800.275.2840 MORE NEWS» insideradio.com THE MOST TRUSTED NEWS IN RADIO TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 Translating HD Radio side channels into new revenue streams. Rarely a week goes by without a handful of new HD Radio-fed FM translators signing on. And with good reason. Broadcasters have found a range of uses for them, like filling format holes, rounding out a cluster, introducing niche brands and flanking competitors. For a modest investment a new revenue stream can be created at a time when full-market signals are scarce. “There’s real money there,” says Saga Communications CEO Ed Christian, who got to the translator party early. “One of our HD metro stations billed about a half million dollars last year, revenue that we would not have without it.” Of Saga’s 40 translators, more than a dozen simulcast HD Radio side channel programming. That’s brought new CHRs to Des Moines and Springfield, MA, and adult alternative to Asheville, NC and Ithaca, NY. Saga’s “Hits 94.3” W232BW in Springfield, MA made an impact by targeting students at Hampshire County’s five major colleges. “That’s been a door buster,” Saga EVP of operations Warren Lada says. “We’ve had tremendous response in the market.” Saga refers to them as HD metro stations because they target a market’s core region and work best in metros with compact geographies. “They’re not panaceas, they’re not grand-slam homeruns but they’re good solid doubles or triples in our markets,” Lada says. How the translator explosion is netting a new crop of clients. It’s rare to see an HD Radio-FM translator combo topping a ratings ranker — but not unprecedented. Cox Media Group’s urban “Power 106.1” W291CI launched in Jacksonville in January 2013. By February it was tied for No. 1 in 18-34. While it has since tailed off and is currently tied for seventh, it’s attracted a new group of listeners and advertisers to the Cox cluster. “It completes our portfolio by adding the African American audience,” says Bill Hendrich, market manager for Cox Media Group’s Jacksonville cluster. “We’re able to talk to businesses and compete on business that we couldn’t before.” Likewise, Saga has cultivated a new pool of advertisers in Asheville with adult alternative “98.1 The River” W251AO. “Clients on ‘The River’ are pretty much exclusive to that station,” Saga EVP of operations Warren Lada says. While Saga sells spots on its HD metro stations in combo with other stations, Lada says the company doesn’t use them as a sales incentive or as value added for other stations. CBS Radio-Baltimore market manager Bob Philips calls the sales approach for “New Country 106.1” W291BA a “concept sale.” Advertisers buy the country upstart not so much for its ratings but to get a larger share of voice. The station offers two-minute ad units, sponsorships, promotions, events, and other creative executions. The young-targeting, hit-driven country format fits the coverage area of W291BA, which penetrates country’s hot zips. Philips’ goal is modest: he’d like to get 1.5 to 2.0 shares out of the station. Strategically, it’s helping bring younger listeners to the CBS cluster, which is home to AC, hot AC and sports stations. Conveying a clear ‘metro station’ signal to marketers. Coverage areas for HD-fed FM translators vary from market to market. In a best case scenario, a 250-watt translator broadcasting at 900 feet will provide about as much coverage as a Class A stick. Their smaller signal contours and longer call signs have made marketing HD-translator combos sometimes challenging for operators, something compounded by competitors that are quick to point out their shortcomings to advertisers. Translator operators say one way to diffuse client concerns is to take them for a drive. “We had to educate the buying market,” [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 1 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 says Bill Hendrich, market manager of radio for Cox Media Group-Jacksonville. “It finally came down to, ‘Just get in your car and hit the seek button’.” Another obstacle was the stations weren’t showing up in the buying systems used by agencies and rep firms for national buys. That required some additional education and re-coding of the translators in buying platforms. Translators breathe new life into HD Radio. The FM translator explosion has, in some cases, increased programming diversity by bringing new formats to market. It’s unlikely anyone would use a full signal FM to bring comedy to Denver or adult alternative to Ithaca, NY. But as home to Cornell University and Ithaca College, in the heart of a thriving wine-producing region, “96.7 The Vine” W244CZ made sense for Saga. IHeartMedia has aggressively launched HD-fed translators to spread its modern rock “Alt” brand to Sacramento, Tampa, Minneapolis, Nashville and other markets. CBS Radio uses the trusty combo to keep the heritage alternative WHFS brand alive in Baltimore and to give the market a second country station. “It gives you a way to fill a niche, create a new format or delve into some music that typically isn’t mass appeal enough for a full FM signal,” CBS Radio-Baltimore market manager Bob Philips says. He and others see it as a way to jump-start HD Radio. “It gives you a gauge of what response you’re going to get from certain niche formats, as the HD radios become more prevalent in cars,” he says. “It will create new opportunities and lead to some new successes, formatically, in radio.” Saga CEO Ed Christian agrees. “Because digital radio is still in a growth mode with a limited number of receivers in the market, the metro stations are another way for people to become exposed to the remarkable qualities of HD Radio.” Cox Media Group VP/market manager Bill Hendrich says FM translators are also helping radio innovate. “I hope we get credit from the regulators,” he says. “It’s allowing formats to hit the market that might not have otherwise.” Scripps CEO says company won’t become a radio consolidator. The new E.W. Scripps Company will be a radio-TV operator after its merger with Journal Communications is complete and the newspapers are spun off into their own unit. Scripps CEO Rich Boehne says he’s happy to the company is back into radio for the first time since the 1990s, but he doesn’t see it growing far beyond the stations Journal already owns. “I wouldn’t expect us to be some big radio consolidator in the future, but at least for now this is a good group, very locally focused, and we’re going to hang onto it,” Boehne said yesterday. He told the Noble Financial Group conference in Port St. Luice, FL that he likes how Journal has been managing the radio business, acknowledging it is profitable and brings good cash flow margins to the table. Journal has focused on owning radio clusters in cities where it also owns television stations and Boehne expects that to be Scripps’ game plan as well. “It’s a strategy to go deeper in markets you like — which we agree with,” he said. Based on current estimates, radio will contribute 4% of the new Scripps profits. The combined company will own 34 television stations and Boehne said they’re also in no hurry to grow that number either. “We’re acquirers out of offense, not defense,” he told the crowd of investors. The FCC has already approved the two companies’ merger although Journal and Scripps shareholders still need to give their blessing. The sale is expected to close by mid-year. Coleman analysis shows little lifecycle difference for online and broadcast hits. For decades radio researchers have worked to figure out the secrets of a hit record’s lifecycle. New research shows that programmers are pretty close to the answer, at least on the timeline. When listeners are put in control on services like Spotify, Coleman Insights says how listeners use the products is remarkably similar to what broadcasters are putting on the airwaves. There are slight variations, but Coleman says it turns out the life cycle of a hit record is pretty standard. A song grows in the first eight weeks, and typically hits a peak at between nine and 20 weeks old. After that, songs begin to slide down the charts. Coleman bases the findings on a six month analysis of Billboard chart data for both airplay and on-demand services. “On-demand’s curve leads radio’s curve, but the difference is measured in days, not weeks,” Coleman concludes. There are exceptions on the list of 45 songs it examined. Maroon 5’s “Maps” was made a hit on the back of more quickly ramping broadcast radio airplay, while Meghan Trainer’s “All About That Bass” caught fire more quickly on streaming services. And then there are those songs that just linger on-air and on-demand, such as One Republic’s “Counting Stars” and Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse.” Both showed more chart staying power than the typical hit record. [email protected] | 800.275.2840 PG 2 NEWS insideradio.com TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 Hackers shut down Michigan station. For the second time in three months a small market radio station has been silenced by a hacker. The latest incident occurred outside Kalamazoo, MI where adult standards WAKV, Otsego, MI (980) had its computers held hostage with the hackers demanding cash.