Radio Direct Response: Direct Response Radio Advertising Agency | Blog Zone

OK, it’s one thing to hark the herald angels singing the day after Halloween. And I do appreciate that come December 26^th, The Little Drummer Boy has packed away his sticks for the season.

But why in the name of Jack Frost do all of the songs about WINTER disappear the day after Christmas?

We could have a 20-inch snowfall on December 26^th and not one radio station would play “Let it Snow” because it got shelved with all of the Christmas songs.

“Jingle Bells?” It’s a happy song about a sleigh ride. There’s no savior-in-a-manger. No fat man in a chimney.

“Winter Wonderland?” It’s a simple, non-denominational song about winter. And snow – the frozen wet stuff that falls on people of all colors and faiths.

What Radio Grinch is responsible for melting down all of the songs of winter just five days into the season? Winter isn’t even one week old and all of the great snow songs have vanished quicker than shaved ice in a steaming mug of hot cocoa.

C’mon! The weather outside is frightful and I want to hear songs about it!

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO
Radio Direct Response

http://streamingradioguide.com
Looking for a good Caribbean music station? A spot of news on the BBC? Or maybe you just want to hear the sports radio buzz from the city where your team is playing this week. This site lets you search radio shows by type and syndicator or search stations by state or by licensee. A good home page for streaming online content.

www.insideradio.com
Radio trade publication featuring updated news on broadcasting and Internet radio. Quick click links guide you to a station search, format counts, a listing of HD Radio stations and more.

www.arbitron.com
The home site for radio’s audience measurement company provides a variety of resource and reference studies to non-subscribers. Click on “Advertising Agencies” for access to a dozen different consumer research studies, free of charge.

www.slacker.com
Internet radio with customized stations based on artists you choose. Tell slacker what you like and it will create a radio station based on your musical tastes, delivering familiar favorites and new music in the same style.

www.npr.org
Scroll past the world headlines to the new “NPR MUSIC” section of the home page for information to keep you current on new artists and music news. Browse the podcast directory to catch up on audio playback of your favorite NPR shows or simply listen live.

www.radioink.com
Self-billed as “Radio’s Premier Management & Marketing Magazine,” Radio Ink focuses on the business side of radio and includes many resourceful links, including an intriguing link to “Radio Ink’s Annual Lists,” including the Best Managers in Radio and The 50 Most Influential Women in Radio.”

www.talkers.com
Online version of “Talkers Magazine,” a publication devoted to Talk Radio. In addition to the latest trends and personnel stories, the site lets you view the top talk radio topics of the week and Talkers’ “Heavy Hundred,” the 100 most influential people in talk radio.

www.radio-info.com
Offers discussion boards, air checks, news, and more about U.S. and international radio stations. It’s free ratings feature lets you view station rankings by market including non-commercial, public broadcasting stations. Very rare.

www.radioadlab.com
The Radio Ad Lab is funded by Radio industry companies to further the understanding of how Radio advertising works, to measure Radio’s effectiveness and to increase advertiser and agency confidence in Radio. Great research studies.

http://radio411.com/
Good links for broadcasters, including Show Prep, Employment Opportunities and Voice Over work. Also features the standard industry Headlines of the Day on the website’s home page.

Scott Fisher
Radio Direct Response

www.radioandrecords.com
Daily radio and record industry newspaper featuring radio airplay charts and continuously updated music industry news. Also includes a free section where you can view listings of the top-rated radio stations in each market, based on total listenership with Persons 12+.

www.pandora.com
The Music Genome project facilitated the birth of Pandora. Simply enter your favorite recording artist and Pandora will create a streaming radio station for you featuring their music and music from artists with similar styles. Pandora is an excellent tool for you to discover new music by artists you might not otherwise hear.

www.rab.com
The official site of the Radio Advertising Bureau gives you access to its co-op database, instant backgrounds on dozens of advertiser categories, library of commercial copy, a promotion bank and audio radio commercials.

http://radio.about.com
The Radio section at About.com features many broadcasting resources for listeners including suggestions for traditional, online, and satellite listening. You can star in your own radio show, learn how to make podcasts or stream audio online. 

www.hdradio.com
Terrestrial radio could hold its own against satellite for sound quality and programming variety, if only it can convince Americans to buy an HD Radio. This is a great site to start the process, with a simply explanation of how broadcasting in digital sound improves the quality of AM and FM signals and creates opportunities to tap into many more broadcast stations. Use the “Search by State/City” tools to discover the many interesting choices available in your market.

www.live365.com
Ever wanted to create your own radio station? Live365 provides tools to create, publish, and experience media content. It allows users to create their own online radio or to listen to radio stations created by others.

www.radio-locator.com
Features a global, searchable directory of radio broadcasts and web radio stations and programs. Formerly known as The MIT List of Radio Stations on the Internet.

www.fmqb.com
Radio industry news and record industry news, charts and information. High content focus on station programming and music trends. Detailed links by format let you view national airplay charts and retail sales.

www.whitehouse.gov/radio
Listen to the President’s Weekly Radio Address through this site, cataloguing content by topic and searchable by date back to 2001. The site also links to other interesting research and resources on the occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

www.voices.com
Need a voice? Give a listen! This online marketplace connects buyers and sellers of voice-over services. Search talent by style (business narrators, cartoon voices, etc.), find translators and pretty much all things “voice.”

Scott Fisher
Radio Direct Response

RADIO SALES FLAT – Increased competition from new media caused the radio industry to drip sweat simply to match last year’s sales figures. Consensus projections for 2008 show ad revenues in this same no-growth pattern, or possibly increasing by 1%.

PROBLEMS WITH PPM – Arbitron’s heavily touted Personal People Meters expanded beyond their Houston and Philadelphia pilot markets only to crash-and-burn in New York. Radio industry concerns over the technology, methodology and weighting have caused Arbitron to delay PPM’s rollout to its next round of markets and have raised doubt over PPM’s viability and acceptance by the radio and advertising community as a reliable indicator of audience measurement.

XM AND SIRIUS CLOSE TO MERGER – When last we checked the Vegas odds, XM and Sirius were a 2:1 favorite to complete their merger and take a giant step closer to profitability through cost-cutting and a la carte pricing options. And while satellite radio won’t be the death of terrestrial, a merged entity will slowly siphon off bits of terrestrial’s market share, just as cable and TV premium channels trimmed the combined audience share of TV’s Big Four.

INTERNET REVENUES SURPASS RADIO – Fueled by the web’s ability to source, track and manage marketing costs, the combined advertising revenues of Internet advertising surpassed those of radio for the first time in 2007.

CBS FIRES IMUS OVER RACIAL SLUR – Don Imus’ comment referring to the Rutgers’ women’s basketball team as “nappy headed ho’s” led to the I-Man’s firing and, in effect, a six-month paid vacation until WABC brought him back to the air waves in December. (On a side note, one of the funniest radio jokes we heard this year came from Dave Atell on The Howard Stern Show. Atell said that, sometimes, when he misses Imus, he puts a cowboy hat atop of a pile of dirty laundry.)

CLEAR CHANNEL TO GO PRIVATE – Two private equity firms are set to provide the funding to buy back Clear Channel’s publicly held shares and take the multimedia giant private. This will enable Clear Channel to make strategic growth decisions away from the prying eyes of Wall Street.

WEB RADIO STATIONS HIT WITH MUSIC LICENSING FEES – Newly announced music licensing fees from the Copyright Royalty Board threaten to put many small webcasters and Internet radio stations out of business. If the fees are enforced, only those Internet stations playing independent artists – or generating appreciable revenue from the site – will survive.

RADIO AND NEWSPAPERS MAY WED – FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is leading an initiative to ease a long-standing ban that prohibits a radio station owner from owning a newspaper in the same market. If this legislation is approved, both radio and newspapers would reap the rewards of cross promotion, as well as creative packaging of advertising sales packages.

THE BUSINESS OF RADIO COSTS MORE JOBS – Ongoing consolidation and multitasking market managers have sent many longtime radio professionals packing as downsizing casualties. With each year, the radio business becomes more about the business of radio, as slumping ad revenues demand offsetting action to keep black ink on the bottom line.

FREE FM LAID TO REST – Howard Stern’s flight to Sirius gave birth to East and West Coast replacement shows hosted by David Lee Roth and Adam Carolla and formats built around “Hot Talk” aimed at 20-and-30-something males. After losing the bulk of Stern’s assembled masses, Roth returned to rock to tour with Van Halen, while Carolla continues to host mornings at KLSX/Los Angeles. Most of the former Stern affiliates, in time, abandoned 24-hour “Hot Talk” and returned to music programming.

Want to boost your profits from radio advertising? Or finally find the way to make radio pay out? Make 2008 the year you make a real commitment to radio to make it work.

Start by committing, long-term, to a small network property (or a single local market station) where you can buy airtime for roughly $100 per spot. Then, make a 26-week commitment to that property and negotiate plenty of bonus airings in return for your long-term commitment.

Take those 26 weeks to test a dozen different commercials. Straight reads. Dialog spots. Testimonial-driven commercials. Limited time offers. Special incentives. By definition, some ads will deliver more leads than others. You’ll also discover that your call center (or website) will have a higher conversion rate when certain ads and offers air.

At the end of those 26 weeks – with the weekly media delivery as a constant – you’ll learn which ads work best. In all likelihood, you’ll find a couple of ads that deliver leads at a cost that’s profitable on your spreadsheet of metrics. Worst case scenario, you’ll discover which ad(s) come closest to turning a profit so you’ll be in perfect position to go back to the media and negotiate a lower rate (so that you can turn a profit) going into summer, when advertiser demand falls and lower rates are yours for the asking.

Countless campaigns fail because they’re under funded or the advertiser gets cold feet after a slow first week. By choosing a low-cost station or network – and making a 26-week commitment to the medium – you stand a far better chance of gaining the intelligence you need to be profitable on radio in the long run.

Consider this. Your first direct mail campaign probably didn’t deliver the metrics you needed to turn a profit. So you tinkered with the copy – and the headline – and the font – and the envelope size – and the list source – and the 101 other details that required patient tinkering until you made the numbers work.

Radio’s no different. There’s just a different set of industry buzzwords and insider secrets to creating the perfect radio commercial and planning a sound media buy.

We at RDR would be happy to share our secrets with you and make your brand radio’s newest success story in 2008.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO
Radio Direct Response

Legendary broadcaster, Jerry Lee is considered the most successful single-station owner in the country. His WBEB-FM/Philadelphia is rumored to bill in the $30 million a year range and has an unlimited war chest to build and maintain its market position. B101 is a monster. And Jerry Lee is “Dr. Frankenstein.”

Recently, in his speech accepting the NAB National Radio Award, Lee predicted the future of radio. What he said sounded like preaching from pulpit of Direct Response Radio!

Jerry suggested that radio commit to accountability with a money-back guarantee to advertisers. “This is a bold idea, but we need to do bold things,” said Jerry.

A Money-Back Guarantee!!! The sound you’re hearing is Sales Managers jumping out of sixth story windows.

In the world of DR radio, just about every offer made has a money-back guarantee. Try the product, if it doesn’t work, you get a full refund…no questions asked! I applaud Jerry Lee. But how many radio stations do you think will take that bet? Most GM’s are more concerned with unit rate, rate integrity; audience share and rank. If they perform for an advertiser, that’s an extra added benefit. They’re not really vested in the success of their clients. Jerry’s bold idea is all about being focused on the needs and ultimate success of our clients.

Also on the list was an issue about which Lee has long been passionate: testing radio commercials. “Television tests 85 percent of its ads, but in radio, we test less than 1 percent of our ads,” he said, adding with a grin, “and most of those are the ones my station tests!”

The perfect radio commercial commands the listener’s attention. It presents compelling consumer benefits and it dangles an irresistible offer, rallying the consumer to action by creating a sense of urgency.

The need to test connected directly to another issue important to Jerry: research. Lee spoke on the work being done by the Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab, for which he serves as chairman. He said, “We need to be selling the results of the work being done by RAEL, especially that radio delivers better ROI than television, and that ad campaigns that combine radio with newspaper deliver triple the effectiveness of newspaper-only campaigns.”

In the DR world, the only thing that matters is “ROI.” Spend a dollar; get back two, five, ten or more. Cut your losses, refine marginal media, build upon your winners, test new stations and networks, and repeat the process.

He finished with, “We need to take charge of our future.”

Indeed, Jerry Lee’s vision of radio’s future has the 20/20 clarity of purpose that makes radio work for Direct Response.

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing
Radio Direct Response

He proceeded to “work” the room like a gift-gathering kid at his own Bar Mitzvah. He literally went from table to table introducing himself to every single fan. He took pictures and signed autographs. He made life long fans’ dreams come true. After spending about 35 minutes meeting everyone, he joined his wife, Patti Scialfa at the front of the room where he took out his guitar and performed a four-song impromptu set of classics that had the room begging and screaming for more. What an amazing life experience. You couldn’t put a price tag on a day like this.

An artist of this caliber doesn’t need to meet fans, let alone perform in a tiny Asbury Park restaurant. He did it because he wanted to, not because he had to. He has remained true to himself and his fans all these years since playing marathon gigs at clubs up and down the Jersey shoreline. His creative process and approach to making music accounts for his longevity in the music business these past 35 years. Even today he is still committed to delivering for his audience both on record and in concert.

At 58, Springsteen knows these are very different times from the days of his youth. It takes more than catchy downloadable songs and flashy videos with million-dollar budgets to be and stay relevant during these times. Radio is always on the lookout for what’s hot right now. After nearly 30 years of playing music, Springsteen knows he needs to stay true to his core in order to continue to draw fans to his shows. He takes the same blue-collar approach and steady work ethic each night, although his shows are no longer the 3½-hour epics they used to be.

Bruce is still performing for more than 2 ½ hours nightly to sold out crowds everywhere. From a marketing standpoint, he knows what people want when they come to his show. Bruce feels a responsibility to deliver on his audiences’ expectations and he really wants to create experiences for his fans that leave an indelible mark on their lives.

I believe Pittsburgh attorney and longtime Springsteen fan Sanford Neiman said it best, “It’s been over 30 years since the October 1975 day that Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek. Since then, he has stayed at or near the pinnacle of the entertainment world. He has earned hundreds of millions of dollars, with a level and longevity of business success that ranks with the most successful corporations. Many of those corporate success stories have been studied and written up in the Harvard Business review and other journals.”

Neiman referred to Bruce’s business model as Springsteen Inc. The model emphasized the core values of an artist being true to himself and to his fans. In today’s business world many companies could benefit by applying some of what Springsteen has used to make their business not just successful on paper but successful in life.

Danny Ocean, Vice President/Director of Operations
Radio Direct Response

In the summer of 2002, I had the great pleasure of meeting one of my all-time favorite musical heroes. Bruce Springsteen. It was late July and a few hundred people gathered on the boardwalk at the Asbury Park Convention Center to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band rehearse for their upcoming world tour in support of “The Rising” his first full-length album with the band since 1984’s “Born in the USA”.

Growing up in Philadelphia, the first major market to truly embrace Bruce from his early days at “The Main Point” in Bryn Mawr through today, people in Philly have had a long-standing love affair with “The Boss.” The feeling seems to be mutual. Springsteen performs multiple nights here with over 45 sellouts and counting, showcasing selected works and masterpieces from his 30-plus year catalogue. The rehearsal that day in Asbury Park was nothing short of incredible and the band clearly was thrilled to be performing together again. I felt lucky just to be there.

The real treat came three hours after the rehearsal. I was invited to an after-show gathering at a place called Sonny’s Southern Cuisine, a small mom-and-pop restaurant just off Cookman Avenue in the center of Asbury Park. The crowd consisted of about 75 die-hard fans including some lucky radio contest winners from all over America, a few radio programmers and some members of the record label.

The room was the size of a small elementary school classroom. It filled with excitement as we waited for Bruce to arrive. Food and refreshments were provided. Many people (including me) weren’t sure what was going to happen. Was Bruce Springsteen really going to show up? What would happen if he did? The superstar artist who started his career from very humble beginnings less than 10 miles from this restaurant did in fact SHOW UP.

Danny Ocean, Vice President/Director of Operations
Radio Direct Response

(Part Two of this blog to appear on Thursday, December 6^th.)