Monday Memo: Calculating Taylor Swift
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
Now that every single thing is a political argument, the angry social media conversation about Taylor Swift is unsurprising. And with the Super Bowl looming, the decibel level amps-up.
So, kudos to SiriusXM and CNN host Michael Smerconish. I’ve previously cited him here as technique worth emulating when it comes to:
– Polling the audience on an ongoing basis (a sponsored feature on smart radio stations)
– Leveraging social media to give audience ownership of the show; and
– Genuine curiosity. His centrist approach earns him scorn from both sides in this Cold Civil War we’re living through. I can relate. When I managed WTOP, Washington, the quickest way to make the phone explode was to announce a crowd estimate for an abortion rally. Both sides jammed the lines to damn the number.
This preposterous Swift kerfuffle had been all heat until Smerconish shed light on it this past weekend. Noting rumors shared by FOX News that she would photobomb the Super Bowl with a Joe Biden endorsement, his poll question was “Could Taylor Swift determine the outcome of the presidential election?”
Just now, you answered that question in your own mind. But – for our purposes – the more useful approach is to consider information Smerconish curated unfiltered by personal politics:
– Swift has 279 million Instagram followers
– She has (so far) sold 4.35 million pricey tickets for The Eras Tour. Its “record-shattering revenue” (so far) is $1 billion+
– $200 million (so far) in tour merchandise. Her gray $45 T-shirt is now sold-out in all but 3XL and 4XL.
– 26 billion+ Spotify streams in 2023.
– SSRS polling: 59% of USA adults identify as Swift fans, 63% of women; and her fans are evenly divided 50/50 between Democrat or Dem-leaning and Republican or GOP-leaning.
– On her urging, several hundred thousand Americans younger than 25 have registered to vote.
Add it all up? “Taylor knows your social media interactions, where you saw her on tour, how much merch’ you’ve bought from her website, she knows the size of your T-shirt, the number of downloads you’ve made. We’re embarking on an election cycle which will be (a) the most expensive in history, and (b) will see much of the money spent on ‘micro-targeting,’ the use of online data to tailor – pun intended – advertising messages to individuals based on the identification of recipients’ personal vulnerabilities and interests. In order to target effectively, data is essential. And Taylor’s got lots and lots of it, and on a demographic that is exactly what the Biden team needs the most: disproportionally female, young, and passionate. With truly the touch of a button Taylor Swift is uniquely situated to use the data at her disposal to impact the presidential race.”
Leave it to your nerdy consultant to ask: Are WE using OUR listener data to OUR benefit?
Bigger-picture issues:
– Privacy: We have all volunteered LOTS of information about ourselves. Look what pops up in your email and your social media.
– Vulnerability of the Electoral vote process: The last two Republican presidents took office after losing the popular vote. Taylor Swift is my coastal Rhode Island neighbor, and if she votes here, neither of us matter. Our state has four electoral votes. Just 40 thousand-some popular votes in three key states gave Biden his 2020 win.
– Tone: The measurable appeal of Swift’s sunny disposition vs. “I am your retribution.”
Good for us. News/talk radio is in the suspense business. “What JUST happened??? What happens NEXT???” So, we should wish Nikki Haley well.
Inquisitive Smerconish sounds like dispassionate Mr. Spock: “What [Swift detractors on the right] should be worried about is her data.”
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of “Close Like Crazy: Local Direct Leads, Pitches & Specs That Earned the Benjamins” and “Confidential: Negotiation Checklist for Weekend Talk Radio.” Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn.
talk KILT-AM “SportsRadio 610.” McClain’s role with the station included appearing on the station’s programs, writing stories for its website and co-hosting a podcast with station personality Sean Pendergast. The 72-year-old McClain tells the Chronicle that he’s not ready to leave the Houston radio market, adding, “I’ll see if people are interested. I’m a free agent now.” 
Let’s talk streaming because I don’t get what is happening. Maybe you do.
the Annual Report alone, without also uploading it to its intended destination in a timely manner, here more than nine months late, may, in certain circumstances, constitute (and here does constitute) a violation of the requirements to analyze the Stations’ EEO program. The length of time during which Cumulus failed to upload its Annual Report is persuasive evidence that Cumulus did not ‘routinely analyze the adequacy of their various EEO program elements in achieving broad outreach to all segments of the community’ and address any problems found as a result of such analysis… Consequently, given the specific circumstances of this case, we reject Cumulus’s argument that any self-evaluation it did in fact undertake was adequate and satisfied the self-assessment rule.” 
The United Nations and its specialized agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have given the radio industry all around the globe an invaluable gift. It’s called “World Radio Day 2024.” Now in its 13th installment, WRD takes place annually on February 13 with the purpose of spotlighting the accomplishments, importance, and ongoing relevance of the radio medium as it evolves deeper into the 21st century. This year’s WRD theme is “Radio: A Century Informing, Educating and Entertaining.” By officially designating the platform as worthy of its own officially sanctioned UN International Day, the august world body has recognized, spotlighted, and endorsed radio’s continuing relevance and potential for being a vital force for the betterment of humanity.
The United Nations and its specialized agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have given the radio industry all around the globe an invaluable gift. It’s called “World Radio Day 2024.” Now in its 13th installment, WRD takes place annually on February 13 with the purpose of spotlighting the accomplishments, importance, and ongoing relevance of the radio medium as it evolves deeper into the 21st century. This year’s theme is “Radio: A Century Informing, Educating and Entertaining.” By officially designating the platform as worthy of its own officially sanctioned UN International Day, the august world body has recognized, spotlighted, and endorsed radio’s continuing relevance and potential for being a vital force for the betterment of humanity.
Research shows that readers to trade publications like articles with five bullet points. Here are my five bullet points for 2024. If these were to be deployed, you could be thriving by the end of the year. These actions would increase sales and audience share.
Season.” The station says it “featured an informative, spirited, and sometimes fiery debate about the growing problem of organized retail theft and what can be done about it.” Appearing on the panel of experts were Todd Spitzer, Orange County district attorney; Marc Beeart, director of fraud & corruption prosecutions at the L.A. County District Attorney’s office; 
AM/FM radio listeners are 39% more likely to pay $301+ to have their taxes prepared and show greater familiarity, interest, consideration, and usage of tax category brands; 2) AM/FM radio ads drive site traffic for tax preparation brands: In the LeadsRx attribution study of a tax preparation service’s multi-wave campaign, AM/FM radio generated between a 43% to 47% increase in website traffic; 3) Branding early and often in tax preparation service ads drives more site traffic: LeadsRx found the top three creative executions that drove site traffic for a tax preparation service had the marketer’s brand name within the first five seconds of the ad; and 4) compared to other radio formats, a 2023 tax prep campaign on news/talk and sports stations realized a higher percentage share of interactions than the percentage share of their Nielsen ad impressions. 
Earlier this week, Michael Harrison published his top 10 list of suggestions for being a successful talker. Item number three really caught my eye:
the study found that eliminating 10 words of audio copy increases the Creative Standout score by 1%. Creative Standout is achieved when consumers say, “this ad stands out” and rate an ad with an 8, 9, or 10 on a one-to-ten-standout scale. Further it found that eliminating 10 words of audio copy increases web traffic by 0.25%. Creative Standout in audio advertising is strongly linked to ad response via website visits. For each 1% rise in Creative Standout achieved by an audio ad, website response rate increases by 0.25%. Also, the more messages that are included in the ad, the poorer the recall. An ad with four messages will have message recall of only 24%, compared to 43% for ads with just one message. The more messages an ad attempts to communicate, the lower the likelihood of a single message being communicated. 
Folks in the Gen Z and millennial demographics are heavily 
I am always impressed when I see-and-hear radio and TV stations swapping product.
ECHO box technology. He says, “GCN’s Adam Miller explains that their ECHO Files can easily be synced with most radio automation systems for easy delay broadcast with no new hardware needed and about fifteen minutes setup time! There is no need to have staff do daily chores like pulling files manually from an FTP or website. Those days are done! For live affiliates GCN has their ECHO Box that comes pre-programmed for the shows the affiliate carries. The ECHO Box can also do delay broadcast. They are sending these out with priority to stations that take the largest number of live hours, but eventually all live affiliates will receive them as dozens more of the very small ECHO Boxes will be coming in early November.” Affiliates with questions can call Adam Miller at 612-695-5982. 
Ready to go back to the future?
audience. Salem Church Products creates and distributes resources for churches and ministries in the areas of church media, worship, children’s ministry, preaching, teaching and employment through online resources including WorshipHouse Media, SermonSearch, ChurchStaffing, Children’s Ministry Deals and many others. Salem COO David Evans says, “We are proud of the Church Products business we have built over the years. What started with a single website – SermonSearch – has grown into a successful organization providing valuable resources and services to local churches and their pastors. Any time we look to sell a business, we look for organizations that share our passion and that can take that business to the next level. Gloo is just such an organization and we couldn’t be more thrilled.”
place to be in the radio world than iHeartRadio. Thanks to the finest broadcasting executives around, Tom Cuddy, Thea Mitchem and Bernie Weiss for making it all happen. Walking to work every day is like walking through the Radio Hall of Fame. Just to get to my studio, I pass Elvis Duran, Jim Kerr, Charlamagne tha God, Angela Yee and other all-stars.” WOR program director Tom Cuddy adds, “When I joined WOR almost 11 years ago, Mark was my first hire. Since then, it’s been a blast watching Mark grow into becoming the highest-rated radio talk host in his time slot, along with digital numbers that are among the highest in the country.”
As this week’s first Republican presidential debate looms, my FOX News Radio-affiliated client stations are irked. Thanks to their network, they’re carrying it live, and locally sponsored, and promo-ing it aplenty. A couple of my clients will travel to Milwaukee to wrap pre- and post-game color around the play-by-play. So, yuh, they’re irked.
professionals in need from debilitating illness, accident, or disaster. BFoA chair Scott Herman says, “It’s hard to believe our friend and colleague left us a year ago. A true leader and exceptional human being, Jim helped everyone all the time. That’s the kind of person he was. I am proud to have known Jim for nearly 40 years as a colleague and a friend. He is sorely missed.” Thompson’s career included president and CEO of Group W Radio and co-owner of Liberty Broadcasting. He created the Radio Mercury Awards and served on the boards of the Radio Advertising Bureau and the Advertising Council and was vice chair of the Pennsylvania State Broadcasters Association. Upon Thompson’s passing, the Broadcasters Foundation created The Jim Thompson Memorial Fund, which remains open in his honor. 
She was the agent I enjoyed working with most over three decades I was an active real estate investor. We remain good friends, and her technique informs the work I do coaching agents – and attorneys and financial advisors and other professionals – who host ask-the-expert radio shows.
living in the state of Nevada. The native Iowan was beloved by WHO Radio listeners and colleagues. He was known nationally for his thought-provoking talk show and on-air debates, but also for sharing information about local severe weather and other urgent news relevant to his listeners. Mickelson was known for tackling serious topics but was equally appreciated by his devoted listeners for providing much joy and humor with his infectious laughter.” iHeartMedia Des Moines market president Joel McCrea adds, “Jan Mickelson was the best at his craft. He was always prepared and knew how to get you to listen to the radio. If you disagreed with him, he would take your call first because he wanted a spirited conversation. All of us at WHO miss Jan Mickelson.”
News Radio Network/FOX News Headlines 24/7 SiriusXM Channel 115. As the Freelance Radio Anchor, you will work under tight deadlines and deliver top-notch newscasts. You have a passion for breaking news and the flexibility to work on a day’s notice. 
touches, including PR best practices, recent industry trends, case studies, the media, marketing, strategy, career development, and profiles of PR pros. Goldman says, “I’m excited to launch this show and have the opportunity to talk with so many smart, inspiring, and insightful people. I’m learning so much during the conversations I’m having with them on my show, and I know everyone who listens to the show, whether on the radio or as a podcast, will find value in these conversations.” The program airs Mondays at 5:00 pm on Hofstra University’s WRHU-FM, Hempstead, NY and is available nationally on the station’s livestream online and on most streaming devices. Check it out on Goldman Communications Group’s website (
Coinciding with the Independent Broadcasters Foundation’s fourth anniversary are new enhancements (including a redesigned website which unveils today) and policies. To more effectively focus on members’ needs, the IBA implements a cap of 300 company members, with no limit on number of stations under a company. According to IBA president/executive director Ron Stone, “These improvements allow the IBA to grow into the best possible organization representing independent radio stations. Future members will have market exclusivity to IBA membership. All current members that share a market will be grandfathered in and are not affected by this change. A group is considered one company. Once we reach the 300-mark, membership will be closed. New members will only be received if the number of member companies drops below 300.” National cash contests will now include text-to-win capability and Stone states, “Participating member stations have experienced as much as 30X ROI from [those contests].” Only IBA member stations can participate in the September National Cash Contest; the deadline for stations and groups to register is in less than three weeks (7/31). An IBA member may be a single station or a group of stations, as long as the company is not traded on a public market.