FINALLY! A Non-Traditional Radio Station that mid-Missourians LOVE Listening to!
In the fall of 2016, a radio station came into the mid-Missouri market and broke all the rules of traditional format and programming. And the best news is that local listeners welcomed it with open arms as the station continues to grow. And it’s not just Missouri! Across the country, listeners and advertisers are turning to this out-of-the-box format en masse…and loving it. What is it and why is it so popular?
Lite Rock on 98.3FM The Dove was introduced to the mid-Missouri market and provided listeners with an alternative to the typical radio station format. Format and song selection are key to attracting listeners. The Dove is a Lite Rock station featuring music that was at the top of the charts in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – music that listeners can sing along to by artists that are loved by nearly everyone: Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Jim Croce, The Beatles, Madonna, Paula Abdul, Elton John, Michael Bolton, Sting, and countless others. But the key to this format’s success is in more than just the music. The underlying reason listeners tune in to this station – and stay tuned in – is a stroke of programming genius.
Programming a station that is successful with both listeners and advertising requires a blend of science and art. Too often, advertising conversations focus on a station’s numbers…about finding the stations with the most listeners. While that’s not a bad strategy, it’s an incomplete understanding of the power of radio. Successful radio advertising is also about how those listeners engage with the station. Therein is the beauty and power of 98.3FM The Dove. Here’s a peek behind the curtain to see what’s making the station so successful for advertisers:
Limited Commercial Inventory
Listeners tune in to a radio station to hear music. Commercial breaks are an interruption to the music where advertisers count on a station fan hearing their message while they wait for the music to return. It’s no secret that listeners have a natural preference for less commercials and more music. The Dove gives them what they want…unabashedly!
98.3FM The Dove limits its commercial breaks to 60-seconds. After one minute, a listener knows they’ll be back to the reason they turned on the station to begin with…their favorite music. As a result, a business’ advertising message becomes a natural and fluid part of the format, rather than an annoying interruption. This promise, of never being more than 60-seconds away from your favorite music, is part of what has prompted the mass appeal of the station.
Time Spent Listening
98.3FM The Dove represents the best of programming genius. Because of the blend of inherently popular music along with the extremely limited commercial inventory, The Dove has extremely long time spent listening. Time spent listening, or TSL, is a measure of the length of time a listener keeps the station playing as they go about their day. Lite Rock stations, like the Dove, are chosen because of their trend across the country to amass very long TSL numbers, averaging 2-3x longer than their radio counterparts.
What that means for an advertiser is that your commercial messages achieve greater frequency faster than on any other format. Frequency is advertising gold! the more times a listener hears an ad, the more likely they are to remember and respond to the message. People tend to turn on stations like the Dove and keep them on throughout their day. As a result, commercial messages on the Dove achieve top-of-mind awareness more easily and listeners are more likely to remember them as they reach a buying decision.
Carpool Karaoke
98.3FM The Dove selects popular music from the 70’s, 80’s and 90s that nearly everyone knows and loves. It’s the music you sing along to in your car or walk through your house singing. It’s the music you get stuck in your head because the songs have staying power. They are “sticky” – meaning because of their success, they remain popular and have great memory recall. They’re the music that, if one person in the car starts singing, the next person can finish the chorus. Because of their mass appeal, they are also “safe” to listen to with family members and friends of all ages. You can be driving in your car with your children in the back seat and grandma in the front seat…and not worry about suggestive lyrics or cuss words. People are therefore more likely to turn the station on and leave it on all day.
Office Listening
In the same way as carpool karaoke works, so does office listening. The Dove boasts office and business listening for the same reason. It’s music that you can easily listen to while working. Because of the mass appeal of the music, offices full of people with diverse music tastes will hear a song they like on the station. For retail businesses, it’s a format that is easily turned on as background music for shoppers for a variety of reasons: the music is easy to listen to, there’s no worry that someone will find a song offensive, and the commercial breaks are brief. Again, at work or at home, people turn on the Dove and leave it on all day.
What is the DOVE?
The Dove’s resume of listeners looks like a who’s who of household buying decisions. With a base audience that is 65.4% female and 34.6% male, it reaches an important demographic of 35-64 adults with a composite household income of over 50K (57.9%). Additionally, 98.3 The Dove reaches 20 Mid–Missouri counties, including cities Columbia, Ashland, Fulton and Jefferson City. That, combined with the station’s promise to never break format for longer than 60-seconds unless it’s for community-related information like severe weather, breaking news, or public service announcements, gives our listeners and businesses an experience unmatched by any other radio station in the region.
We think, as an advertiser, you’ll join us in saying “I LOVE the Dove!”