An Open Letter To Ad Agencies From An Independent Station

It’s been a while since we’ve had a guest contributor write a piece for Barrett Sports Media. It’s why I reached out recently to Sandy Cohen. Sandy is the VP and Director of Sales for Union Broadcasting, an independent group that owns sports talk stations in Kansas City, Louisville, and Wichita.

Sandy is one of the many independent station operators whose success can be overlooked by national advertisers. Without multiple stations in a single market to offer them, agencies have a tendency to bypass the opportunity to work with stations like Sandy’s, even if those brands may be able to produce results for their clients.

Despite a heavy work schedule, Sandy made time to write this open letter to those agencies. Hopefully, this shines a light on the benefits of working with local broadcasters, the impact they can make in their markets, and how they can be of service to any advertiser aiming to grow their business.

Dear Advertising Agency,

Thank you for the opportunity to take a shot at earning your business. I appreciate the request for a proposal you sent to me. When I receive your RFP, my team and I are well-trained to build a marketing solution that will help you perform at the highest level on our radio stations and digital platform.

Each member of the sales team averages nearly 15 years working at our locally-owned company and we know what will benefit you and your client best while paying attention to your goals. We are one of a handful of local operators around the country. The opportunity to present to you on behalf of your client is a privilege and means a lot to me and my business partners. We have poured countless hours and money into our operation so we can compete with the large groups and earn your advertising partnerships. We approach our work differently because we are the decision-makers. We work quickly and effectively and do it with one goal in mind, to make it work for your client, for the long haul. We want you and your client to be a partner for many years to come, not four weeks in 4^th quarter.

So with this in mind, have you ever considered utilizing our locally owned sports radio stations and our digital platform differently than the traditional radio stations you are buying in the market? Your requests are cost per point or cost per thousand driven and do not typically offer us the opportunity to put our product and talent to work for your greatest benefit. Why not consider engaging with one of our personalities or one of their segment guests for an endorsement campaign or endorsement as part of your overall campaign?

Rarely does a personality have a better connection and ability to influence their audience, than one tied to sports radio. Consider these potential benefits we have for you and your client. In Kansas City for example, I have six local show hosts in primetime and evenings combined and each has many seasonal and regular segment guests that make their shows entertaining. These segment guests are professional football, baseball, basketball and soccer players, coaches and analysts. Our primetime show hosts are on radio four hours a day, five days a week minimum. Throughout the week, they host additional specialty radio shows, TV shows, are TV color commentators and analysts for some of our local teams, regularly podcast and use social media on all available platforms. They are heavily involved in our community, tied to charities, emcee many community events and speak to many different special interest groups. Each member of our Kansas City on-air team averages 16 years on my station. In Louisville, our hosts average nearly 10 years on the station, which is close to our inception in that market. The equity they have built with our audience is huge. Many leading sports radio stations around the country are no different than me and my team.

Consider Nate Bukaty and Steven St John, our morning show hosts in Kansas City. Nate has been with us since 2004, Steven since 1998. Kansas City afternoon host, Soren Petro is so knowledgeable and knows so much about sports. A well-respected journalist locally and nationally as he contributes to sports radio shows around the country as a segment guest year-round. All three are Kansas City natives, and currently have long-standing endorsement partnerships with car dealers, mortgage companies, window and garage coating companies, health clubs, jewelry stores, med spas, outdoor decking companies, home automation services, patio furniture stores and more. We have success story after success story where each of these sponsors can attribute sales to Sports Radio 810 and our hosts and the personality who is standing behind them.

The same holds true for all our Kansas City hosts, Bob Valvano and Drew Deener in Louisville and Shane Dennis in Wichita. Each are professional in their approach to entertain and understand that we need to perform for our sponsor partners to keep the machine running. A few success stories:

Steven St John has quite a personality and it sells product. Pajamagram has been a regular partner around the holidays several times throughout the year, partnering with Steven to sell the world’s softest pajamas. They track results and we consistently earn the highest sales result as compared to stations and personalities around the country.

Nate Bukaty has done a fabulous job positioning a local jewelry store, Joslin’s Jewelry as the place in Kansas City to shop for engagement rings and all jewelry including repairs at a fair price. They have been a partner of ours since inception in 1998.

Soren Petro has been Robert Brogden Buick GMC’s spokesperson since 2004. He tallies a running total of vehicles he and his co-host, producer and segment guests have purchased. Over 20 and counting in the last three years. All our station partners benefit from being members of this exclusive club. We make it a point to set up entertainment events where business owners can network together and oftentimes they want to support each other.

Now consider the passionate fan base that follows our sports teams that our hosts are covering this Fall. In Kansas City it’s our Chiefs and big 12 football, in Louisville it’s U of L and Kentucky football and in Wichita it’s the Chiefs and Cowboys until WSU basketball season kicks in. There is no better way to sell, market and brand your client’s product and services than on local sports radio. For a small additional talent fee, consider connecting with our audience on all levels, radio, digital and social, by signing on for a local personality endorsement as part of your campaign. Once you take that step I promise you will see greater results and increase your client’s sales.

We have a long list of successful local and regional businesses that have taken the steps to make a commitment to include a personality endorsement or segment-guest endorsement. I would be happy to share those details with you. And please consider affording us some credit to apply against your CPP’s and CPM’s when we are offering talent endorsement. You won’t be sorry and you will see the value in that extra credit.

We want to work with you for a very long time and so do our personalities. When you have that connection, you have something special. You are part of an exclusive club.

Sandy Cohen is the Vice President and Director of Sales for Union Broadcasting based in Kansas City. The company owns and operates 810 WHB in Kansas City, ESPN 680 and 93.9 The Ville in Louisville, and 92.3 The Fan in Wichita. To talk with him about this column or future business opportunities, reach him by email at SCohen@UnionBroadcasting.com.