The Purposes Of Commercial Radio

“Commercial radio derives its operating budget from selling advertising.” [McDonald, Heather (2018). Commercial vs Non-Commercial Radio. Available: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/commercial-radio-versus-non-commercial-radio-2460809.] This is, perhaps, one of the things that make it so important: in order to be successful they must be able to sell things. One of the main purposes of commercial radio is to make money in order to be able to keep the station online. They do this by featuring adverts that are tailored to match the demographic that the radio station itself targets. For example, a commercial station that plays modern music from the charts will feature adverts aimed towards young adults, whereas a station that solely has guest speakers discussing the latest news – such as LBC – is less likely to market towards this target audience. Stations that do this can create a small but loyal fan base that will listen to the station frequently and hear the adverts they feature, subsequently helping the station to make money. Commercial radio stations with adverts that target particular demographics can be more genre specific in terms of music as, once a loyal group of listeners has developed, advertisers will be more keen on broadcasting their commercials through them. Seasonal events are a perfect way to bring together the loyal fans while generating money for the station at the same time. For example, Capital hosts their annual Summertime Ball and Jingle Bell Ball. Listeners have to pay for tickets, or win them; with entries into competitions costing a few pounds. Those who enter the competitions to win tickets are more likely to listen to the station more frequently in order to find out whether or not they won. Celebrity endorsement plays a key part in this as many people will only go to these events depending on who’s performing. Another way that commercial radio stations can generate money and increase listener interest is to run competitions such as ‘guess the sound’ or texting the station when a particular track is played. When incorrect answers for ‘guess the sound’ competitions are given, the prize money increases, which makes people more likely to want to enter in order to have a chance to win. Similarly, with competitions that require entrants to send a text, people are more likely to participate as it’s quick and easy to do. Entries usually cost around two pounds – including the standard network rate of the entrant – which most people will overlook as it simply gets added to their phone bill. The station will be able to make quite a lot of money from this because if a lot of people enter then the income generated can become quite large. The three rules of radio advertisement are: - To inform the listener of what the product is - To persuade the listener to buy the product - To sell the product