news / talk utility

[gethigh]

I am hoping for a legitimate answer. Are News / talkers commonly referred to as utilities?? I have heard KYW referred to as a utility, in fact that comes from one of their sales guys. When I think of a utility I think PGW, PECO, a water company, natural gas, Verizon or Bell. I don't see a radio station, or even a news / talker fitting the description of a utility. It would just seem to me that no matter what format the radio station is, be it KYW or some other derivitive ( sp?)
it's still "radio" right? Kyw's slogan is "KYW newsRADIO..... as opposed to "KYW newsutility..... That of course sounds awkward. So my question is, why refer to a heritage RADIOstation as a utility when that simply does nothing for your listeners or advertisers who know your station / product more commonly as radio.

 

[mwebster]

KYW is sometimes compared to a utility because you turn on the radio the news is always there. Like flipping the light switch. Of course, given all of PECO's outages, that may not be a very positive comparison. The news is there more consistently than the electricity (as long as you have batteries).

> I am hoping for a legitimate answer. Are News / talkers
> commonly referred to as utilities?? I have heard KYW
> referred to as a utility, in fact that comes from one of
> their sales guys. When I think of a utility I think PGW,
> PECO, a water company, natural gas, Verizon or Bell. I don't
> see a radio station, or even a news / talker fitting the
> description of a utility. It would just seem to me that no
> matter what format the radio station is, be it KYW or some
> other derivitive ( sp?)
> it's still "radio" right? Kyw's slogan is "KYW
> newsRADIO..... as opposed to "KYW newsutility..... That of
> course sounds awkward. So my question is, why refer to a
> heritage RADIOstation as a utility when that simply does
> nothing for your listeners or advertisers who know your
> station / product more commonly as radio.
>

 

[Jim_Hicks]

The comparison is legit. A utility is something you need. You need electricity, water, heat/cooling. And you use it everyday. N/T stations in general and KYW, WINS, etc. in particular, are stations one uses everyday. A good sales approach. That is why they heavily promote listening on weekends. They remind you of big news stories that have occured on weekends. They remind you that traffic & transit reports are every ten minutes, 7 days a week.

In a day and age when many stations air throw-away programs on weekends, they remind you that, like the electric and water, they are there seven days a week providing the same service, not infomercials. 7 days a week, my day starts with a half hour of KYW.

I cannot think of any other station that I NEED everyday. Certainly not one of the suburban AMers which sell their weekend time to the highest bidder. I, and most listeners, want formats they can count on to be consistant.

> I am hoping for a legitimate answer. Are News / talkers
> commonly referred to as utilities?? I have heard KYW
> referred to as a utility, in fact that comes from one of
> their sales guys. When I think of a utility I think PGW,
> PECO, a water company, natural gas, Verizon or Bell. I don't
> see a radio station, or even a news / talker fitting the
> description of a utility. It would just seem to me that no
> matter what format the radio station is, be it KYW or some
> other derivitive ( sp?)
> it's still "radio" right? Kyw's slogan is "KYW
> newsRADIO..... as opposed to "KYW newsutility..... That of
> course sounds awkward. So my question is, why refer to a
> heritage RADIOstation as a utility when that simply does
> nothing for your listeners or advertisers who know your
> station / product more commonly as radio.
>