Local Radio Stations Generate Big Numbers

At about 7 a.m. one recent morning, Fayetteville radio personality Jake McBride threw a good-natured verbal jab at his self-effacing and sometimes goofy cohort, Allen Woody.
Through the magic of Guglielmo Marconi’s invention, the words were broadcast from towers in south Fayetteville, oscillating at a frequency of 103,900,000 cycles per second, or 103.9 megahertz. The signal bounced off countless trees and buildings, eventually finding its way to several thousand receivers.
The occupant of a car smiled at the joke, paid attention to the day’s weather forecast and listened to a new George Strait song.
Then he stayed tuned through two minutes of commercials for everything from riding lawn mowers to an online dating service that claimed to cure “bachelorism.”
The arrangement is part of the commercial radio industry in Northwest Arkansas, estimated to be worth $10 million to $12 million in annual revenue to the eight owners and owner-groups with stations in the market.
McBride and Woody make up the morning team “Jake and Woody,” on country-formatted KKIX-FM, 103.9, the top-rated station in Northwest Arkansas.
Most mornings, at other spots on the dial, radio talent teams — some working for the same company — are vying for Jake and Woody’s listeners.
With a short average commute to work in the Northwest Arkansas market and at $60 to $80 per 30-second commercial, competition can be fierce.
Opposing Forces
Clear Channel Communications Inc. of San Antonio, Texas operates four stations (including KKIX) and Cumulus Broadcasting Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., operates seven stations, all in Fayetteville.
Together they control most of Northwest Arkansas’ airwaves, with 11 of the 18 stations currently tracked by Arbitron Inc., the official barometer of radio ratings. Together they generate about $8 million to $9 million of the local radio revenue.
Tony Beringer is the regional vice president of Clear Channel and Joe Conway is the market manager of Cumulus. Ask one about the other and he will smile, make an offhanded, if somewhat sarcastic, remark and say something super-positive about his own set of stations.
Ardent competitors, neither one would remain in same room with the other for very long.
Beringer, who also oversees stations in Little Rock and Fort Smith, wouldn’t disclose annual revenue at the Fayetteville group. But corporate-wide, Clear Channel had a year-end net income of $935.6 million. The company is diversified into other media, such as billboards, but 53 percent of its revenue comes from the radio stations it owns, which was a total of 1,182 at the end of 2005.
Cumulus had a 2004 net income of $30.3 million, but posted a loss of $213.6 million in 2005. The company owned 307 stations in 61 markets as of Dec. 31.
Conway has a framed piece of paper near his office door, hanging just above eye-level as one sits.
It reads simply: “4,302,375.”
That’s his precise gross revenue goal for calendar 2006.
The Cumulus group made $3.9 million in gross revenue in 2005, and it is well on its way to meeting 2006’s objective, Conway said.
Revenue for the entire Northwest Arkansas radio market has been up about 22 percent in 2006 over 2005, he said.
But for all their rivalry, Beringer and Conway are like-minded on multiple points. For example, both managers believe in the power of mnemonic motivation.
Without ever hearing Beringer’s comments, Conway said he preaches “relationships, results and ratings” to his sales team.
Employees of Beringer said a commonly heard mantra is “mornings, marketing and music.”

Local Rankings
Arbitron, headquartered in New York City, is the premier radio rating and media research company that most station managers “live and die by.”
Arbitron numbers come from listeners who keep diaries of their radio experiences. The numbers come out twice each year: spring numbers in August, and fall numbers in late February or early March.
The list on Page 18 ranks commercial stations with Arbitron “average quarter-hour” share numbers that became available to subscribing stations on Aug. 8. Stations are ranked using the broadest possible Arbitron demographic — persons older than 12, listening anytime Monday through Sunday, 6 a.m. to midnight.
Noncommercial stations such as Fayetteville’s National Public Radio member station, KUAF-FM, 91.3 were excluded from the list because Arbitron tracked them differently than commercial stations (see p. 18).
According to the share numbers, three of Clear Channel’s four local stations dominated the market in Northwest Arkansas.
Country-formatted KKIX-FM, 103.9 is the top station with a 14.4 percent share, almost double the No. 2 station, KIGL-FM, 93.3 “The Eagle,” which rose from the No. 5 slot during fall 2005. And the No. 3 station currently is KEZA-FM, “Magic” 107.9, which fell from the No. 2 slot, but still grew its share by 13 percent.
Rounding out the top five, are two Cumulus stations: adult contemporary KMCK-FM, “Power” 105.7 and classic country KAMO-FM, 94.3.
Generally, those five stations have been near the upper part of the top 10 for the past several years.
The winners, most everyone said, are the listeners. They benefit from stations constantly raising the radio bar and honing in on what people want to hear.

Ratings
Beringer and Conway both said getting people to tune in is a combination of on-air personality, music and a station catering to the tastes of a targeted, sometimes niche, audience.
Industry-wide, an emphasis is put on the morning “daypart” (6 a.m. to 10 a.m.) because research shows listeners are more likely to stick with a station all day if they tune into it early.
Commercial radio is an industry jam-packed with research, numbers and demographics.
Thanks to Arbitron, just about anyone can find obscure data on, say, Spanish radio listening trends.
(For instance, “Spanish-radio fans are 72 percent more likely than the norm to live in a household that is planning to buy/lease a new van or minivan in the next 12 months, and 75 percent more likely to live in a residence that is planning to buy a used one.”)
But as with any research, throw enough numbers in the mix and what passes as the truth can become as fuzzy as static on an AM station.
“Arbitrons are not the Bible, they’re just the best option,” said Tim Timmerman, half of the power couple, “Tim and Jeff in the morning” on KMCK-FM.
That sentiment was echoed by almost everyone in the industry, including Jake and Woody.
“It’s not perfect, but it’s the tool we have to live by,” McBride said.
Jake and Woody have the top-rated morning show in at least three key demographics (all persons aged 12 and up, and both males and females aged 25-54) according to Arbitron, and their station has topped the local charts for 41 of the last 42 Arbitron books, or about 21 years running, said Berringer.
All in all, the dynamic duo doesn’t like to talk much about ratings — in a small market, being a braggart is looked down upon. And, the two are as “Ah shucks” humble in person as they are on-air.
But ratings matter to media buyers.
And they mean even more to buyers who live outside of the market they’re buying in.

Buying Advertising
Ask Conway who advertises with his Cumulus stations and he’ll say local businesses. And then he will say that competitor Clear Channel, by and large, garners national advertising contracts because of its Arbitron numbers.
Ask Beringer the same and he’ll say Clear Channel sells a healthy mix of both national and local advertisers.
Beringer said advertising agencies tend to buy media for their clients based on statistical data, which means the Arbitron ratings.
Theoretically, if a buyer in Los Angeles, wants to place a campaign in the Northwest Arkansas market, they will look at the Arbitrons and probably determine they can get the most bang for their buck with the highest rated stations.
Problem is, the highest rated stations are generally more expensive.
Melissa Wilcoxson, media director for Little Rock ad agency Mangan Holcomb Partners, said she buys radio all over Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Texas.
Arbitron numbers are a starting point, she said, but a good buyer will talk with representatives in any particular market to get a good feel for what’s going on.
Buyers look at “cost-per-point” Wilcoxson said, a complicated equation that pits Arbitron’s average share number against the cost of a 30-second spot. A station, or group of stations, has to meet the buyers aim at a cost-per-point in order for it to be a good buy, the that has to balance with the advertiser’s target demographic.
Both Beringer and Conway said that published rate cards are a thing of the past. Advertising is sold on a computerized supply-and-demand basis.
Most long run ad campaigns are negotiable, Wilcoxson said.
Another media wild card is the seeming popularity of XM and Sirius, satellite radio in providers.
Both Beringer and Conway shrugged off subscription-driven radio. Neither has seen evidence that satellite is biting into their markets.
Mike Maloney, president of Maloney Marketing Group of Cave Springs, worked in radio for 12 years and has an on-site studio for the production of commercials.
Because he listens almost exclusively to XM, he recently checked ad rates and compared them against local stations.
The rates are comparable, he said. An advertiser can hit a wider geographic market (to St. Louis or farther) and get the same number of spots for about the same price, Maloney said. But, there’s a much narrower audience.
“That’s a subjective call,” he said.
“I don’t think the ratings are reflective of listening patterns,” Conway said. “I can tell they’re listening to us by the results [advertisers] are seeing.”

Radio Talent
Jake and Woody claim they’re so popular because they appeal to a such a wide audience, unlike many competing morning drive talents in the market who seek to satiate specific demos such as males aged 25-49 or females aged 18-34.
Just down the hallway from the country duo, Jon Williams and a man known only as “Deek” produce the “Jon and Deek” show for KIGL-FM, “The Eagle,” a young- to middle-aged male targeted classic rock station.
Their shtick is more like good cop/bad cop.
On recent morning they interviewed Bo Mattingly, sports anchor for KNWA-TV, talked about upcoming Razorbacks games and made fun of multiple callers.
Williams is gracious even to the obnoxious. Deek’s on-air persona is mean-spirited and sarcastic.
The team has helped the station pull up from the No. 5 slot to No. 2 in overall ratings.
Surprisingly, the pair even ranked No. 3 for the morning daypart among women aged 25-54, just under sister station KEZA-FM, which targets women.
Across town on the first floor of the Radisson Hotel, Timmerman and Jeff Michaels aim for the 18-34 female demographic for Cumulus’ KMCK-FM (they claimed to be No. 1 in that specific demo).
Michaels said there’s a waiting list for advertisers for the show, that it’s been booked solid for three years.
“What makes you different is what you put between the songs,” Timmerman said.
All personalities said that being local and talking about local events is what makes them popular with listeners.
However, Jake and Woody are “syndicated” of sorts and have been producing a morning show for a Clear Channel station in Roanoke, Va.
Their first Arbitron book took the station from a 1.4 share to a 7.6 share. (Ironically, Conway’s first job in radio was at a classic rock station in Roanoke.)
Woody said the key is to have fun on the air and consider that the listeners are as smart as he is.
“I’m just a guy who likes to hang out with my kids, go huntin’ and fishin’ and drink some beer,” he said.

Public Stations
Noncommercial radio stations have been tracked by Arbitron Inc., but the company did not include those numbers with data sets provided to commercial subscribers.
On Sept. 25, Arbitron announced that beginning with the fall 2006 survey, public and noncommercial stations will be included in many of the same data sets.
Two area noncommercial stations that have a lot of listeners are KUAF-FM, 93.3, operated by the University of Arkansas, and KLRC-FM, 101.1, operated by John Brown University in Siloam Springs.
KUAF is a National Public Radio member station and KLRC is a contemporary Christian station.
KUAF’s annual budget is about $1.2 million and KLRC’s is about $500,000, all listener supported.
The chart shows what the top 10 stations would look like with the two station’s Arbitron numbers.
For a ranked list of all area radio stations, click here.