Radio Disney Has Clout With Kids
Pete Schulberg
Portland Tribune
If there's any doubt who has the upper hand between parent and child, get a load of this statistic: Seventy-two percent of the audience for kid-oriented Radio Disney is listening to the station in the car.
That's major clout on wheels. Either that, or Mom and Dad are afraid to punch in their favorite station, fearing that the small fry in the back seat will hear bad language, naughty lyrics and newscasts filled with death and destruction.
"We're all about the music," says Pamela Herrold, station manager of KDZR (1640 AM), Portland's Radio Disney station and one of 60 Disney-owned stations across the country where Hilary Duff, Stacie Orrico, Aaron Carter and even Creed rule the airwaves.
"And we're not the theme park," she adds.
In other words, while the station obviously takes advantage of the Disney brand -- the programming originates from a studio at Disney World -- you're more likely to hear Britney Spears' latest hit than anything performed by Mickey Mouse or Snow White.
Or as the ubiquitous ads on the bus benches put it, "It's not kids' music. It's music kids like." True, it's broadcast on clarity-challenged AM radio -- Radio Disney is one of the few AM stations still playing music -- but the quality should be improved in two years when (like TV stations) the transition will be made to a digital signal.
Radio Disney's targeted demographic is the "tweener." That's the 8-14 age group, which accounts for $150 billion in purchases annually, according to Martin Lindstrom in his book "BRANDchild." Do the math and that comes to $150 a week per kid, Lindstrom says. Either allowances have mushroomed or the younger set has reached new levels in arm-twisting.
"It's the nag factor," says Herrold, who launched the station a year ago on Valentine's Day after serving as a marketing director for the Portland Entercom stations. "It's startling how much influence our kids have on adults' buying habits."
That's why McDonald's and Albertson's are advertisers on the station. There's even research out there indicating that by the age of 10 a child becomes loyal to a brand of automobile -- and that loyalty extends into adulthood.
Next to the tweeners, the second largest demographic listening to Radio Disney are the moms -- specifically, the moms driving the kids around. "The Radio Disney (adult) listener is pretty much the same in every market," Herrold says. "The average income is $75,000-plus. Both parents are educated and they're definitely parents that have disposable income with their child."
While there is no locally produced programming coming out of the station's tiny Southwest Portland studio -- except for commercials, promos and public service announcements -- KDZR sponsors events such as "Rock 'n' Recess" which goes into area schools each Friday with a show featuring young local performers (and no Mickey). The station also is a big booster of the Community Transitional School that serves more than 100 homeless children.
Because the Arbitron rating service only measures listeners from the age of 12 on, KDZR doesn't show up in the Portland radio ratings. But according to Herrold, the time-spent-listening for an average Radio Disney listener is three hours per day, and over the past six months, national listenership is up 18 percent.
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All I have to say about this...and sorry for being so firey tonight...
BURN RADIO "DISNEY". :fork:
:fork: :brick: :hurl: :brick: :hurl: :hammer:
:fork:
(well, minus that charity stuff.)
FOLKS - we've lost the focus to the buck.
Pete Schulberg
Portland Tribune
If there's any doubt who has the upper hand between parent and child, get a load of this statistic: Seventy-two percent of the audience for kid-oriented Radio Disney is listening to the station in the car.
That's major clout on wheels. Either that, or Mom and Dad are afraid to punch in their favorite station, fearing that the small fry in the back seat will hear bad language, naughty lyrics and newscasts filled with death and destruction.
"We're all about the music," says Pamela Herrold, station manager of KDZR (1640 AM), Portland's Radio Disney station and one of 60 Disney-owned stations across the country where Hilary Duff, Stacie Orrico, Aaron Carter and even Creed rule the airwaves.
"And we're not the theme park," she adds.
In other words, while the station obviously takes advantage of the Disney brand -- the programming originates from a studio at Disney World -- you're more likely to hear Britney Spears' latest hit than anything performed by Mickey Mouse or Snow White.
Or as the ubiquitous ads on the bus benches put it, "It's not kids' music. It's music kids like." True, it's broadcast on clarity-challenged AM radio -- Radio Disney is one of the few AM stations still playing music -- but the quality should be improved in two years when (like TV stations) the transition will be made to a digital signal.
Radio Disney's targeted demographic is the "tweener." That's the 8-14 age group, which accounts for $150 billion in purchases annually, according to Martin Lindstrom in his book "BRANDchild." Do the math and that comes to $150 a week per kid, Lindstrom says. Either allowances have mushroomed or the younger set has reached new levels in arm-twisting.
"It's the nag factor," says Herrold, who launched the station a year ago on Valentine's Day after serving as a marketing director for the Portland Entercom stations. "It's startling how much influence our kids have on adults' buying habits."
That's why McDonald's and Albertson's are advertisers on the station. There's even research out there indicating that by the age of 10 a child becomes loyal to a brand of automobile -- and that loyalty extends into adulthood.
Next to the tweeners, the second largest demographic listening to Radio Disney are the moms -- specifically, the moms driving the kids around. "The Radio Disney (adult) listener is pretty much the same in every market," Herrold says. "The average income is $75,000-plus. Both parents are educated and they're definitely parents that have disposable income with their child."
While there is no locally produced programming coming out of the station's tiny Southwest Portland studio -- except for commercials, promos and public service announcements -- KDZR sponsors events such as "Rock 'n' Recess" which goes into area schools each Friday with a show featuring young local performers (and no Mickey). The station also is a big booster of the Community Transitional School that serves more than 100 homeless children.
Because the Arbitron rating service only measures listeners from the age of 12 on, KDZR doesn't show up in the Portland radio ratings. But according to Herrold, the time-spent-listening for an average Radio Disney listener is three hours per day, and over the past six months, national listenership is up 18 percent.
______________________________________________
All I have to say about this...and sorry for being so firey tonight...
BURN RADIO "DISNEY". :fork:
:fork: :brick: :hurl: :brick: :hurl: :hammer:
:fork:(well, minus that charity stuff.)
FOLKS - we've lost the focus to the buck.
