Ratings Spur Coed Shows For Radio Set

Radio stations don’t wait for Valentine’s Day to try to woo women.

According to Claritas Inc. of San Diego, the estimated 124,100 women age 18 and over in Northwest Arkansas have an annual combined retail spending power of $1.65 billion. That, according to the market research firm, represents 51 percent of the local total.

So it’s no surprise that retail advertising avenues such as radio try to make their sales budgets come up roses by catering to females.

One quartet of Fayetteville stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. has taken it a step past simply playing songs women like. Three of the four FM stations now have male and female morning show co-hosts, a move that’s changing the market’s traditional sunrise blast of blue “frat boy” humor and testosterone tunes.

Mary Mann, president of Fayetteville advertising and marketing agency New Century Marketing, said radio’s rush hour prime time is a smart media buy for the vast majority of her clients. Most of them, she said, are targeting females in the lucrative 25-54 demographic because career women have more disposable income.

And in the mornings, those ladies are on their way to work.

“In the 1970s, a wife hoped to influence her husband’s decision in buying a car,” Mann said. “Now we’ve got our own money, and we’ll buy our own dang car. And unless you’re talking about farm machinery or something, it’s women who are making most of the buying decisions, especially in retail.”

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that median weekly earnings for women have grown 192 percent from $182 in 1979 to $531 for 2002. But more importantly, says American Demographics magazine, women make all of the day-to-day spending decisions in 79 percent of American households

Tony Beringer, Clear Channel’s local market manager, said those kinds of statistics and three already “female-leaning formats” made it obvious what he needed to do.

“We saw a real void in the market for compelling radio that’s relatable to females,” Beringer said. “Our studies show women now have such a tremendous influence over buying decisions, that we want to be in tune with their needs and the advertisers who are trying to reach them.”

Clear Results

The decision paid off this February in the latest Arbitron ratings. Clear Channel swept the top four spots among the market’s 15 largest radio stations for all listeners age 12 and older. Michael Albl, Clear Channel’s vice president of programming, said the Fayetteville cluster was one of only three market groups to accomplish that feat among 1,250 stations nationwide. Beringer’s stations also became the first group in company history to finish No. 1-4 overall and No. 1-4 across numerous morning demos in the same ratings book.

The company’s local stations include market leader KKIX, which plays country music, KEZA (adult contemporary), KIGL (classic rock) and KMXF (contemporary hits). KEZA and KMXF are especially geared for female listening tastes, although studies now show 60 percent of all country music listeners are women.

For morning listeners — male and female — age 25-54, KEZA is No. 1 (12.2 share), followed by KIGL and KKIX tied (11.1 share) and KMXF (6.6 share). The “all listeners” ratings (See chart) showed similar success, as did the over age-12 morning show numbers.

Even when breaking down the genders, Arbitron said KEZA is No. 1 among female listeners age 25-54 with a whopping 16.4 share. KKIX is second (14.2 share) and Cumulus Broadcasting-owned competitor KFAY, which plays country music, is third (8.2 share).

Clear Channel, a $7.9 billion public company based in San Antonio, Texas, does not disclose finances for individual markets. But Beringer said its 2002 revenue for Northwest Arkansas was up 15 percent year-over-year, a figure he said outpaced the market.

Gaining ground

Among younger women — age 18-34, KFAY is No. 1 (18.3 share) and KMXF is second (13.3 share).

Joe Conway, Cumulus’ market manager in Fayetteville, said although his competitor had a strong book, Clear Channel’s ratings have declined book-to-book. When reviewing Arbitron’s figures for local average quarter hour shares, KFAY appears to be gaining on KKIX in four female age cells.

And that’s with the male duo of Buck Waters and James West hosting KFAY’s morning show.

KFAY saw a 261 percent improvement from a 3.3 AQH share among women age 18-34 to an 11.9. KKIX fell from an 18.0 AQH share to an 11.9 in the same demo. For women aged 25-54, KFAY had a 54-percent rise from a 5.2 AQH share to an 8.0. In the same category, KKIX fell 37 percent from a 21.9 AQH share to a 13.8.

“The real story is what’s happening book to book,” Conway said. “KKIX is on its third new morning show in six months, and when listeners hear change, change, change they start sampling. We’re taking advantage of the opportunity. We’ve got a real country station battle now that we feel is winnable and we have every intention of winning.”

Clear Channel is also not the only station with female DJs. One of its former employees, Tone Marconi, has brought her 21 years of experience in the market to KFAY’s afternoon slot. And Jay Phillips, Cumulus’ local operations manager, said filtering out “classic country” music and tweaking content has made the “Buck and James” show much stronger.

“The profile of mainstream country music is 60 percent female listeners,” Phillips said. “My gut feeling is that our music mix is what is causing our growth.”

Banking on She-Js

Christa Banks and Jake McBride are Clear Channel’s latest morning additions on KKIX. They follow KEZA partners Chip Arledge and Dawn McCullough, who teamed up five years ago, and last year’s coed introduction of Jen Colonna and Jon Williams on KMXF.

Banks said none of the female jocks believe their gender automatically guarantees them listenership. If anything, it might make popularity tougher to come by.

“Women are more critical of women,” Banks said. “I can’t be too flirty on the air. Or too loud. Or too docile. There’s a real fine line you have to walk to both be liked and perceived seriously in the business.”

The stations’ sales staff said Banks arrival is a “shot in the arm” because it gives them a broader product to sell. She and McBride plan to leverage their on-air chemistry with community involvement. They weren’t on air yet for the last ratings book, so they’re working double time to keep KKIX on top.

“There’s nothing unique about putting a man and woman on the air together,” Albl said. “Some studies will show men prefer listing to men and women to women. Then ask the question a different way and they’ll show the opposite. What it comes down to is people want compelling radio.

“They want to wake up, find out what the weather is, what’s going on in the world and get a little entertainment on the way to their eight-hour prison sentence.”

Tim Wallace, a managing director and analyst at Banc of America Securities in New York, said it’s ironic that a small Clear Channel market would be promoting such diversity. Politicians such as U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (Wisconsin-D) have criticized industry deregulations that led to many consolidations for making radio less diverse.

“Fayetteville is a clear case in point where Clear Channel apparently did its homework and got it right,” Wallace said. “They identified a market where women weren’t really being addressed in programming. People may think they don’t pay attention to market 150 [size-wise], but they’re bringing superior marketing techniques to bare that are good for their audience and shareholders.”