Fred Jacobs
By Fred and Paul Jacobs
The scene: The ratings have just been downloaded, the station has hit its target once again, and dour faces are everywhere. What’s going on? It’s radio 2008. Where the beer used to flow at ratings parties, the general manager is now wringing her hands, trying to figure out how to generate the revenue that used to flow so effortlessly. The GSM is thinking that the only thing worse than a bad book is a good book, because now the pressure is really on. The PD is wondering what the hell is going on, as he observes lots of upside-down smiles.
When FMQB started this feature back in the 1990s, program directors had clear-cut metrics of success. Of course, the most important measurement was ratings, which drove the overall financial success of the radio station, the salaries of the personalities, and even the PD’s bonus. Secondary success included developing well-attended events and music festivals, and even efforts like “radiothons” that generated a significant amount of money for charity.
Well, it’s 2008, and the metrics have been turned on their head. Radio was a simple business that has become very confused and complex. Defining a “win” is now a more intricate endeavor.
Today, we consistently hear from program directors of highly successful stations, ranking at the top of their target demographic, that their research, promotion, and talent budgets are being cut because the sales staff can’t convert their “winning” ratings into sufficient revenue. Traditionally well-attended NTR events are under siege because sponsorship support has declined, thus diminishing their so-called ROI. And digital initiatives that generate hundreds of thousands of page views and umpteen “uniques” are being closely scrutinized because they often don’t garner enough dollars.
Nowhere is this more evident and problematic than in the digital space. More and more, programmers are unlocking the keys to motivating listeners to visit their sites and to stay around for “sticky” promotions like “Rock Girls,” or “March Bandness” where listeners can vote – bracket-style – for their favorite bands.
These are exactly the types of opportunities that everyone concurs that radio must create and master in order to engage advertisers in our rapidly changing digital world. These efforts fit the brand of the station perfectly, and can provide the right advertisers with a multi-platform opportunity. But because sales often cannot seal the deal with sponsorships, the future of these events is under scrutiny.
A programming win? Not as it’s defined today.
Too often we see that successful formats are being questioned, regardless of their ratings. Two great examples are Oldies and Smooth Jazz. Both formats reliably deliver a healthy, enthusiastic core audience that should be attractive to a large swath of advertisers. But because too much of the audience falls outside of the 25-54 dream demo, the music on these stations is “tweaked” (who says songs from the 1980s are “oldies”?) or the formats are dropped altogether. PPM may save Oldies, but when Smooth Jazz stations deliver the ratings but can’t follow up with sales, they’re doomed.
As a company that’s been in the Alternative battle for nearly two decades, we know this phenomenon all too well. The mirror-image of the problem that faces Oldies, too many Alternative stations have trouble attracting mainstream advertisers. And they’re the first station in the cluster many owners look to flip when “the next big thing” comes along.
Under the current conditions, programmers must recalibrate what defines a “win.” Arbitron ratings are a measure of overall appeal, and 20,000 fans at a festival is a nice turnout, but today, it’s the total success of the radio station (read: revenue) that is the only “win” that matters.
Does this mean that programmers need to move to the “safe zone” and only create promotional opportunities for the sales department, to the exclusion of audience tastes? Absolutely not. But there are some things that programmers would do well to consider so they can “win” in this new environment:
- Get close to the sales department and understand what advertisers want. Attend as many sales and promotion meetings as you can. Understand not only what advertisers want from the station, but explore what they can bring to the station. It’s possible that with a little bit of tweaking, an initiative can be shaped to serve both the client and the station equally.
- Make sales calls. No, you don’t need to don a suit and bang on doors. But every station has a core of clients who are the usual sponsorship suspects. They tend to have bought into the station and the audience in the past. They might even have ideas on how to enhance an ongoing event or promotion. And of course, they might be able to pay for it.
- Change your scorecard. It’s not just about the ratings anymore. Given the current financial conditions the industry is facing, we’ve had managers tell us they’re adding inventory, even if it means slipping a ranking or two. Finding ways to help advertisers by dealing them into already successful promotions can help ensure against programming being overrun by desperate sales goals.
- Think strategic. We’ve recently conducted a series of “off-site” brainstorms with our clients where we analyze current and future promotions from every perspective – programming, sales, promotion, and digital – in an attempt to create new winning efforts as well as upgrading promotions, events, and initiatives that might have grown tired over the years. Taking the time to gather the troops to re-imagine your efforts can make these events “wins” for everyone involved. Too often, these departments function as individual “silos” that do not interact with one another. Moving forward, strategic integration of the various departments is integral to winning.
A “win” in 2008 is multi-dimensional. It includes ratings, revenue, brand enhancement, digital traffic, and advertiser satisfaction. It may be difficult to integrate all these components onto a scorecard or even develop a model for bonus packages, but that’s the reality we live in. Here’s to defining a new way for radio to “win.”
Fred Jacobs is President of Jacobs Media and represents the programming arm of the company. Paul Jacobs is the General Manager and represents the sales side of the Southfield, Michigan based firm. They find themselves in many of the same meetings these days. Jacobs Media consults many of America’s most successful Classic Rock, Mainstream Rock, and Alternative stations. They can be reached at (248) 353-9030 or fredjacobs@jacobsmedia.com and pauljacobs@jacobsmedia.com
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