The Listen At Work Battle

As the instructions inside the Arbitron diary show, ONE "at work" listener can more than equal TWO typical listeners in ANY other daypart!

In fact, ARB demonstrates to diary keepers how to draw a line across two dayparts -- so that one entry (as in the example) from a cume of one can actually equal 22 quarter hours of listening. That's the SAME in terms of average quarter hour shares as 22 different people, each listening for one-quarter hour.

In fact, in Arbitron's sample, WGXP's ONE diary mention equals more average quarter hour persons than the other four stations the listener wrote down COMBINED. So, if "at work" ISN'T "the war," it certainly IS the most significant battle in the ratings war.

The power of at work listening can be demonstrated by three words: CHR and Rush Limbaugh. The success of Rush demonstrates that if you can be clearly memorable and build loyalty in midday, you can do VERY well -- even on AM.

Listen At Lunch, The Picnic It Can Be

"Rush Room" lunchtime listening posts had a lot to do with the initial buzz the show created when it first launched in many markets. Ask yourself: Why would your listeners get together at lunchtime to listen to YOUR station?

And, the ups and downs of CHR, Rock and Country over the years as a viable Arbitron competitor, I submit, have as much to do with the fact that people simply don't listen to them at work at times in each format's life cycle as much as they do to AC, especially when each of those formats gets too edgy for mainstream/at work tastes (as they have to, what with rap, hip hop, twang and heavy metal music).

Actually, to win the Arbitron war, a radio station must win four battles:

1) The Morning Regularity Battle.

Your morning show must be "the best in town" so that people habitually come to it each day so that they "don't miss a thing." Morning is the cume magnet for the radio station. Time spent listening in morning drive is built by turning occasional listeners into "every day listeners."

2) The Listen At Work Battle.

This is where a station builds (or doesn't build) its average quarter hour audience. If every station in a market could merely get 90% of the people who already listen to the station in the morning to ALSO tune in at work, average persons using radio would increase by 30%!

That means everyone's ratings would go up. And, if you can do a BETTER job of converting YOUR listeners to "at work" listeners at the expense of a competitor, your average quarter hour audience will increase as theirs goes down.

3) The Radio is a Better Companion than TV "Afternoon and Evening" Battle.

4) The "Something Special" as an accompaniment to what you're doing Weekend Battle.

Win those four battles and your station WILL win "the war."

Work For Those At Work

And, since "at work" accounts for so many long listening spans for a successful radio station (as Soft AC demonstrates in many markets), it's quite possible for a station to do very well by focusing completely on "at work" listening.

Here's how:

1. Play the Most Music.

Music quantity, without too much talk or interruptions, is the #1 parameter in deciding the midday listening battle for a music station. Stop only twice an hour, if possible (five units per break are OK in this case).

Absolutely NEVER stop more than three times per hour, unless you are a full service information station. And, if that is what you are, you will do well in morning but NOT in midday.

Play "Long Music Sets" and "Solid Blocks of Back to Back Music." Remind the Midday Personality to stay disciplined and to self-edit all of their content.

2. Brand Station as the Official 'At Work' Station in Your Town.

End the Morning Show at 8:30. Start your first "Long Music Set" no later than 8:50 am.

Start an At Work Network Database. Keep a separate "Early Riser's Club" Database. Market to your At Work listeners with "Silent Contests" and station news tidbits as reasons to remain loyal and sample the morning show.

Build regularity into your mailings to the Morning Show Database and entice them to take your station to work with them.

Each Monday, the Morning show takes donuts or cinnamon rolls to a business that listens.

Every Friday, stage a "Free Lunch" promotion. Give a Pizza Lunch hosted by your Afternoon or Midday jock to businesses that listen.

Solicit FAX requests and collect the FAX numbers of businesses who FAX to you. Get their permission and FAX them 'reasons to listen' at least once per week.

Salute a workplace where they listen to your station once per hour from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm. Give coffee mugs or file cabinet magnets to businesses when they hear their name on the air and call in.

Pass these leads onto sales, so that these places also receive a personal visit (a friendly, soft sell is all that's required since you know they already like the station!) from a member of the staff. Leave behind station planning calendars or key rings during these visits.

Find out where your listeners do their "At Work" listening and BE at those places. For example, Boeing permits workers on the assembly line to use headset radios as ear protection. Market to a location like that, by riding the lunch wagons that call on it. Broadcast live from outside the parking lot of major employers or park and ride lots.

3. Build on your Database with At Work Telemarketing.

Buy a Dunn and Bradstreet or R.L. Polk business list. Call businesses and ask if they listen to a radio. If they do, find out who controls that radio and make it worth their while to try your station.

The best approach (even better than cash) is to ask their opinion. Invite them to "try" the station. Make an appointment to call them back and ask for suggestions. If they listened and liked what they heard, add them to your "at work" database and mail them a thank you letter from the station GM or midday personality.

4. Do a "Listen At Work" Direct Mail Campaign.

Send a flier to every business in town (often, this will yield more average quarter hours of listening than a full market mail campaign!). Offer to send their boss out of town (to Hawaii, on a cruise, etc.) and stage an office party for the winning office while he's away.

5. Make use of Arbitron's Language in all Liners.

Rewrite the "you count," "you're important," "when you're hearing," "at home," "at work", "in a car," verbiage directly out of the diary. Use it as you describe use of the radio station.

Do or Die Situation

Fortunately, though, At Work is a do or die matter for AC and other 'soft formats' because they get at least 60% of their Average Quarter Hours from at work listening in order to maximize their Mon-Sun, 6 am to midnight shares.

Formats like Country really only need to be certain that their own P-1 (heavy users) cume takes the station to work. This normally equates to about 35% of 12+ total week AQH.

Thus, though conventional wisdom might say that At Work Telemarketing, email, fax and direct mail tactics are only effective for Adult Contemporary and won't work for Country, the fact is that a Country station which isn't 'working' the 'at work' listening of their P-1's has lots of room to grow, making use of relatively inexpensive tactics.

Sample "AT WORK" Liners

WE KEEP YOU COMPANY AT WORK ALL DAY LONG WITH MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY ON CAT COUNTRY 93.7

CAT COUNTRY 93.7 PLAYING MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY FOR YOUR WORKDAY SO YOU CAN LISTEN LONGER

CAT COUNTRY 93.7 MAKES IT EASY TO LISTEN AT WORK ALL DAY LONG WITH MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY

CAT COUNTRY 93.7 PLAYING MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY TO MAKE YOUR WORKDAY FLY BY

YOU GET MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY DURING YOUR WORKDAY HERE! ON CAT COUNTRY 93.7

WE START YOUR WORKDAY EVERYDAY WITH 30-MINUTES OF THE BEST COUNTRY AND CONTINUE ALL DAY LONG ON CAT COUNTRY 93.7

YOU'RE WORKIN' AND WE'RE PLAYIN'.....ANOTHER 30-MINUTES OF THE BEST COUNTRY ON CAT COUNTRY 93.7

AT CAT COUNTRY 93.7 WE HARDLY EVER STOP THE MUSIC DURING YOUR WORKDAY SO YOU CAN LISTEN LONGER

WE'RE JUST DOIN' OUR JOB AND PLAYIN' MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY WHILE YOU WORK HERE ON CAT COUNTRY 93.7

WHILE YOU'RE WORKIN' WE'RE WORKIN' TO PLAY MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY ALL WORKDAY LONG ON CAT COUNTRY 93.7

WHEN YOU LISTEN AT WORK, YOU'RE PART OF THE CAT'S WORKFORCE. THANKS FOR LISTENING TO CAT COUNTRY 93.7

YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A MORE MUSIC WORKDAY ON YOUR LIVE AND LOCAL LISTEN AT WORK STATION. CAT COUNTRY 93.7

CAT COUNTRY 93.7's SPECIALTY? PLAYING 30-MINUTE MUSIC SWEEPS DURING YOUR WORKDAY AND ALL NIGHT TOO

OUT ON THE ROAD AS PART OF YOUR JOB? CAT COUNTRY 93.7 KEEPS YOU COMPANY WITH MORE OF THE BEST COUNTRY

For Afternoon Drive

IF YOU LISTENED AT WORK TODAY, REMEMBER OUR NAME, CAT COUNTRY 93.7

WHENEVER YOU LISTEN TO THE RADIO AT WORK, AND YOU HEAR THE BEST COUNTRY SONGS COME ON, YOU'RE LISTENING TO CAT COUNTRY 93.7

IF YOU'VE BEEN HEARING THE BEST COUNTRY ALL THROUGH YOUR WORKDAY, YOU MUST HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO CAT COUNTRY 93.7

For Morning Drive