With Radio, A Good Defense Is A Good Offense

I did not write what you are about to read. I saw it on Greater Media's Intranet site and said to myself, "David, there's something in your teeth." As I pulled the fishbone out, I realized I should share what I just read with the masses. Since you are just a small, yet important, member of "the masses," I appreciate your appreciation of my sharing. The rest is pretty explanatory, maybe at times exploratory, but you reading is completely voluntary. So, without wasting any more of your precious time, here is what I'd like to share with you, explaining why radio still makes sense in this crazy world, even with so much more media at our disposal. Henceforth, my copy and paste effort for you at no charge.

In defense of radio and its effectiveness

The medium gets a bum rap from media and others

By Mary Beth Garber
Jan 19, 2010

In late December, Media Life ran an article headlined "Outlook for radio in 2010: More struggle" that painted a dour picture for the medium in the coming year, focusing largely on the lingering effects of the ad recession on revenues and other challenges, such as competition from the internet (link). The story generated an angry letter from Mary Beth Garber, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Association, a trade group representing radio stations. Garber challenged the article, arguing that it unfairly cast the medium in a negative light. In response, Media Life invited Garber to pen a guest column to set the record straight.


Unfortunately the Media Life article was but one of a number of pieces that have appeared about radio based on misguided assumptions and personal opinions passed off as facts.

Admittedly, I’m one of radio’s biggest supporters with very strong opinions about the medium. That’s why the content of this article is supported with real numbers published by the research companies that media professionals, reporters and analysts rely on every day.

Contrary to media industry myth, radio listening has been positively affected by new technology.

Today’s radio sounds better than ever due to digital and HD technology.

But just as important as sound are the new delivery systems that have reenergized radio’s reach. Unlike most other traditional media, radio was able to take its broadcast content and its advertising model intact to the internet.

Today every computer, virtually every MP3 and iPod, and any cell phone capable of downloading apps is streaming radio’s over-the-air content.

Which helps explain why approximately nine out of 10 people of all age groups listen to radio each week, far more than any other medium except broadcast television (RADAR 103, December 2009).

And why the average person spends between about two and a half to three hours or more each day with broadcast radio (Nielsen, RADAR, Arbitron, Scarborough and The Media Audit).

In fact, people spend more time with broadcast radio than they spend with any other form of audio (Council for Research Excellence’s "Video Consumer Mapping – How U.S. Adults Use Radio and Other Forms of Audio," October 29, 2009).

Virtually all of that radio listening is done live, in real time. It's the only mass medium that can make that claim.

Let’s take a quick look at some of the technologies and devices that are being used by critics to attack radio’s relevancy in today’s media world.

The internet: The next time you think about moving your ad dollars out of radio and into the internet, check Nielsen or ComScore for their weekly internet ratings.

You’ll discover that in any given week, about 60 percent more people will listen to radio than will log onto the internet.

While at the same time, simply adding radio to an internet-only ad campaign can lift your unaided brand recall by 450 percent (www.Radioadlab.com).

Internet-only radio: A new analysis of Pandora (an internet-only radio site) by www.bridgeratings.com notes Pandora's 1.03 hours of listening is lower than that of local simulcast streams, which range from 1.7 hours to 3.6 hours. They also say Pandora suffers, just like iPods, from listener fatigue, sending users back to local radio (online or over the air). Over half the people who listen to any internet radio say they have listened to local radio content streaming.

MP3 players: Apple just recently add FM radio receivers to the Nano and Touch iPods because demand for radio listening is increasing. A Paragon study showed people ages 14-24 increased their radio listening 11 percent and decreased their MP3 listening 13 percent. Even more enlightening, Edison says about 60 percent of 18-64s don’t own MP3 players.

Satellite radio: Has had virtually no effect on radio usage. Satellite radio subscriptions peaked in 2008 at 18.8 million, then dropped in 2009 to 18.5 million. That’s only 7.7 percent of all adults in the country. A recent BridgeRatings study projected both subscriptions and interest will continue to fall in the coming years.

Radio listening is trending up, not down.

All media trends up and down over a period of time.

But to hear radio’s critics you’d think this dynamic medium was on a slide to oblivion.

The fact is nothing could be further from the truth.

Radio’s weekly reach, unlike that of print, has declined only modestly during the past several years from a high of 94.9 percent in Spring 2001 to 91 percent in Fall 2008.

But radio has, again unlike print, now reversed that downward trend and listening continues to rise.

RADAR 103 shows radio reaching 92.5 percent of people over the age of 12, more than 236 million people each week. A recent Bridge Ratings study even shows a resurgence of local radio (without online streaming or mobile listening added) by most listener segments. So imagine what they would be with these numbers added. (http://www.bridgeratings.com).

Young People Listen to Radio

All of which helps explain the fact that RADAR, Nielsen, Arbitron, Bridge Ratings and Scarborough say between 85 percent and 92 percent of teens and 18-34s use radio every week. Nielsen says 92 percent of 18-34s spend about three hours a day with radio.

Obviously there’s a big disconnect between reality and perception when it comes to radio.

Since the advent of television, radio has been the media industry’s favorite whipping boy.

And it’s not just somebody else’s fault. Sure all those reporters, planners and analysts are listening to their friends instead of trusting the numbers, and the truth is that part of that perception is radio’s own fault, because the radio industry has been slow and quiet in its own defense or to publicize its noteworthy achievements. It’s another fact that cannot be denied.

But the time of letting others define our future is over.

Enough is more than enough.

Radio is one of the two most powerful advertising vehicles on earth. Still. And for a long time to come.

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

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

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

There's No "I" In Advertising

Um, actually, there are two of them. But that's not the point. The point is that when you advertise, you're not just selling yourself, you're selling your company, your message, your future... Hell, you're selling your destiny. Am I getting too heavy already? First paragraph and I'm talking about how together we can change your life? All right. I'll slow down.

I was talking to a potential customer of mine today. He runs a company that's part dry cleaner and part carpet cleaner. They service most of New Jersey and the Philly market (I'm a Mets fan, so guess which word in that sentence hurt me the most to write). They don't have a marketing budget. They survive through word of mouth and their website. Naturally, we talked about how radio could take that word of mouth and shoot it with some Jose Canseco-flavored steroids right into the butt of his company. (I didn't really use that analogy, but it's fitting, don't you think?) He was, and is, interested. The program we talked about had to work for him. Then he said something that bothered me: "I've been talking to a really well-respected marketing person. She told me to ask you if we could test for a week or two and see how it went."

Want to know my response?

Well, first I said that you don't "test" anything for a week or two when you're advertising, unless it's a Super Bowl ad that 50 million people (that's 100 million eyes, give or take a few pirates with patches) are going to see. On a local level, like in Northern New Jersey, you need to commit to a plan. To try this for "a week or two" and then that other thing for "a week or two" and then that third thing for "a week or two" isn't going to show you much of anything. Advertising is about frequency and consistency. It's that simple. Think McDonald's and Geico and Miller Beer. I can write this blog post and never write another. You think anybody's going to follow me? No. I need to keep at this, every week, every month, for years in order to get people to give this blog credibility. One post and out means I'm a guy who had a good idea but didn't know how to execute. Think you want to work with a guy like that? I don't.

There was something else I wanted to tell my new dry cleaner/carpet cleaner friend. This "well-respected" marketing person didn't really know what she was talking about. Did I have the guts? Actually, I did. But he interrupted with another question and we never got back to the subject of the well-respected person who, to me, doesn't know the most simple 2 facts about marketing and advertising:

Get Frequency
Be Consistent

It makes you wonder what the destinies are of the companies this person works for if she's giving out uninformed advice.

Now, for your song of the day: I'm a big Beatles fan. We play a lot of Beatles on WMTR (1250 AM here in Northern New Jersey). One of my favorite Beatles songs is "Hey Bulldog." I don't know why. It's just got a cool groove and John's sharp wit. So here, for your viewing/listening pleasure, is "Hey Bulldog."



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