September 12, 2024 • 24 mins
For nearly 100 years, a Class A radio station with a 50kw signal which at night can be heard across multiple states and Canadian provinces has officially served listeners from Minneapolis. Now, ahead of its official October 2 centennial, Audacy is celebrating a century of service at WCCO-AM 830. To learn more about the continued importance of the AM radio station and the role it plays, Adam R Jacobson welcomes WCCO Brand Manager and Program Director Brad Lane to the InFOCUS Podcast, presented by dot.FM.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is the RBR TVBR in Focus Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Here's your host, Radio and Television Business Report Editor in
Chief Adam R. Jacobson.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello again, and welcome to the podcast, which is presented
by dot fm, streaming, social podcast or broadcast. Get a
dot fm domain ame by heading over to get dot
fm today. For nearly one hundred years, a class A
radio station with a fifty thousand watch signal, which at
night can be heard across multiple states in Canadian provinces,
has officially served listeners from Minneapolis now ahead of its
(00:40):
official October second centennial Odyssey is celebrating a century of
service at WCCO AMA thirty. To learn more about the
continued importance of the AM radio station of the role,
please we welcome brand manager and program director Brad Lane
to the in Focus Podcast. Hi, and congrats to you
and your team on one hundred years.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Brad, I appreciate it. Adam, thanks, it's good to be
with you.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You have a pretty special role overseeing the content for
heritage AM radio station that, during two periods of its
history was owned by CBS and from nineteen fifty two
to nineteen ninety two by the McNally and Murphy families Now.
You joined the station in April twenty twenty one after
serving as director of content for WTMJAMM Milwaukee, and for
(01:25):
twenty years until August twenty eighteen, you were associated with
Hubbard Radio in the Twin Cities. What does all of
that experience bring to your current position and how are
you able to guide a team of players that continues
to attract a meaningful audience a century after first signed
on the air.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I appreciate the question. I like to tell people it's
sort of a joke, but it's also the truth. This
is my third legacy AM radio station in a row,
in an era and a time when everybody says that
AM is dying. So I've sort of taken on challenges
in which most people would not have. I guess in
(02:05):
terms of making these stations. You know, the one word
that I would use in terms of what we what
our goal is on a daily basis is to continue
to be relevant. And so you know, when it comes
to WCCO specifically, or even in the other in the
case of WTMJ, good karma working in Milwaukee and my
(02:26):
time at Hubbard Radio at fifteen hundred, it's working with
dynamic personalities and making sure that we have influencers on
the air that people can connect with that and I
try to create fans. You know. It's one thing to
you know, whatever the platform, to be on an AM signal, FM,
to be streaming, to be on podcast, whatever such as
(02:49):
what you're doing. You know, the one thing that we
have to continue to do is build fans. And I
like to use that word. It's very different from just
having listeners. You know. The illustration is think to yourself
in terms of sports teams or you know, rock and
roll bands or whatever, they have fans. There's an investment there.
And what we want to create is an investment from
(03:11):
the people who are connecting with us, who are listening
to us, consuming our content, that they have an investment
in what we do. So I don't view you know,
whether it's an email or a phone call that says
why are you guys doing this or whatever. I view
that as an opportunity to connect with our fans, because
we want to create fans. Then we'll have that loyalty
(03:32):
and we'll be able to continue what we're doing and
to create that relevance that we've always wanted.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm also curious brad if your time at Radio OZ,
the pioneering kid focused operation that did what Radio Disney
then did, help in terms of formulating a sense of
leadership to u ce CEO today, I.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Wouldn't necessarily attribute anything to leadership. I would say creativity.
It's truly my time at Radio OZ was formative for
me in the fact that, you know, whether it was
character voices or bits or you know, it was truly
a challenge on an everyday basis. We'd like to think
(04:12):
of ourselves when I was at Radio OZ in terms
of like Top forty for kids, and I was the
voice of Ozzy the national the network character How's been going?
You know? And I would chime back and forth with him,
I would do parody voices of others. It was truly
just a wonderfully creative and challenging experience to be on
(04:35):
the air doing that. And it's really you know, I mean, yes,
I'm AD a heritage legacy news talk radio station, and
I've certainly been doing spoken word, you know, since nineteen
ninety eight. My first ten years were in music radio,
you know, these last twenty six years have been in
spoken word radio. But I think that that time really
(04:56):
was formative for me, just in terms of creativity. I still,
you know, right before I jumped on this call with you,
we were working on a promo called Electile Dysfunction, just
talking about the election and men having problems in the
voting booth. Just this, you know, having fun and I
think you know at times, so you know, we can
lose that aspect to show depth and range. Can we
(05:20):
be serious? Can we approach the breaking news of the
day with all seriousness and respect and with truth? Yes,
but can we also have some fun hold our listener's
hands as we, you know, navigate some of the most
relatable issues of the day, like you know, gas prices
or you know, going to the grocery store. You know,
(05:41):
one of our hosts going through the solo checkout line,
you know, having to do that sort of stuff. So
it all kind of forms into this one. I like
to call us the super target of radio. You know,
you can get it all here, and I want to
be sure that you know, from my days at Radio
OZ and from my day's doing spoken word radio, that
(06:01):
it's all a creative and yet a connective experience for
all of our fans.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I like the super target description because you certainly don't
want to be big lots right now or anything like
you know in the bargain base. When one tunes to WCCO,
they're going to hear Venita Socar and Morning Drive, Adam
and Georgana, the Chad Hartman Show, Drive Time with the Russia,
and at this time of the year in Minnesota Twins baseball.
(06:27):
Now outside of the Twin Cities, maybe I've heard of
Chad Hartman. I don't know any of these other people.
That doesn't matter. So what would you do if you
were to describe what WCCO means and sounds like to
anyone who not only has never tuned to the station,
but has never even been to Minneapolis or Saint Paul
or any of the cities and towns in between. Because
(06:49):
we understand it's not yet another conservative talk machine empowering
out that Maga chat twenty four to seven, right.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
That is correct. I remember distinctly because I've been a
part of those stations. In fact, my early days at
KSTP here in the Twin Cities over at fifteen hundred
and for Hubbard, we were a conservative talk radio station.
We had Rush, we had doctor Laura, Joe Souchiera, followed
Rush and was one of the highest rated local shows
(07:17):
to follow Rush Limbaughs. So we had Jason Lewis, So
we were a conservative bastion, you know there. I remember
distinctly my interview in terms of when I went over
to Milwaukee and the market manager at the time, Steve Wexler,
asked me the first question out of the gate, and
he said, can you build a great talk radio station
(07:39):
without it being partisan? Are ideologically driven? And I said yes,
And he said, well how do you do it? And
I said, you find personalities and hosts who are curious.
I think that it's the number one attribute of all
of our content contributors, be they producers, talk show hosts,
news people, you know, broadcast journalists. Curiosity. If we can
(08:02):
express a curiosity about the world in which we live
and listen, I tell all of my hosts, you know,
sometimes we get accused of being too left wing in
terms of the radio station. But as long as my
hosts are expressing their their organic curiosity about things, they
get to have a take on, you know, what they see,
(08:23):
and the filter and the lens with which they look
through and experience life. They just don't get to stop there.
You know, inviting calls and making sure that we are
a forum for discussion that we can all learn from
each other instead of you know, yelling at each other
or pounding our fist on the table and espousing one
(08:43):
opinion and that being it and then calling it a day,
that that's somehow great radio. I just don't subscribe to
that theory. So the personalities, the producers, everybody are challenged
in a way to say, look, you get to I mean,
it's that's human nature is to have a reaction, whether
it's to the debate the other night or to anything
else that's happening, inflation, immigration, whatever, you know, but you
(09:08):
just don't get to stop there. Get we need to
have a forum and a discussion and make sure that
we are you know, tate the word inclusive because it's
somehow cliche, but that we do want to be a
big tent and a big forum for talking about all
of the issues of the day, and that we do
so with a certain amount of respect and dignity for
(09:28):
those who disagree with us.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Now, being in the Twin Cities means that NPR is
a competitor for years in many ways, and canow is
also you know, a powerhouse when it comes to that
type of programming, But when it comes to traditional news
and talk, WCCO is certainly a regional media leader, not
just on the radio, but across the digital landscape. In
(09:55):
a way, you are attracting audience from the TV stations,
from the Star Tribune, which recently just rebranded itself to
be more of a Minnesota publication. Your streaming numbers are impressive.
So I mean, is it marketing? Is it promotion? Is
a word of mouth? Is it heritage? Is all of
that part of the recipe for the continued success of
(10:17):
this radio station.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
The short answer is yes, it's all of those things.
It's not just one answer. You know, there's no magic
bullet for trying to get our content out there and
to make sure Look, NPR does what they do. I
don't really you know, this may sound strange. I don't
really view them as a competitor. They do what they do,
(10:41):
and if people like that, I am not sure that
we're going to be the place for them. And in
many cases, you know, look, Nielsen is one platform or
one scoreboard. It's one metric for measurement. We view a
lot of different things. In fact, on a monthly basis.
I usually send to my shows and hosts their podc
cast numbers to tell them how their content is being
(11:04):
consumed on a time shifted level. Are they promoting it enough?
So it's all of those things. It's streaming, it's podcast,
it's you know, we want influencers and our personalities to
be a live and vibrant on social media, being out
there doing videos and whatnot, so they do their own
marketing to a certain extent. But you know, listen, I
don't really necessarily think we compete that much with MPR
(11:27):
as much as we're just competing with the attention of
fans and an audience that they've got constantly things that
are grabbing at their attention. You can get your news anywhere.
I mean I can get it on my phone. I
can wake up in the morning, I can have the
TV on, I can look at my phone, I can
look at my computer whatever. But to get it from
(11:48):
people who can give you perspective. And we pride ourselves
on the fact that ours is one of the only
NPR doesn't take phone calls. They don't get immediate feedback.
We've very much rely on to a large extent, especially
if we're doing the right content and we framed it
the right way. We very much rely on our fans
(12:09):
to give us feedback on how they think and what
they're thinking about the issues of the day. I'll give
you this one. It's sort of a joke with a punchline,
but it's something that I always tell my hosts in
terms of the content of the day and how to
think about it. If your trash man and your congressman
were to go on vacation in the same week, who
would you miss more? And the obvious answer a tough question.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Well, the obvious answer it's the trash man. Because you
don't have a daily or even a weekly interaction, much
less a yearly interaction with your congressman. You'd miss your
trash man because that's a part of daily life, that's
a part of you know, things that affect us on
a daily basis to a large extent. So don't forget
(12:55):
that and be grounded in terms of the things that
we talk about.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
We took a peek at the spring of nineteen eighty
five arbitron ratings for Minneapolis Saint Paul just to get
a little bit of the historical success of WCCO. The
radio station was number one and was listed with a
middle of the road format A lot of the full service,
big market AM radio stations at the time would mix
(13:23):
a little bit of the safe music with news and talk,
and it had a twenty two point five share. Now
we note that the number three station at the time
was Top forty ninety nine and a half WOL. The
number four station was Easy Listening wayl Good luck finding
someone who remembers those stations even existed. So talk about
(13:46):
a big change now. Getting a twenty two share today
would be a herculean achievement unless you were in Montreal,
given the evolution of audio in the Twin Cities and
digital media. But what from that time rings true today
for this WCCO brand and listener promise.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
It's an interesting question with really no answer because other
than just the brand that nothing is. I mean, it's
a very different era. Comparing them is is apples and
oranges to a time you know when radio when people
gathered around the radio. You know, they don't do that.
Nobody gathers around the radio for anything at this point.
(14:28):
You know, the most that I could even hope for
would be maybe a twins game. I've been doing, you know,
in you mentioned at the outset, you know, it is
our one hundred year anniversary, and I created one hundred moments,
the top one hundred moments, and they're not necessarily all
greatest moments. Sometimes they are, they're just significant moments. But
(14:48):
in doing so, you know, I've had to go back,
whether it's Pearl Harbor or JFK's assassination, you know, many times,
you know, a lot of the things that happened those
were I literally have audio of reporters being out on
the street in front of this building back in the forties,
fifties and sixties, where people were gathered around listening for
(15:10):
how President Kennedy was doing and whatnot. That just doesn't
happen anymore with this day and age, with our smartphones
and things of that nature. So the only comparative piece
is just that name, you know, News Talk eight three
to OHO WCCO. People remember listening to it in a
very different era. The personalities, but that, I would say,
(15:31):
that's the one connective pieces. When they think about WCCO
over the years and they start bringing up what they heard,
they remember personalities, Cedric Adams, Franklin Hobbs, you know, John Williams,
Boone and Ericson. I want that to be the case
for this era when it comes to Benita Sakar, when
(15:52):
it comes to Jason de Russia, Adam and Jordana. Chad
Hartman obviously has the great last name with his dad
Sid Hartman, but I want them to remember on a
daily basis if we create memorable content. But I want
this era to be memorable for the personalities and the
connection on a daily basis that we've made.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
To underscore the station's importance as a clear channel AM
radio station. It is only available in the FM dial
via k m n B FM one oh two point
nine HD two's digital multicast signal. Again, we talked about
this at the onset of the podcast. How vital is
the AM radio in every vehicle act to you to
(16:35):
odyssey to the Twin Cities and the surrounding region and
perhaps America. When it comes to simply keeping the audience informed.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It's crucial, obviously from a very rudimentary level for severe weather.
That's number one. WCCO made its name back in nineteen
sixty five. Again, I go back to some of those
one hundred moments before radar was really prevalent or available
to anybody. Charlie Boone and another host were basically finding
(17:08):
out about a huge tornado that was impacting the Twin
Cities by taking calls on the air and literally creating
a path of where that storm was going to be. Hey,
you're in badness heights. What did you see? Well, it
was going here, and they literally were able to create
you know, that urgency amongst the other fans who were listening.
(17:29):
Even with power outages and whatnot. You can listen to
AM radio on a transistor band. You can listen to
it obviously streaming on your phone. Now, if we relate
it to current times, so severe weather is one, breaking
news alerts and just significant news is the one. I mean,
there's no doubt that our numbers go up when there
(17:50):
is significant news to report. The assassination attempt on Trump,
the Biden, you know, coming out of the race, other
factors and things that have up. And that's just a
baseline level. But I would say, you know, to a
large extent, you know, the younger audience. I have a
twenty one year old and a sixteen year old. They
don't even know what the AM band is. They just
know what content is, but as long as it's available
(18:14):
in a car. You know, I just bought a new
jeep and I have a hard time finding the AM
band in there. So you know, WCCO is relevant obviously
not only to the cities, as you said, but also
to you know, outstate and to the five state area,
and to a large extent that might be all that
some folks have in rural parts of the country, and
(18:37):
we need to make sure that everybody has that option
to tune in am FM streaming. I live in a
world where my favorite word is and not or. I
think too many times we try to make choices and
point people in certain directions, and is the best word
in the English language. I think we need to keep
it all available for fans to interact with.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
And with a few minutes left on this podcast, I'm
wondering if you have any closing thoughts. Bread on radio
and you're part of the world. And again, it's continued
important in an age where we just hear so much
about digital media, luring so many AD dollars, so many listeners,
even for spoken word audio programming.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
When you talk about digital when you talk about AM
terrestrial whatever, those are all just distribution channels and platforms.
I am am wholly interested in content and if we
don't create great content, then it won't matter. Again, going
back to you know the fact that people can get
(19:41):
what they want where they want to a large extent.
You know, we talked about super target. You know, we
live in a specialized world, not only from the standpoint
of retail, but also when it comes to audio content,
video content, and all of those things. You know, again,
we try to be the super target of radio where
you can get everything here. You want news, we've got it.
(20:02):
You want weather, We've got it. But we also have
great personalities and I think that that is going to
win the day. Again, we have to do a good
job of you know, listen, I am the first to
admit that radio does not sell itself. We tell we're
hypocrites in some measure because we tell our advertisers and
our partners, you know, you have to advertise your business,
(20:24):
you know, it has to be on the radio, and
then we don't do a very good job of doing
that ourselves. Going to other media and saying, hey, we
need to promote ourselves in terms of who we are
and be able to control that narrative. But at the
end of the day. I think the bottom line is
if we don't have great personalities that create a connection,
(20:44):
that are influencers that are across all media, you know, social, digital,
you name it, the distribution points are going to be there.
But if we don't have sticky and influential personalities, it
won't matter.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
All right, Well, Brad, I won't try to get to
the Twin Cities at some point in my life.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Sure it's beautiful, right now, come on.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
So, I'm not even sure where Golden Valley, Minnesota is
compared to Minneapolis or Saint Paul, but that's where my
family is and former class made Shep Harris just spent
twelve years as mayor there and is now back in
law at Fredericson and Byron. So shout out to mister Harris.
Three great things rapid fire that make the Twin City
(21:27):
such a wonderful place to be.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Boy, you put me on the spot here. I think,
first and foremost, first and foremost the people. They are
just salt of the earth. I remember when I first
got here from Texas. Is not going to be rapid fire.
I'm a talk radio guy, but quickly I came from
Texas originally, and I thought that they were a little bit,
you know, kind of distant, but once you get to
know them, just salt of the earth people, they will
(21:52):
do anything for you. I think the weather can be
a plus. Most people are very off put by winters,
but we do have the four seasons, and summer is fantastic.
I'm looking out a window right now, it's going to
be eighty five. It's still summer technically, you know, until
September twenty first or twenty second. But we have amazing
summers and even the winter if you embrace it, if
(22:13):
you go out and do things, it can go by faster,
but you can also enjoy it for the snow and
the cold. Third is I think, you know, we're one
of the few that have all of the sports teams.
I think there is a vibrant both entertainment. You know,
when it comes to theater, sports, everything, there is something
(22:33):
always to do. We have a great lakes system, so
there's something always to do, whether it's inside or outside.
That will keep you moving and we'll keep your family
entertained and thriving.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
All right, Well, thank you again for being our guest
on this podcast. Brad Lane, brand manager and program director
at WCCO AM eight three to zero in Minneapolis, Saint
Paul and Odyssey Station. Again, a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate the opportunity, Adam, And
with that we.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Want to thank you for listening to this Radio and
Television Business Report and focused podcast which was presented by
dot fm, streaming the social podcast or broadcast to get
a dot fm domain name, but heading over to get
dot fm today, and remember you can follow this podcast
and subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts, Deezer, screak Er, iHeartRadio,
or wherever you prefer to consume your podcast. And be
(23:25):
sure to visit ourbr dot com each and every weekday
for the latest news from Washington, DC, Wall Street and
what's happening on your street from the Streamline Publishing headquarters
in Boca Raton, Florida. I am Adam R. Jacobson on
behalf of everyone at Radio Inc. And the Radio and
Television Business Report. Have a great day and we'll see
(23:46):
you next time.
This is the RBR TVBR in Focus Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Here's your host, Radio and Television Business Report Editor in
Chief Adam R. Jacobson.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello again, and welcome to the podcast, which is presented
by dot fm, streaming, social podcast or broadcast. Get a
dot fm domain ame by heading over to get dot
fm today. For nearly one hundred years, a class A
radio station with a fifty thousand watch signal, which at
night can be heard across multiple states in Canadian provinces,
has officially served listeners from Minneapolis now ahead of its
(00:40):
official October second centennial Odyssey is celebrating a century of
service at WCCO AMA thirty. To learn more about the
continued importance of the AM radio station of the role,
please we welcome brand manager and program director Brad Lane
to the in Focus Podcast. Hi, and congrats to you
and your team on one hundred years.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Brad, I appreciate it. Adam, thanks, it's good to be
with you.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You have a pretty special role overseeing the content for
heritage AM radio station that, during two periods of its
history was owned by CBS and from nineteen fifty two
to nineteen ninety two by the McNally and Murphy families Now.
You joined the station in April twenty twenty one after
serving as director of content for WTMJAMM Milwaukee, and for
(01:25):
twenty years until August twenty eighteen, you were associated with
Hubbard Radio in the Twin Cities. What does all of
that experience bring to your current position and how are
you able to guide a team of players that continues
to attract a meaningful audience a century after first signed
on the air.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
I appreciate the question. I like to tell people it's
sort of a joke, but it's also the truth. This
is my third legacy AM radio station in a row,
in an era and a time when everybody says that
AM is dying. So I've sort of taken on challenges
in which most people would not have. I guess in
(02:05):
terms of making these stations. You know, the one word
that I would use in terms of what we what
our goal is on a daily basis is to continue
to be relevant. And so you know, when it comes
to WCCO specifically, or even in the other in the
case of WTMJ, good karma working in Milwaukee and my
(02:26):
time at Hubbard Radio at fifteen hundred, it's working with
dynamic personalities and making sure that we have influencers on
the air that people can connect with that and I
try to create fans. You know. It's one thing to
you know, whatever the platform, to be on an AM signal, FM,
to be streaming, to be on podcast, whatever such as
(02:49):
what you're doing. You know, the one thing that we
have to continue to do is build fans. And I
like to use that word. It's very different from just
having listeners. You know. The illustration is think to yourself
in terms of sports teams or you know, rock and
roll bands or whatever, they have fans. There's an investment there.
And what we want to create is an investment from
(03:11):
the people who are connecting with us, who are listening
to us, consuming our content, that they have an investment
in what we do. So I don't view you know,
whether it's an email or a phone call that says
why are you guys doing this or whatever. I view
that as an opportunity to connect with our fans, because
we want to create fans. Then we'll have that loyalty
(03:32):
and we'll be able to continue what we're doing and
to create that relevance that we've always wanted.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm also curious brad if your time at Radio OZ,
the pioneering kid focused operation that did what Radio Disney
then did, help in terms of formulating a sense of
leadership to u ce CEO today, I.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Wouldn't necessarily attribute anything to leadership. I would say creativity.
It's truly my time at Radio OZ was formative for
me in the fact that, you know, whether it was
character voices or bits or you know, it was truly
a challenge on an everyday basis. We'd like to think
(04:12):
of ourselves when I was at Radio OZ in terms
of like Top forty for kids, and I was the
voice of Ozzy the national the network character How's been going?
You know? And I would chime back and forth with him,
I would do parody voices of others. It was truly
just a wonderfully creative and challenging experience to be on
(04:35):
the air doing that. And it's really you know, I mean, yes,
I'm AD a heritage legacy news talk radio station, and
I've certainly been doing spoken word, you know, since nineteen
ninety eight. My first ten years were in music radio,
you know, these last twenty six years have been in
spoken word radio. But I think that that time really
(04:56):
was formative for me, just in terms of creativity. I still,
you know, right before I jumped on this call with you,
we were working on a promo called Electile Dysfunction, just
talking about the election and men having problems in the
voting booth. Just this, you know, having fun and I
think you know at times, so you know, we can
lose that aspect to show depth and range. Can we
(05:20):
be serious? Can we approach the breaking news of the
day with all seriousness and respect and with truth? Yes,
but can we also have some fun hold our listener's
hands as we, you know, navigate some of the most
relatable issues of the day, like you know, gas prices
or you know, going to the grocery store. You know,
(05:41):
one of our hosts going through the solo checkout line,
you know, having to do that sort of stuff. So
it all kind of forms into this one. I like
to call us the super target of radio. You know,
you can get it all here, and I want to
be sure that you know, from my days at Radio
OZ and from my day's doing spoken word radio, that
(06:01):
it's all a creative and yet a connective experience for
all of our fans.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
I like the super target description because you certainly don't
want to be big lots right now or anything like
you know in the bargain base. When one tunes to WCCO,
they're going to hear Venita Socar and Morning Drive, Adam
and Georgana, the Chad Hartman Show, Drive Time with the Russia,
and at this time of the year in Minnesota Twins baseball.
(06:27):
Now outside of the Twin Cities, maybe I've heard of
Chad Hartman. I don't know any of these other people.
That doesn't matter. So what would you do if you
were to describe what WCCO means and sounds like to
anyone who not only has never tuned to the station,
but has never even been to Minneapolis or Saint Paul
or any of the cities and towns in between. Because
(06:49):
we understand it's not yet another conservative talk machine empowering
out that Maga chat twenty four to seven, right.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
That is correct. I remember distinctly because I've been a
part of those stations. In fact, my early days at
KSTP here in the Twin Cities over at fifteen hundred
and for Hubbard, we were a conservative talk radio station.
We had Rush, we had doctor Laura, Joe Souchiera, followed
Rush and was one of the highest rated local shows
(07:17):
to follow Rush Limbaughs. So we had Jason Lewis, So
we were a conservative bastion, you know there. I remember
distinctly my interview in terms of when I went over
to Milwaukee and the market manager at the time, Steve Wexler,
asked me the first question out of the gate, and
he said, can you build a great talk radio station
(07:39):
without it being partisan? Are ideologically driven? And I said yes,
And he said, well how do you do it? And
I said, you find personalities and hosts who are curious.
I think that it's the number one attribute of all
of our content contributors, be they producers, talk show hosts,
news people, you know, broadcast journalists. Curiosity. If we can
(08:02):
express a curiosity about the world in which we live
and listen, I tell all of my hosts, you know,
sometimes we get accused of being too left wing in
terms of the radio station. But as long as my
hosts are expressing their their organic curiosity about things, they
get to have a take on, you know, what they see,
(08:23):
and the filter and the lens with which they look
through and experience life. They just don't get to stop there.
You know, inviting calls and making sure that we are
a forum for discussion that we can all learn from
each other instead of you know, yelling at each other
or pounding our fist on the table and espousing one
(08:43):
opinion and that being it and then calling it a day,
that that's somehow great radio. I just don't subscribe to
that theory. So the personalities, the producers, everybody are challenged
in a way to say, look, you get to I mean,
it's that's human nature is to have a reaction, whether
it's to the debate the other night or to anything
else that's happening, inflation, immigration, whatever, you know, but you
(09:08):
just don't get to stop there. Get we need to
have a forum and a discussion and make sure that
we are you know, tate the word inclusive because it's
somehow cliche, but that we do want to be a
big tent and a big forum for talking about all
of the issues of the day, and that we do
so with a certain amount of respect and dignity for
(09:28):
those who disagree with us.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Now, being in the Twin Cities means that NPR is
a competitor for years in many ways, and canow is
also you know, a powerhouse when it comes to that
type of programming, But when it comes to traditional news
and talk, WCCO is certainly a regional media leader, not
just on the radio, but across the digital landscape. In
(09:55):
a way, you are attracting audience from the TV stations,
from the Star Tribune, which recently just rebranded itself to
be more of a Minnesota publication. Your streaming numbers are impressive.
So I mean, is it marketing? Is it promotion? Is
a word of mouth? Is it heritage? Is all of
that part of the recipe for the continued success of
(10:17):
this radio station.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
The short answer is yes, it's all of those things.
It's not just one answer. You know, there's no magic
bullet for trying to get our content out there and
to make sure Look, NPR does what they do. I
don't really you know, this may sound strange. I don't
really view them as a competitor. They do what they do,
(10:41):
and if people like that, I am not sure that
we're going to be the place for them. And in
many cases, you know, look, Nielsen is one platform or
one scoreboard. It's one metric for measurement. We view a
lot of different things. In fact, on a monthly basis.
I usually send to my shows and hosts their podc
cast numbers to tell them how their content is being
(11:04):
consumed on a time shifted level. Are they promoting it enough?
So it's all of those things. It's streaming, it's podcast,
it's you know, we want influencers and our personalities to
be a live and vibrant on social media, being out
there doing videos and whatnot, so they do their own
marketing to a certain extent. But you know, listen, I
don't really necessarily think we compete that much with MPR
(11:27):
as much as we're just competing with the attention of
fans and an audience that they've got constantly things that
are grabbing at their attention. You can get your news anywhere.
I mean I can get it on my phone. I
can wake up in the morning, I can have the
TV on, I can look at my phone, I can
look at my computer whatever. But to get it from
(11:48):
people who can give you perspective. And we pride ourselves
on the fact that ours is one of the only
NPR doesn't take phone calls. They don't get immediate feedback.
We've very much rely on to a large extent, especially
if we're doing the right content and we framed it
the right way. We very much rely on our fans
(12:09):
to give us feedback on how they think and what
they're thinking about the issues of the day. I'll give
you this one. It's sort of a joke with a punchline,
but it's something that I always tell my hosts in
terms of the content of the day and how to
think about it. If your trash man and your congressman
were to go on vacation in the same week, who
would you miss more? And the obvious answer a tough question.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Well, the obvious answer it's the trash man. Because you
don't have a daily or even a weekly interaction, much
less a yearly interaction with your congressman. You'd miss your
trash man because that's a part of daily life, that's
a part of you know, things that affect us on
a daily basis to a large extent. So don't forget
(12:55):
that and be grounded in terms of the things that
we talk about.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
We took a peek at the spring of nineteen eighty
five arbitron ratings for Minneapolis Saint Paul just to get
a little bit of the historical success of WCCO. The
radio station was number one and was listed with a
middle of the road format A lot of the full service,
big market AM radio stations at the time would mix
(13:23):
a little bit of the safe music with news and talk,
and it had a twenty two point five share. Now
we note that the number three station at the time
was Top forty ninety nine and a half WOL. The
number four station was Easy Listening wayl Good luck finding
someone who remembers those stations even existed. So talk about
(13:46):
a big change now. Getting a twenty two share today
would be a herculean achievement unless you were in Montreal,
given the evolution of audio in the Twin Cities and
digital media. But what from that time rings true today
for this WCCO brand and listener promise.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
It's an interesting question with really no answer because other
than just the brand that nothing is. I mean, it's
a very different era. Comparing them is is apples and
oranges to a time you know when radio when people
gathered around the radio. You know, they don't do that.
Nobody gathers around the radio for anything at this point.
(14:28):
You know, the most that I could even hope for
would be maybe a twins game. I've been doing, you know,
in you mentioned at the outset, you know, it is
our one hundred year anniversary, and I created one hundred moments,
the top one hundred moments, and they're not necessarily all
greatest moments. Sometimes they are, they're just significant moments. But
(14:48):
in doing so, you know, I've had to go back,
whether it's Pearl Harbor or JFK's assassination, you know, many times,
you know, a lot of the things that happened those
were I literally have audio of reporters being out on
the street in front of this building back in the forties,
fifties and sixties, where people were gathered around listening for
(15:10):
how President Kennedy was doing and whatnot. That just doesn't
happen anymore with this day and age, with our smartphones
and things of that nature. So the only comparative piece
is just that name, you know, News Talk eight three
to OHO WCCO. People remember listening to it in a
very different era. The personalities, but that, I would say,
(15:31):
that's the one connective pieces. When they think about WCCO
over the years and they start bringing up what they heard,
they remember personalities, Cedric Adams, Franklin Hobbs, you know, John Williams,
Boone and Ericson. I want that to be the case
for this era when it comes to Benita Sakar, when
(15:52):
it comes to Jason de Russia, Adam and Jordana. Chad
Hartman obviously has the great last name with his dad
Sid Hartman, but I want them to remember on a
daily basis if we create memorable content. But I want
this era to be memorable for the personalities and the
connection on a daily basis that we've made.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
To underscore the station's importance as a clear channel AM
radio station. It is only available in the FM dial
via k m n B FM one oh two point
nine HD two's digital multicast signal. Again, we talked about
this at the onset of the podcast. How vital is
the AM radio in every vehicle act to you to
(16:35):
odyssey to the Twin Cities and the surrounding region and
perhaps America. When it comes to simply keeping the audience informed.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It's crucial, obviously from a very rudimentary level for severe weather.
That's number one. WCCO made its name back in nineteen
sixty five. Again, I go back to some of those
one hundred moments before radar was really prevalent or available
to anybody. Charlie Boone and another host were basically finding
(17:08):
out about a huge tornado that was impacting the Twin
Cities by taking calls on the air and literally creating
a path of where that storm was going to be. Hey,
you're in badness heights. What did you see? Well, it
was going here, and they literally were able to create
you know, that urgency amongst the other fans who were listening.
(17:29):
Even with power outages and whatnot. You can listen to
AM radio on a transistor band. You can listen to
it obviously streaming on your phone. Now, if we relate
it to current times, so severe weather is one, breaking
news alerts and just significant news is the one. I mean,
there's no doubt that our numbers go up when there
(17:50):
is significant news to report. The assassination attempt on Trump,
the Biden, you know, coming out of the race, other
factors and things that have up. And that's just a
baseline level. But I would say, you know, to a
large extent, you know, the younger audience. I have a
twenty one year old and a sixteen year old. They
don't even know what the AM band is. They just
know what content is, but as long as it's available
(18:14):
in a car. You know, I just bought a new
jeep and I have a hard time finding the AM
band in there. So you know, WCCO is relevant obviously
not only to the cities, as you said, but also
to you know, outstate and to the five state area,
and to a large extent that might be all that
some folks have in rural parts of the country, and
(18:37):
we need to make sure that everybody has that option
to tune in am FM streaming. I live in a
world where my favorite word is and not or. I
think too many times we try to make choices and
point people in certain directions, and is the best word
in the English language. I think we need to keep
it all available for fans to interact with.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
And with a few minutes left on this podcast, I'm
wondering if you have any closing thoughts. Bread on radio
and you're part of the world. And again, it's continued
important in an age where we just hear so much
about digital media, luring so many AD dollars, so many listeners,
even for spoken word audio programming.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
When you talk about digital when you talk about AM
terrestrial whatever, those are all just distribution channels and platforms.
I am am wholly interested in content and if we
don't create great content, then it won't matter. Again, going
back to you know the fact that people can get
(19:41):
what they want where they want to a large extent.
You know, we talked about super target. You know, we
live in a specialized world, not only from the standpoint
of retail, but also when it comes to audio content,
video content, and all of those things. You know, again,
we try to be the super target of radio where
you can get everything here. You want news, we've got it.
(20:02):
You want weather, We've got it. But we also have
great personalities and I think that that is going to
win the day. Again, we have to do a good
job of you know, listen, I am the first to
admit that radio does not sell itself. We tell we're
hypocrites in some measure because we tell our advertisers and
our partners, you know, you have to advertise your business,
(20:24):
you know, it has to be on the radio, and
then we don't do a very good job of doing
that ourselves. Going to other media and saying, hey, we
need to promote ourselves in terms of who we are
and be able to control that narrative. But at the
end of the day. I think the bottom line is
if we don't have great personalities that create a connection,
(20:44):
that are influencers that are across all media, you know, social, digital,
you name it, the distribution points are going to be there.
But if we don't have sticky and influential personalities, it
won't matter.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
All right, Well, Brad, I won't try to get to
the Twin Cities at some point in my life.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Sure it's beautiful, right now, come on.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
So, I'm not even sure where Golden Valley, Minnesota is
compared to Minneapolis or Saint Paul, but that's where my
family is and former class made Shep Harris just spent
twelve years as mayor there and is now back in
law at Fredericson and Byron. So shout out to mister Harris.
Three great things rapid fire that make the Twin City
(21:27):
such a wonderful place to be.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Boy, you put me on the spot here. I think,
first and foremost, first and foremost the people. They are
just salt of the earth. I remember when I first
got here from Texas. Is not going to be rapid fire.
I'm a talk radio guy, but quickly I came from
Texas originally, and I thought that they were a little bit,
you know, kind of distant, but once you get to
know them, just salt of the earth people, they will
(21:52):
do anything for you. I think the weather can be
a plus. Most people are very off put by winters,
but we do have the four seasons, and summer is fantastic.
I'm looking out a window right now, it's going to
be eighty five. It's still summer technically, you know, until
September twenty first or twenty second. But we have amazing
summers and even the winter if you embrace it, if
(22:13):
you go out and do things, it can go by faster,
but you can also enjoy it for the snow and
the cold. Third is I think, you know, we're one
of the few that have all of the sports teams.
I think there is a vibrant both entertainment. You know,
when it comes to theater, sports, everything, there is something
(22:33):
always to do. We have a great lakes system, so
there's something always to do, whether it's inside or outside.
That will keep you moving and we'll keep your family
entertained and thriving.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
All right, Well, thank you again for being our guest
on this podcast. Brad Lane, brand manager and program director
at WCCO AM eight three to zero in Minneapolis, Saint
Paul and Odyssey Station. Again, a pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Hey, thanks a lot. I appreciate the opportunity, Adam, And
with that we.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Want to thank you for listening to this Radio and
Television Business Report and focused podcast which was presented by
dot fm, streaming the social podcast or broadcast to get
a dot fm domain name, but heading over to get
dot fm today, and remember you can follow this podcast
and subscribe to it on Apple Podcasts, Deezer, screak Er, iHeartRadio,
or wherever you prefer to consume your podcast. And be
(23:25):
sure to visit ourbr dot com each and every weekday
for the latest news from Washington, DC, Wall Street and
what's happening on your street from the Streamline Publishing headquarters
in Boca Raton, Florida. I am Adam R. Jacobson on
behalf of everyone at Radio Inc. And the Radio and
Television Business Report. Have a great day and we'll see
(23:46):
you next time.
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