As stated by the great band Rush, The Spirit of the Radio is basically the life force to our everyday. "Off on your way/ hit the open road/ There is magic at your fingers/ For the spirit ever lingers/ Undemanding contact/In your happy solitude." So music fills our day. And Utah's radio stations prove this.
I've discovered that Utahn's are HUGE Rush fans. 94.9 ZRock is pretty broad in it's coverage of rock. From Disturbed to Simple Plan to Rush, everything's there. That being said, the target audience is probably 18-35 white males. I base this off of my personal knowledge that the station is pretty broad, so I may even venture to say 45 year olds too depending on their preference of classic rock. The format is basically straight music and then a big chunk of commercials. Pretty smart actually because they,being the audience, get their fill and then they get a spot of ads. The ads were also pretty broad; concert ads, restaurant ads, I even heard a few ads about Thanksgiving Point and their Halloween festivities. One great example is of the new 20 acre corn maze. Don't remember where unfortunately, but it sounded like a lot of fun.
97.5 is also a rock station called the Blaze. Theirs is less broad though. It's more alternative and heavy rock centered more around bands like Tool, Puddle of Mudd, and Breaking Benjamin. Target audience is most likely 14-25 male. This one has a lot less advertising. A little more preferred in my opinion because then I get more of the loved music. The ads were also more specific. Like smoking shops, tattoo shops, the underbelly of SLC essentially. Successful at targeting the audience? Yes.
93.3 is KBUL, the local favorite country station. So basically, all the new country is covered like Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, etc. The target on this is VERY broad. 14-60 male and female. This one has a little bit too much advertising. REALLY odd format. Like, it's a surprise when they play 5 songs in a row. They advertise a lot! Yoasis, albums, and this Green Tea store in the mall just for examples.
The local sports radio, 1280 The Zone, is basically amazing. Formatted in the style of all great sports radio stations, big games are always covered. Especially the BYU games. Little advertising goes on during these games, but they make up for it when the games aren't on. They pack their station with ads when the games aren't on. Ultramax (a dietary supplement), Thermarest, Sleep Number beds, and other things all get their two cents in on The Zone. Pretty successful idea in that most people listen to sports radio on big game days. Like the World Series, big football games, etc.
KSL 1160 AM is like half news, half mormon tabernacle choir. NO JOKE. Kind of annoying to be honest because it's very intermittent and unspecified times. Somewhat interruptive, but it's okay because they make up for it with talk. Sean Hannity, Allen Colmes, Dr. Laura, all of them very professional, very opinionated people who are broadcasted on this station. And they also endorse products like virus protection software, herbal remedies are big with Dr. Laura, and get thin quick schemes. They also press their books a lot, Dr. Laura being a great example. The target audience on this is huge, I'd have to say 18+. It's targeted most of the time, but again, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is a bit deterring from the main theme.
***Radio is probably the most personal because there are actual personalities on the radio. The morning crew of any station is fun, comedic, and incredibly entertaining. And it's so personal because you can call in and talk to them. Music is key because it's basically our escape. EVERYONE LOVES MUSIC. Music is so broad in its offering that it can encite and subdue any emotion.
Talk radio was something I didn't understand until I was 13 when I listened with my dad in the mornings when he drove me to school 20 minutes away. I realized that opinions can be excessively one-sided. And I enjoyed that! I loved hearing opinions (may be why I'm going into print) and talk radio gave me that. So I think it's that since of actually hearing about others is what drives us to talk radio.
No comments:
Post a Comment