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

Advertising Revenues off more than 20% in 2009
Radio stations from coast-to-coast felt the sting of the recession, with fewer advertisers finding the funds to afford radio advertising. The biggest hits came from retail and traditional branding advertising, creating opportunities for direct response marketers to buy up available inventory at aggressive DR rates.

Radio Company Bankrupty
Citadel Communications, Tribune Broadcasting and Next Media were among the major broadcast companies forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009. Turbulent economic conditions and shrinking ad revenues put these broadcasters under the gun to file for protection from creditors and restructure to sustain their businesses by doing more with less.

Smart Phone Apps/Expands Reach and Frequency
As technology explodes in new directions, radio strives to keep pace. Smart phone applications now allow radio listeners to hear their favorite stations using their smart phone as their radio. This marks a major victory for broadcasters who previously ran the risk of risk to losing share to services like Pandora and Slacker by evolution of technology, rather than choice.

Consolidation v2009
The economic downturn forced radio to tighten its already snug belt even tighter. Many broadcast companies were forced to cut employees who, for lack of a better explanation, simply made too much money. Many programmers now program content on up to 4-5 stations at once. They’re also being asked to return to the studio and host air shifts to cut payroll. And local talent in small and medium markets are being replaced by nationally syndicated talent, streamed in from larger markets around the country.

National Syndication of Top Tier Talent
Clear Channel Communications led a movement to nationally syndicated local broadcast talent. Music programs hosted by Ryan Seacrest in Los Angeles and Elvis Duran in New York now air in more than 20 markets nationwide with additional markets planned for 2010. Clear Channel’s premium choice allows stations nationwide to pick and choose from a variety of on-air hosts culled from a large pool and plug them into specific day-parts in their local markets.

PPM’s Evolution into the Top 30 markets
Arbitron held true to its commitment to convert the Top 30 radio markets to its Portable People Meter method of audience measurement. Although accreditation has been slow and anything but automatic, the PPM train continues to roll with another 20 markets slated to be added by the end of 2010.

Social Media’s explosion into Radio’s Foreground
Radio’s need to be in touch with their listeners’ lifestyles has resulted in most creating Facebook, Linked In and Twitter pages for their listeners. Beyond simply streaming audio content, the addition of rewards programs for dedicated listeners has given radio stations the opportunity to super serve their core with additional content, contests and promotions specifically designed with these dedicated listeners in mind

Subscriptions Plateau at Sirius-XM
For the first time in 2009, satellite subscriber numbers stopped growing and actually fell. Most experts agree this development was tied to the dramatic drop in new car sales, which historically delivered new satellite subscribers by giving them an in-dash radio with a three-month free subscription to programming. When new car sales rebound, look for Sirius-XM numbers to follow suit.

It’s Christmas week. There’s no one around to write a serious blog. So I figured I’d write a silly one, listing some of things that ping in-and-out of my brain on any given day. Happy Holidays!

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Flying would be a lot more fun if the states were different colors, just like on the map.

July comes in like a skyburst of color and goes out like a soggy, warm dishrag. You’d have heard of this sooner, but March has a much better publicist.

Apparently, General Tso was not the bravest officer in the Chinese army.

Note to taxicab drivers: Stop offering me three receipts so I can “stick it to the man.” I AM the man.

Is there any insult worse than being called feckless? Either you accept the accusation that you truly are feckless, or you defend yourself by insisting that you do, indeed, have feck.

I decided to walk across Manhattan one afternoon this summer with a big grin on my face and THREE people accidentally smiled back.

The terrier next door issued a statement denying any responsibility for the Dog Days of summer. Tonight, I shall return to the driveway where he spends his days drooling and continue questioning.

If today is the first day of the rest of my life, what the hell was yesterday?

Someone actually said to me, “That’s a bunch of hooey,” which made me wonder if hooey came in any other sizes.

It’s one thing to be a square peg that won’t fit in a round hole, but what the hell do you do when you’re a rhombus?

Free medical advice for all dervishes presently experiencing nausea: Stop whirling.

Just for laughs today at the health club, yell out “Jane! Stop this crazy thing!” while running on the treadmill.

Post-Halloween Request: I would like to have a few words with the person who decided that a one-inch by two-inch piece of candy is “Fun Size.”

Life gets so much simpler when I stop trying so hard to complicate it.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

I have a broadcasting Pet Peeve that drives me CRAZY! It’s a tactic that radio and television commercial producers use to make their commercials jump out of the speakers at the audience. It’s called “over modulation.” It’s a concept that records louder volume levels for commercials than the programming it is nestled in. It is not blatantly illegal. However, it is somewhat unethical and annoying as heck. Rumor has it that the FCC is going to clamp down on over modulation and fine TV and radio stations. I’ll believe it when I don’t hear it anymore.

Remember all of the signs on streets and interstates touting a $300 fine for littering? Have you ever known or seen anyone who got a littering fine? Me neither. I’ve even seen people throw fast food trash out of moving cars in front of a state trooper and the trooper did nothing. To be fair, he may not have seen it…but I doubt it.

From my perspective, the moment I hear this unnecessary volume increase on radio and TV, I reach for the volume control to turn it down. My dog hates over modulation, too. The net effect is that the impact of the commercial is diminished because my attention has been compromised.

Being in the DR Radio business, we’re always looking for an edge to make our commercials more effective and more profitable for our clients without resorting to questionable tactics. This is accomplished with solid, focused scripting, effective talent direction and strong post production; not turning the volume knob up to 11.

Vince Raimondo, Vice President of Marketing

It’s always nice to build a warm, holiday mix of music to accompany those roasting chestnuts. Here’s the latest batch from The RDR Staff, including some “wild card” picks that are off the beaten path with comments from the staff members who suggested them.

Happy Holidays!

THE HOLIDAY PLAYLIST
Santa Baby – Eartha Kitt
All I Want for Christmas – Mariah Carey
The Little Drummer Boy – David Bowie & Bing Crosby
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – Andy Williams
Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney
Jingle Bell Rock – Bobby Helms
Let It Snow! – Vaughn Monroe
This Christmas – Christina Aguilera
The Hanukah Song – Adam Sandler
The Christmas Song – John Gorka
Christmas Time is Here – Vince Guaraldi
White Christmas – Bing Crosby

SANTA’S SACK OF BONUS TRACKS
Nuttin’ for Christmas – Sugarland (Essentially, this is about a child chronicling his misdeeds followed by the lament “I’m gettin’ nuttin’ for Christmas, ‘cause I ain’t been nuttin’ but bad.”)

Snoopy’s Christmas – The Royal Guardsman (Most kids had a security blanket. I had a security Snoopy. We went everywhere together. It was kismet when I was introduced to this song.)

All I Want Is You This Christmas – N’Sync (Boy bands rule and so does the music in this song. I really liked N’Sync in high school and I’m not afraid to say that “Home for Christmas” is still one of my favorite Christmas albums.)

Christmas in Hollis – RUN DMC (This song appears in the movie “Die Hard,” my all-time favorite movie. A Christmas doesn’t go by that I don’t watch all the Die Hard movies and listen to this song about a hundred times.)

(Don’t be A Jerk) It’s Christmas – Spongebob Square Pants (It’s so true and my kids love Spongebob.)

I was one of the lucky ones. Straight out of college, I worked 10 years at WPEN-AM and WMGK-FM in Philadelphia during its “Camelot” years when the AM/FM combo was ranked #1 in the market for both ratings and billings.

As Director of Advertising & Promotions. It was my job to attract new listeners, keep current listeners listening longer and help our sales department leverage major advertising buys with clever on-air promotions. I was also the gatekeeper that politely said “No” to more than 90% of the clients and companies that wanted to run promotions on our radio stations because their products or ideas didn’t “fit.”

It was my job to convince an advertiser selling fiberglass insulation that it was better to pay a listener’s utility bill than give away icky pink fiberglass. They still received the on-air exposure they desired; only now the promotion was a “fit” for the radio station.

If you’re pondering the possibility of a radio promotion for your brand, take time to look at the opportunity from the perspective of both the radio listener and the radio station.

RADIO LISTENERS want cool, fun prizes. Cash, cars and travel still top the list. But if there’s an element of cool – or an exclusive prize that “money can’t buy” - you’ll capture their minds and imaginations better than a cash prize worth twice the price. Back in the 80s, I worked with the American Lung Association on a promotion that sent radio listeners to Hollywood to watch Cybill Shepherd (the ALA’s spokesperson) and Bruce Willis shoot an episode of “Moonlighting.” Ms. Shepherd then took the winners home for lunch. At a time when “Moonlighting” was the hottest show on television, radio stations were all too happy to let the American Lung Association deliver their marketing message in return for such a cool prize.

RADIO STATIONS want new listeners. They also want their current listeners to listen longer. And they want revenue. But they’ll overlook these three textbook criteria if the promotion you bring them is so cool that it enhances the brand of the radio station.

There are countless ways to promote a product or service on the radio. The “how” of promotion ranks a distant second to getting the radio station to say, “Yes, we’ll air this promotion without making you buy airtime.” So long as you ensure that your salient marketing points are embedded in the promo copy, you’ll deliver your message in programming and likely command more attention than a typical radio commercial.

Curious as to how your brand might fuel a radio promotion? Send us an e-mail. Tell us what you have in mind. We’ll schedule our team for a free brainstorming session to explore the possibilities. This is, after all, what we do here at RDR. All things radio.

Mark Lipsky, President & CEO

Middays are part of radio’s prime time, falling between Morning and Afternoon Drive time, typically defined as Monday-Friday from 10 AM – 3 PM. “At work” listening comprises a majority of the listener base, with others tuned in from their cars or other locations where radio keeps them company during the day.

The Midday shift attracts primarily adult listeners, as most school-age children are in school, be it K-12 or college. (During the summer months, the midday listener base widens to include usage by students on summer break.)

Music stations focus on the music with little (if any) of the foreground features that may air on these stations during drive times. The most common exception is the Noon hour, where stations may program a special block of music (e.g. the “All Request” Lunch Hour), to put a little fancy packaging on essentially the same music mix.

Foreground stations, especially Talk and Sports, fare well in the Midday hours. Many break the daypart down into two programming segments to keep a single host from having to host a five-hour shift. Well-known personalities like Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura and Glenn Beck capture and hold their audiences for long stretches of listening during their three-hour shows.

Here are a few “Monsters of the Midday.”

Atlanta News/Talk station WSB-AM dominates the midday hours with the 8:30AM-1PM program hosted by Neal Boortz. Neal’s show just finished first for the 47th consecutive ratings period.

In Charlotte, Urban AC formatted WBAV-FM reels in the ratings with Chirl Girl, delivering the latest in celebrity interviews and entertainment news, live and direct from the Queen City.

Adult Contemporary station WLTW-FM (Lite-FM) in New York’s captures huge midday ratings with the right mix of music for the workplace.

With the advent of Arbitron’s PPM ratings system, statistics now show that Midday is radio’s #1 daypart for reaching the largest segment of radio listeners, surpassing Morning and Afternoon Drive. Yet, old buying habits and the high-profile perception of drive time, keeps drive time rates higher than Midday, making this oft-overlooked daypart one of radio’s strongest for direct response advertisers and deserving of a fresh test for your next campaign.

Danny Ocean, Vice President/Director of Operations

While the month of February is mostly about love and hearts and the like, there are a few other anniversaries and special days with which you can align your brand, should you be looking for something different.

February 3rd is known as The Day The Music Died. Not only did Charles Hardin “Buddy” Holly die in that fateful plane crash, J.P. Richardson (“The Big Bopper”) and young Richie Valens did as well. In honor of their memory, why not give radio stations targeting your customer the gift of music to for their listeners. The new 5G iPod Nano with FM Tuner, trips to see an artist in concert with a meet-and-greet, gift cards to buy music online, etc.

Did you know that February 6th – 12th is Dump Your “Significant Jerk” Week? You may not be foolish enough to have one, but you probably know someone who needs to “take out the garbage.” Be the brand that empowers and rewards people to do what they know is best by giving them a trip to help forget about him or her, cash for a new wardrobe to start fresh, etc.

To celebrate Presidents’ Day (all week long), award radio listeners with “dead Presidents” or family trips to Washington, DC if they can answer trivia about past Presidents. A no-brainer for any brand or radio station.

If your brand is looking to break through the clutter of Valentine’s Day this February, call us for more cost-effective promotional ideas!

Barbra Tabnick, Senior Account Manager