Does anyone listen to the real estate, mortgage and financial shows on the weekends? I tuned in last weekend and it was pretty bad radio, yet lots of callers. I know the hosts are buying the time, but is any of it good??? Do any of these shows become real shows? Are there any famous radio people that started this way?
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Weekend brokered shows in LA...
- Thread starter SandyG
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Unfortuneatly, no matter how bad the snake oil they're selling, as long as they pay for their time, doesnt matter if they're any good, they stay on the air.
For the rates they charge, it's not like the vanity radio that exists in many other markets. $6,000 an hour on some stations. At 97.1 in particular, the shows seem to add more time, which is contrary to the industry trend. I guess the Leykis listeners put up with whatever is on weekends. The one thing you could say about 97.1 is that some of the shows have co-hosts that are actual broadcasters to keep things from degenerating into a complete abyss of ums and ahs.
K6 is right; the religious stuff is the same, with KKLA, KTYM, KBRT, and others selling time (most religious operators sell non-religious infomercials now, especially on Sat/Sun).
K6 is right; the religious stuff is the same, with KKLA, KTYM, KBRT, and others selling time (most religious operators sell non-religious infomercials now, especially on Sat/Sun).
One of the KLSX weekend shows (stock related) has really, really bad audio and zero production value. My favorites are the shows that try to sound like a non-paid shows, usually a "health" selling some type of vitamin.
The health shows you speak of are infomercials, just like the ones heard on radio stations nationwide, and just like the ones on TV. I'm not saying the brokered shows on any station are as highly produced as a weekday show, but some are better than others. By the way, there was an article in 12/5's Radio World about how stations have been selling time for 40 years. This is nothing new.
I'm not expecting perfection, but the KLSX brokered show on Stocks sound like its done in the basement using a cassette recorder. I'll give anyone a few minutes to sell me on a stock idea, but this show was unlistenable. It's not hard to put together a prosumer studio at home that sounds at least decent. BTW, as a kid in the 70's, I ran brokered shows Sundays mornings on the big AM Top 40 station in my hometown, right after a church service and before American Top 40 (on LP33 albums with a fraction of a second between bump out and return bump - better be tight). Then I had my airshift. It was a long day, but I loved it.
I listened for a few hours at work today. I am not sure which is the "basement tape recorder" show. They all seemed pretty good, quality wise. But content wise, WOW! Some were really really bad. The one with Casey Casem's daughter was pretty good as was the car dealership one. They said it was their first show ever...sounded better than some of the overnights on 97.1, and by some, I mean ALL! ;p)
KJCB said:
Hell, WEAF in New York (now WFAN) is cited as being the first American station to broadcast commercial announcements.
In fact, original owner AT&T had a leased-access format in mind for WEAF. They wanted a "phone booth of the air", where anyone who had something to say could pay the station for airtime and then stand behind the microphone. During unsold time, the station would broadcast in-house programming.
The "commercial" WEAF aired was actually a 10-minute INFOMERCIAL touting the benefits of a suburban housing development in Jackson Heights. Read the script....it'll sound very familiar to the patent-medicine shows you hear nowadays.
SandyG said:
Listen to some of the spots on 97.1. They may have a large production and creative staff, but half the time you couldn't tell. Joe Cipriano's voice is on too much and some of the local direct business spots sound uninspiring. But those people get results even with a couple ROS spots a day, so why would the client or the station care? The worst brokered show on KLSX will significantly outpace the best show on a dog AM any day. I was speaking with a guy who does a brokered show on a big talk station in a top-5 market and just renewed for another two years at $5,000/hour because he is getting several dozen appointments a week. A client of mine used to do a show on KLSX and said sometimes she would get 100 calls by Monday. Quality or not, the $$$ is what matters.
I guess so. The mortgage roundtable show is actually pretty good, as was the car call in show. The host is obviously a pro radio guy, though I've never heard of him. Once the food show came on...I had to go eat. ;o)
What kind of numbers do those shows do? How many people are listening? Anyone know?
What kind of numbers do those shows do? How many people are listening? Anyone know?
When I was very young, back in the dark ages, I used to DX on AM a lot and most of the southern stations has all night programs sponsored by baby chick vendors and various animal feed miracle products. From Cincinnati there was the Jimmy Skinner Record Store, he was the DJ and everything he played was of course available by mail order. The big city stations sometimes had sustaining programming but never dollar a holler stuff.
I don't think they track numbers of listeners per se, the theory being that if it is on enough then eventually they will get some response. If not they go off because they have no business and thus not the money to run them. While I was involved in the business they did track response by having different 800 numbers for the different stations so a call to that number equaled a listener to KXYZ. They also had "promotion" codes that were similarly traceable so if no one called they could pull the show or place it elsewhere.
I would assume that the largest LA stations are being paid per run and not per inquiry like smaller markets. I did see a post on the New York section the WABC is dropping "Coast to Coast" for infomercials so it will only get more prevalent here I am afraid.
I don't think they track numbers of listeners per se, the theory being that if it is on enough then eventually they will get some response. If not they go off because they have no business and thus not the money to run them. While I was involved in the business they did track response by having different 800 numbers for the different stations so a call to that number equaled a listener to KXYZ. They also had "promotion" codes that were similarly traceable so if no one called they could pull the show or place it elsewhere.
I would assume that the largest LA stations are being paid per run and not per inquiry like smaller markets. I did see a post on the New York section the WABC is dropping "Coast to Coast" for infomercials so it will only get more prevalent here I am afraid.
It's not like you can't hear Coast on 7 other stations in New York, anyway. 
KLSX does have weekend ratings information as would anyone else. Of course, it's not the brokered shows that attract the listeners (by and large); it's the weekday listenership that turns on the radio again on Sat. or Sun. and doesn't change the station. That's why stations that are the radio equivalent of ION-TV (or whatever it is these days) don't show up at all.
KLSX does have weekend ratings information as would anyone else. Of course, it's not the brokered shows that attract the listeners (by and large); it's the weekday listenership that turns on the radio again on Sat. or Sun. and doesn't change the station. That's why stations that are the radio equivalent of ION-TV (or whatever it is these days) don't show up at all.
KJCB said:It's not like you can't hear Coast on 7 other stations in New York, anyway.
KLSX does have weekend ratings information as would anyone else. Of course, it's not the brokered shows that attract the listeners (by and large); it's the weekday listenership that turns on the radio again on Sat. or Sun. and doesn't change the station. That's why stations that are the radio equivalent of ION-TV (or whatever it is these days) don't show up at all.
The listeners to C to C can probably pick it up with the little antennae sprouting out of their heads. ;D
But placing the infomercials on a station that is never listened too might not be a good choice so when a big reasonably popular stations opens up overnights and weekends that is where they will go. I can remember when a large number of stations signed off at midnight or 1am. The ones that didn't ran a lot of the mail order stuff I mentioned or the shows for truckers who drove at night. The satellite is now getting a lot of those and the shows moved over or are simulcast.
An aside, I used to be a overnight DXer but now when I do wherever I happen to be I get at least a dozen stations running Coast to Coast.
I am LOVING the car show on 97.1. I know it is a brokered show, but it sounds like the hosts are pros and they aren't shoving their product down my throat. I am also amazed that some of the staitons that carry brokered shows really don't care if the show sucks...it's their airwaves. Money comes first I guess.
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