Tag: markets

Industry News

Salem Partners with HC2 Broadcasting for TV Distribution

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

Salem Media Group enters into a partnership HC2 Broadcasting to distribute the Salem News Channel to 55 television markets via digital, over-the-air signals. Salem News Channel VP and general manager Cary Pahigian says, “We welcome our new partnership with HC2 Broadcasting. This is another significant step inim the rapid growth and distribution of the Salem News Channel, and in HC2 Broadcasting’s expansion.” HC2 operates stations in markets including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Phoenix and more. HC2 Broadcasting president and CEO Les Levi comments, “We are excited about our partnership with Salem Media Group and delighted to be launching the Salem News Channel on our TV broadcast platform. The channel will be available for the first time to broadcast television viewers, who should enjoy the network’s rich and informative news content.”

Industry News

The “Tavis Smiley” Show Expands into 11 Markets

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

The “Tavis Smiley” radio show is adding 11 new affiliate stations to its national syndication venture. SmileyAudioMedia, Inc. says the program will launch on WHBP-FM, Orlando; WGPR-FM Detroit; WNOV, Milwaukee; KMGG-FM, Albuquerque; WFOV-FM, Flint, Michigan: KLEK-FM, Jonesboro,im Arkansas; WUVS-LP, Muskegon, Michigan; WVBH-LP, Benton Harbor, Michigan; WUMO-FM, Montgomery, Alabama; WMIS-AM, Natchez, Mississippi, and KBWC-FM, Marshall, Texas. Tavis Smiley says, “The show’s expansion into media markets across the United States, including heritage stations in key battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin, represents the continuation of our vision for this innovative, unapologetically progressive programming. We will continue to provide our growing listener base with enlightening and empowering programming geared toward African Americans and other citizens of color, and we will cover topics that other radio shows are too timid to discuss.”

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Who? When?

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? YES.

— Myth: Call letters are less important in PPM markets than in diary markets, where that diary is a memory test.

— Fact: Call letters and timechecks are MORE important in metered markets, because there aren’t enough meters. Every…single…one…matters a LOT. And awareness drives use.

Sure, listeners wear watches, and tote smartphones, and there’s a clock in the dashboard. We’re not timechecking because they don’t know.

— Timechecks help make the station habit-forming. They teach listeners what-we-do-when.

— Timechecks imply that busy people (the ones advertisers want as customers) will be on-time if they listen. “WINS News Time…” on New York’s iconic All-News station sets a tempo.

— And timechecks are local information. Syndicated hosts forced to say “[minutes] before the hour” remind us that they’re somewhere else.

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In its 1960s Top 40 heyday, WABC’s promos boasted that more people listened every week “than any other station in North America!” And shortly before his untimely death, retired PD Rick Sklar told me the simple secret of his success.

— He compared the Arbitron ratings diary to “that little blue book you got in school when there was a quiz. There are two questions on the quiz: What did you listen to? And when did you listen?”

— Back then, most stations used turntables, but WABC already played music on carts. And right there, at the end of the song, there was a WABC jingle, and an ear-splitting “DING!” because timechecks were “WABC Chime-Time.”

— So “we gave them the answers to the quiz,” by DJ-proofing the station. Even if the jock was going song-to-song, he had to jump-in and timecheck.

And you are…?

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. He is the author of the E-book and FREE on-air radio features “Inflation Hacks: Save Those Benjamins;” and “Spot-On: Commercial Copy Points That Earned The Benjamins,” a FREE download; and “Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books.  Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke

Industry News

Clyde Bass to Lead iHeartMedia’s New Texas/Arkansas Area

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

iHeartMedia names Clyde Bass area president for its newly formed Texas/Arkansas Area. The region consists of more than 48 stations across 10 markets. Bass is responsible for all operations in Beaumont, Waco, Bryan, McAllen and Corpus Christi, Texas and Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Little Rock, Arkansas, along with Wichita, Kansas and Springfield, Missouri. iHeartMedia division president Nick Gnau says, “I am so excited to add Clyde’s leadership to an already strong cluster of markets in Texas. Clyde’s passion for our industry, his knowledge of our products and the success he has shown through many roles with iHeartMedia make him the perfect fit to lead this newly formed Area. I look forward to seeing these areas continue to succeed as one.” Bass most recently led the Arkansas Area. He comments, “It’s been my honor to be involved for the last 10 years with some of the legendary stations that I grew up listening to here in Arkansas, and now to be reunited as area president with the team in Texas makes me even more energized over what iHeartMedia provides to advertisers and listeners.”