Targeting underserved communities key to FM radio success

The ability to appeal to an underserved demographic will be key to the success of whatever station wins the single FM radio slot available in Toronto’s valuable radio market, broadcasting experts say. More than 20 companies and individuals are seeking a single available CRTC licence to operate on Toronto’s 88.1 FM radio frequency, which was vacated by CKLN, the Ryerson University radio station, after its licence was revoked last February for failing to comply with regulations and licence obligations. The formats of the companies’ proposed new stations vary widely from applicant to applicant. Newcap Inc. has proposed an adult music station while CBC/Radio-Canada has proposed to use the frequency to extend the reach of its local French-language station. A numbered company has also proposed a “spoken word talk and information format,” and Family FM Inc. has proposed a family-friendly station that would feature “songs with positive messages that deal with issues currently faced by families in Toronto.” A number of other applicants are also seeking to offer listeners music from a variety of different genres, including easy listening, jazz and blues, and international music. The commission has also received more than 3,200 interventions from members of the public supporting ot opposing those applications in advance of a May 7 hearing. David Bray, president of Bray and Partners Communications, said in an interview that no radio station format is guaranteed to succeed over another. He said there are broadcasters that do well or poorly in every format. “It’s not a question of you put on a format and you make money,” Bray said. “If it were just as simple as you put on sports and news, or adult contemporary, everyone would just do that and get rich.” In the Toronto FM market, Bray said, Rogers Communications Inc.’s CHFI-FM and BCE Inc.’s CHUM-FM do “very well” with an adult contemporary music format. CHFI tops the Toronto market with approximately 1.1 million listeners exposed to the station each day, and CHUM reaches a daily average of 850,000 listeners, according to BBM radio statistics gathered between November 2011 and February 2012. Carmela Laurignano, vice-president and manager at Evanov Radio Group (an Evanov Communications Inc. subsidiary), said most of the Toronto area radio formats are well-served by big broadcasters, and that the licence should be awarded to a station that appeals to an underserved demographic group. Laurignano said the 18-to-54 year-old demographic of listeners is “for the most part really well served” in the Toronto market. “I think the commission would look to add or enhance diversity,” she said. “It wouldn’t make sense to license something that is being served for those age demographics in the mainstream.” Dufferin Communications Inc., another Evanov Communications subsidiary, has applied to relocate its Proud FM station to the 88.1 MHz frequency to better serve Toronto’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Laurignano told The Wire Report that competition for the 88.1 MHz spot is fierce because Toronto is Canada’s largest market and available frequencies are scarce. The Toronto market leads the country in size with an “average daily universe” of 5.7 million people who could tune into any given stations, the BBM data showed. According to CRTC data, FM stations in the Toronto market earn more than those in any other market across the country. Toronto stations combined to earn nearly $172 million in 2010, including $116.6 million in local advertising and $52.4 million in national advertising sales, the commission’s commercial radio data says. Bray said individual ad spots in the Toronto market are sold for sums between $50 and $360. Stations in the Montreal market followed Toronto with a combined $133.6 million in revenues in 2010, including $61 million in local advertising sales and $68.8 million in national advertising sales, CRTC data show. Stations in the Vancouver market combined to reach $77.9 million in ad revenues, including $53.1 million in local sales and $23.8 million in national sales. Year-end data for 2011 is not yet available from the CRTC. Laurignano said the available 88.1 frequency could help a large company expand or a small, independent broadcaster that wants to get started or grow its business. She said there are no other available frequencies in the Toronto market and that the opening of the 88.1 FM frequency “created a gold rush, of sorts.” To obtain that coveted spot on the dial, applicants such as Channel Zero Inc. and Ottawa-based 101.9 DAWG FM, owned by independent broadcaster Torres Media Ottawa, have launched public advocacy campaigns to drive support for their proposed stations. On March 19, Channel Zero asked Torontonians to write comments into the CRTC in support of Biz88, its proposed all-business news channel. Cal Millar, president of CHCH TV, a news channel operating in Hamilton, Ont. and Toronto, said in an interview that the campaign has helped make CHCH news viewers aware of the company’s application with the CRTC. “It was about raising the profile and telling them that we wanted an all-business news station,” Millar said. “It was part of our overall promotional campaign, which will continue if we are successful in being granted the licence.” Millar agreed there is no particular successful radio format and said companies should look at what is in demand. “We focused on where we believe there is demand and we did some quantitative research and asked people if a particular format, business news, was appealing to them,” he said. Millar said adding another station to a market does not guarantee its success. “In a way, it just cannibalizes the existing audience for that kind of station,” he said. Ed Torres, CEO of Torres Media Ottawa, said in an interview that he did not know how much consideration the CRTC would give to public interventions supporting his licence to operate a jazz and blues music station. Bray said that he believes the CRTC will take note of the support from the campaigns, but that they are not a deciding factor in the allocation of frequency. “It neither wins you nor loses you the bid,” he said. He said part of the CRTC’s mandate is to appeal to diversity and to “afford the airwaves a diversity of services that will best work for the people of Toronto.” Torres said the commission should reward the FM licence to an applicant that would offer a music station format instead of talk radio, which would not contribute to the development of Canadian musical content. FM frequencies, he said, should be reserved for music. “There is a lot of AM spectrum available and it has proven itself to be a profitable place for talk radio stations to be," he said. news@thewirereport.ca

Targeting underserved communities key to FM radio success

Broadcast | April 11, 2012

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Targeting underserved communities key to FM radio success

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