I have worked in small market radio going all the way back to 1973. After 8 years I went to work for SWBT which was one of the Bell Operating Companies and went over to AT&T at Divestiture. Out nearly 30 years, I was given a retirement option from ATT and took it. After 6 years of various jobs, owning a business brokerage etc. I couldn't take it anymore. In 2011 I returned to small market radio and am loving it. Every station has different policies on the way they do business. Some stations are Program Directed and others will play whatever they can sell. Most are somewhere in the middle.
My question today is about Contracts and Rate Cards.
I have worked for stations where everything HAD to be written, dated, signed, etc.
I have worked for stations that produced written rate cards and nothing was allowed off card.
Others allowed verbal order and would take whatever the salesperson could negotiate.
Just curious in your station today, how does yours operate? How often do you change rates?
Do you place Effective Dates on your ratecards? How long will you allow a TFN client (if you allow them) to remain on the old rate before moving them to the new card.
Thanks very much for your response. I am in a very small market and suspect that things might be very different based on market size.
Oh, one more thought.
What is your base 30 second ad rate.
What is your base 60 second ad rate
What are your lowest rates and how does one get them?
We have rate cards. We rarely show a rate card to a buyer because it's too difficult for them to understand. Rate cards are an internal pricing guide that's adjusted every month or so based on available inventory. There are price breaks at 520, 1040, and 1820 units. We show clients ideas in proposals or campaigns and tell them the number of units and monthly budget.
No TFN. Cost of business goes up every year and advertisers are used to rate increases every year from other media. Like any business, the best customers get the best price and we do allow verbal or email orders from them w/out a "signed contract".
Thanks for your reply Jack. I am really curious now, are you actually on a Unit Rate Card structure with the 5 second unit? I have always believed that to be the best way to sell radio. Lets clients buy in bulk, schedule as they need, and for the majority who still by print, talks their language. We even once had a rate card in Miami, OK with Quarter Page, Half Page, Full Page and Double Truck offerings. The clients loved it. It was the radio folks that always fought it. I do realize, however, when the station is run with a computerized log, it does make things harder to schedule since every block has to come out even. But in theory, it still makes a lot of sense to me.
I'm familiar with the 5-second unit concept so I probably picked wrong term to use. The smallest ad length we sell is 15-seconds. So when I mentioned "units" it was a reference to total number of ads.
I absolutely agree that we need to talk terminology that is the easiest to understand and I have used the newspaper terminology in the past for that reason. The more difficult it is to understand the less likely it is for a sale.
We had a lot of fun calling them Radio Inches.
Imagine their surprise when I would ask them to take their budget for a day's newspaper ad and run the same number of inches on the radio, for the same day! Preposterous! But those who would, usually got really good results. I notice that a TV station in Amarillo sells 10 sec ads and they always catch my attention.
Wow, there's a lot to say for small market radio!! Lucky you.. enjoy it while you can.
Rate cards are based on projected supply & demand and can vary week to week-daily sometimes like the stock market. Rates fluctuate and as always, everything is negotiable. Effective dates are only guidelines. Keep rate cards internal. Only rates during political season are set in stone because of FCC rules.
Overnights, 12m-12m, are the cheapest daypart to buy and range from $1 - $5. You can buy 24-hour rotators, knowing spots will air overnight unless there's lots of inventory.
An advertiser continues to get the established rate for the term of the contract. Lock'em in low and they'll thank you when the rates jack up during the high season.
A :60 commercial during Prime (Mon-Fri 6am-7pm) in Market #23 Portland, Oregon ranges $140-$210. Knock off 20% for a :30.
TFN doesn't exist anymore. It was never good for the client anyway. Need hard dates. With everything being scheduled electronically these days, Traffic & scheduling software don't recognize TFN. End dates help keep things on track and not let spots or campaigns get stale.
Signed contracts are a must. Radio as an industry has always been lax and many reps have been burned because of it. It's a CYA thing.
Happy selling!
