Monday Memo: Stop Selling Commercials
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
No, don’t stop selling them entirely. But you have lots more in your repertoire, including the shiny objects advertisers are now buying instead of commercials… and the trust that can drive attention to them.
The Big Idea: Local retailers don’t want commercials. They want attention, trustworthiness, customer traffic and sales.
Stop selling containers
“60-second spots” describes what the station delivers, not what the advertiser receives. Example: Help a bank or insurance agent or some other local business sound like an institution, because listeners associate it with weather. Increasingly it is extreme, often suddenly. Via repetition, you have pre-sold “the WXXX Unibank Storm Center Forecast” that will enable listeners when conditions threaten their routine.
And don’t just sell ‘em that intro, and the ROS 60s that explain the advertiser’s outcome. When I meet with client station reps, we brainstorm how to flex each of their various platforms to do what it does best:
- Live on-air broadcast (now referred to as “the linear feed” by competitors who sell all the other stuff): Spots deliver reach, repetition, urgency, credibility, #1 in-car audio.
- Streaming: Extends the linear feed to that-thing-in-the-pocket-we-used-to-call-a-phone – and on the smart speakers that resurrected in-home listening. On both: the sponsor’s pre-roll.
- Podcasts and/or weekend ask-the-expert shows: Demonstrate expertise in next-level-of-detail, enhancing trustworthiness. An attorney isn’t buying airtime. She is becoming the local voice people already trust when they eventually need an attorney. Real estate agents I work with pre-sell themselves this way.
- Station website: Explain, register, download, redeem.
- Email and text database: Reach listeners directly, and with alerts.
- Social media: Show faces, link to clips, encourage sharing and interaction.
- Events: Personal contact unavailable from streams or SiriusXM.
Selling “digital” as a mysterious add-on misses the point. Each platform should move the prospect closer to the desired outcome.
Bundle what only you can offer
- Got major league play-by-play? When you take a client or prospect to a game, bring ‘em up to the booth. Introduce them to the radio voices, who will pose for selfies with that great view of the field or rink down below. Those pictures will be on Facebook THE MINUTE your guests get back to their seats.
- Breakfast with your morning show cast?
- VIP concert experience? Make up some laminated logo’d lanyard passes.
- Private tasting event?
- WHAT OTHER “access to restricted areas” can you come up with?
Try this, with American Heart Month ahead in February (and National Wear Red Day on Friday February 5):
Stage a “Know Your Numbers” event, offering free screenings for high blood pressure – quick, painless, familiar and broadly relevant. If available, cholesterol screening, and/or cardio-vascular risk questionnaire.
Prospects: fitness centers – or ANY retailer who wants traffic. Incentives could include same-day store coupon for everyone screened; or enter-to-win smartwatch/fitness tracker, gym membership, or a heart-healthy grocery basket.
Sure, spots-R-us, but they’re just one asset in your inventory.
When a prospective client says “We tried radio. It didn’t work,” I ask to hear the commercial
Within seconds I can tell why. It opens with the business name. It lists products. It rattles off prices. It stuffs in an address, a website, a phone number, and a slogan. Then it ends. Nothing happened. Nothing memorable. Nothing emotional. Nothing that gave a listener a reason to care. Yet radio gets blamed. Like blaming a fishing rod because you cast with no bait.
FREE for TALKERS subscribers, my E-book “The Outcome Method: A Storytelling Framework for More Effective Local Advertising.” [PDF]
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn
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candidate will help prepare and deliver engaging news content, report on breaking news events, serve as a board operator for special programming, and produce special projects and programming as assigned. The part-time position fulfills a combination of needs for our station on weekends.” Candidates must submit an audio demonstration of their on-air ability with their resume and be prepared to take a writing test if requested. Please submit resumes and required audio demonstrations to 
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year, the Gracie Awards recognize work that does more than capture attention; it informs, entertains and ensures women’s voices and perspectives are seen and heard. The entries we receive reflect the breadth and impact of work reaching audiences across platforms and communities. We look forward to honoring the content that moved audiences in 2026 and continuing the Gracies’ long-standing investment in the people who will shape what comes next.” National winners will be honored at the Gracies Gala on May 25, 2027, at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, California and local and student winners will be celebrated at the Gracies Luncheon on June 15, 2027, at Cipriani on 42nd Street in New York. 
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