Sean Hannity
Dave Ramsey
Category: Opinions
Overnight: The Underexploited Daypart
Walter Sabo
President
Sabo Media
NEW YORK — Overnights is the default win for talk radio. Every format has a default time period when its format is used for entertainment and functionality. For example, Lite ACs excel in middays because they provide ambient sound for businesses. Oldies are strong on weekends when people have parties and want to escape from weekday troubles.
The Media Audit reports that 8.2 million people regularly listen to the radio between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 5:00 am. Talk radio has the biggest overnight audience — reaching 2.7 million people — followed by news/talk with 1.7 million. CHR is the leading music format (and third overall) with 1.5 million overnight listeners, followed by sports (1.1 million).
Nearly one-third of 12:00 midnight to 5:00 am listeners (31.8%) are between the ages of 18 and 34 and nearly half are between the ages of 18 and 44. The survey of 104,127 respondents finds more than one-third of night owls are single, which gives them more free time for leisure activities and a higher disposable income.
These listeners are students, third-shift workers like doctors and nurses, and people walking babies. They are alone. It’s quiet and they seek the companionship of a voice on the radio.
A live, local talk show will always be the #1 show in the city — often having more actual listeners than the same station has in morning drive. 30- and 40-shares have not been unusual.
Talk Radio’s “Big Game”
Live, local talk radio is largely a victim of the illusion of economies and cost cutting. The statistics released this week by Media Audit are not new. An Arbitron Run at any point in history would show the enormous appeal of local, all-night shows. But the worthless, slimy idiots who are supposed to study numbers for companies and make objective recommendations imagine that since overnight brings in little revenue, all costs could be cut. They fail to factor in the cross-promotion value for audience building and the introductory pricing that is appealing to new advertising. Cutting local, all-night shows is cutting out the “Super Bowl” of talk radio — the audience and revenue feeder to the rest of the station.
Since all-night local, live talk has a default audience of people of all ages who need companionship, it brings in discreet cume to the stations. That cume can be drawn to other dayparts. All-night listeners represent an attentive, engaged cume that moves product off the shelf.
The keys to making money with all-night talk radio are a host who loves to read live copy and a sales person who believes in the daypart. All nights — 1/4 of the broadcast day — will deliver results for any retailer because 100% of the audience is listening without distraction. The voice and the listener, one-on-one; the most powerful communications dynamic in media. Radio under the pillow. Earplugs in the silent dormitory. Glowing dial in the dash as the neon goes by. The best medium.
Read responses to Walter’s piece from readers in our Letters section.
Walter Sabo has been a spoken word radio innovator and executive for decades. As president of Sabo Media he discovered numerous on-air personalities. His company HITVIEWS places brand content into the entertainment portion of online videos. He can be reached at his New York office at 212-681-8181.
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Doesn’t Anyone Remember the Creative and Exciting Insanity of Talk Radio?
by LIONEL
Talk Radio Insanity Historian & Authority
As I’ve written before, talk radio was fun as a caller and even more so as a caller who got to “commit radio” himself. I know, I realize that there’s the romanticization part of memory and recall in general that may and might certainly contaminate my recollection(s), but screw it. It’s my memory and I’m sticking to it.
The Prolegomenon
I read every day of one dour story after another about my beloved radio and granted, there’s good reason for it. And it’s sad because at the rate things are devolving, I’m not sure if there will be new generations of talk radio folks in mainstream, conventional, terrestrial stick radio. Or talk radio stations. Or radio stations. Period. But I’m talking about the WKRP-esque environment that all of us who had the privilege of working in remember so fondly.
And simply put, there was an unregulated fun about the industry that went the way of the turntable. I can’t remember any other time when I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of my “job.” Where folks were crazy, and I mean whacked. There was no HR department. And, granted, there were at times no civility, comportment or maturity. But too bad, Sparky, those were the breaks. Folks were raunchy, very un-PC, crude, brash and unapologetic. There was instead an unbridled creativity that I loved thoroughly. And enough can’t be said about fun. This crazy idea of fun that has been interpreted today as unprofessional. And, there may be something to that . . . but I digress.
Birth of an Online Media Station
By Tom Gordon
MANALAPAN, NJ – Over the years, I have read many great articles in TALKERS that, as a talk show host, gave me countless ideas. Some of my talk radio peers have been asking about the launch of my live, internet-based, New Jersey-oriented, drive time talk show. So, I figured: what better place to answer those questions than right here, in TALKERS?
In April, 2004, I was hired to do a four-hour, late-night show at the nation’s number one FM talk station, New Jersey 101.5. The hardest part of the job was getting used to the hours (11:00 pm – 3:00 am Sunday through Thursday) and the lack of calls. It was rough during those first three months, but, eventually, I was able to tap into Jersey’s busy late-night culture and build an extremely loyal following able to jam the phone lines for all four hours each night. As the years flew by, I started to do more events with the wildly popular Jersey Guys, Craig Carton (currently doing mornings on WFAN, New York) and Ray Rossi, which boosted my name recognition and exposure by leaps and bounds.
Fast-forward to 2009: the show was as busy and popular as ever. I had even won multiple awards for helping the police in Old Bridge, New Jersey save a lost, elderly man on a freezing night when one of my listeners managed to spot him. Yet, shortly after walking my daughter down the aisle that July, I was told that, because of financial difficulties, the live, late-night show was being cancelled; my position was eliminated. After sending out resume after resume and talking with radio executives who explained to me that local talk radio is an expensive format, it became apparent that live and local talk radio was going the way of the dinosaur — toward extinction. So, after more than five years of working at least eight hours a day in order to build such a loyal audience, it was over.
Passion for Pistachio
A Tribute to Lynn Samuels
By Walter Sabo
President
Sabo Media
Lynn Samuels died and you will never hear anyone like her. That’s why she was a star. Lynn hosted a show on SiriusXM radio where she covered such topics as:
• Her passion for real pistachio ice cream. “Why can’t you get it anymore?”
• Why she preferred cops that were male and over 6 feet. ”I don’t want to be at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 4th Street on Saturday night being protected by some five foot girl.”
• She was suspect of all HR rules. ”If a woman can’t shut up some jerk from telling a dirty joke on her own, she shouldn’t be Chairman of the Board.”
That was a typical minute. All of those lines could be heard during any given minute. You could pull ANY part of her show and make a promo. You know how long you have to hunt for a quote for a promo from most airchecks? No trouble with Lynn; pick a random minute and you’d have a promo.
Every sentence was compelling.
Talk radio: The best training for everything life can throw at you…
and then some
By Lionel
LIONELMEDIA
NEW YORK –– Look down at me and you see a fool,
Look up at me and you see a god,
Look straight at me and you see yourself
– Charles Manson
Talk radio is simply the best training for everything. Everything. Yes, you heard me. Everything. There isn’t a facet of life where I haven’t benefited directly from my tenure with old-fashioned (when radio was fun) classic talk radio. It’s a hard-knocks university education in human nature, psychopathology, greed, kindness, you name it. The experiences were nonpareil to put it mildly. And it gave me a host of material on which you just can’t put a price. It’s like trying to gauge intestinal pain from one to 10. Numbers don’t cut it.
Program to the pocket
By Jason Insalaco
KFI, LOS ANGELES
Executive Producer
LOS ANGELES –– Over the last decade, radio has strived to achieve digital “stickiness.” “Stickiness” is retaining the user for as long as possible on a website or other digital platform. For radio broadcasters, achieving stickiness comes naturally with the ingrained sense of keeping the listener as long as possible for TSL (or referenced in metered-measured markets as ATE –– Average Time Exposed).
However, as smartpones and media tablets have exploded, users’ content consumption habits have changed. Nielsen research shows that smartphone users spend about an hour each day “actively interacting with the web” on their phone. Summus Limited research found that most smartphone owners report using their devices in spurts of five minutes or less. But here is the key finding: Nearly half (47%) of folks use their phones to interact with the web 10 times a day in these shorter bursts. While users might be spending an hour actively engaged online with their smartphones, the usage occurs in small chunks rather than extended linear sessions. Intuitively, this makes sense from what we can gather from our own usage and that of our attention-deprived listeners. But what does this mean for how stations deliver content?
It’s not the message, stupid!
By Lionel
LIONELMEDIA
NEW YORK –– No, it’s the messenger. Repeat: It’s not the message; it’s the messenger. It seems like in the loftier tiers of talk radio circles, the same content issues are recycled, remolded and readdressed every other week. Consultants and experts of every stripe love to reconstitute the same message(s), changing the tenor ever so slightly. The focus is always message-oriented in one form or another. And rarely that of the entertainment quotient of the talent or the seemingly redundant “talent talent” factor.
But it’s not the mythical left-right paradigm any more that’s programming talk, it’s somewhat different. Targeted audiences and demos are often the subject. Let’s focus on women, moms, teen gals, teen moms, convicted felon gals and/or moms. Or let’s go with FM talk, hot talk, cool talk, polite talk, conversational talk. Soft-spoken, hard-core, hard-sell, soft-soap. Folks who are tired of the loud and raucous. Folks who instead want to hear calm, polite, respectful and dispassionate talk. Great, but is there any interest in who’s going to deliver this message to the targeted group? Congrats on targeting the message or its target, who’s talking about the messenger?
Incidentally, my favorite format of all time is “lifestyle.” What the hell does that even mean? But just wait, as we speak, consultants and writers and radio folks are re-spinning and re-educating and re-indoctrinating us for the next batch of format buzzwords, sloganeering, you name it. And nary a peep about talent. No mention of the messenger.
A quick digital tune-up
By Jason Insalaco
KFI, LOS ANGELES
Executive Producer
LOS ANGELES –– Talk stations are messaging in quantity and frequency like never before. With the explosion of digital assets and social media, personalities and programming teams are expending tremendous time and resources to communicate, promote and provide content through these additional outlets. Like any well-strategized initiative, it is important to evaluate and tune up one’s digital and social media efforts. Here are suggestions for a digital diagnostic inspection.
Stocking the social media pond. In the rush to launch information into the digital ether immediately, message scheduling can be mistaken for old school media delivery. However, it is wise to schedule important tweets and messages. Why? The most effective time to tweet important messages is when the most users are on Twitter. Typically, middays are the highest-traffic periods on Twitter when the largest audience is available. Schedule big announcements during these peak usage periods. If you tweet during off-peak time, your significant message might be missed by your social media followers.
Every talker is a media station
By Adam Klugman
KPOJ, PORTLAND
Talk Show Host
PORTLAND –– Being the new kid on the talk block isn’t easy. This is particularly true in a terrestrial AM radio environment that’s melting faster than the polar ice caps. But, like many other talkers, I trust the industry leaders who keep assuring us of two things: that our format won’t stall, and that we will grow beyond the AM/FM transmitters.
Being an optimist, I happen to agree –– talk radio isn’t stalled. I think it’s on the brink of a renaissance. What is stalled, however, is the old model of waiting to join a party already in progress. That’s why I’m a true believer in what Michael Harrison calls the “media station,” a new model for talkers that places the responsibility for starting the party squarely on the shoulders of, well, the talker.
Before Fox News Channel canned him, Glenn Beck was making a reported $2.5 million to do a daily TV show on cable. Not bad. But now, Beck’s online GB.TV has reportedly ushered enough $4.95 and $9.95 per month subscribers past his pay wall to earn north of $20 million a year. Now that’s a party I can get behind.
The joys and hidden art of podcasting
By Lionel
LIONELMEDIA
NEW YORK –– Imagine uninterrupted, seamless broadcast talk. Well, seemingly seamless broadcast talk. Imagine talking as long as you’d like with all the time in the world to make a point with absolutely no distractions. No interruptions. No time constraints, breaks, nada. You know, like the real world. Like real, actual conversation. Imagine podcasting.
No thought of having to stop. No glancing at a clock. Am I late for that hard break? The soft break, the floater? What’s the board op doing in there? Is he sleeping again? Is he huffing Liquid Paper again? What a tragedy. Perhaps an intervention might be in order. Damn! Another station tour. This time Girl Scouts. Great. Those poor kids. Someone conned them into thinking this was a field trip. What’s the PD doing in there again? What’s he telling the producer? He doesn’t normally come in this early. Why are they laughing? Why is he pointing at me? None of that.
Show me the money!
By Steve Gill
GILL MEDIA INC.
CEO
NASHVILLE –– As we head into the fall, clients and their advertising agencies begin the process of setting their budgets for the 2012 calendar year. Radio and television stations that fit the “traditional model” of the 25-54 demographic (or even the younger demo of 25-44) will get more than their fair share of attention in that budgeting process. The talk radio format, which tends to skew a little older, will be left scrambling for attention and dollars. That doesn’t have to be the case; in fact, talk is actually where the money is!
The reputation that talk radio has for attracting an older audience is based in part on the fact that the AM dial has difficulty drawing younger listeners, particularly with their ears having been trained on iPods, leaving them with little tolerance for lack of clarity in a signal. However, talk formats that have shifted from the AM dial to the FM dial have shown great success in drawing younger listeners who wouldn’t travel to the AM signal but embrace talk content on the FM dial (and increasingly on satellite). Nevertheless, the fact that talk radio draws heaviest in the 35-64 demo has established it as the bastion of the “older” audience.
The Talk Radio Producer: The Cold, Hard and Brutal Facts
By Lionel
LIONELMEDIA
NEW YORK –– DISCLOSURE: The following is true. The names have been omitted to prevent needless embarrassment. This is not for the squeamish or the hypersensitive or ex- or current TRPs. I’m serious. Stop now if you’re easily miffed. Contains gluten.
Proem. Years ago, in a land far, far away ‘twas the custom of talk radio execs and managers to reward usually an entry-level employee with a lofty title in lieu of requital and recompense. And thus the talk radio producer (or TRP hereinafter) was born. Such a grand rank – PRODUCER! Behold! I, who produce. I, in charge of production, the fruits of that which I produce. Now, lest I inspire misdirected objection and anger (which I wholeheartedly eschew), be not confused and think of radio production as in music, jingles, sounders, promos, commercials and the like. No, I speak of the talk radio producer (pronounced breathlessly with great affectation and panache). Nor am I talking about producer as is usually envisioned anent the television or film or music industries or media. No, this producer is special.
Theoretical job description versus reality. Let me explain to you the job description of the prototypical TRP. The TRP theoretically is the brains behind the talk radio host or “talent.” This talent feller is a spent shell, a tabula rasa, a mouth and vocal cords who is nothing without the steady and guiding hand of the TRP. A loose cannon, a misdirected, undirected and/or directionless vacuous hominid that needs the expert direction of the TRP. The TRP is to make sure this nincompoop stays on message and on subject and doesn’t veer or go off the rails, careening off the subject matter road or crashing into the desultory topic ditch. The TRP is to provide this “talent” dude with story ideas, topic options and the like. The TRP must sit back with her feet propped up and watch the overpaid clown behind the glass muddle and maunder through the show hitting the IFB every now and then with vague instructions to “move it along” or something equally irritating. The TRP works for the PD or station management and owes primary allegiance and pledges fealty to same. The TRP ofttimes refers to the broadcast as “her show.”
Where Have All the Callers Gone?
By Lionel
LIONELMEDIA
NEW YORK –– Well, it’s that time again. The 37th New Media Seminar 2011. June wouldn’t be June without it. The chance to reacquaint ourselves with some of the most interesting people anywhere on the planet. Not to mention the seminar attendees as well. Those wild and woolly Hannity ice cream-a-paloozas. (Let’s just hope the pictures don’t surface; that’s all I have to say.) And those rumbles! Seismic, dude. Totally seismic.
Critical Communication Skills for the Way Things Are Now
By Holland Cooke
MCVAY MEDIA
News/Talk Specialist
LOCK ISLAND, R.I. –– If you just fished this TALKERS issue out of your New Media Seminar registration bag, welcome to Noo Yawk. And whatever you do, don’t take a bathroom/cigarette break just-before-lunch. That’s when I present “Survival Speech: Critical Communication Skills For The Way Things Are Now.” I promise you that these 15 minutes alone will be worth the trip.
And if you couldn’t make it to the New Media Seminar, give me about a week afterward, and I’ll turn my PowerPoint into an online video you can view at Podjockey.com.
NTR Tips from Public Radio
By Jason Insalaco
KFI, LOS ANGELES
Executive Producer
LOS ANGELES –– The debate continues to rage over government funding and the political leanings of NPR and public radio affiliated organizations. Most commercial broadcasters have a strong opinion about taxpayers subsidizing the behemoth distributor of programming as well as individual public radio stations benefiting from Congressional cash.
Rather than wade in the waters of this debate, let’s explore the more interesting elephant in the room that commercial broadcasters have failed to heed: Public radio is extremely successful at building brands and generating revenue. Let’s try and understand what public radio does well and find applications for commercial talk radio.
Talk Radio’s Power to Move Listeners
By Phil Valentine
WESTWOOD ONE
Talk Show Host
NASHVILLE –– Few motion picture adaptations have been more anticipated by conservatives than Ayn Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged. With more than 7 million copies of the book sold –– 500,000 in 2009 alone –– those of us who read the book and marveled at the prescience of the message couldn’t wait until it hit the big screen.
We almost missed it.
I had followed the news of a possible movie version for years but all had gone quiet. Suddenly, in February of 2011, I heard the movie was being broken into three parts and “Atlas Shrugged: Part 1” was already in the can and ready for release on April 15. I was shocked to see that it would open only in select theaters in 11 cities. I knew there were forces in this country that were terrified the public would learn of Rand’s story of the “looters” and “moochers” of the country, as she characterized them, taking over Washington and punishing the producers. They could ill afford to have that message unleashed on the American public. Not now. Not in this climate.
We would have to go around them.
