It costs millions of dollars, you’re starting from zero, and it could take years to see daylight.  Is a new FM Talk station worth the trouble?

No static at all

There are a number of very successful news and information stations on FM.   Public radio stations are the highest rated news/talk stations in their respective markets.  Some commercial talk stations have successfully made the transition from AM to FM. WIBC/Indianapolis, KIRO/Seattle, and KMBZ/Kansas City are examples of legacy news/talk brands that shifted its programming off of the AM station and on to FM.  All three stations modified their existing shows to match the audience that is punching around the FM dial.  The heavy emphasis on political topics was dropped in favor of local issues and lifestyle topics. Take a look at the websites of KIRO and KMBZ.  They don’t look anything like their AM ancestors.

Brands are the most valuable currency in radio.  A station’s brand tells you exactly what to expect when you tune in.  A well known brand has a much better chance of succeeding in an environment where its unfamiliar, like a news/talk station on FM.

An FM news/talk startup faces a significant uphill climb.  I know this from experience, because I spent a year trying to establish an all-news (later news/talk) station on 101.1 FM in Chicago.

FM News 101.1, as it was called, was one of four FM stations to adopt a fully live and local all-news format between 2011 and 2012.  After years of running away from the format, broadcasters both large and small jumped into FM news and talk in a big way.  There were a couple of reasons.

1- In 2008, the method of ratings measurement switched from diaries to a small wearable transponder called the Portable People Meter.  Instead of relying on panelists trying to remember what stations they listened to and for how long, the Meter was supposed to accurately measure radio listening by detecting an inaudible tone encoded inside the signal.  The early returns found that stations with “appointments,” like service elements at set times, did really well.  The all-news format is loaded with appointments.  Traffic and weather together on the 8’s, Sports at :15 past the hour.  News on the hour and half hour. If you missed one traffic report, the next one is nine minutes away.  Might as well listen (and boost that station’s TSL).  All-news looked like a format that worked really well in PPM.

2- WTOP in Washington DC became the highest billing radio station in America.  In 2011, WTOP dethroned WFAN in New York as the radio station that made the most money. WTOP was an AM station that successfully made the transition to FM.  In addition to looking like a ratings winner, an all-news station that’s exposed to the younger audiences that listen to the FM band would ring the cash register.

3- Since people are always channel surfing on FM, listeners would punch around, get their news/traffic/weather fix from the FM News station, and move on.

All of those assumptions looked good on paper, but they didn’t stand up under real world conditions.

In the September 2011 ratings period, FM News 101.1 attracted .2 percent of the audience. It never got higher than a .5 before the station changed formats in July of 2012.  What happened?  I have a couple of theories.

1- There was no brand.  When you think of news in Chicago, you think of the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, TV stations, WBBM Radio, WGN Radio, or WBEZ.   An FM news or talk startup needs to answer the question “who are you, and why should you be taken seriously?” Brands take time to build.

2- We were starting from zero.  FM News replaced Q101, an alternative rock station that had been on the air since 1992.  Not a single, solitary Q101 listener was going to stick around to listen to the newspeople who were replacing their favorite music.

3- FM = Music.  The audience is still conditioned to hearing music when they punch around the FM dial.  People assume that when they hear speaking, they are hearing a commercial.   A listener can identify “Uptown Funk” in less than two seconds.  The FM news/talk station requires a greater investment of the listener’s time.

4- It didn’t pop.  As I was driving around Chicago during FM News’ first weekend on the air, I noticed that something was missing.  The newscast was fine.  There was good writing and soundbites from all over Chicago and the world.  What was missing?  I don’t think we fully took advantage of the sound quality of FM.  It needed more natural sound.  More in-person interviews.  More distinct audio that would have made someone stop and listen. FM News was on the old Westinghouse all-news clock of re-setting every 20 minutes (“You give us 22 minutes, we’ll give you the world!”).

Every “cycle” began with a 10 minute newscast.  After a one minute commercial break, there was traffic, weather, and sports, and a five minute newscast.  The back end of the 20 minute cycle could have been the opportunity for an interview.  We could have filled out the second half of the 10 minute newscast with an in-depth produced piece that included lots of natural sound.

5- Listeners are creatures of habit.  Once someone establishes a media routine, it takes an act of God to get them to change.  There’s a great anecdote in Henry Bushkin’s book about his most famous client, Johnny Carson.  In 1980, Carson was in the middle of a bidding war between NBC, his home since 1962, and ABC.  ABC was promising the world:  more money, more days off, ownership of his own show, and seed money for his own production company.  It was an amazing offer that would have been difficult to match.  NBC did match ABC’s offer, and Carson didn’t know what to do.  Bushkin, in search of advice, turned to Lew Wasserman, who was the most powerful man in Hollywood.  Wasserman’s advice was simple: “viewer habits, once established, are difficult to change.”

Johnny stayed at NBC.

If Johnny Carson couldn’t get people to change the channel, then getting listeners in Chicago to switch from WBBM to WIQI bordered on impossible.

That being said, I’m a firm believer that if given enough time, people will come. Employees and owners have to enter into such a challenge by promising to not look at ratings or revenue for three years.  Instead, use that time to focus on the product.  Make sure the station is technically proficient.  Make sure the news is well written with many stories that can’t be found anywhere else.  Work with talk show hosts so that topics are presented in a way that is relevant to the audience.

If you act like your station is getting ratings, then eventually ratings will come.  A radio station that consistently executes on a high level will attract an audience.

Knowing that it takes a long time to build an audience, here are some things a startup talk station can do.

1- Tell people who you are and what you do.  Radio stations are run by radio people, and radio people tend to see the world as radio people.  Our first instinct is to run down the potential competition.  But if you’re the new kid in town, you should probably introduce yourself and explain what you bring to the party.  The initial FM News publicity campaign should have exclusively focused on service elements:  traffic is at this time, we have a team of entertainment reporters who air at this time, etc.  People are more likely to listen to the radio station if they know how to use the radio station.

2- Website, website, website.  The website is just as important as the on-air product.  Too often in radio, the website is just another brochure.  All shows and news reports should be available as a podcast.  Got a producer who wants to get on the air but just isn’t ready? Give ’em a podcast.  The website gets exclusive content, and the producer gets the opportunity to practice his or her craft.

3- Social media, social media, social media.  The Facebook and Twitter accounts should be living, breathing entities.  There’s a breaking story, tune in now!  Here’s what we’re talking about!  What do you think about x?  There should be a new post every hour.

4- Promote, promote, promote.  FM News had two sets of billboards.  One had a light that said LIGHT’S ON, NEWS IS ON.  The theory is that whenever the light was on, a newscast was underway.  Here’s the problem, in order to protect aircraft, the light couldn’t be too bright.  The light was only visible at night.  The light couldn’t be seen during the day, so it was just confusing.  The second wave of billboards featured former governor Rod Blagojevich.  Neither explained what the radio station actually did.

On top of billboards and TV commercials, personalities should appear at every neighborhood festival, fun fair, and clambake in the city of license.  All you need is a van, a tent, a table, and some promotions interns.  Shake a listener’s hand, and they will tell their friends about the nice person from the radio that they met.

Is it hard work?  Yes.  Is it an incredible risk?  Yes.  But the media landscape is full of success stories that started slow.  They finally made it because their creators were either rich enough, stubborn enough, or crazy enough to stick with it.

Talk radio deserves no less.