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Stick to your own size.

By: Walter Sabo

LOU DOBBS EARNS $23.53 PER VIEWER.

You were an English or History major so numbers are scary. Work with me here for one minute, get through these numbers and you’ll get a prize.

The weekly cume of WINS New York: 2,230,000
KFI Los Angeles: 808,700
New Jersey 101.5: 893,000
WGCI FM Chicago: 921,400

Source: Arbitron, Ttl metro cume Fall 2000

Below are Nielsons for the month of May.
The Top 15 In Total Viewers:

1. O'REILLY 838,000
2. LARRY KING LIVE 830,000
3. HANNITY AND COLMES 527,000
4. PAULA ZAHN 454,000
5. GRETA 446,000
6. CNN TONIGHT 431,000
7. WOLF BLITZER 413,000
8. SPIN ROOM 396,000
9. RIVERA LIVE 305,000
10. CHRIS MATTHEWS 294,000
11. MSNBC INVESTIGATES 272,000
12. MSNBC HEADLINERS 217,000
13. BRIAN WILLIAMS 179,000

That means that Dobbs is earning $4 million a year for a show that is averaging 172,000 viewers. At current levels, Dobb's is being given $23.53 for each viewer -- an industry record. So says, Matt Drudge. CNN, international distribution. Y
our station, maybe 50 miles in the day.

STICK TO YOUR OWN SIZE
What’s as big as radio? Radio has 98% penetration. Cable, about 60% (remember only 12% of the homes in the US could actually see the Sopranos.) Internet about 20% in-home penetration. Cable execs get sweaty when they install two boxes in the same house. Radio often has two boxes in a single room, sometimes the bathroom. (Shower and shelf.)

McDonald’s is as big. One out of five Americans goes to McDonald’s everyday. That’s why it is essential to be aware of the promotions and tie-ins they are pushing. Their decisions are eye-level to most of your listeners.


Dunkin Donuts is as big as radio. 15% of the adult population of the US goes their everyday. You can’t miss doing a promotion with Dunkin Donuts.

WE DO WEATHER, DARLING.
For years, we have tracked the most successful mass marketed products and urged our clients to tie their brand name with bigger, not smaller, brand names. That’s why we cringe when a station says, “Channel seven meteorologist Joe Blow predicts...”

That very same Channel seven will attribute your station’s big event as one presented by “.... a local radio station...” They are stupid when they do that. First, it’s bad journalism. Accurate attribution is part of the job. And secondly, that TV news show needs your station’s help.

The local TV news show probably does not have as many viewers a week as your station has listeners. The audience they do have is much older than the one you want.

Besides, it’s radio. Can’t radio do weather? Listeners believe a local radio station has a much better knowledge of moment-to-moment local weather than the TV station. Do the research, we have.

WALK WITH THE BIG KIDS.
The proven way to grow your station is by attaching it to bigger brands, not smaller. The most read magazine in the English Speaking world is PARADE. For years, we’ve urged show hosts and programmers to read PARADE because 1/3rd of your listeners read it every Sunday. When a station talks about PARADE’s content on Monday it can’t lose.

Because PARADE’s appeal is skewed young and female, the content is perfect for most stations from CHR’s wanting facts about the stars of Buffy to Countrys’ wanting to reveal the latest on Shania. It’s all in PARADE. Sabo Media contacted them six months ago and urged them to start a daily show prep service. You’ll find it for free at
<a href=”http:// www.paraderadiofax.com”>www.paraderadiofax.com</a>.

It’s written by Miami, Dallas and Detroit radio host and production whiz John Ford. He also cuts the audio that features exclusive celebrity news. You can download the audio for one promo a day. Topic ideas are presented with the stories, those are developed by former WTKS FM Orlando’s PD Harry Valentine.

HERE'S THE REAL NEWS:

PARADE radio is selecting a few stations that will be allowed to offer their listeners the ultimate prize: Fame. An article about them in PARADE. Think about that. Going on the air and announcing, “WXXX and PARADE will make you famous...” The article will attribute you and your station as the source of the winner. (No, you won’t be a local radio station!) Contact PARADE radio chief, Tom Tradup--the exec who built WLS into a monster. You’ll find the details at www.paraderadiofax.com.

Tap into the first law of marketing, align your brand with a bigger, not smaller brand.

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