Suppose you woke up one morning and found a 100-year-old machine in your basement. You soon discovered that every time you put a dime in the machine, one dollar came out.  How many dimes would you drop in that machine?

Good news for Tampa Bay small business owners: such a machine exists and you probably have one in your car, at work, at home, even on your phone. It's called local radio.

Over the past few years, Nielsen has conducted over 20 studies to determine what type of return-on-investment (ROI) a business can expect from radio advertising.  Although the results varied by industry, the average company generated $100 in sales for ever $10 invested.  Turning dimes into dollars.

This year marks the 97th anniversary of WDAE, the first radio station in Tampa Bay.

Since 1922, Tampa Bay small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services to local consumers.  During the next 12 months, these consumers are expected to spend $54.1 billion.

By any measure, radio is still the best way to advertise in Tampa Bay. Last week, for instance, significantly more consumers tuned-in to a Tampa radio station than watched local TV; read a local newspaper; or logged-on to Pandora and Spotify.

To buy radio advertising effectively, there are some terms every Tampa Bay small business owner should know.  Here is a list of helpful definitions.

This year marks 97 years since WDAE became the first radio station in Tampa Bay.  From that time, local, small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services.

So, it is a fair question for a 21st-century business owner to ask: Is Tampa radio still relevant in the life of Tampa Bay consumers?

"You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music," said media expert Doug Schoen in Forbes Magazine, "but recent Nielsen data shows radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers." 

Last week, for instance, significantly more local consumers tuned-in to a Tampa radio station than watched local TV, read a local newspaper, or logged-on to a streaming audio site like Pandora and Spotify.

If you were one of the 2,193,604 adults who tuned-in to a Tampa radio station last week, it is likely you heard a commercial for Indeed.  That's because, last week, Indeed, the world's largest online job site was also radio's biggest advertiser.

The reason Indeed invested so heavily in radio advertising is that they have far more job openings posted on their site than there are job-hunters to fill them. 

This is not unlike the predicament of Tampa Bay small business owners who are also having difficulty finding and hiring qualified candidates.

What Indeed has figured out is that there are not enough unemployed people or disgruntled workers looking for jobs, especially among those in white-collar professions. So, the company is looking to attract what human resource experts call the 'passive job seekers'.

It turns out that advertising on Tampa radio is also the best way for any business owner to recruit, hire, and retain those passive, white-collar job seekers.

The National Retail Federation has predicted that this year's back-to-school shopping season will set a new record. Households with school-age children are expected to spend, on average, $696.70 preparing their kids for the first day of classes. This tops the previous record set in 2012.

For Tampa Bay small business owners, this means there is $560,193,514 of back-to-school bucks in play between now and the first bell of the school year.

According to the NRF, here's how the $696.70 per household will be spent.

• Clothing & Accessories: $239.82
• Computers & Electronics: $203.44
• Shoes: $135.96
• School Supplies: $117.49

To grab the largest share of back-to-school spending will require small business owners to advertise.  By any metric, advertising on Tampa radio stations will be the most effective.  Here's why.

Striking a wrong note is a potent tactic that a Florida small business owner can use when advertising on Tampa radio stations. This can ensure commercials are heard and remembered.

At the very second a radio commercial starts, 11,000,000 other pieces of data are battling for the attention of the listener's ear. To win the fight, an advertisement must do the unexpected. Why?

Humans don't have earlids.  This means every sound a person is exposed to makes it as far as the brain. But, the brain can only process about 50 pieces of information at a time. If you do the math, that means 10,999,950 bits of information per second are turned away.

Making it past the brain's gatekeeper requires the information to strike a wrong note or violate what is expected  This filter supports the basic survival instinct. It's why someone will leap out of bed if they hear a stranger's soft footsteps while sleeping, but will snore right through their clanging alarm clock.

Here's a quiz for Tampa Bay small business owners:

Which of these online sites reach more adults each month than Tampa Bay radio stations: Google? Netflix? ESPN? YouTube? Twitter Facebook?

The answer may be a surprise. Radio reaches more adult consumers every month than all websites and apps.  This is critical information for Tampa Bay business owners to knows to be able to choose the best way to advertise their goods and services.

The number one media characteristic that contributes to the success of an advertising campaign is reach. This is a measure of how many different people are exposed to an advertiser's message.

Tampa Bay consumers are expected to buy $54.1 billion worth of local goods and services over the next 12 months. To claim the largest share of those dollars requires small business owners to advertise.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the Small Business Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”  The SBA goes on to say, “Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your product sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

According to the eBook Seven Steps for Success, "There are many ways for small business owners to advertise. Options include local newspapers, local magazines, local television, and online."

"But to achieve the “3-Rs” of advertising success, Reach, Recall, and Return, no other medium delivers results as effectively and efficiently as advertising on Tampa radio."

For budget-conscious small business owners, there are three tactics that can be employed to make sure every advertising dollar spent on Tampa radio stations works as hard as possible.

Forty-percent of contractors nationwide report that they have turned down jobs this year because they don't have enough skilled blue-collar workers. In Florida, over one-third of contractors say they would add 25 more employees this year if they could recruit qualified candidates.

The labor crunch isn't confined to construction. Overall, half of all Tampa Bay employers say they are having difficulty hiring enough blue-collar employees to fulfill the increasing demand from customers. This includes truck drivers, plumbers, HVAC technicians, electrical workers, machinists, metal workers, landscapers, janitors, and mechanics.

Tampa Bay business owners can benefit from a study by The North Carolina Works Commission. The NCWC found that the recruitment efforts of many employers in that state are failing because they depend on hiring strategies from a time when qualified candidates were plentiful.

These failing strategies include posting on job boards like Monster and Indeed; publishing employment ads in local newspapers; and pleading on social media pages. Some small business owners still depend on hanging help-wanted signs.

Advertising on Tampa radio stations is the best way for small business owners to reach the lucrative, local mother market.  Here's why.

Tampa Bay consumers will spend $54 billion over the next 12 months. Forbes magazine reports that it is moms who control 85% of all household purchases. Locally,  there are more than 455,000 mothers with children under the age of 17 at home.

Tampa Bay small business owners need to pay special attention to these mothers and their wallets. For example, compared to the general population, over the next 12 months, local moms live in households that are

• 30% more likely to buy a new vehicle
• 61% more likely to purchase a smartphone
• 155% more likely to purchase a recreational vehicle
• 38% more likely to buy a house/condo
• 433% more likely to pay for daycare services
• 15% more likely to purchase carpet/flooring
• 20% more likely to pay for kitchen remodeling
• 33% more likely to move
• 49% more likely to get married
• 77% more likely to refinance a mortgage