We talk a lot about the value of radio focusing on the local heartbeat. And in a great feature on This American Life, host Ira Glass exposes city-themed songs for being similar to generic jingle packages that are localized for dozens of different markets.
In “No Place Like Home,” Glass talks to Ken, a long-time resident of Calgary, who grew up loving what he thought was his city’s signature theme song, “Hello, Calgary.”
>Email recipients: Click here to watch “Hello Calgary” video<
The first eight minutes of this feature humorously show Ken learning that the song that helped instill an intense sense of pride in his hometown of Calgary has actually been used (with only minor alterations) in 100 or so markets and regions across North America. Once he learns the truth, he’s devastated. (You can listen to it here.)
But the underlying takeaway from the feature is that the sense of attachment and love one has for their hometown is powerful, creating deep feelings of attachment, pride and loyalty.
Glass notes that despite the fact that “Hello” has been produced for scores of different towns, “I think the fact that this works, that you could have a song and have all these local places attached, and have people really like it…I think it shows that people want to connect to a song like that.”
And Frank Gari, the musician and composer who wrote what could be the most popular theme of its kind in history, reveals that the secret to “Hello’s” success is that “People want to attach to a positive vibe about the place where they live.”
So what does this tell us about local radio at a time when so many of the biggest media stories are focused on global, Internet brands that are anything but hometown flavored?
It strongly suggests that the opportunity to embrace the local spirit, vibe, and ethos has never been stronger.
In his investor call last week, Townsquare CEO Steven Price reported on how his company saw a nearly 10% revenue increase in Q4, with local up 5.6%. A big part of the Townsquare strategy focuses on revenue derived from digital and live events. Local advertising revenue goes right to the heart of Townsquare’s success.
And in explaining his company’s strong performance, Price noted that radio can offer “the ability to feel connected to a community, to know what the DJs and other people in your community think about the music.” For Townsquare, considerable revenue is derived from a wide variety of live and local festivals in their local communities. And as Price noted, “98% of our events make money.”
Townsquare may be proving that there’s an advantage in connecting with people in smaller markets. But the local themes that permeate “Hello” are universal, whether you’re from Dallas, Dubuque, or Detroit.
The Ira Glass feature suggests that size doesn’t matter – that your local, hometown environs is meaningful and poignant, no matter where you live or grew up.
And a great live and local event fills many needs, including the obvious revenue benefits. But hometown festivals, concerts, bridal fairs, and business breakfasts are so much more. They offer stations and their personalities a chance to make that all-important face-to-face impression. We continue to hear in focus and L.A.B. groups from fans who clearly recall DJ and station encounters that took pace years or even decades ago. From WDRV’s world famous “Birthday Concerts” to WCSX’s “Stone Soup Project” to the Atlantic City Beer & Music Festival presented by WZXL, these community encounters matter and are valued by local residents.
These opportunities to connect are meaningful and often indelible. In much the same way that politicians benefit from a strong grassroots “retail” effort, so do local radio stations – especially in the new competitive arena that has become a potpourri of global brands, platforms, and services.
Local matters. And as so many broadcasters default to syndication, voicetracking, and national promotions, authentic hometown stations have an even greater opportunity to achieve eye contact and an emotional bond.
All of this proves once again that there’s no place like Calgary. (Or Chicago or Chattanooga or Carson City).
Thanks to Larry Rosin for the inspiration.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Great piece, Fred. This really does point to another way forward for radio. It doesn’t have to be a choice between being intensely local or scalable and national. As both Frank Gari and TownSquare seem to have discovered, it’s possible to apply scale to being intensely local.
Jeff, I think you’ve hit on an important point – and that is scalability. It’s a buzz word, but in the case of both Gari’s music and Townsquare’s radio, digital, and events assets, it rings true. Thanks for the comment and the kind words.
Good read! Reminds me of a great story Huey Lewis told us during a recent interview. A tidbit about “The Heart of Rock & Roll,” his 1983 hit featuring shout outs to Detroit, Cleveland, Baton Rouge, etc.
After the initial release, the record company asked him to come back in and sing dozens of extra cities that they could tack on to the ride-out of a special re-mix. The idea was to further capitalize on the song’s success with even more localism.
Huey told us he put his foot down when he got to Halifax.
“As much fun as it was to sing ‘Halifax,'” he said, “I figured the heart of Rock & Roll just couldn’t be in Halifax, Canada.”
Nice to see the artist can win some of these content battles.
And yet they would have LOVED IT in Halifax! Thanks for sharing a great story, Dave.
Ha, ha, ha…. Hank Snow got his start in Halifax.
And we should all know that Snow is the guy who brought Elvis to the Grand Ole Opry and introduced him to Colonel Tom Parker.
So maybe the heart of Rock & Roll just could be in Halifax, Canada.
It certainly isn’t in Rochester. Thanks, Lubin.
After watching the video I couldn’t help but think of the opening reel to WKRP.
On a completely different note, I wanted to share a song by The Weakerthans called “One Great City!”. The key lyric is “I – Hate – Winnipeg”. The song is as much about the bleak and mundane life of of the songs characters in the Canadian prairie city. It even takes a shot at two of the city’s best known icons: The Guess & The Winnipeg Jets. In reality its a love song, an ode to the city that sits in the centre of the continent. Here’s the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLlsjEP7L-k
One Great City! – The Weakthans
Late afternoon another day is nearly done
A darker grey is breaking through a lighter one
A thousand sharpened elbows in the underground
That hollow hurried sound of feet on polished floor
And in the dollar store the clerk is closing up
And counting loonies trying not to say
“I hate Winnipeg…”
The driver checks the mirror seven minutes late
The crowded riders’ restlessness enunciates
The Guess Who suck, the Jets were lousy anyway
The same mood every day
And in the turning lane
Someone’s stalled again
He’s talking to himself
And hears the price of gas repeat his phrase
“I hate Winnipeg…”
Up above us all,
Leaning into sky
Our golden business boy
Will watch the North End die
And sing ‘I love this town’
Then let his arching wrecking ball proclaim:
“I…hate…Winnipeg”
I don’t know much about Winnipeg, but I DO know this: this song is NOT syndicatable. Thanks for sharing it.
The “Hello News” package has been extremely durable and versatile: Even though it was mostly used in the ’80s, a few stations actually started using it again within roughly the past decade. Beyond that, there’ve been some surprising variations–including the Osmonds recording a “Hello Utah” session for KUTV.
Beyond the videos on YouTube (search, e.g., for “Hello News” or for “Hello” and “Gari”), there’s a lot of related audio on Southern Media’s “News Music Search Archive”; see https://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/#3,1,50 for the U.S. examples and https://www.southernmedia-nmsa.com/#6,2 for a few Canadian and even Australian examples (with the heart icons representing the image/campaign spots).
Wow, this thing has real tentacles! Thanks, Eric.
I was laughing as I read this. KFMB TV in San Diego used this in the 80s and I thought, at the time, it rocked. The tune still plays in my head to this day. Even as a high school kid who was getting his start in radio, I knew this promo connected with the community and people…I just didn’t realize it connected with so many people and across so many communities.
Fascinating, isn’t it, that a syndicated song could have so much resonance in so many local markets. (Maybe that’s an indication of great content.) Of course, in today’s Internet/social world, the fact the song was used virtually everywhere would have been “exposed” during the first 12 hours of its debut in each market. Thanks, Dan.