BSM Writers
How Many Ads Should I Run?
“It is based on research and getting results. This formula helped me sell with confidence and it worked again, and again.”

Published
2 years agoon
By
Jeff Caves
How many Ads should I run?
Have you ever been asked that question?
Do you have a good answer?

I have heard a lot of answers over the years and mostly they adhere to the spray and pray philosophy in my opinion. At best, the schedules were successful for a certain station, but it was obvious that a one size fits all solution could not be applied to say 5 different stations in the same market. I was determined to get to the bottom of this equation and was fascinated that NOBODY had a scientific answer to that fundamental question.
Then I read the book Radio Advertisingâs Missing Ingredient.
Optimum Effective Scheduling, otherwise known as OES. It changed how I sold radio and I saw the power of how it worked for clients. I asked Pierre Bouvard of Cumulus Media about OES and what his involvement was in developing it. I remembered Pierre writing extensively about the subject when he was with Arbitron, now Nielsen, and had assumed he came up with it. Pierre, who now serves as Chief Insights Officer and research guru, told me it was the late Steve Marx’s idea.
âSteve invented OES during his days with NewCity Communications,” Pierre said, âand after the NAB approached him to write a book, he asked me to co-author it with him because I had been popularizing the formula.â
Thousands of copies of the book were in the hands of agency people, radio salespeople and managers. The formula was so popular that the scheduling function of Tapscan had a special OES tab that would quickly calculate how many ads you needed to run for a specific station/daypart, etc.

Marx began running the OES schedules on the NewCity-owned stations and the rest is history. Katz radio/tv reps and Westinghouse had all studied the issue of scheduling commercials before Marx but had not put it all together. Optimum Effective Scheduling is based on research that tries to correct the fact that the vast majority of radio schedules either contain too few commercials or theyâre spread over too long a period to generate enough frequency for a proper advertiser ROI. It still works today.
So, how does it work?
First, you must have some belief in Nielsen. For some of you, I realize you have just stopped reading this article.
Nielsen research isnât perfect. But, itâs the best we have and applying it here is for the clientâs best interest. I will be happy to provide more details about the fallacy behind GRPs, CPPs, average frequency and more, which are all identified in the book, but here is the simple formula. It provides schedules for light, medium and heavy situations. Here is the heavy formula for Grand Openings or clients with special offers that end âSunday!â:
M-Sun 6a-12m Station cume for broad target demo (A 25-54, A 18+)
divided by
average quarter hour persons
= Station turnover.
Station turnover
x 3.3 (Katz Radio/TV reps, NAB/Coleman research and Westinghouse developed this #)
= number of spots to run per week M-Sun 6a-12m with guaranteed equal daypart distribution
If you have a High impact campaign that is over a few weeks per month, then double the station turnover. For a regular image awareness campaign just run the station turnover number each week.
That is it.

Top 40 or ALL SPORTS stations will likely have a higher turnover rate than ALL Spanish or news/talk, so will require more spots. Think convenience store vs library traffic. In and out vs stays for hours. Most weekly schedules are between 30-50 commercials. It is a different way of selling schedules that is based on something. And I do not mean based on how many spots you are being asked to sell. It is based on research and getting results. This formula helped me sell with confidence and it worked again, and again. Just remember what Pierre and Steve wrote years ago: The schedule is inexpensive if it works, and real expensive if it fails.
If you want more details on OES, just send me an email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com.
Jeff Caves
Jeff Caves is a sales columnist for BSM working in radio, digital, hyper-local magazine, and sports sponsorship sales in DFW. He is credited with helping launch, build, and develop SPORTS RADIO The Ticket in Boise, Idaho, into the marketâs top sports radio station. During his 26 year stay at KTIK, Caves hosted drive time, programmed the station, and excelled as a top seller. You can reach him by email at jeffcaves54@gmail.com or find him on Twitter @jeffcaves.
BSM Writers
Keith Moreland’s Broadcasting Fills Void Left by MLB Career
“When I got through… I wanted to do something with my life and I get that same feeling with broadcasting.â

Published
8 mins agoon
May 25, 2022
Sports color analysts are more often than not former players. This has been a consistent norm across sports broadcasting at all levels. The analyst is there to add “color” to the play-by-play broadcaster’s metaphorical and verbal “drawing” of the game. For former MLB slugger and catcher, Keith Moreland, this was the surprise post-playing retirement career that has boosted him to a key figure in Austin media and national media alike.
Moreland played football and baseball at the University of Texas before making his way to the MLB for 12 years with key contributions to the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs in the 1980s.
Moreland reminisced on his decision to play baseball full time: “I thought I was going to be in the NFL, but Earl Campbell changed that. I had just played summer ball. We had won a championship and I missed the first few days of two-a-days. I hadn’t even had a physical yet and Iâm in a scrimmage. I stepped up to this freshman running back and as he ducked his shoulder, one of his feet hit my chest and the other hit my face mask and he kept on truckinâ. I got up and I thought ‘I could be a pretty good baseball player.’
So I told Coach Royal after practice I was going to focus on baseball and he asked ‘what took you so long? We were surprised you came back because we think you have a really good shot at playing professional baseball.'”
It was a good choice for Moreland. He was part of the 1973 College World Series winning Texas Longhorns baseball team. While at Texas Moreland hit .388 and became the all-time leader in hits for the College World Series. After being drafted by the Phillies in the 7th round of the 1975 draft, Moreland would go-on to play in the majors from 1978 to 1989.
âYou go your whole life trying to get to play professionally. When I got through my opportunity to play in the big leagues, I wanted to do something with my life and I get that same feeling with broadcasting.â
Broadcasting was not the original retirement plan for Moreland. He first tried his luck at coaching with his first stop being his alma mater as an assistant for the Longhorns. At the time, Bill Schoening (a Philadelphia native and Phillies fan), was the radio play-by-play broadcaster. Schoening made Moreland a go-to for a pre-game interview and convinced him to come on talk shows. Schoening even convinced Moreland to practice live broadcasting skills by taking a recorder to games and listening back to them to learn.
âBill was the guy who brought me onboard and I still have those tapes and I really learned from them, but I donât want anyone else to ever hear them!â Moreland adds with a chuckle on how far he has come in over 25 years of broadcasting.
Moreland has been a key part of University of Texas radio broadcasts for baseball since the 1990s and has catapulted that broadcast experience to Texas high school football, Longhorn football radio and television broadcasts, ESPN, the Little League World Series, the Chicago Cubs and more since hanging up his cleats and picking up a microphone.
While his playing days are well behind him, Moreland still takes the spirit of his professional athlete background to his broadcasting:
âIf you donât bring energy to your broadcast, somebody’s gonna turn the game on and wonder âwhatâs wrong? Are they losing the game?ââ, Moreland remarks, âSo you have to come prepared and with energy for the broadcasts.â
Karl Schoening
Karl Schoening is a features writer for BSM in addition to serving as a broadcaster for the Austin Spurs and University of Texas at San Antonio. Additionally, he has earned radio industry experience working for iHeart San Antonio where among his various roles he has contributed to Ticket 760. Karl can be found on Twitter @KSMedia13 or you can reach him by email at karl.schoening@gmail.com.
BSM Writers
Radio Partnerships With Offshore Sportsbooks Are Tempting
The rush to get sports betting advertising revenue offers an interesting risk to stations in states where the activity is illegal.

Published
23 hours agoon
May 24, 2022By
Jason Ence
As the wave of sports gambling continues to wash over the United States, marketing budgets soar and advertisements flood radio and television airwaves. Offers of huge sign-on bonuses, ârisk-freeâ wagers, and enhanced parlay odds seem to come from every direction as books like DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM fight over market share and battle one another for every new user they can possibly attract.
For those in states where sports betting is not yet legalizedâor may never beâit is frustrating to see these advertisements and know that you cannot get in the action. However, as with any vice, anybody determined to partake will find ways to do so. Offshore sports books are one of the biggest ways. Companies such as Bovada and BetOnline continue to thrive even as more state-based online wagering options become available to Americans.
While five statesâDelaware, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and New Yorkâhave passed laws making it illegal for offshore books to take action from their residents, using an offshore book is perfectly legal for the rest of the country. While there are hurdles involved with funding for some institutions, there is no law that prevents someone in one of those other 45 states from opening an account with Bovada and wagering on whatever sporting events they offer. The United States government has tried multiple times to go after them, citing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, and have failed at every step, with the World Trade Organization citing that doing so would violate international trade agreements.Â
While gambling is becoming more and more accepted every day, and more states look to reap the financial windfall that comes with it, the ethical decisions made take on even more importance. One of the tougher questions involved with the gambling arms race is how to handle offers from offshore books to advertise with radio stations in a state where sports betting is not legalized.
Multiple stations in states without legalized gambling, such as Texas and Florida, have partnerships with BetOnline to advertise their services. Radio stations can take advantage of these relationships in three main ways: commercials, on-air reads, and the stationâs websites. For example, Bovadaâs affiliate program allows for revenue sharing based on people clicking advertisements on a partnerâs website and signing up with a new deposit. This is also the case for podcasts, such as one in Kansas that advertises with Bovada despite sports gambling not being legal there until later in 2022.
People are going to gamble, and itâs legal to do so. In full disclosure, I myself have utilized Bovadaâs services for a number of years, even after online sports wagering became legal in my state of Indiana. As such, advertising a service that is legal within the state seems perfectly fine in the business sense, and I totally understand why a media entity would choose to accept an offer from an offshore book. However, there are two major factors that make it an ethical dilemma, neither of which can be ignored.
First, Americans may find it easy to deposit money with a book such as Bovada or BetOnline, but much more difficult to get their money back. While the UIGEA hasnât been successful in stopping these books from accepting money, it has made it difficultânear impossible, in factâfor American financial institutions to accept funds directly from these companies. Therefore, most payouts have to take place either via a courier service, with a check that can take weeks to arrive, or via a cryptocurrency payout. For those who are either unwilling or not tech-savvy enough to go this route, it means waiting sometimes up to a month to receive that money versus a couple days with a state-licensed service.
The other major concern is the lack of protections involved with gambling in a state where legislation has been passed. For example, the state of Indiana drew up laws and regulations for companies licensed to operate within its borders that included protections for how bets are graded, what changes can be made to lines and when they can take place, and how a âbad lineâ is handled. They also require a portion of the revenues be put towards resources for those dealing with gambling addiction or compulsion issues.
None of those safeguards exist with an offshore book. While the books have to adhere to certain regulations, itâs much more loosely enforced. Iâve lost track of the number of times a book like Bovada has made somewhat shady decisions on what bets to honor as âwinsâ, and how they handle wagers on what they deem to be âbad linesâ where they posted a mistake and users capitalized on it. Furthermore, not a single dime of the monies received go towards helping those dealing with addiction, and there are few steps taken by the offshore books to look for compulsive or addictive behaviors.
As states look to move sports betting out of the shadows, the decision whether to take advertising dollars from offshore books seems to be an even larger gray area than ever before. Although it is perfectly legal to accept these funds when offered, it feels unethical to do so. There are moral obligations tied to accepting the money involved, especially given the lack of regulations and safeguards for players in addition to the limited resources for those who find themselves stuck in a situation they may struggle to escape. While itâs possible to take steps to educate listeners on these pitfalls, it simply feels irresponsible to encourage people to utilize these services given the risks involved, and the lack of protections in place.
Jason Ence
Jason Ence resides in Louisville, KY and is fully invested in the sports betting space. Additionally, he covers Premier League and Serie A soccer, college football, and college basketball for ESPN Louisville 680 including serving as the station’s University of Kentucky correspondent, and co-host of the UK football and basketball post-game shows. He can be found on Twitter @JasonUK17 and reached by email at jason.ence17@gmail.com.
BSM Writers
Saban v. Jimbo Is WrestleMania for College Football Fans
Ryan Brown says the Nick Saban versus Jimbo Fisher feud is one made for pay-per-view and we have nearly five months to hype the match.

Published
23 hours agoon
May 24, 2022By
Ryan Brown
It was the day after I turned eleven that Hulk Hogan body slammed Andre âThe Giantâ. WrestleMania III filled 90,000 seats at the Pontiac Silverdome and the living room of one of the houses in my neighborhood. Real or fake, we didnât care. Three decades later, Nick Saban versus Jimbo Fisher is 100% real and it is coming to a living room near you.
I live in the capital city of SEC Country – Birmingham, Alabama. SEC football needs no additional drama here. You get a complete college football obsession at birth. That said, the October 8th Texas A&M visit to Alabama will be among the most anticipated regular season college football games both regionally and nationally.
One would think CBS will use their annual prime time date for that Saturday just as they did for last seasonâs Alabama at Texas A&M game, you know, when Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher were on speaking terms. Not knowing how the season will play out, it would be no surprise if ESPNâs College Gameday is in Tuscaloosa as well. While we are at it, letâs just cut to the 2024 chase and schedule a Presidential debate in Tuscaloosa that weekend, as well.
Not one person will be surprised if Alabama is undefeated and the top ranked team in the nation that week. The surprise, based on the rest of the Jimbo Fisher era, will be the Aggies being unbeaten. Their trip to Alabama comes at the end of a five game stretch that includes Appalachian State at home, Miami at home, Arkansas in Dallas and a road game at Mississippi State. Incidentally, the same Texas A&M team that was able to upset Alabama last season also managed to lose to Arkansas and Mississippi State.
Just the prospect of the two teams being unbeaten and highly ranked causes some to say this game would need no extra storylines. Shouldnât that, and being on CBS in prime time, be enough? The Saban-Fisher Feud already has people discussing this game nationally and Lee Corso hasnât even donned a body odor-filled mascot head yet.
I would like to project this game to deliver the largest TV audience of the regular season but I canât, for one reason: Iâm not certain it will be close. I think Alabama is that much better than Texas A&M. Thatâs why the build up will deliver a huge first half audience.
For perspective, in the 2021 regular season, the Alabama at Texas A&M game had the fifth largest TV audience, in a game that went down to the final play. The Ohio State at Michigan game had 15.8 million viewers on as part of FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff, almost double that of Alabama at Texas A&M on CBS in prime time.
That brings me to another misconception: big games have to be in prime time to get a big audience. Of the top ten largest college football audiences in the regular season and conference championship weekend, only half were prime time games. College football fans, and NFL fans for that matter, will find the best games no matter where they are placed.
So, back to Saban v. Fisher; why is it a bad thing? Would SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey prefer it not happen? Of course. Will it bring more attention to a game in the conference he oversees? I say, absolutely. Heck, my daily show is already selling t-shirts for the game. You may say âshameless plugâ, I say paying for my kidâs college. Tomato, tomahto.
This is what made “Mean” Gene Okerlund a household name in the 1980âs. He was the far too serious host that interviewed the wrestlers who challenged other wrestlers to a grudge match in exotic places like the Macon Coliseum and the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and the Dallas Sportatorium. Why did they do that? First, it was entertaining but, primarily, it sucked the viewer into making plans to view those matches.
I mean, if Ricky âThe Dragonâ Steamboat said he was going to rip the head off “Big” John Studd, was I going to miss that?
That was why a bunch of kids crowded into a living room in Anniston, Alabama in 1987 to watch WrestleMania III, The Main Event. I canât tell you who was on the undercard that night. The only wrestlers we cared about were Hulk Hogan and Andre âThe Giantâ.
Actually, my friend’s mom thought the Ultimate Warrior was âcute and had a great bodyâ. He wasnât on the card and I thought it was odd she told us that but she was footing the bill for the pay-per-view and had mixed the fruit punch Kool-Aid, so who am I to judge oneâs wanton desires?
Texas A&M at Alabama will be the SECâs main event this season and, if the cards fall right, it may be college footballâs main event. What happened between the two head coaches might not be the proudest moment in SEC history but it will bring more attention to that game. And, my word, we finally have a nano-second in which two prominent coaches werenât pre-programmed robots refusing to deviate from the script.
As amazing as WrestleMania III was for my childhood, it was scripted. The Tide and the Aggies will not be. College football remains one of the greatest values in sports. I pay very little to watch unscripted game after unscripted game. Truth is, you couldnât even script most of what we see on a college football Saturday.Â
Texas A&M at Alabama is already beyond what the most creative writers could imagine and that is why this fuel to the already smoldering fire adds to this game. Now, if Nick Saban will just try to bodyslam Jimbo Fisher, weâll have something.
Ryan Brown
Ryan Brown is a columnist for Barrett Sports Media, and a co-host of the popular sports audio/video show ‘The Next Round’ formerly known as JOX Roundtable, which previously aired on WJOX in Birmingham. You can find him on Twitter @RyanBrownLive and follow his show @NextRoundLive.