Local Radio Done To Perfection

The Ozark Radio Network consists of six radio stations (KKDY-FM, KSPQ-FM, KUKU-FM, KUPH-FM, KWPM AM/FM) in West Plains, Missouri, and is owned by Shawn and Tom Marhefka. Shawn’s family has been in the radio business for over 60 years. Shawn (pictured here with Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan) was a panelist at Radio Ink‘s Forecast 2019 earlier this month. She shared some of her very successful local ideas during the conference. They were so awesome, we wanted to share them with all of our readers, so we interviewed Shawn right after her panel.

Radio Ink: Tell us about how you’re transforming your radio stations covering the local sports teams?
Shawn Marhefka: We have been broadcasting our local sports since the ’50s and ’60s. This year we had a winning sports team that the community was really into. They wanted to see and hear the games. So leaders in the community came to us and asked if there was any way we could do a video stream of the games so local residents who couldn’t travel could see the games. We said we would figure out a way. Then we went out and sold all the avails for the games and we’ve broadcast all of them. Our viewership has grown with each game and the last game we had over 6,000 views. And we know more than one person is watching the game per device, so the number is even higher than that. We use our radio broadcasters to call the game. We are enhancing radio. Not only are we hearing radio, we’re seeing radio. When our community is winning we are all winning,

Radio Ink: You are a small-market broadcaster and streaming is not cheap. How did you make it work?
Shawn Marhefka: We had a minimum we wanted to receive in order to make those games happen. Once we met the minimum we went game to game. As they kept winning, the momentum kept building and we kept selling advertisers until we were sold out. We wouldn’t have been doing it if we didn’t have the revenue.

Radio Ink: Can you tell us technically how you did it with the video?
Shawn Marhefka: We got a camera and plugged it into the computer. We have to have a hot spot and we put it on FB live and streamed it on our website. We’re keeping track of the views through Facebook. It shows us how many people are watching it at one time and how many people watch it again and again.

Radio Ink: On the panel you spoke about many things small-market broadcasters excel at.
Shawn Marhefka: A year ago we had a 1,000-year flood which we did not know we could have. We did not have any communications. There were no landlines, cell phones, the electricity went out, police and emergency workers could not communicate with each other. We were on the air and we had people in the building. They would come to us, give us the info, and we would relay it over the air. Going forward they realized what happens when all this goes down, we need to have radio in that mix. Now they have set up a two-way communication and we are a key part. Hopefully that never happens again, but if it does we’ll be better prepared.

Radio Ink: You also told the crowd there are things you do that you will never hear on large-market radio?
Shawn Marhefka: This happens at least once a month. Someone calls in and says, “There’s a cow in the middle of the highway. You need to tell your listeners to slow down.” We get on the air, we have a live morning show, and they say, “You need to slow down because there’s a cow on the highway.” They give the location. someone calls in and says that is Joe Smith’s cow and he works over at so-and-so business if you want to give him a call. Of course, we will give him a call and tell him his cow is loose. “Joe, we have been told your cow is in the highway.” He says, “Oh gosh. Tell everyone I’m on my way to go get it.” He gets the cow back in and calls back to say thanks and he appreciates whoever called in. We go back on the air and say no need to worry, the cow is back. That’s part of serving our community.

Radio Ink: And even though it’s so easy to post them online, you are still reading obituaries.
Shawn Marhefka: Right. Because it’s a local community and everyone knows everyone. If you don’t pay your respects when someone dies that’s big trouble. How do you get that info out? It’s on the radio and our website. If you don’t think that’s popular, just look at the data on our website. It will show that is the most visited spot on the website.

Radio Ink: What happened when you had a protest in town?
Shawn Marhefka: We had a protest a few weeks ago which was a big deal. We had 15 people standing in the middle of the street trying to slow down traffic. I don’t know why they were upset about Jeff Sessions resigning but they were. We get a call saying, “You need to slow down, there are people standing in the road.” We tell people that. The News Director says, “I’ll go down and get pictures. He goes down and explains what’s going on and says if you stay tuned I’ll have some pictures up on the website.”

Radio Ink: You can really see the enthusiasm you have being a local, small-market broadcaster. 
Shawn Marhefka: I was born and raised in broadcasting so it’s in my blood. It’s important that the community succeed and we are all about that. We have a vested interest. We are a cog in that wheel to help it succeed. It’s the right thing to do.

Radio Ink: What advice do you have for small-market broadcasters?
Shawn Marhefka: Be involved in your community. Stay in touch with your community. They are your lifeblood. As Randy (Michaels) was saying, 90% of our business is local. If we don’t have that business we won’t survive. At the same time, we are all in it together.

Reach Shawn by email at [email protected]. You can check out The Ozark Radio Network HERE.