Sticking with the Texas theme, we asked Senior Account Manager Robert Reese from KPRC some questions about his station and their relationship with block programming.
1. What station do you represent? KPRC-AM
2. What Market are you in and what is the rank of this market? Houston, TX #6
3. What makes your station stand out in your market? Heritage Talk station (and oldest station in market)
4. What is your current position with your station? Senior Account Manager
5. What brought you to radio? Luck!
6. How long have you been with your station? 8 years
7. Are you the only person at the station that sells the ½ hour blocks? Yes
8. Are there other stations in your group that offer ½ hour blocks? If so which ones and if not why? limited on KTRH, though spaces are rare
9. Has your station ever sold out of block time? yes
10. Have you found that more direct response companies are looking to buy more time right now? yes
11. We hear all the time that ad revenue for all the major radio groups is falling. In what categories are you losing the most ad revenue? Auto
12. Have you seen the long form and other direct response advertisers pulling back due to the recession? no
13. In your experience what has long form media brought to your station. Has it been positive or negative? positive
14. What feedback have you received concerning the half hour programs that run on your station? Listeners like most
15. Are there certain topics of infomercials that you prefer to have on your station? Are there any topics that your station will not play no matter what? If so, what are they? Financial, real estate, and health are all great fits
16. If stations don’t currently sell ½ hours to clients like 2 Lights Media would you recommend that they add this form of programming to their stations? It is a great fit and revenue source for Talk/News
17. Do you find it easy to work with long form DR companies or are they more difficult? Quite easy and willing to help us
18. Do you think your listeners would prefer to have a different show each week? Absolutely
19. How does your station calculate rates for half hour blocks? Lost spot revenue dictates the base rate. Demand drives that rate.
20. Do you track your listenership through a service like Arbitron? And if so, have you seen an increase or decrease in listenership during 30 min blocks since they switched to the PPM? Flat
