(By Mike McVay) The challenge is elementary. There are 24 hours in a day. There are hundreds of information and entertainment choices available to almost everyone everywhere. Radio competes against all other media for the few times a day a person can devote to media.
We’re far removed from the days of growth that were enjoyed before streaming services and consumer content creators. The ever-increasing level of media competition puts pressure on us all as we battle for ears.
Those in Diary markets have to win “recall.” Listeners have to remember who they listened to and write it down for a station to get credit. Those in Metered markets are fighting for individual minutes inside of each quarter hour. Five minutes now, soon to be reduced to three. We all know that no matter how you look at it, those involved in content creation are tasked with winning a popularity contest.
The biggest, best-known brands have an advantage in that regard. They’re memorable. Think back to when WCBS-FM/NYC left the Classic Hits format to relaunch as an Adult Variety format. That was nearly 20 years ago and is still talked about as a media misstep. Two years later Dan Mason returned to CBS as CEO of Radio and brought back the Classic Hits format. The rebound in ratings was actually greater than when the station flipped format. The audience, as the saying goes, didn’t know what they had ‘til it was gone. (Sidenote: I’ve always felt the Adult Variety format would have been successful in New York on a different frequency, but they put it on a station that was beloved. WCBS-FM’s brand was and is strong.)
We’ve seen recent similar success for heritage brands that have been brought back. Cumulus brought 99X back to Atlanta as a Classic Alternative station. Its ratings performance far outperforms the previous rock format on that frequency. Much of the music played are songs that the station broke nationally as currents. Well-known on-air talent also play a big part in the nostalgia that makes the station so attractive to those whose youth was impacted by it. The audience is hearing personalities that are a part of that station’s brand.
WAKY/Louisville is another station capitalizing on heritage and a brand that was developed for half a century. Owned locally the station serves the market using an AM/FM and a pair of translators. It is a Classic Hits station whose jingles and on-air personalities mirror a “today” version of what the original 790 WAKY presented in the past. It is a strong ratings performer in the Louisville market. Being a known brand gives it a head start. Their on-air performance brings it home to be one of the best-performing stations in the market. Translators and an AM. It speaks volumes to the community’s love for, and the strength of, that brand.
Being a strong heritage brand is not exclusive to the stations themselves. There are talent who are well-known brands. Individuals who have sustained years of success by performing at a consistently high level. Personalities who, regardless of being nationally or locally known, connect with their audience in a way that creates habitual listening. When you have a high-profile personality who is showing signs of consistent success, embrace and encourage them. Cherish them.
Discounting what a heritage talent brings to a radio brand is a big mistake. Today, because of the aforementioned level of extreme competition, the talent are often the reason a station is chosen. The talent’s brand is another marker that helps to make a station memorable and a destination. Keeping in mind that it’s not your birthright to be number one, be conscious of the difficulty in replacing a heritage talent. I honestly don’t know that anyone can make enough noise to build a talent into a brand today without having a significantly expensive investment in marketing.
The other unknown: does anyone have the patience to allow a talent the time necessary to develop?
What is known is that bigger is better. You have to be a big well-known brand to have big ratings. You have to be an elephant. There is an old African proverb that comes to mind: “When the elephants fight, the grass suffers.” That’s really the bottom line, isn’t it?
Heritage brands – stations and personalities, alike – are the elephants. Everything else is the grass.
Mike McVay is President of McVay Media and can be reached at [email protected]. Read Mike’s Radio Ink archives here.
Once again, Mike… Spot on. Our industry does wonderfully as selling branding solutions to our clients, but we often fail to remember the rules of the game when marketing ourselves for the future. Thanks for keeping media on track!