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

With thanks to Esquire Magazine, we offer a smattering of life’s little (and large) wisdoms, shared by 50 Americans from 50 states in the January 2009 issue of Esquire. If you haven’t already seen it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

Children teach you that you can still be humbled by life, that you learn something new all the time. That’s the secret to life, really – never stop learning. It’s the secret to career. I’m still working because I learn something new all the time. It’s the secret to relationships. Never think you’ve got it all. – Clint Eastwood

I believe that hundreds of years from now, history will be divided into pre-1960s and post 1960s. Questioning things as a regular part of normal life - that didn’t exist for my father’s generation. - Steven Van Zandt

The best basketball announcer is one who allows you to close your eyes. – Larry Bird

My high school football coach taught me to bark signals with authority, or the other ten players will not be inspired. You cannot get a team to move with precision on a weak signal. – Jesse Jackson

My dad always said, “There’s ten commandments in the Bible, but if you don’t lie and you don’t steal, the rest of ‘em pretty much follow suit. – Toby Keith

Expectations are pretty tough on relationships. – Woody Harrelson

When you’re really working, really playing tennis, lifting weights, playing basketball, or whatever it is – it happens in sports, it happens in music, in happens in everything – when you’re fully consumed with the act, the witness just disappears. And for that reason, when someone asks, “What was it like?” you can’t remember, because the person inside of you who does the remembering was otherwise occupied. – Philip Glass

Ten seconds from now you don’t know what you’re gonna say or think. So who’s in charge? – Harry Dean Stanton

You don’t wanna meet a lot of your heroes. That can turn out bad. – John Goodman

Forty-four years. Marry somebody you love. That’s the whole thing. And continue to love them. Keep your attention at home. – Charlie Daniels

Every man that’s good, his mama stayed on his behind. – Evander Holyfield

Recently, a wonderful get-to-know-you meeting with an exciting business prospect was stopped cold by the prospect’s nagging concern.

“You’ve never marketed a company like ours,” he explained. “You can see where an agency that has would have an advantage over your agency.”

Risking a quick end to the meeting, I respectfully disagreed.

RDR is not a full-service agency claiming to be an expert in television, web marketing, print, out-of-home and skywriting. We do radio. Period. This one-medium focus has enabled us to build a passionate team of radio marketers who love and understand the medium of radio.

It’s also given us tremendous buying clout, since 100% of our agency’s billings are radio billings. With roughly 7% of all advertising dollars spent on radio, that means that every $1 Million we place on radio is equal to $14.2 Million in gross billings from a jack-of-all-trades agency. Radio stations and networks value our agency and the fact that – not only are we champions of their medium - we bring millions in new billings to radio every year from companies that had previously left radio out of their marketing mix.

So while it’s true that we may not “know your business,” we know the right questions to ask to learn enough about your business to make your metrics work on radio. We know enough to distill the 101 great reasons someone might use your brand down to the one benefit that, in 60 seconds, will make a radio listener drop everything and take action.

Above all, we understand that unless you can document the success that radio brings to your brand, radio won’t make the short list for Round Two of funding. That’s called accountability. And in a medium where the 1980s mindset of “delivering ratings” has been replaced by today’s need to “deliver results,” our relationship with radio stations and networks is built upon accountability and responsibility for delivering results.

Our 15 years focused exclusively on radio has taught us which properties “work” and which ones just “look good on paper.” We structure all first-time campaigns mindful that the purpose of Phase One is to control the variables needed to take away the intelligence to be profitable in Phase Two and Phase Six-Hundred-and-Seven.

We believe that understanding the medium of radio and its many tricks, tips and secrets is far more vital to your success than having a logo from one of your competitors on our client list.

Not everyone goes along with our way of thinking. And that’s good. Because the ones that do deserve 100% of our time and attention.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

We continue with the final segment of our Radio Roundtable 2009, featuring insight from 11 of the radio industry’s most respected leaders. (View Part One for a list of the Roundtable participants.)

RDR: Beyond straight spot sales, where do you see radio’s best opportunities for revenue growth?

Lange: Integrating the Web – we need new tools and web sites that are real attention getters with great content.  We have the creativity and we also have a huge cume audience to drive to the site.  If we can get the motor running here and learn to sell it.

Fisher: Digital for Entercom, and our peers, is showing tremendous growth as we extend our brands and audience relationships to the web.

Fig: Community involvement with advertisers and marketers. Tie in community with advertisers and good will follow for everyone.

RDR: What’s radio’s biggest challenge in 2009?

Fig: We have seen the enemy…it is us!

Lange: We are not standing up for our media on the street or in the boardrooms of the agencies and clients.  Instead of creating great radio we are just slashing everything and leaving ourselves without the tools to create.

Benrubi: The biggest challenge is the economy; it will have touched all aspects of radio.

Block: Being low media on the totem pole. And wallowing in their self-pity.

Vallie: To oversimplify the answer, we just have to make sure we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, or heart. These are tough times for the next year or so, the challenge is to be able to see beyond the next year or two and plan for the long term as well as the short term.

Taz: Debt, matched with the slavery to ever-increasing bottom line. (It used to be called Shareholder Value – but now that’s over.)

RDR: Does radio need saving?  What can save radio?

Vallie: I don’t even like the question as it implies a negative or doomsday mentality, and that is not the case. The question should be “how can radio continue to thrive into the 21st century?”  Radio is embracing new technology and we will use it to take radio to a new level.  An analogy could be the telephone. The phone is no longer just a phone, now on your “phone” you can take pictures, send and receive email, get on line, etc.  But yet that phone is 21st century technology and more important than ever. Radio is no longer just radio, or that will be the case very soon. Now your favorite radio station can deliver in HD, and your station can be more than one station, it’s HD1, HD2, and HD3…3 stations in one frequency. While listening to your radio station in the car you can look at it and see the name of the song playing or the name of the advertiser or air talent. Listening to your favorite radio station on line you can watch videos of the songs/artists being played, if you missed that news interview you wanted to hear you could listen to the pod cast. On the website, through video, you step into the living room or the studio of your favorite on air personality. Radio is no longer the medium with just great audio. If you think about it, it has already been concluded that radio is 21st century technology and it’s been proudly proclaimed. As Internet and satellite radio came on the scene, they could have called it anything, but they called it radio, “Internet Radio” and “Satellite Radio.” It’s all called radio by listeners and clients, it’s just being delivered in various ways and no longer just from an antenna. That is progress, that is radio in today’s technology and our business model is evolving to maximize all the opportunity.

Benrubi: The markets have to turn around for companies to reinvest in talent, programming, and staff, and of course satellite radio.

Taz: Saving? Radio was going to kill the movie business, television was predicted to kill the movie business, and cable would kill television.  They’re all still around but with new business models and diminished share. Call me crazy, but how about looking at how we succeeded–before we killed the goose with the golden egg.  Let’s try live & local. How about local news? Delivered by someone actually at the station. Cute idea, but it’ll never happen again. Secondly, our tepid embrace of the Internet. Our websites are little more than station brochures. They come nowhere near embracing the bottomless opportunity of potential online revenue.

Steal: No, radio’s image to advertising decision makers may need some saving though.

Dimick: The clients that have been long-term radio users are still seeing the benefits of using this medium. We need to continue to push our medium forward and be responsible members of our local communities, not ignore what is happening to our listener base and focus on LONG TERM brand building initiatives. Radio doesn’t need saving, radio needs a PR firm.

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

We continue with Part Five of our Radio Roundtable 2009, featuring insight from 11 of the radio industry’s most respected leaders. (View Part One for a list of the Roundtable participants.)

RDR: What exclusive content can radio provide that’s unavailable anywhere else?

Fisher: Our personalities and the overall packaging of our brands.

Lange: Be leaders in music and a leader in the community – LOCAL is your biggest advantage here.

Dimick: Real time and extremely local content.

Taz: Local News, but that’s a fantasy, because none of the large groups will ever spend again. Garrison Kiellor on Prairie Home Companion does a hilarious-yet-horrible story about going back to a class reunion at Lake Wobegon High. The short version: he tunes into his old favorite station to hear his favorite jocks, but all he hears is the same voice saying, “The Hits of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and Thousands.” They keep repeating the slogan over and over. That and spots - nothing else. It looks like rain, so he tunes in for the weather and all he hears is that slogan. The rain gets more ominous until it’s a full-grown tornado. He tunes into his station and all he hears is that slogan again. It says something about our relevance. Very funny when you hear it – but a death knell for us.

RDR: What is radio’s most overlooked asset?

Steal: Our relationships with our audiences are our most valuable assets.  We need to do a better job in database segmentation for direct marketing for listeners that are in the market for specific items, and merchandise that back to our clients.

Block: It’s ability to hit consumers at their last point of contact before making a purchasing decision.

Fisher: Reach. Who has more?

Fig:Radio has 100% car/truck distribution, huge cume, and the ability to reach every computer and cell phone in the world. Who else has it?

Vallie: Our people, it always is and always will be.  Its our people that makes the technology magic, not the technology itself.  Whether we are talking about talent, programming, sales, traffic systems, management or ownership, it’s the people.  Everyone has the same technology at their fingertips, its the people using the technology, the people interpreting the research, the people executing on air, the people closing sales deals, its the people that make the difference.

RDR: Given the ever-increasing channels of competition, what must radio do to preserve and expand the time consumers spend listening to radio?

Vallie: The same thing the winners have always done, have the best quality product. Listeners don’t care where their entertainment comes from, they just want to be entertained and informed.  Let me add to this, we need to give our best people time and resources to be great, when they are rushed and wear too many hats, they may be climbing the corporate ladder but they may not be creating great radio.  Every radio operator should give this careful consideration.

Block: Give compelling content but it will be extraordinarily difficult.

Taz: Hah! Give them something worth listening to. Listen to NPR on Saturdays – it’s all humor and entertainment. Look at the numbers – the proof is there. On so many stations we’re offering bland white noise. Many major market music stations haven’t done a music test in two years. Watch what happens to those numbers.

Lange: Become leaders and be creative.  It’s that simple.

RDR: Where do you see radio’s revenue numbers for 2009 compared to 2008?

Dimick: Down.

Fig: Down 10%.

Block: Down dramatically but all media will be down. Radio doesn’t need to suffer a larger percentage than other media forms.

Fisher: Right now Wall Street thinks there will be about a 10% decrease. But experts haven’t yet been right for years so hopefully we will have better success in telling our reach and ROI stories.

(Part Six of this article will appear on January 22nd.)

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

We continue with Part Four of our Radio Roundtable 2009, featuring insight from 11 of the radio industry’s most respected leaders. (View Part One for a list of the Roundtable participants.)

RDR: How confident are you that Arbitron’s PPM system will provide a reliable source of audience measurement?

Block: Not at all since I don’t trust sampled measurement for any company as any more than a guide.

Lange: Very. The sample issues are still there, but at least the issue is center stage and Arbitron is making progress. The system is 1000% better than the recall system and does give us data we can believe in.  But, it needs to be in EVERY market.

McVay: The challenge facing Arbitron is one of sample size, the ability to build well-balanced and credible samples. It is NOT the system or the devise known as the Portable People Meter. The PPM is a digital information-gathering unit. I’m amazed at the number of broadcasters who want Arbitron to turn a digital unit into something that replicates a #2 lead pencil and a paper diary. The best analogy that I’ve heard is the one that compares the People Meter to a metal detector used to find treasure hidden under the sand. That treasure was already there. The People Meter found it, that’s all. Minorities and programmers who feel that they’ve been victimized should start by asking themselves THIS question… “What if the people meter is right?” What would you do differently with your programming?

Smyth: There have been issues in the migration to electronic measurement, most of which have frankly been self-inflicted by Arbitron. If I didn’t believe that this technology was a step forward for our business, I would not have signed up in our markets. But I don’t think that we can any longer wait weeks and months for proof of performance for advertisers. That said, with the substantial increase in fees, the onus is clearly on Arbitron to do everything they have to in order to get it right.

Fisher: I am hopeful – not confident.

Fig: They will get it right. The industry must stop harassing the messenger. I’m all for accountability but when we get the FCC or the NY attorney general involved, nothing good can come of it.

Dimick: I’m extremely confident.  The system isn’t perfect and there are a lot of improvements that need to be made.  If it’s between using the diary and PPM, I’ll take PPM every day.

RDR: Will Nielsen’s foray into radio measurement survive and expand beyond its initial 50 test markets? If so, do you see one company emerging as the dominant player in this space?

Fisher: Good question – don’t know. But will assume Nielsen has bigger plans than just the initial small market tests.

Lange: Nielsen’s entry will probably fall apart with only one book a year and still working with diaries.  I can’t imagine agencies and clients looking at PPM data in some markets and then going to the antique diary system with all its flaws.

Fig: Broadcasters have shown a resistance to pay for two rating services. Once a year survey is not enough.

Dimick: I believe competition is always good (except for a format competitor to one of our stations) and I would prefer that no one company emerge as the dominant player.  Competition keeps product development moving forward and helps to maintain or reduce costs.

RDR: What do you expect from Arbitron, Nielsen or any third-party company providing audience measurement data?

Block: Reliable accurate information but then the radio groups need to get their pricing truly in line.

Fisher: Consistent and credible numbers. Given that our clients want accountability and ROI we need credible numbers.

Fig: Accuracy.

Lange: A healthy sample and some electronic non-human form of data collection.

Dimick: A focus on transparency and accuracy in measurement.

RDR: With so much entertainment competition geared towards youth, how can radio remain a vital part of their media mix?

Block: Why not? Give an audience what they really want and they will respond.

Fisher: Introducing new music.

Fig:Start addressing youth in a meaningful way. That means hiring young people and let them manage as we did when we were younger.

Lange: Management at the top has to believe that youth are valuable.  In the 60s and 70s we lived on youth – then we became so obsessed with 25-54 that we dumped them.  If we tried to go after them with new music, exciting personalities, and entertaining events on a local level they will still listen.  But, we can’t do it when virtually no one wants to invest a dime in it.

(Part Five of this article will appear on January 19th.)

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

We continue with Part Three of our Radio Roundtable 2009, featuring insight from 11 of the radio industry’s most respected leaders. (View Part One for a list of the Roundtable participants.)

RDR: What do you foresee as the future of Sirius XM?

Steal: Unfortunately for them, I think their business model, as it exists today, is unworkable. With the debt they have incurred it sure looks like their window has passed.

McVay: It won’t go away. The doomsday storyline is wrong. It’s here. It provides a needed service. It is simplistically PAY RADIO. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Fisher: I do not see a future for Satellite. Niche service with stressed business model. Newer technologies should impact Satellite the most.

Fig: It’s a Niche player at the current monthly price point.

Benrubi: Continued growth in audience, unique and exclusive programming, the biggest names in the business, Stern, Oprah, Martha Stewart, Elvis, Sinatra, Springsteen, and Dylan etc.

RDR: How can HD overcome the competition of satellite and streaming to convince consumers that they should purchase a HD-capable receiver?

Steal: We need to continue to program innovative formats, I’m very excited about the unique musical positions of many of our HD stations.

McVay: Today’s broadcasters keep pointing at HD and compare it to FM in its early days. The difference is that the FCC will not force manufacturers to put HD on their radios. The FCC mandated that new radios had to have an FM receiver built into them. Do that for HD and the band will have an opportunity for success. The HD Alliance should spend 100% of their time lobbying the FCC (and congress and the senate) to mandate their inclusion. Hey congress, you want to have more views, push HD through…and you won’t have to force-feed the fairness doctrine.

Fig: Content Baby! It’s all about the content.

Lange: HD radio is really a dead product and all the freebee commercials we can run will not help it.  It has NO content on it and with the industry struggling to keep content on its main channels there is no reason for consumers to bother with it. If Clear Channel, who converted around 500 stations to HD at $200K a piece, had spent that on talent and creativity think where their products would be now?

Taz: I have only a faint knowledge of economics compared to others. Someone called it HDOA. If I can find the first LISTENER in the universe who understands (or has even heard of) HD – I’d be in ecstasy. Do you have one? Does anybody out there reading this have one?< I’d love for it to work, but a Cost/Benefit scenario isn’t apparent to John & Mary Public.

Benrubi: HD has a long way to go, a long way to be available in most cars, retail, and priority. In a tough economy, stations will focus on their core on-air product.

RDR: Will terrestrial radio format further fragment like the cable TV industry or satellite radio space?

Steal: I’d love for that to be the case, though it seems so far that PPM favors the formatic “Big Box Retailers”…in that I mean the wide, older targeted, highly employed, pure play AC, ROCK, CHR big tent type formats.

Block: Absolutely.

Fisher: I don’t think so.

Fig: I hope so.

Taz: Good Lord, I hope so. “All the hits of the last 20 years” isn’t a rare commodity. AM is divided in two. 1. Essentially a medium of religion and/or angry white people, with hosts who tell them they are victims. 2. Specialized formats such as sports and financial…with Saturday AM brokered time telling us all that we’re Magnesium deficient and/or need a colon cleaning. However, it is devoid of entertainment. The FCC Act said that Radio should act “…in the public interest, convenience and necessity.”  That grew the medium into a giant. Are we doing that anymore?

RDR: What new formats or programming do you see emerging in the coming year?

Fig: More spoken word on FM. Uh, it’s only where 70% of 25-54 is.

Lange: 90s formats – it’s time for Generation X and N to have their day again.

Taz: None. The industry has hunkered down. If no one is spending money on research, where will the new formats come from?  The really original formats are on pure-play net stations.

Dimick: I think we may see some lifestyle focused formats take a more prominent position on full market signals. Spanish Language news/talk, urban news/talk, female news/talk, LGBT news/talk.  We are still a localized, mass media industry but fragmentation will continue as stations try an impact audience in a PPM world.

(Part Four of this article will appear on January 15th.)

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

We continue with Part Two of our Radio Roundtable 2009, featuring insight from 11 of the radio industry’s most respected leaders. (View Part One for a list of the Roundtable participants.)

RDR: With Internet marketing revenues surpassing those of radio in 2008, what can radio do to be more accountable to its advertisers to preserve and recapture market share?

Fisher: Make the process of buying radio easier – automate much of the buying front end; Posting to provide clients results of their radio investment.

Fig: I would like to see more accountability in the service/order execution process. There must be more follow thru in schedules after the sale. “What you order is what runs, and runs correctly.”

McVay: Our belief is that radio stations should invest in hiring an I-PD and an I-SM. The Internet PD and the Internet Sales Manager could be the difference between hitting budget and not in 2009.

Lange: There are lots of opportunities on-line, but what works?  Google search ads seemed to work for some for a while, but what is the long term?  Banner and Pop Up ads worked for a while, but now? Email marketing became Spam and now you need permission marketing.  Yes it does look cheap, but if marketing doesn’t work than it’s a total waste of money.  Radio is a lot more proven to get the message out.

Dimick: It’s going to be interesting to see if those revenue dollars continue to grow in 2009.  Lincoln Financial Media has signed a company wide agreement with Emmis Interactive for both “back office” web services as well as sales consulting services.  A fair share of our revenue growth projections for 2009 have some form of interactive component.

RDR: Chrysler has announced plans to include WiFi technology in its new car models, including audio streaming. How do you see this impacting terrestrial and satellite listenership once a consumer can choose from thousands of radio stations and online streams while driving?

Block: It has to impact all forms of radio since there are more choices than ever.

McVay: It will clearly impact time spent listening. I remember in 1974 when the CB radio competed with AM Radio. We saw a decrease in listening from that “rating robber” as well. It’s important that broadcasters understand and accept this threat … and then address it. I for one am tired of hearing broadcasters scream about the problems we face, without offering a solution. NEW RULE: YOU CANNOT POINT OUT A PROBLEM WITHOUT ALSO OFFERING A SOLUTION.

Smyth: Radio needs to act right now to make sure that our content is available in all mobile online formats, so that when the user sits in their new car to program their WiFi unit, their first instinct will be to make sure that their favorite local station is the first preset they make. Radio has faced this choice in every new car, but with a wider world to explore, we can anticipate that listeners will graze to other worldwide locations. But it’s incumbent on us to make sure that our stations are important enough…and indispensable enough…that they return to us, and we are right there on the first preset!

Lange: Isn’t it getting a little busy behind the wheel – the phone is ringing – the nav is talking – the blackberry is going off – someone is texting you – and now you can try and program the radio to catch a stream of music from who knows where?  Radio is simple to use and until WiFi radio becomes that simple to do while you are driving at 70mph through traffic it could be just another thing on the dashboard.  We do need to build stronger brands, but we’d be better of focusing on that goal than worrying so much about every new way to listen to music or talk while driving.

Fisher: I don’t think about that now. It is a ways out and the unlimited choice of MP3, IPOD, CD Changer and recent experience with Satellite indicates people are most comfortable with their radio brands.

RDR: How could radio help the automotive industry through its current crisis?

Smyth: The scope and magnitude of the auto crisis is mind-bending, but radio needs to focus on the local dealer segment, and offer them help during this difficult period. For years, they have been among the most important local advertisers, and in many towns, one of the most important local businesses. Radio should not turn its back on automotive.

Fisher: Re-emphasize the immediate (drive people to lots), effective when tied into web based product and price promotions, effective ROI.

Fig: Radio still has a HUGE listening audience. Smart radio broadcasters should create a total on-air, on line experience for car dealers at an economical price and sell the benefits vs. TV, Newspapers. I have at least five new ideas that have generated revenue for my clients, but…that’s what they pay me for!

Taz: I just met with one of the largest auto dealers in the Northwest. At lunch, all he did was drill us for ideas. Ideas. Ideas. We gave him a couple. He got them going. We got a terrific schedule. It gets back down to that. Local radio is really, really good at NTR, promotions, ideas. Go with that strength.

(Part Three of this article will appear on January 12th.)

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

The economy is unstable. New technology nips at radio’s audience share and siphons off revenue. The future of HD and Satellite Radio remains in question. With countless choices and solutions available at the crossroads of creativity and practicality, radio’s future has never been so exciting and so uncertain.

Despite a dozen entertainment alternatives hyped to hasten the death of radio over the past several decades, the medium still remains an important part of the weekly media mix consumed by more than 90% of all adults. And even in today’s troubled economy, radio continues to deliver results for marketers who understand how to use the medium and its inherent strengths.

For a clearer picture of radio’s future, Radio Direct Response (RDR), one of America’s few “radio only” advertising agencies, gathered 11 of the industry’s movers and shakers to share their thoughts on what the medium needs to do to remain relevant and solvent into 2009 and beyond.

Sam Benrubi: SVP of Advertising Sales, SIRIUS/XM Satellite Radio
Richard S. Block: VP of Marketing, Haier America
John Dimick: VP of Programming, Lincoln Financial Media Group
Bill Figenshu: President & CEO, FigMedia1
Steve Fisher: CFO, Entercom
Dave Lange: VP/Rock, McVay Media
Michael McVay: President, McVay Media
Peter Smyth: Chairman & CEO, Greater Media
Jimmy Steal VP of Programming, Emmis Communications
Jim Taszarek: President, TazMedia, Inc
Dan Vallie: President, Vallie Richards Donovan Consulting

RDR: How has the current state of the economy impacted your business?  What steps have you taken to survive the storm?

Smyth: Like any business, we have had to tighten our belts, take a very hard look at our overall expense structure and find ways to take out another layer of expense. However, we have also continued to invest in those areas where we see need to support our current efforts and to invest in new efforts to generate revenue. We have challenged our local managers to rethink job descriptions and repurpose employees to get maximum focused effort in the areas that count the most. I don’t want to hear that “we always did it.” We need to examine our structures, manpower allocations and daily job priorities to make sure we are all focused on the important, not just the urgent.

Fisher: Radio and advertising expenditures are down reflecting the overall economy. Entercom (and our peers) has taken steps where appropriate including staff reductions, trimming of other expenses, and we are considering a wage freeze for 2009.

Taz: Unfortunately I’m having the best year I’ve ever had – not because I wanted it that way. Stations are looking for answers – because their clients are looking for answers. This isn’t Your Grandfather’s Recession.

RDR: Despite the revenue downturn, is radio still an undervalued cash flow generator?

Steal: Absolutely, radio remains a positive cash generator, and an extremely effective customer conduit; it’s just not realistic for growth multiples of old to be applied in the current economic environment.

Block: No.

Fisher: Radio does produce significant free cash flow, even in a stressed revenue scenario.

Lange: YES, most stations I’ve worked with turn in over 35% cash flow and I bet you could go to 90% of the companies on the stock markets and not even get close to that level year after year.  Our problem is that we can’t grow it – when you are at that level it’s very hard to get a meaningful percentage in growth.

Taz: Taking radio public and taking on enormous debt was a self-defeating fantasy. While it returned embarrassing short-term gains to some, it has resulted in irreparable harm to the industry. Why? In doing so, it turned radio over to the markets. The markets want eternal, never-ending, quarter-after-quarter earnings growth – growth – growth. In spite of being an extraordinary cash generator, we couldn’t supply the necessary growth. Financial people only know one way to increase earnings – cut costs. The idea of product improvement or new revenue models isn’t in their DNA. Therefore we have a product that has become homogenous from coast to coast, is losing its relevance and lacks significant entertainment or information value.

Smyth: YES.

Dimick: Yes.

RDR: How would you define radio’s accountability to its advertisers?

Block: Non-existent.

Fisher: Surveys over the years indicate buyer’s perception that Radio lags other media in accountability.

Lange: Right now it’s pretty bad.  The Diary system of data collection is antique at best and still makes up 95% of the markets measured.  Even when we have the top 50 markets on PPM we’ll only have 20% of the markets using PPM.  With 2 systems out there and now a 3^rd in some markets from Nielsen it’s turning into confusion.   We also need better sales teams that understand the product, the other options (new media/web/TV/boards/print) and can truly help marketing teams and clients make the most of the message.

Taz: Working with a client and discovering EXACTLY what they’re trying to accomplish. That becomes the reason for the relationship – it’s what both parties talk about. We usually have little idea of their goal. Our DNA is to Sell Those Spots, not Help Clients. The irony is that the clients are now disappearing and we don’t know what to do about it. If we knew more about “advertising” per se and client business models – we could sell more.

Dimick: Local direct advertisers have always known when a radio campaign has worked because they sell products.  I believe we have always felt a sense of accountability to our advertisers because that’s the way we get them to come back to us.  However other mediums have done better jobs of installing new audience measurement techniques that have called our accountability in to question.  That’s why I believe that PPM ratings, while still not perfect, offer us the best solution to ease our advertisers concerns about radio.  We know this medium works for our clients so any device that provides information to raise our accountability level with advertisers is a good thing for us.

Smyth: Accountability starts with doing what you say. Accountability is strengthened when you under promise and over deliver. Our industry has gotten a bad reputation with many advertisers, because we’ve abused their schedules in the past. So it starts with everything running as ordered; no excuses.

(Part Two of this article will appear on Thursday, January 8th.)

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

Other than St. Patricks Day, the month of March has no other real holidays. However, if you are a fun brand with an open mind, there are at least 10 great anniversaries or themed days that you can play off of to get yourself some attention.

A seamless fit for any restaurant on most radio stations occurs during Middays (usually 10:00AM 3:00PM). To drive traffic all through March, celebrate Employee Spirit Month by asking co-workers to nominate the most spirited or deserving employees each week who will win lunch delivered to the office or an office party at one of your locations.

Not to sound too sappy, but March 11th is Dream 2009 day. It was created in hopes that everyone would strive to be better people, achieve more and that everyone on Earth would just get along. We can dream up a promotion that rewards people in the community who help others, are positive role models for kids, etc. Simply give them cash to put towards their efforts or maybe something that they have been neglecting to buy for themselves.

March 18th is Awkward Moments Day. I think this day occurs at least a few times a year for most of us. Have radio stations ask listeners for their most awkward moments, only to be rewarded with something that will help them forget it, i.e., a trip to an island, skiing in Vail, a big shiny piece of jewelry or even a new iPod to drown out the memories with loud music.

Other fun days to note include:

• 21: Memory Day
• 22: As Young As You Feel Day
• 26: Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
• 27: Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day

Start planning now. Call us with a goal and well take care of the rest.

Barbra Tabnick, Senior Account Manager