May-June -July trends are out

[kenhawk1160]

Any station with a CHR presentation really needs to get out there and B heard (pun intended). You do that by public appearances, giveaways and such.

This is Radio 101. You all know this. However, the real problem is underscored by group Promotions Directors who are responsible for directing promotions efforts for three or four stations. I have done promotions before, and it's a big responsibility for one station, let alone a group, if you're doing your job right. You have to stay in touch with the street and know what's going on and find out how your station can benefit by tying in with that event. Colleges, schools, the Chamber of Commerce, local government, you name it.

Websites like winwinradio.com have offered up more freebies for giveaways than ever before. We've been able to generate floor traffic for clients by making up gift baskets of these and putting drop boxes up in businesses, running promos telling listeners to come in and register to win, and who knows, they might actually spend some money with that client while they're there!

Radio used to work hand-in-hand with businesses and be of real service to clients by helping their businesses grow. This is no longer the case. It's now about taking a client's money. Reps aren't taught to nurture anymore...they're taught to say or do whatever they have to do to get the order and that's it, never mind being effective or, God forbid, having to WORK!!!

 

[Biz Listener]

Radio used to work hand-in-hand with businesses and be of real service to clients by helping their businesses grow. This is no longer the case. It's now about taking a client's money. Reps aren't taught to nurture anymore...they're taught to say or do whatever they have to do to get the order and that's it, never mind being effective or, God forbid, having to WORK!!!

That reminds me of what one of my college professors taught us about how businesses and industries change over time. When radio stations first came on the air in the 1920's, there weren't Arbitrons or demographics. Sales people had to convince advertisers that airing spots for their products would help their businesses. When the radio industry got more well established and was the dominant medium in the 40's, stations and networks just had to sit back and take orders. In the 1950's, it was back to work again as television took over as the main mass media. TV siphoned off many of the advertisers that radio had depended on, such as brand name commodity products. Radio sales people had to convince new businesses that radio was still a good place to advertise, and they came up with the idea of age-group demographics as a way to once again sit back and wait for the orders to roll in.

The radio industry is entering into another one of those transitional era like the 1950's, and needs to come up with a new model for success because selling raw demographics in the 2000's and 2010's is going to disappear the way the model of the 1940's disappeared in the 1950's. Smart salespeople are going to have to go back to work, while the ones who sit back waiting for some media buyer to throw them a bunch of orders based on their demographics are going to be looking around asking "what happened?".

 

[Boss Radio]

The idea of targeting demographics is as old as broadcasting itself. There were programs aimed at kids and programs aimed at homemakers from the start. Who advertises on those shows? Nobody placed denture cream spots on "Howdy Doody" and nobody thought macho beer commercials would be very effective on "The Happy Homemaker."

Once the number of radio stations increased, especially when FMs were spun off, stations had to specialize. The old "all things to all people" formats didn't work, although KDKA got more mileage out of it than just about anybody. Stations started specializing in certain target demographics because that's where they could make money. If you could deliver women 25-54 better than everyone else, you were in position to post a nice profit.

It comes down to delivering results. Sponsors have a number of tricks to determine how effective different outlets are for getting results. If your audience responds, you can probably keep the client. But even that isn't certain. Times and strategies change. I can remember when the old Revco drug store chain had spots all over radio. If the Revco successor, CVS, does much radio advertising, I haven't heard it.

What the radio industry has to deal with now is the obsolesence of at least part of its product. People under 40 don't listen to AM much because they didn't grow up with AM as a big part of their listening habits. WDVE has been around for almost 40 years and I believe the original B94 went on the air in 1982, 26 years ago. The signal at 96.1 has had some form of contemporary music for most of the last 31 years. Most of those crackly AM signals are as obsolete as 78 rpm records because people have access to something that serves them better, whether it's FM, Internet, satellite or an Ipod.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I DIDN'T KNOW DVE HAS HAD THE SAME FORMAT AND CALLS FOR 40 YEARS. I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP THE OTHER NIGHT BY TRYING TO COUNT THE NUMBER OF STATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN CHR WITH THE SAME CALLS THE LONGEST. I COULD ONLY THINK OF THREE

1) WAPE IN JACKSONVILLE. (COUNTING AM AND FM
2) WRVQ IN RICHMOND CHR SINCE 1972
3) WPGC IN DC ALTHOUGH IT IS NOW LISTED AS "URBAN"-----BUT SAME ROLE

ANYTHING ELSE?

 

[Biz Listener]

The idea of targeting demographics is as old as broadcasting itself. There were programs aimed at kids and programs aimed at homemakers from the start. Who advertises on those shows? Nobody placed denture cream spots on "Howdy Doody" and nobody thought macho beer commercials would be very effective on "The Happy Homemaker."

All I now about old-time radio is what I've read and heard from old recordings. But I did hear recordings of old radio shows like "The Lone Ranger" or "The Shadow" that supposedly entire families would gather around the Philco and listen to. The recordings of old radio show I heard included period commercials for products like brands of toothpaste, or cigarettes, or other consumer brand name products.

Once the number of radio stations increased, especially when FMs were spun off, stations had to specialize. The old "all things to all people" formats didn't work, although KDKA got more mileage out of it than just about anybody. Stations started specializing in certain target demographics because that's where they could make money. If you could deliver women 25-54 better than everyone else, you were in position to post a nice profit.

I believe that's what I said. When radio stations carried mass appeal shows like "Boston Blackie" or "The Bob Hope Show", they could pretty much sit back and wait for orders. You attribute it to the rise of FM stations, I attribute it to the rise of television. Both events pretty much overlapped.

It comes down to delivering results. Sponsors have a number of tricks to determine how effective different outlets are for getting results. If your audience responds, you can probably keep the client. But even that isn't certain. Times and strategies change. I can remember when the old Revco drug store chain had spots all over radio. If the Revco successor, CVS, does much radio advertising, I haven't heard it.

What the radio industry has to deal with now is the obsolesence of at least part of its product. People under 40 don't listen to AM much because they didn't grow up with AM as a big part of their listening habits. WDVE has been around for almost 40 years and I believe the original B94 went on the air in 1982, 26 years ago. The signal at 96.1 has had some form of contemporary music for most of the last 31 years. Most of those crackly AM signals are as obsolete as 78 rpm records because people have access to something that serves them better, whether it's FM, Internet, satellite or an Ipod.

Right. Which is why radio sales people have to readjust their thinking and their tactics. What used to work in the past isn't going to work today. Radio sales people are going to have to go back to working for a living.

Personally, I don't listen to AM radio because there's no programming on it that appeals to me. I'm 46. But I'd switch over to an AM station to hear something interesting or entertaining. I like listening to stand-up comics on Comedy Central on television. I might tune in to an all comedy station on AM if such a thing existed and I knew about it.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

TV destroyed radio as a medium for "family entertainment" That was before TOP 40 radio. Radio seemed moribund in most cases until people like Todd Storz created AM radio as the voice of youth until the mid seventies and FM. I considered radio boring drivil until KQV flipped to CHR and then the giants followed like WABC, WLS,WCFL,WKBW, and CKLW to name the 50,000 biggies. To me, that was the golden age of radio and I became a DJ groupie. I loved the dulcet tones of a Dick Biondi , a Jim Stagg, or a B.Mitchell Reid.

 

[Boss Radio]

Radio sales people are going to have to go back to working for a living.


I'll have to tell them how easy they've had it for the last 25 years.

 

[kenhawk1160]

Radio sales people are going to have to go back to working for a living.

Not quite, Biz. But you're on the right track. They're going to have to go back to school, plain and simple. The only exception would be those who did work in the business prior to 1992, then were relegated to order-taking after that.

Advertisers aren't stupid. They know that in cases where you have one company with six signals in one city, the ad rep is distorting the numbers by saying they command a 9 share, when in reality the station they're selling is drawing a 2 share, and the numbers from all the other signals add up to 9.

That's another problem...there's many sales reps who think the people they're selling their ads to are stupid and that it's their job to tell the client what they need to buy. Uh-uh.