30 Years Gone

Think back to 1979. Fire was about to be discovered. The wheel was still 2 years from evolving from its then-current triangular shape into something close to an oval. The only way to let somebody know "what I'm doing" was to tell them or write a letter and mail it from a U.S. Post Office. The primitive music being played was classified as "disco," destroying the ears and lives and cocaine noses of America's youth movement.

But, out of the ashes of this pre-historic time, there arose a radio station. It was a radio station so unique and so powerful that the people fell to their knees and wept. This radio station was, and still is, called WDHA.

30 years later WDHA-FM is 30 years old. While you may say, "Dave, you're being redundant within the same sentence," my reply is, hey, if you guys are okay with Sammy Hagar singing "Only time will tell if we can stand the test of time," you can accept my topic sentence of paragraph #3.

I grew up with this radio station, first catching on with it in the summer of 1980 when they consecutively played every song in the Beatles catalog from A-Z that July or August (they played "She's Leaving Home" off of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and I rode my bike downtown to Scotti's Record Shop in Madison to steal - I mean, buy that album the same day). When you grow up with a radio station, it's like family. It's like WDHA and I shaved together and drove our first car together and went on dates together and partied together. We probably both said "Dude" far too many times for our own good. To be working for it this many years later is like if you went on a date with a girl (or guy) back in high school and ended up getting married to that person 25 years later. Am I right? I think I'm right. (Note: If you want to know who's in the pictures, scroll to the bottom.)

So, with that rant in mind, WDHA - "The Rock of New Jersey," had a big celebration this week at the Welmont Theater in Montclair, Nueva Jersey (pronounced New Yersey). There was a band that played. Some call them Lynyrd Skynyrd. So you had The Rock of New Jersey celebrating its 30th anniversary with a band that's been around for more than 30 years.

"What's this mean to me?" you almost stutter before realizing I'd possibly make fun of you for it.

It means that WDHA, a radio station that's been in the Rock format for 30 years, is consistent (See how many times I've told you we're 30 years old? Yeah, I can't get anything by you, can I?). Listenership is at an all-time high: More than 380,000 men and women and kids and hamsters listen to this radio station every week. Our consistent format is parallel to how you should advertise: a strong message communicated consistently. That's the key to advertising. And it's the key to WDHA's 30 years of success.

Here's a great anecdote. As a kid listening to 105.5, I used to hear ads all the time for Kenvil Power Mower. Kenvil. It's a real town on Route 46. Sounds like it's one or two towns over from Mayberry, where Andy Griffith and Opie lived with Ain't Bea. Anyway, the point to this is Kenvil Power Mower was so consistent with their simple message for so long, I still remember them. If you axed my brother, he'd say the same thing. He remembers. Go ahead. Ask him. I double-dog dare you.

So maybe you should steal from the 1980s Kenvil Power Mower playbook, get on the air and stay there. You'll be glad you did.

SCREAM OUTS

A brand spankin' new feature to this awesome blog is the Scream Out section (rockers don't give "shout outs"). We welcomed a few new advertisers to the fold this week, including Morris Catholic High School in Denville (which rhymes with Kenvil), Fairchilds Market in Roseland (doesn't rhyme with Kenvil or Denville), Advantage Contracting from Wayne and Advanced Cardiology Practice, also from Wayne. Listen for their spots (that's industry parlance for commercials) and patronize them to the fullest extent of the law (meaning don't stalk). We all thank you for it.

SONG OF THE WEEK

Since it was Lynyrd Skynyrd that played WDHA's 30th anniversary concert, let's play a little something from them. One of my favorite tracks is called "Tuesday's Gone." I hope you like it as much as I like you.

Thanks for reading!
Dave

Pictures:

#1, at the top, is the whole WDHA-FM staff at the Welmont Theater. There's a cake in the middle of the picture that looks small to you but was very large to us. If there's any left over, I'll give you some.

#2 is of me (on the right) with Nancy Remy of Shadow Traffic. I know her name like I know Kenvil Power Mower. She thought I was joking when I told her it was a thrill to meet her, put my arm around her and also get this picture taken. But I joke not.

#3 is of me (on the right) with Stu Iselin, another Account Exec here at WDHA & WMTR who doesn't live in Iselin, and Valerie Freda, another Account Exec who doesn't live in Iselin. We all think it's a swell town, however.

#4 is of me (on the left) with Matt DeVoti, our station's general. I mean General Sales Manager. He used to be a DJ for years on WNEW-FM, when it was a cool rock station and not the girlie "Fresh" station it is today. He's at DHA 'cause he rocks. (He also likes WMTR-AM "Classic Oldies" very much.)

David Philp
Account Executive
WMTR-AM/WDHA-FM
Greater Media Broadcasting
55 Horsehill Rd. Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927
ofc: 973-538-1250 x1377
e: dphilp@greatermedianj.com
fax: 973-538-3060

The Massively Big & Crazy Stupid Phat Big One-Day Sale

That's right. If you are a fan of the medium some of us call "radio" and if you believe it's good to advertise there (JC Penny, Home Depot, Geico and my mother all agree that it is), then guess what? I will tell you. WDHA-FM ("The Rock of New Jersey") and WMTR-AM ("Classic Oldies") will be running a massively big & crazy stupid phat big One-Day Sale on Tuesday, November 17th.

"Why should I care?" you sing, echoing "5:15" by The Who and swinging a faux microphone about the room.

Because, I write. Because. But besides that lame response, we're practically giving the radio station away. You wanna buy some air? How does 50% off sound to you? If you were buying a $20,000 car, getting it for $10,000 would be pretty nice. If you were buying an ad in the Star Ledger or Bergen Record for $10,000 on a nice sunny Sunday, when everyone is outside and not reading the paper, wouldn't it be better to spend those ten thousand smackers and get twenty thousand smackers' worth that will run all over during the week, when it rains or is cold and people are putting on their radio to listen to the sweet sounds of the Beatles or Shinedown?

Yeah, that was a long sentence.

Bottom line be dis: Take advantage. Don't be a silly. You want to blow up your business in a good way (meaning not the kind of way insurance will reimburse you for)? Then hit me up and say, "Yo, Dave, you know I want that 50% off this Tuesday. And hey, can I get it Wednesday too?"

No. Tuesday only.

"What if I don't want to run any ads until January 'cause I'm all spent up for the Oh Nine campaign?"

They can start in January and go through May. Think happy spring! And as you think it, know you only need to think about spring with 50% of your brain. The other 50% can be used for thinking about other things, like Oprah guests or Jell-O shots or Nancy Pelosi action figures.

SONG OF THE WEEK

If you just read what I wrote, then "Because" by The Beatles makes a heckuva lotta sense. You agree?

So, you in? Cool. Me too.


Thanks for reading!
Dave

David Philp
Account Executive
WMTR-AM/WDHA-FM
Greater Media Broadcasting
55 Horsehill Rd. Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927
ofc: 973-538-1250 x1377
e: dphilp@greatermedianj.com
fax: 973-538-3060

Say What?

"See, there goes another one." My lovely wife was looking out our window the other night at a car driving up our hill. It had a spotlight aimed at the side of the road. I missed it, choosing to focus on the television set, which kept reinforcing to me that the Mets weren't playing baseball that evening. "Look!" My peripheral vision caught it this time. Another car, this one driving down the hill, spotlight aimed at the other side of the road. "They must be looking for something," she said.

I wanted to say something witty that would impress upon her that I was still worth the 16 years of marriage she had invested in me. I shrugged.

Another car sped by. "They won't find it driving that fast," I said. We live on a quiet street. It felt like rush hour on 80 West in Parsippany.

And then the phone rang. "Uh oh," she said. The girl (she's really a woman) must be physic. Why else would she utter the phrase that has signified dread since we were tots on a playground looking at the big kids and their natural desire to bother & harm tots? I picked up the phone, banishing images of angry juvenile death-row-wannabes from my brain.

"This is the Wayne Police Department." (Note: I live in Wayne. There. Now you know. Our story continues...) "A 74-year old man with Alzheimer's, wearing a gray jacket, is missing. He was last seen at the bottom of the Greater Media Radio Guy's street. If you can assist in the search or have seen the man's whereabouts, please call whatever our number is." The message started up again and I listened again since I'd already forgotten most of the important stuff. When I hung up, I knew there was a reason for my wife's "Uh oh."

Somebody was missing.

As I saw another car zoom by my house, I thought how they'd never find the man driving so fast up a dark street (we don't have streetlights in most of Wayne; we use the moon one week of every month). I'd already walked the dog, but she's always up for another opportunity to lick foreign substances (use your imagination), so I threw her leash on and we went searching for a lost human.

It was at this point that I began to think about the message on the phone and how it related to radio advertising. Really, I did. Here's why: First, I had to hear the message twice for it to start to sink in. Even after two times, I still didn't remember everything that our pre-recorded policeman said. With radio, the goal is to have listeners hear your message three (3) [III] {tres} times; it takes that many listens for an interested party to tune in and absorb what it is you have to say. I'd been interested. I just hadn't heard the message enough times to remember it all.

Second, the message had a strong intro: "A 74-year old man with Alzheimer's, wearing a gray jacket, is missing." That hooked me right away. But after that, the message kind of lost me. What was the man's name? How did they expect us to take action? If I found him, should I have befriended him or should I have assumed he could easily kill me (it's not that hard)? I realized that I was kind of walking in the dark, both figuratively and literally. The message was incomplete and, therefore, not satisfying.

In looking around as the dog sniffed and licked and I walked, I realized the message didn't matter much to my neighbors. Either nobody was home or nobody cared to look for the missing man. It was just one dog with an undisciplined tongue, me, and cars driving too fast to see anything. The large family pet and I looked into car windows in case the guy crawled into a Subaru looking for some warmth. Nothing. We looked in our back yard, under trees in big yards nearby, and through some woods across the street. Nothing. At the top of the hill, I could see through the trees to the other side of my little lake community. There were firetrucks out, lights ablaze. I had a feeling there were teams of guys patrolling the water and lakefronts. I felt bad for the family of the missing man as I removed the dog's lips from something shaped like a small carcass and headed for home.

I crawled into bed that evening wondering what had happened with the man. If I was a 74-year old guy, would I want to walk up a hill on a cold night? I figured no. The lake seemed like an odd choice too. He had to be somewhere. And that's where I found fault with the message in a third way: There was no closure. Think about a typical commercial for a Macy's One Day Sale. It has a beginning, middle and end: "Come to Macy's for our One Day Sale, Saturday between 8AM and 8PM." There. Done. We know everything in that one sentence. The rest of the commercial is what's exactly for sale and more reasons why we should go. And they probably tell us two more times that it's a Macy's One Day Sale this Saturday between 8AM and 8PM.

The message from the police wasn't constructed as well. Granted, they didn't have a multi-million dollar agency craft the words and use auditory psychology when they put it together. But they did miss something. I mean, a great message would have gotten more than 1 goofball and his poorly-dieting dog to get off the couch and help, right? Don't you think? Or is it true, I am truly the only Mets fan left in America? In either case, it's too bad I didn't see more people out there. Maybe we could have found the guy.

Postscript: I found out what happened from a fireman the following day. The man, who lived in Bloomingdale, simply walked home without telling anyone. He was safe. The family was relieved. And all was well in Doggywood. Oh, and the Yankees would go on to win the World Series.

See you in spring training.

SONG OF THE DAY

WMTR plays some of the greatest music every recorded. The song in my mind today is "Cuddle Up" by the Beach Boys, a group who you hear plenty of on "Classic Oldies" 1250 AM. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading!
Dave

David Philp
Account Executive
WMTR-AM/WDHA-FM
Greater Media Broadcasting
55 Horsehill Rd. Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927
ofc: 973-538-1250 x1377
e: dphilp@greatermedianj.com
fax: 973-538-3060