Marketron

Month: June 2018

Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Dave Santrella, President of Broadcast Media at the Salem Media Group.

In this edition of Radio on Main Street, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB speaks with Dave Santrella, President of Broadcast Media at the Salem Media Group. Salem is a multi-media company specifically targeted to audiences interested in Christian, family-themed content and conservative values.  The radio division focuses on three strategic programming formats reaching that audience.

Although their revenue model is slightly different, the company faces similar issues as secular radio. As Dave says, “At the end of the day, it all starts with a phone call. People buy from people and we all need to provide reasons to make someone want to meet with us.”

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The Consumer Is At the Center of It All

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

At Nielsen’s recent Consumer 360, the theme was Confronting What’s Next.  There were discussions and presentations on reaching multicultural audiences, using data, artificial intelligence, building brands and more.

There was a lot to be learned from each of the panelists and brand presentations.  But, keeping true to the core of the event, it all boiled down to understanding and reaching the consumer.  More importantly, it was clear that this is the age of the consumer.  The consumer is in control, and wants and expects to be heard.  The consumer is at the center of it all.

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Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Fred Jacobs, President of Jacobs Media.

Understanding how radio listeners consume media and how technology affects their habits and behaviors as radio listeners is important information to know.  Since the early 2000’s Jacobs Media, whose focus is guiding media companies in this age of digital disruption, has been aggregating multiple radio station databases to generate and publish a national study entitled “Tech Survey.”

In this edition of Radio on Main Street, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB speaks with Fred Jacobs, President of Jacobs Media.  Having recently released the 2018 survey results Fred shares some of the important learnings and strategic takeaways.

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Radio – A New Frontier

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

Unique. Funny. Innovative. Moving. Inspiring. Game Changing.  Those were just some of the words used by judges to describe the winning spots of the Radio Mercury Awards.

On May 31st, some of the best creative minds across the country gathered at The Cutting Room in NYC to encourage, reward and celebrate great radio commercials at the Radio Mercury Awards ceremony.

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Radio on Main Street Podcast Featuring Jeffrey Hedquist, Known as “Advertising’s Storyteller.”

In this episode, Erica Farber, President and CEO of the RAB, speaks with Jeffrey Hedquist. Jeffrey is known as “advertising’s storyteller.” He is a commercial creator who has won hundreds of advertising awards and works directly with advertisers, agencies and radio stations.

An advocate for advertisers, he believes strongly in using the power of storytelling to help tell the advertisers message. His message to radio is to not write commercials but to create stories that engage the listener. More importantly, stories that engage the listeners are stories about the listeners.

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The Passion of a Radio Broadcaster

Author:  Erica Farber, President and CEO, RAB

Last week, radio lost one of our great medium’s most passionate heroes – Joseph (Joe) Bilotta.

Joe spent 40+ years in the radio business with the majority of them as Buckley Broadcasting’s CEO, overseeing legendary radio stations like WOR-AM in New York and WDRC-AM/FM in Hartford.   As a radio broadcaster, Joe considered himself a very lucky man and as professionals in the radio industry, we all consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have had Joe as an advocate, mentor, challenger, supporter and friend. Continue reading “The Passion of a Radio Broadcaster”

Radio on Main Street from the Radio Mercury Awards:  What Makes a Great Radio Commercial

What makes a great radio commercial?  We put that question to the attendees of The Radio Mercury Awards held May 31st at the Cutting Room in New York.  The Radio Mercury Awards is the only competition exclusively devoted to radio and was established in 1992 to encourage and reward the development of effective and creative radio commercials. This year’s theme was “Sound Makes the Story.”

In this special edition of the Radio on Main Street Podcast, we turned on our microphones as our guests gathered for this year’s event and asked them to share with us, what makes a great radio commercial.

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It’s About the Connection

Photo courtesy of Tammy Greenberg

Author: Annette Malave, SVP/Insights, RAB

On May 29, Starbucks closed over 8,000 company-owned stores for anti-bias training.  This closing was prompted by a racial-bias incident which took place in April.  Since that time we have all watched Starbucks working hard to protect its brand and maintain the strong connection they have with their consumers as a “third destination between home and work.” This connection is the very essence of their business model according to their website: “We make sure everything we do honors that connection – from our commitment to the highest quality coffee in the world, to the way we engage with our customers and communities to do business responsibly.”

Using videos as the training platform, Starbucks employees (or “partners”) heard from Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz and board member Mellody Hobson.  Also on the agenda was Common, a well-known hip-hop artist, actor and activist — underscoring the value that a respected personality/celebrity from the community brings.

Continue reading “It’s About the Connection”