How hard is the Radio Industry?

Marketing to the Radio Music Industry

• I want to contact radio stations in both US as well as Canada. (Later in EU.) My goal is to get program managers and or radio dj's (at radio & internet stations) to sign up at my website. I am promoting a tool the (DJ's specially) can use in their business. I have been told non-Commercial stations are much less competitive than Commercial. IE: Educational Radio stations vs. Commercial. Here are my questions. My market are the Radio & Internet DJ's promoting a tool for the Indie Bands that are struggling to be recognized. Do you have any recommendations for marketing to this group ? What things can be done to get their attention ?

• Answer:

  Hello cslicer, A most effective marketing strategy would be a combination of targeted advertising to publications that these industry workers (DJs and programming managers) would read, events that they might attend, and the companies they work for. I have provided many examples of all of the above. Take out print ads in publications. Go to events and meet these people for yourself. Market your website aggressively in ads and on those publications' websites. My first and most important piece of advice is to ensure that you have a great product to sell. If it's great and makes people's lives easier and entertains them, it will virtually sell itself and you won't need to do as much "marketing" as you would otherwise. Your website will have to be very hip-looking, catchy and attention-getting in order to stand out as a great product for the radio industry. -------------------- First, it would be most helpful to advertise directly to the industry itself. You need to have your products advertised in industry newsletters and publications. Here are some publications that cater to the industry: Radio Ink http://www.radioink.com/ Profiles for key markets: http://www.radioink.com/marketprofile.asp Here are some lists that Radio Ink keeps that could help you target your marketing-- for example, they list the "most influential" people in radio and the best program managers. Radio Ink Lists http://www.radioink.com/radioinklists.asp This may be a good contact for getting your ads in this trade publication: Chuck Renwick Chuck Renwick is VP/National Sales for Radio Ink. He can be reached by email at [email protected] Lois Chooljian Lois Chooljian is Director of Sales at Radio Ink. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. --- RAIN (Radio and Internet Newsletter) presents a quarterly "RAIN Vendor Guide" http://www.kurthanson.com/vendorguide2003.asp "To help you maximize your business opportunities in the hopefully healthier new world that's on the horizon, today we're presenting our quarterly "RAIN Vendor Guide" issue ? a guide to products and services for broadcasters and webcasters that can help you reduce your expenses and increase your revenues in 2003 and beyond. You'll find companies in this guide that will help you increase your audience size, expand your operations, improve efficiencies, cut costs, and grow your revenues." "Note: If you're a vendor and would like to have a listing in this guide, which will be available in RAIN every day all year long, it's not too late: Please call us at 1-312-527-3879 or e-mail us here [[email protected]] and we'll add your company's listing within minutes. (For rate information on this and other marketing opportunities in RAIN, click here [http://www.kurthanson.com/ratecard.asp].)" ---- Radio World http://www.rwonline.com/ Radio World has a segment in which they will evaluate your product and review it for publication: Radio World Evaluations http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0051/t.p0001.html Here is the information to advertise in the publication: Radio World Advertising http://www.rwonline.com/advertise.shtml Download Media Kits or Contact: Claudia Van Veen at: 703-998-7600 ext 154; email [email protected] They also provide a free listing in a directory for those with products that would benefit the industry: Radio World-- Product Listing http://www.rwonline.com/pandsdir/add-listing.shtml ----- Radio Magazine http://www.beradio.com/ Radio Magazine accepts ads. U.S. SALES DIRECTOR Steven Bell 913-967-7221 [email protected] Radio also publishes a yearly edition of its "Product Source," listing products that are useful to the radio industry. Radio- Product Source http://beradio.com/20050902/ They also run a Buyer's Guide for those in the industry: Radio- Buyer's Guide http://www.radiobuyersguide.com/ ---- Radio and Records Radio and Records is a leading industry publication. Just about a month ago, it ceased operation under its old name and relaunched itself as "The New R&R." It still serves the same purpose, however, which is to cater to the music industry and inform them of chart positions. New R&R http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%26R_%28magazine%29 Radio and Records http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_&_Records It accepts ads here: http://www.radioandrecords.com/radiomonitor/about_us/ad_opps.jsp RADIO INDUSTRY ADVERTISING SALES Karen Mumaw Opportunities, Marketplace & Directory Sales Representative [email protected] Michelle Rich Sales Representative: Eastern US [email protected] Brooke Williams Trissel Sales Representative: Western US [email protected] --- Inside Radio Inside Radio has an email newsletter reaching 30,000 daily subscribers, which you could advertise in. The information can be found on this page. Inside Radio email newsletter http://www.insideradio.com/advertise.asp ---- You should also cater to DJ publications themselves. Here are a few of those. The DJ Times magazine http://www.djtimes.com/ -------------------- Next, there is an organization you can join called NAMM-- the International Music Products Association. This is an organization specifically tailored to those who make products geared to the music industry. NAMM http://www.namm.com/ Membership Information http://www.namm.com/membership/ NAMM has industry-wide trade shows that provide a wide audience for its members. The next trade show is in January 2007 in Anaheim, California. NAMM Trade Show http://www.thenammshow.com/ There is also a smaller trade show, held in the summer, which was held in summer 2006 in Austin, Texas. NAMM also publishes reports on the music industry: NAMM Global Reports http://www.namm.com/musicusa/ -------------------- Radio station owners-- You could approach the companies that own radio stations with your product and see if you have any success pitching it. Some of these companies are so huge and own so many stations that success with even one could mean success for your product. You could ask these companies for lists of their stations (some of them give complete listings on their websites and some do not), and from there you could approach the radio stations individually if you don't experience success with the overall company. Consolidation is rapidly occurring in the radio industry, so this is easier than in times past. An increasing number of radio stations across the US are owned by Clear Channel Communications. Here is a comprehensive list of the largest radio station owners: Radio Ink Companies Page http://www.radioink.com/companynews.asp Here are some other owners of large numbers of radio stations: In Canada: Standard Broadcasting Corporation http://www.standardradio.com/ Wikipedia entry on Standard Broadcasting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Broadcasting--includes a list of stations that SBC owns Standard is the largest privately owned multimedia company in Canada. Here is a portal they operate which connects to a huge group of Internet radio stations. http://www.standardinteractive.com/ They also operate Canada's largest Internet radio service, Iceberg Radio. http://www.icebergradio.com/ ----------------------- Milestone Radio http://www.milestoneradio.com/ Wikipedia-- Milestone Radio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milestone_Radio ----------------------- In America: Clear Channel Communications http://www.clearchannel.com/ Clear Channel's contact for radio is: Radio Sanda Coyle Phone: 1-210-822-2828 Email: [email protected] ------------------------ CBS Radio About CBS Radio http://www.cbsradio.com/about/index.php "CBS RADIO is one of the largest major-market radio operators in the United States, with stations covering news, alternative rock, country, FM talk, classic rock, oldies, JACK and urban formats, among others. A division of CBS Corporation, CBS RADIO operates 179 radio stations, the majority of which are in the nation's top 50 markets. The overall mix of each radio station's programming is designed to fit the station's specific format and serve its local community." Here is a list of their local stations: http://www.cbsradio.com/stations/index.php ------------------------ Radio One http://radio-one.com/ About Radio One: http://radio-one.com/about/ "Radio One, Inc. (www.radio-one.com) is the nation's seventh largest radio broadcasting company (based on 2005 net broadcast revenue) and the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African-American and urban listeners. Including announced acquisitions, Radio One owns and/or operates 71 radio stations located in 22 urban markets in the United States and reaches approximately 14 million listeners every week." Corporate Sales: Radio One, Inc. 5900 Princess Garden Parkway 7th Floor Lanham, MD 20706 301-306-1111 Corporate Sales [email protected] ------------------------ Cox Radio http://coxradio.com/ "Cox Radio, Inc. is one of the largest radio broadcasting companies in the United States based on revenues. Cox Radio, Inc. owns, operates or provides sales and marketing services to 80 stations in 18 markets. This radio portfolio includes 67 FM stations and 13 AM stations. In 15 of its 18 markets, Cox Radio, Inc. operates three or more stations." You could try this general information outlet to see who to approach with your program. Cox Radio, Inc. 6205 Peachtree Dunwoody Road Atlanta, GA 30328 phone: 678.645.0000 email: [email protected] ------------------------ Entercom Radio About Entercom Radio: http://www.entercom.com/pages/about.html "Entercom owns and operates a nationwide portfolio of radio stations. We operate multi-station operations with leading positions in virtually all of our markets, which includes many of the country?s top markets. These markets include Boston, Seattle, Denver, Sacramento, Portland, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Norfolk, Buffalo, Memphis, Providence, Greensboro, Rochester, Greenville/Spartanburg, Madison, Wichita, Wilkes- Barre/Scranton and Gainesville/Ocala . Entercom?s stations provide many different types of programming from oldies to rock, news/talk to country, smooth jazz to sports. In addition, the Company is the exclusive radio broadcaster of the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Sabres and numerous major college sports teams." Entercom Communications Corp. 401 City Avenue, Suite 809 Bala Cynwyd, Pa 19004 Phone: 610-660-5610 Fax: 610-660-5620 ------------------------ Univision Radio http://corporate.univision.com/corp/en/urg.jsp " Univision Radio today owns and/or operates 69 stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco/San Jose, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, McAllen/Brownsville/Harlingen, San Diego, El Paso, Phoenix, Fresno, Albuquerque and Las Vegas. Univision Radio also owns and operates 4 radio stations in Puerto Rico. Univision Radio's growth strategy has been to acquire English-language stations, mainly in the largest U.S. Hispanic markets, re-launching them as Spanish-language formatted stations. Including its affiliates, the Univision Radio network covers approximately 73% of the U.S. Hispanic population and has over 10 million listeners weekly." ------------------------ Bustos Media http://www.bustosmedia.com/ "Bustos Media is a Spanish-language radio company which owns and operates radio stations in the mid-size, but high growth, markets throughout the United States. Bustos also produces syndicated network formats, targeting US Hispanics which are now being carried by dozens of affiliated radio operators across the nation." Bustos lists the stations it owns on its website and the contacts for each group of stations. ------ Border Media Partners (BMP) http://www.bmpradio.com/ "Border Media Partners is the nation?s largest privately held Hispanic radio company. With 35 radio stations and growing, BMP Radio offers quality programming to our listeners and marketing results for our customers." --------------------------- Broadcasting associatons-- Broadcasting associations and their various industry conferences may help you gain more of an audience in this area. There is the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and there are also broadcasting associations in almost every state. All the broadcasting associations of every state are linked to on this page: College Broadcasting, Inc's list of possible scholarships http://www.askcbi.org/resources.php There is also the National Association of College Broadcasters. Here are some more associations to contact: Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) http://www.cab-acr.ca/ College Broadcasters, Inc. http://www.askcbi.org/ Canadian Society for Independent Radio Production http://www.firststage.ca/csirp/index.html --they have a newsletter called the Wavelength, which has new production and equipment ideas for broadcasters American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. http://www.awrt.org/ International Webcasting Association http://www.webcasters.org/ American Disc Jockey Association http://www.adja.org/ (for Canadians also) Canadian Disc Jockey Association http://www.cdja.org/ The CDJA has a publication called DJ Pulse. DJ Pulse http://www.cdja.org/Adrates.pdf Radio and music conferences-- Conferences can be a great way to sell a great product to an interested group of people. Thousands of people in the industry you want to target will be all in one place at one time, and an in-person advertisement or demonstration can be a great way to show off and sell your product to those who may want it. Here are some upcoming music and radio gatherings you could try to attend. NAB New York (National Association of Broadcasters) October 23-25, 2006 Javits Convention Center http://www.nabnewyork.com/ "The NAB New York event brings together suppliers of cutting-edge technologies and services for high-level production professionals in television, video, film, and web from the Northeast area. Attendees from news, corporate, government, sports and advertising industries will be looking for the latest in video, audio, HD production and post production products and services." --- National College Media Convention in St. Louis, Missouri http://www.studentpress.org/acp/ October 25-29, 2006 ---- Streaming Media West October 31-November 2, 2006 San Jose, CA San Jose McEnery Convention Center http://www.streamingmedia.com/west/ ---- National Assocation of Broadcasters November 12-14, 2006 ? Rome, Italy "The NAB European Radio Conference brings together radio broadcasters from around the world in a beautiful European city for an in depth look at hot radio issues and techniques and a chance to interact with international colleagues." http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Events1&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=5331 ---- Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Convention November 2006 in Vancouver, Canada http://www.cab-acr.ca/english/about/convention/default.shtm ---- SATCON the Satellite and Content Delivery Conference & Expo November 29-30, 2006 Jacob K. Javits Convention Center New York, NY http://www.satconexpo.com/ SATCON Marketplace: http://www.worldteleport.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=48 ---- Global Entertainment and Media Summit December 9 and 10, 2006, New York City http://www.globalentertainmentnetwork.com/ ---- College Broadcasting, Inc. Regional Conference Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California February 7-9, 2007 http://www.askcbi.org/events.php?id=129 ---- NAB 2007, by National Associaton of Broadcasters NAB2007 April 14 - 19, 2007 ? Las Vegas "The most comprehensive showcase of electronic media in the world, NAB2007 will bring together over 1,400 exhibiting companies and more than 105,000 attendees from 130 countries, making it Electronic Media's Essential Destination." http://www.nab.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Events1&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=57&ContentID=3713 http://www.nabshow.com/ ---- Streaming Media East 2007 Conference & Exhibition Streaming & Digital Media Solutions for the Business World May 14-16, 2007, Hilton Hotel, New York City http://www.streamingmedia.com/east/speakerinfo.asp ---- Canadian Music Week-- Official Site http://www.cmw.net/cmw2007/index.asp Wikipedia entry on Canadian Music Week http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Music_Week "Canada's largest annual entertainment event dedicated to the expression and growth of the country's music, media and entertainment industries." Music Week is an industry gathering/festival and concert held over four days in the spring in downtown Toronto. ---- National Association of Campus and Community Radio Stations Conference: June 2007 in Vancouver, BC, Canada This year's conference (June 2006) http://www.ncra.ca/conference/ ---- Unfortunately you just missed it for this year, but the International DJ Expo was just held in New Jersey in August 2006. Presumably, it will take place again next year at the same time. Here is the 2006 website: http://www.djtimes.com/djexpo/2006/index.htm Over 5,000 DJs attend. " Here?s Why ? Debut new products to a keen and targeted market ? Educate the DJ market on why your products are best ? Use the show as an R&D tool by learning the needs & wants of the DJ market ? Horizontally Expand your business into an established, but still fast-growing market ? Sell DJ equipment & supplies to an audience that is ready to buy ? Sponsor evening events to increase name-brand Recognition" ---- National Association of Broadcasters Radio Show September 2007 this year in Dallas--- http://www.nabradioshow.com/ Information for Exhibitors http://www.nabradioshow.com/exhibitors/default.asp "The NAB Radio Show® is the ultimate venue for connecting with Radio. There's no better place to interact one-on-one with thousands of radio professionals - from station management to CEOs, engineers to program directors. Put your technology presentations and product demos in front of the people who need them the most. The show floor provides an intimate environment that makes your solutions part of the education." --- Billboard Magazine lists a myriad of events on its website: List of Industry Events http://www.billboardevents.com/billboardevents/index.jsp --------------------------- Satellite radio-- XM and Sirius satellite radio are increasing their market share year to year in both the United States and Canada. XM has seven million subscribers and Sirius has three million. There is a third satellite radio company, Worldspace, which has recently begun service and operates in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Here is an interesting study on satellite radio: Radio Intelligence January 2006 http://www.rabmarketing.com/nmWebsite/public/RI_Satellitecs2.pdf XM Radio XM"s Programming Center and Corporate Headquarters - Washington, DC 1500 Eckington Place, NE Washington, DC 20002 Phone: 202-380-4000 Fax: 202-380-4500 Listener Care: 1-800-XM-RADIO (1-800-967-2346) Sales and Marketing Solutions - New York, New York 52 Vanderbilt Avenue Suite 510 New York, NY 10017 SIRIUS Contact page: http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=Page&cid=1019257316790 SIRIUS Satellite Radio 1221 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 ------------------------------- Market research reports-- Here are some research reports that require a subscription from the Radio Advertising Bureau. They may be helpful. Radio Advertising Bureau http://www.rab.com/public/media/factbook.cfm --------------------------------------- Lists of Radio Stations-- Here are some lists of radio stations that may be helpful: Texas Music Office -- South Texas stations http://www.governor.state.tx.us/divisions/music/directory/radio/radio.south.htm At the top of that page, there are links to all the other regions of Texas, and links to stations by genre as well-- a very helpful tool. The National Association of Campus and Community Radio Stations of Canada also releases a directory listing 225 campus and local stations. It's called the "NCRA Directory of Campus, Community and Non-Profit Radio in Canada." You can find a copy of it online here for either $75 or $150: http://www.ncra.ca/homefiles/Directory.html Most comprehensively, the Radio Journal offers a massive directory called the RadioBook. "This extensive radio station directory is considered the ultimate radio station reference guide, covering over 13,000 stations and nearly 400 radio markets in the U.S. & Canada. Nearly 900 pages in an 8.5" x 11" soft cover book." http://www.insideradio.com/radiodirectory.asp Inside Radio has a useful tool for searching stations by category here: 100000 Watts Radio and TV Directory http://www.insideradio.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.100000watts.com/ ------------------------------ European Union-- Additionally, for when you do move on to the EU, here are some radio associations that you might contact for information: # Community Radio Association (CRA) 15 Paternoster Row Sheffield S1 2BX # Independent Association of Radio Producers (IARP), 50 Lisson Street, London NW1 5DP. # Radio Academy, PO Box 452, London W1A 43Z. # Association of Independent Radio Companies (AIRC), Radio House, 46 Westbourne, Grove, London W2 5HS. Here are further links concerning satellite radio internationally: Worldspace http://www.worldspace.com/ Radio publications: Radio Magazine UK http://www.theradiomagazine.co.uk/ Here is a directory with an extensive listing of members of the Association for International Broadcasting throughout the world: http://www.aib.org.uk/ Sources: Hobson's Graduate Employment and Training Advice: DJs http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/media_radio Radio Industry Publications http://www.business.com/directory/media_and_entertainment/radio/reference/publications/ Webcasters.org list of upcoming events http://www.webcasters.org/ Wikipedia entry on disc jockey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_jockey DJ Associations and Publications http://www.dancemasters.net/public/djinfo/DJASSOC.HTM Search terms: marketing radio djs Radio Marketing Guide and Factbook for Advertisers bustos media Entercom Radio "border media partners" worldspace milestone radio canadian music week univision radio largest radio broadcasting companies radio industry publications namm college broadcasting association "international broadcasting" radio and records Canadian Society for Independent Radio Production radio industry vendor disc jockey publications new radio industry products disc jockey association If you need any additional help or clarification, please let me know with the "request for clarification" feature and I'll do all I can to help. Thanks! Cheers, --keystroke-ga