Bill Virgin's Radio Beat June 28, 2007

Includes archive of Bill Virgin's columns fromJ une 2006 - March 2009

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat June 28, 2007

Postby radiofan » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:19 pm

On Radio: Older isn't better for radio advertisers
By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


They are the listeners with the most disposable income. They're also the most loyal listeners, to formats and personalities, to the businesses that support their favorite stations, to radio generally.

And to hear the conventional wisdom about the radio business, advertisers don't want them.

They are the older listeners, 49 and older or 55 and older (however the demographic line is drawn).

It's not just according to conventional wisdom that radio shuns older listeners. Federal Communications Commission member Michael Copps recently noted the lack of attention to that demographic group.

Some time back, On Radio asked Arbitron to rank the top five stations in the Seattle-Tacoma market among listeners 12-17, since that is the demographic cohort from which the adult radio listeners of tomorrow will emerge (a scary proposition for the industry, given the declining interest in radio within that age group).

This week we asked Arbitron to look at the other end of the listenership age spectrum -- those 55 and older.

The top five commercial stations among listeners 55 and older in the winter quarter in the Seattle-Tacoma market: KIRO-AM (710), KOMO-AM (1000), KIXI-AM (880) and (tied for fourth) KBSG-FM (97.3) and KING-FM (98.1).

Larry Roberts is vice president of radio for Fisher Communications, which owns one of the stations on that list (KOMO) and sells ads for another (KING); he surmises that another Fisher station, KVI-AM (570), would rank right behind those top five among older listeners.

Roberts says the 25-54 target market remains most popular with advertisers, with 18-49 second (although teens have a lot of disposable income and a willingness to spend it, 12-17 isn't considered an attractive target market, unless you're a soft-drink company, he adds).

As for listeners 55 and older, "It depends on who the client is," and on what the station's format is, Roberts says.

If the client is a national ad agency specifically looking for the 25-54 demo, they might shun a station with an older listener profile.

But a local buyer who "just wants someone to come in the door" might look at stations with good track records of driving customers to their places of business, Roberts says. Talk stations in particular are good at that, he says. KVI might have a smaller audience than KOMO, but its listeners tend to be very loyal and supportive of businesses that support the station.

"It depends more on format than it does ratings," he says.

Even though people 50 and older control a huge chunk of the nation's wealth, and even though they demonstrate far greater brand loyalty than younger generations, "That's not the way advertisers think," adds Jay Coffey, former KBSG-FM program director.

But advertisers may yet grow more enamored with older listeners, for a couple of reasons. One is that "the older you are, the more likely you are to listen to the radio," Roberts says. And then there's the sheer number of baby boomers moving into that 55-plus demographic. "The demo has a lot more attraction today than it did even five years ago."

In other radio notes:

Pastor Rich Lang of Trinity United Methodist Church is the host of a new show on religious, social and political topics from a liberal/progressive perspective, "Living Faith Now," at 2 p.m. Fridays on KKNW-AM (1150). The topic for this week's show is "Is Socialism an Option for America?"

Gov. Chris Gregoire is the guest on "Conversations With Father Bob" at 8 a.m. Saturday on KKNW-AM (1150) and 5 p.m. Tuesday on KBLE-AM (1050).

Son of Rose performs on "Sonarchy" at midnight Saturday on KEXP-FM (90.3).

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat - Thursdays in the Seattle P-I
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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