with KILT not having one single thing worth listening to, and I begin to worry about my morning sports fix.
 
Pure speculation on 790. Basically it is what I would do.

We are improving our signal each weekend. I hope we can get it to where you can listen comfortably wherever you are up north. Thanks man!!!

Clm

purpledevil said:
Good stuff, Chance. Very funny. You mentioned KBME flipping to Deportes, which I've heard rumored a couple of times, but has not transpired as of yet. Is this for a fact, or is it just speculation? No disrespect to you or "The Game" but KBME is a much clearer signal this far north than KGOW, and top that with KILT not having one single thing worth listening to, and I begin to worry about my morning sports fix.
Click to expand...
 
Actually I was thinking the Mega departure would provide at least a couple sales people that have time invested in CC and want to continue selling Spanish language programming.
 
I still think you guys need to encode. I'd bet it would pay off in placed you have never seen. Hey, maybe you could get some national business. If the underground network is working to perfection as you all say it is, ratings should be in the bag. GO FOR IT!
 
thegame said:
The good people at Academy Sports and Outdoors were amused and perplexed and ordered more shirts and put them in all of the Houston area Academy locations. So now we have enough to not run out for a little while.

But from what I understand they are still flying off the shelves so I would recommend getting to any Houston area Academy Sports and Outdoors and getting yours today! I would suggest you get the Secret Society one. It is being retired after this printing soon! It is gonna become a collector’s item!!
Click to expand...

Chance,

By "All Houston Area Academy stores," do you mean the one in Galveston, too? You have many fans and supporters down south in Galveston County, many of whom work at UTMB. (Yes, naysayers of the "Game" signal issues, we can listen down here.) I know many of your fans here would flock for shirts.

I am among those who are pulling for you guys to succeed and I think your station, with time, effort, and patience can (and will) work. I'd love a shirt; I'd gladly buy one. Do you know if they're being sold down here? Thanks.
 
Just got back to this post. Thanks for your eloquence, Chance. Yesterday, I was packing some artwork between posterboard-type boxes to help keep it flat. I turned over one of the boxes and there was the Academy logo. I walked around for the rest of the day with a big grin on my face, thinking stuff at odd moments like, "Who knew? Locally-owned radio serving its listeners and connecting with its actual community." Or, "How about that, jocks who are allowed and encouraged to bring clients and promotional ideas aboard and tie them hand-in-hand with the listeners?" Or later, "Call me crazy, but happy clients, motivated show hosts, and listeners who care enough to buy the shirts immediately are the best possible outcome, aren't they?" I don't listen to sports radio at all, but I'd call this a triumph for KGOW and a return to a business model that's long overdue. Consultants and the big-money guys must heap you with scorn and pray for your failure daily.

I hope your station lives forever.
 
Aunti,

I'm back in the area briefly, but I agree with your comments, 100%. We need more radio stations that are local and promote local interests. A corporate head from NYC or elsewhere could really and honestly give a hill of beans about what goes on or what is needed in Houston. To big corporate heads, listeners are a dime a dozen and everything is about $$$. Screw what the listeners may want; who cares if they're happy? If one leaves, some new blood will follow. But, the sad truth is.... they're not following --- at least not to commercial radio.

Good luck to David Gow and everyone involved with 1560 The Game. I hope you're successful for a long time to come.
 
thank you guys for the cool things you have said and the support. We are trying! Funny story about Galveston...Galveston academy was originally left off the list of 20 stores they expanded to bit we had a couple calls and emails and better yet, some listeners in the store requesting the shirts and as of today there are shirts in the island store. Now it is just Beaumont and Port Arthur that are excluded in this region.

Chuck-you got it brother.

Adguy-(and here is where I turn the tone to one which is more relevant to the whole market) I personally believe that our audience is of the size that would warrant arbitron inclusion. But we are not going to encode for several reasons. 1. Our financial pacing does not require it. 2. Did you see the memo pit forth by all of the big wigs to Arbitron? PPM is an ineffective tool for measuring usage. "it is all we have" is a piss poor answer. Stations that rely on these numbers are handicapped by a broken methodology. We have found a way to thrive without it so we stay the course.
 
Dear "the game" (mr. mclain):

Hats off, dude. One of the best posts I've ever seen! Well done. I loved that.

I listen to your station and to 790. I enjoy both, to be honest.

Your signal is terrible. Being honest here. Get it fixed, please.

Keep up the good work, and go buy a bigger signal, so I can listen to Lance and John.

By the way, can Justice and Hoffman. They suck.
 
The signal is getting better, but if a better signal suddenly became available (for the right price of course) I'd jump on it. If KGOW could acquire Palillo from KBME (if the station does flip) I'd jump on that too and promptly insert him into the PM drive slot. I think Justice is pretty good, but I agree with hadenough's assessment of Hoffman. Not real good and very uninteresting guests. Sean & John would be better night guys, but I know there's no signal for it.

Chance-don't you love all this "free consulting"!

As for the PPM data, I agree with your assessment that the technology is flawed to a degree, but it is far superior to the diaries. ARB's problem is with the sample size and makeup. Once they clear that up I believe the PPM will be more accurate than not. The problem, as you know, is that it is the only thing available to the advertisers and stations for "official" measurement. I use it and it is actually pretty good in measuring what I buy. I buy mostly in the spanish radio space and it is very successful for me. And I hear nothing but bitching from the spanish radio guys. PPM definitely has a future.

Chance-if you guys are hitting your revenue goals that's great. You are using the same model KSEV used when they first hit the air in '91. The audience builds loyalty with the station and each other and trades with each other in a profitable atmosphere. I still maintain getting measured will pay off more and unless your sales guys are into sandbagging to show year-to-year growth there's no reason to avoid more revenue.
 
I could use the Arbitron argument against Charlie P. I love the guy but let's face it...he has been there for over 3 years and has yet to beat Marc and Rich or Matt and Rich. He has not even negatively impacted their numbers. The way we are building a station, Charlie is one of the last people I would go to for a show. He does a "From the pulpit" style of show. He is good at it but we are doing a more inclusive style of radio. Charlie takes calls and plenty of them. But he takes calls from the perspective of John Doe is seeking the Oracle. He takes questions but does not enter into dialogue. And ultimately I think it is boring, elitist radio. The internet denizens that actually participate in intelligent conversation are generally educated, opinionated, and isolated. Much like Charlie. So they are his cheerleaders. Look no further than this forum and you will find plenty of voices that crown Palillo with the title of best Houston Sportscaster.

I like to think that our growing audience is educated and opinionated as well. But they are not isolated. they come to our events. Hell they have their own events without us. We have had five radio station promotions that we did not set up, promote, or attend. The listeners call them 1560 lunches and twenty or thirty people get together and eat lunch. Sometimes at a client's location and sometimes not.

I again encourage you folks to go to 1560.tv and dig around. It is not our official website. It is our petri dish. It is our sandbox. In August it will be our official site but for the last 4 months it has been an amazing testimony of the power trusting the people.

On the PPM conversation - I don't think they will get their samples up. Ever. People do not want to wear a pager. They totally did in 1991. Beeper Boutique was all the rage in the malls. But they don't know and they damned sure won't in the future.

Give me cellphone based measurement and I will enter the conversation. Give me unit based measurement and I will listen. Give me PPM and I will laugh.

Love,

Chance
 
thegame said:
I again encourage you folks to go to 1560.tv and dig around. It is not our official website. It is our petri dish. It is our sandbox. In August it will be our official site ...
Click to expand...

What will happen to 1560thegame.com then?
 
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