Tampa radio reaches more area adults every week than any other medium. During a typical seven-day period, according to Nielsen, 2.3 million local consumers tune-in to their favorite AM and FM stations. This is significantly more than those who watch broadcast television, subscribe to pay-TV, browse social media, read a newspaper, or stream music from Pandora and Spotify.
Radio's omnipresence in the life of Tampa Bay consumers is remarkable considering today is the medium's 100th birthday.
On this day in 1920, radio 8MK in Detroit (now WWJ) began broadcasting. The station was operated by the local newspaper and billed itself as "Detroit News Radiophone." The first programming consisted mainly of music from phonograph records interspersed with news announcements.
Within a few weeks of the inaugural broadcast, 8MK was airing live election results as well as play-by-play coverage of that year's World Series contest between the Cleveland Indians and the Brooklyn Dodgers.
On November 2, 1920, 8MK was joined on the air by a new radio station, KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station was owned by Westinghouse Electric Company. Both stations that evening would provide live results of that day's presidential contest between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox.
Local radio came to Tampa Bay on May 31, 1922, when WDAE signed-on. The station was owned by three-time Tampa mayor and publisher of the Tampa Daily Times newspaper, D.B. McKay.
The station broadcast from the sixth floor of the Citrus Exchange Building at the corner of Zack and Tampa Street. The building would later become the downton location of the Maas Brothers department store.
Early programming on WDAE consisted of phonograph music as well as baseball scores. The station had also been licensed by The U.S. Department of Agriculture to broadcast weather reports and bulletins.
In remarks celebrating WDAE's inaugural broadcast, Tampa Mayor Charles H. Brown said radio was "the wonder of the age that the human voice can be sent throughout the country."
Most of the first radio broadcasters were pioneers aimlessly wandering through the electronic universe in search of a sustainable business plan. The path forward became evident on August 28, 1922.
At about 5:00 p.m. that day, radio station WEAF in New York (later to become WNBC) broadcast the first-ever radio commercial. The advertiser was the Queensboro Corporation. The company purchased 10 minutes of time for $50 to promote its apartment complex in Jackson Heights.
This first commercial worked so well that Queensboro renewed for more. Perhaps the ultimate testament to the power of radio advertising is the fact that the apartment complex still exists and is thriving, says the New York Times.
Early broadcasts could only be heard in people's homes using DIY radio sets. These were replaced in the mid 1920s with massive, furniture-sized receivers. In 1930, however, radio became the original mobile device.
The first car radios were built by the Galvin Manufacturing Company of Chicago. They named their invention, and eventually their company, Motorola. The first dashboard units cost $130 or $1300 in 2020 dollars.
Today, more than 2,000,000 car radios fill the ears of Tampa Bay drivers with music, news, sports, and information. Despite an abundance of dashboard options, however, consumers still prefer listening to local radio when they hit the streets.
For nearly a century, local small business owners have depended on Tampa radio to market their goods and services. By every key advertising metric, the medium remains the best way to advertise.
Over the past few years, Nielsen has conducted more than 20 studies to determine what type of return-on-investment (ROI) a business owner can expect from radio advertising. Although the results varied by industry, the average company generated $100 in sales for every $10 invested.
The chart below shows the range of returns from each study.
AdAge, a trade magazine for advertising professionals, calls these types of return "eye-popping". The magazine goes on to say radio's ROI is superior to commercials on TV, online, and social media.
When presented with this ROI data, marketing expert Doug Schoen wrote in Forbes, "The implications of results like these are profound for the communications and advertising industries and as a marketing professional with over 35 years of experience, I found this data nothing short of fascinating. It’s quite clear that we should all be paying more attention to radio, its reach and potential to help our businesses. It’s doing the job with expert efficiency."
More Advertising Advice For Tampa Bay Small Business Owners
- What Is The Best Way To Reach Tampa Bay's 2.6 Million Consumers?
- What Tampa Bay Consumers Need To Know Now About Your Small Business
- Advertising In Tampa Bay: Radio Listening Little Changed From Year Ago
- Advertising On Tampa Radio Reaches Pay-TV's Cable Cutters
- Tampa Bay Retailers Prepare For $344 Million Back-To-School Season
- Drivers Hit The Road Taking Tampa Radio Along For The Ride
- Advertising On Tampa Radio: What Consumers Want To Hear
