Tag: "Media Monitors"

Thursday, June 21, 2012

CBS Radio Announces Plans to Put Sports Talk on FM in Tampa.  This one’s been long-anticipated with industry watchers speculating about which signal CBS Radio would use to put sports talk on FM in the market.  So Hot AC WSJT-FM, will be replaced by sports talk in August as “SPORTSRADIO 98.7 The Fan.”  Currently, CBS operates WQYK – 1010 Sports – with Mike Pepper serving as assistant PD and co-host of the “Hooters Nation Morning Show” with Lynne Austin.  He is promoted to program director for the new combo.  CBS Radio SVP and market manager Ben Hill states, “Never before has there been a station for Tampa Bay’s passionate sports fans with such reach and ties to the community as SPORTSRADIO 98.7 The Fan.  Locally based on-air personalities and a programming team with years of experience in Tampa will help shape the station as a place listeners can trust for the most honest, engaging and interactive sports talk.”  A release from CBS states hosts and reporters for the station will be announced at a later date.  Currently, 1010 Sports airs DirecTV/Fox Sports Radio’s Dan Patrick; “The Commish with Justin Pawlowski”; J.P. Peterson in PM drive and Toby David in evenings in addition to the morning drive show.  It’s not clear how or if CBS will integrate the current programming heard on 1010 Sports.  About the new FM signal, Pepper says, “Being this closely involved in a radio first for Tampa listeners has been one of the most exciting opportunities in my career.  Our sports landscape has changed dramatically over the last 10 years highlighted by a Super Bowl Championship for the Buccaneers, a Stanley Cup for the Lightning, and an American League title for the Rays, as well as the rise of USF football.  The timing couldn’t be better for the launch of SPORTSRADIO 98.7 The Fan.”

Glenn Beck Visits Dave Ramsey Show.  It’s pretty unusual for talk show hosts of their stature to be guests on one another’s shows but that’s what happened yesterday as Premiere Networks star (and multi-media pioneer) Glenn Beck was a featured guest on the nationally syndicated Dave Ramsey show.  Beck appeared to speak with Ramsey about his new book, Cowards: What Politicians, Radicals, and the Media Refuse to Say (Threshold Editions 2012).  The two friends complimented each other on their success and Beck told Ramsey he constantly hears from fans of his who also listen to Ramsey and tell him how he’s helped them.  Beck said, “You have changed millions of peoples’ lives…I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who said, ‘You know, I was out of control, started listening to Dave and thank God, he has changed my life.  Congratulations.”

Listener Driven Radio Buys Out Mike McVay.  Cumulus Media senior vice president of programming Mike McVay was one of four founding members and a shareholder of LDR – Listener Driven Radio.  Now, in an effort to make sure the company is not confronted with issues of conflict of interest, the company has bought the shares McVay owns back from him.  McVay left his seat on the board of directors when he took the Cumulus post last fall.  In a statement, president and CEO Daniel Anstandig said, “Our LDR team is often involved in strategic discussions with our station partners.  We want to be beyond reproach with our clients when it comes to confidential and proprietary information.  Our move to buy out Mike McVay eliminates potential conflicts for McVay in his role as a senior manager for Cumulus.”  LDR has created software that allows listeners to stations to have a say in the actual programming of the music as well as software that provides hot topic data for spoken-word stations.

Arbitron Shows Efforts to Satisfy Agencies’ Desire for ROI Data.  Due to the nature of the way radio has always been rated, it’s been very difficult to give advertisers who bought time via agencies the data they desire about the effectiveness of their ads.  Arbitron has been working on using its PPM technology to improve advertisers’ marketing mix models with what it calls more “granular” data.  Arbitron’s Bill Rose told clients in a webinar yesterday, “Buyers want more specific information – granular – about who is listening when their spots aired.”  Arbitron is working with Media Monitors to provide exact times spots aired.  Using marketing mix models, advertisers analyze how effective their marketing is and Rose showed three case studies of specific products or services conducted over relatively long periods of time in which granular PPM data was able to improve the scores of radio ads relative to their impact on sales.  Rose also notes that in the past, any attempt to provide marketers with data on radio’s performance was time consuming and labor intensive.  PPM’s granular data changes that.  “After two years of intense study and experimentation, we’re happy to see that the more granular radio data can improve our ability to evaluate radio’s contribution in marketing mix models.”

Talk Radio Mobile Service Aggregator Stitcher Unveils Redesigned App.  The new Stitcher app for iPhone and Android operating systems includes some new functions – the coolest of which is what it calls “Smart Station.”  The Smart Station function makes recommendations for shows to check out based upon the programming to which you’re already listening – sort of like a Pandora for spoken-word shows.  Stitcher CEO Noah Shanok says, “Stitcher Smart Station is designed to give our listeners more tools for discovery and personalization.  Our goal is to make talk radio more accessible than ever, and listeners are responding.  Since our launch of the Stitcher Election Center in May, we’ve seen an increase in listening by an average of an hour per month.  We’re hoping Stitcher Smart Station gives listeners just as much, if not more, access to new, relevant content within the app.”

Salem Radio Network News Covers Plight of Dalits.  Salem Radio Network vice president of news & talk programming Tom Tradup is pictured here in a slum in Hyderabad, India getting a close-up look at the nation’s dalits – or “untouchables.”  Tradup tells TALKERS magazine that, beginning next week, SRN News will present a weeklong series on the challenges these people – especially the children – face that include malnutrition, filthy living conditions and India’s sex-trafficking trade.  SRN worked with the Dalit Action Network to cover this story.  Tradup says, “The most amazing thing about these children is that with so little going for them in material terms their faith nevertheless remains strong and they are some of the most outgoing, loving youngsters I’ve ever met.”

2012 Presidential Race, ‘Fast and Furious’ Battle/Executive Privilege, Trayvon Martin Case/Police Chief Fired, and Obama’s DREAM Act Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (6/20).  The 2012 presidential campaign; the Congressional battle over Attorney General Eric Holder’s contempt charges and President Obama’s declaring executive privilege in the ‘Fast and Furious’ case; the firing of Sanford, Florida police chief Bill Lee in the Trayvon Martin case; and President Obama’s DREAM Act and the expected Supreme Court decision on Arizona’s illegal immigration law were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS.