Local news is the engine of small market radio, too

(l-r) JC Phillips, on-air and webmaster; Mark Lippert, sales manager; John Spencer, program director.

Editorial note: Archived from June, 2007

Local news coverage is the lynchpin of successful radio in a small market. In north central Illinois, three radio stations, WLPO/WAJK/WKOT, owned by La Salle County Broadcasting Corp., are rated in the Top 5 local radio stations in the market, adults 25 plus, largely driven by a focus on the news, complemented by music and entertainment. Originating from Oglesby, the stations reach listeners in three counties, La Salle, Bureau and Putnam.

AM WLPO is the highest rated local radio station in the morning drive time, 35+ audience, according to the most recent Arbitron surveys.

“WLPO has a tradition of more than 50 years of service to the communities we reach,” said PD John Spencer. “News, local news in particular, has been and is the lifeblood of this heritage full-service station. We work to provide news and information in a way that attracts, informs and entertains today’s busier-than-ever, less-available than ever, radio consumer. Our stories have become more concise and succinct and are delivered in a less formal, more storytelling style. As a result our newscasts are shorter, and in our abbreviated drive times, more frequent.”

As WLPO transitioned from a full-service station to a 24/7 news-talker about Three years ago, news remained integral to the format. Spencer works with news director Jennifer Nagle to find the proper balance of news and information in each day part, playing to the strength of each host, while always keeping the mission of entertaining and informing listeners top of mind.

Stories reported by WLPO news frequently provide the springboard for its hosts to story-tell on their own and invite feedback from listeners on the issues most important to them — those stories affecting their heart, health and pocketbook.

As essential as news is on WLPO, it also is an important part of the programming on the FM stations, WAJK and WKOT. WAJK reaches about 18,000 people every week; and WKOT, about 14,000.

Nagle and her news team, Jeremy Aitken and Jeff Zehnder, provide even shorter, more lifestyle oriented news updates throughout the day and night on Hot AC WAJK and Classic Hits WKOT. Reach and ratings are proving that while the casual radio listener may punch away when the music stops, the vast majority of listeners will stay if the programming is entertaining and informing them — talking about the things that matter most to them — and that is what they are striving to do every time they open a microphone on any of the three La Salle County broadcast stations.  WAJK’s audience is skewed more female, ages 25-54. WKOT attracts a more male audience, ages 30-60.

History of the stations

Since the time it went on the air in 1947, WLPO was considered a full service radio station. In the mid-1960s a full time news person was hired and the station began to focus on local news, in addition to the wire stories it received from the Associated Press. La Salle County Broadcasting Corp. also held a license for WLPO-FM but primarily simulcast the AM signal until the early ‘70s. As the FM signal grew in popularity, WAJK and WLPO ceased simulcasting. A few years later, WLPO-AM became the news/talk/information/music station and WLPO-FM moved to an adult contemporary music format. WLPO-FM changed its call letters to WAJK. A second news person was hired in the early 1980s.

Until the mid-‘90s, the focus for news on WLPO was primarily the immediate area (La Salle-Peru-Oglesby-Spring Valley). As the station broadened to embrace a more regional scope, WLPO expanded coverage to include news reports from Princeton, 30 miles to the west of Oglesby. With the purchase of radio station WKOT in 1999, the broadcasting corporation expanded its coverage eastward 15 miles to include Ottawa, IL.

Nagle was hired almost two years ago as a news reporter, and was promoted to news director in July 2005. Under her direction, the stations brought a third reporter on board. Currently Nagle directs news and covers the core communities with her team of Aitken and Zehnder handling Ottawa and Princeton markets.

With the arrival of a third news person, WLPO added more live newscasts, delivered by a news person seven days a week; and the staff has been able to present locally-produced lifestyle, medical and financial features and series of interest to the respective station’s demographic.

“The news department is dedicated to providing comprehensive, up-to-the-minute news in an easy, quick format,” said Joyce McCullough, GM. “Nagle has accomplished much in only two years and has had a significant impact on the quality of our news gathering and reporting. With the help of radio consultant Valerie Geller our staff has become storytellers. They can recite Geller’s mantra: be accurate, tell the truth, never be boring.”

The Miller family has owned LaSalle County Broadcasting Corp. since the 1940s. Peter Miller III assumed ownership after his father’s death three years ago. McCullough is a 5% owner and has served as the stations’ GM since 2003. During that time profitability of the stations has increased about 30%, and at the same time increased in employee count by 4 (from 22 to 26), adding a salesperson, copywriter, morning show producer/webmaster and third news person.

How local news works

Adding staff allowed the stations to not only broaden their coverage but make it more immediate for listeners. “Having an additional reporter means another set of eyes and ears in the community,” Nagle said. “It also adds another perspective to the news as well as another level of diversity.”

Before a reporter writes a story, he needs to break it down, according to Nagle. “What happened? Why does the listener care? How will it impact the listener’s life?” are questions a reporter needs to ask himself first.
“Once you’ve answered these questions, you have it,” Nagle added. “If you don’t care about a story, your listeners won’t either. Our programming consultant, Valerie Geller, told us to focus on health, heart and pocketbook in our stories. And we do. Her insight was invaluable to our learning curve on the way to better,
superior news coverage.”

McCullough observed the newscasts of the three stations are No. 1 in their markets largely due to Geller’s knowledge, experience and coaching – along with Nagle and her team’s talent and dedication to news. “Valerie reminded our staff to focus on storytelling and talk to one listener….this has had a real impact on the quality of the stations’ newscasts,” McCullough said.

On WLPO, local news starts at 6:05 a.m. and continues to air at least once an hour throughout the day and evening hours. Newscasts typically run five minutes or less and cover local government, crime, schools, features and Illinois’s news, all told with listener interests top of mind. Newscasts on WAJK and WKOT are aired by the same team of three, with shorter and less frequent casts delivered throughout the day and evening hours.

There are tiered “A” and “B” stories and they will likely change as the day goes on and new stories are added. The lead stories are followed by other stories of interest and the newscasts usually end with a lighthearted note. The goal is the give the listener information he can use every day and topics for conversation
around the water cooler.

Selling the news

Quality local news segments are crucial to selling news sponsorships, according to sales manager Mark Lippert. Sponsorships are oftentimes anchored to local news, weather and sports on all the stations. Rates are determined by daypart with morning drive being the highest.

“Business people today have more choices than ever on how to spend their marketing dollars,” Lippert said. “Aside from the longstanding types of advertising delivery mediums such as print, broadcast (radio and TV), direct mail and billboard, local businesses are now seriously looking at having a web presence. We offer web partnership opportunities and are looking to expand our presence on the web. Podcasting (of news) offers us that opportunity. We remind our clients that if they have a web site, they should be using radio to drive traffic to it.”

The radio spots and sponsorships offered by the radio stations are affordable and effective, Lippert added. The sales staff works with clients to develop individual marketing plans that make sense for their businesses and that have the best return on investment for them.

Advertising is not any more difficult to sell today than it has been in the past, Lippert said. The key is to show the client how using local radio can help him grow faster and be more profitable.

WLPO Staff


Finding the right people

What kind of people does management look for when filling job openings on WLPO’s news staff? People who are passionate about news and who want to be the ones “in the know” at all times. What attributes are important in an employee? Curiosity, critical thinking, above-average intelligence, high energy level, the ability to write for broadcast, being a good storyteller and having an easy-to-understand speaking voice, according to McCullough.

“It’s become increasingly difficult to recruit people in the news area,” McCullough said. “We first became aware of this when we advertised for a news person about six years ago. The resumes we received were from individuals who were noticeably less experienced and qualified than in the past. Our ideal candidate would have some journalism background and experience at a small-market (or college) radio station.”

Beginning about three years ago, management revisited “training expense” and made a concerted effort to bring training to staff at all levels, or send the staff off-site for training, whenever possible. “Because LCBC is independently owned and in a small market, we depend on Illinois Broadcasters, Illinois News Broadcasters, RTNDA, the NAB and the NAB Education Foundation for our training,” commented McCullough. “All have been excellent resources and partners in training our staff.”

Management likes to promote from within when it can. Nagle already was on board when she was elevated to the position of news director. Additionally, advertisements are aired on the radio stations, placed in local newspapers, on the stations’ web sites, in trade publications and on the Illinois Broadcasters Association and NAB web sites.

Diminishing radio news nationwide

“At an NAB convention a couple of years ago I heard station managers and program directors bemoaning the fact that quality news people are getting harder and harder to find,” commented McCullough. She cited the declining number of independently owned stations and a stronger drive/perceived need, to increase the bottom line, oftentimes by reducing employee count, as the biggest impact on the availability of qualified news people looking to move up to bigger markets.

“Group operators and corporate owners who are far removed from the communities they serve have a different philosophy than LCBC’s owners,” McCullough said. “We are very fortunate to work for a family-owned operation, one where profits are reinvested in the business, one where venture capital investors are not part of the landscape. The Miller family has been very good to its family of employees over the years. And, the future of radio and local news look bright in this small town in Illinois.”

--D.J. Bice

photos by: Joyce McCullough