Top Ten Reasons to Advertise on [Los Angeles] Radio

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  1. Los Angeles County has 10.4M residents – greater than 43 in the Union. Crazy, huh? The county of Los Angeles – alone! – has more prospective buyers of your products and services than the vast majority of the entire US.
  1. Los Angeles County Gross Domestic Product is $643-Billion. Let’s put this in perspective, $643B makes Los Angeles County the 21st largest economy on planet earth… as a marketer, I get excited writing this stat.
  1. The GDP of SoCal as a whole is $1.4-Trillion. Yes, that is trillion with a “T”. Making Southern California the 16th largest economy in the world. Hmm…
  1. Talent! Talent baby. Ta-lent. Being the entertainment capital of the world, the home of Hollywood, motion pictures, television, music, you name it – it’s here. Los Angeles radio is home to, and speaks to, some of the biggest celebrities in the world. Los Angeles radio gave birth to Ryan Seacrest, Bill Handel, Big Boy, JoJo on the Radio, Ellen K, The Jesus Christ Show and so many more. It’s been the home of Vin Scully for more than 50-years and the market has attracted professional sports franchises from across the United States. The Lakers came from Minnesota. (There’s about 5-lakes in the LA area). The Dodgers from Brooklyn – no trolleys to avoid here in LA. The Clippers from San Diego. And the Rams back to LA. Heck even the Angels down in Orange County controversially changed their name from Anaheim to the Los Angeles Angels to warm their brand to the power that is LA. The LA Kings and the Sparks both started here in LA – in case you were wondering.
  1. Influence. I find the blogger/vlogger online “influencer” thing hilarious. Nothing is new. Everything is re-packaged and re-sold to a new audience with a new buzz word. We have had powerful local “influencers” around for literally ev-er. They’ve been in all media. Mike Royko was a celebrated no bs columnist I loved who wrote a daily column in the Chicago Tribune – that’s a newspaper for you Millennials and generation Z kids. And oh yeah, the local radio announcer, personality, talent, disc jockey etc. biggest “influencers” of all time. They are literally in your head. They are your invisible best friends telling you what to do and think. They are riding shotgun in your car everywhere you go. They are tribal leaders. They drive consideration, brand awareness, purchase intent and online search. They make phones and cash registers ring. They are right here, right now and live. There is no more powerful influencer. And that’s not my opinion – it’s a proven scientific fact. I was good at science and math before puberty but it’s not been my strong suit for many, many years. But it boils down to this; of all the senses we have as humans, sound makes the brain react the most – period.
  1. World Leader in Audible Content. There is no more powerful audible content market than the market identified and measured by Nielsen as Los Angeles. Yes, my New York friends – you have more people. But alas, they travel below ground in tubes. Revenues for the Los Angeles radio market far exceed New York’s – we’re talking 9-figure difference. And, like anything else in our capitalistic society – follow the money. The hotbed for innovation in the field is right here in the land often referred to as La-La.
  1. Los Angeles Market Radio Reaches Multiple Surrounding Markets. LA radio reaches far more than just Los Angeles city or county residents. Nearly every radio station in the Los Angeles market also reaches the ultra-wealthy Orange County as well as Santa Barbara County. Not to mention Ventura County as well as San Bernardino County and Riverside County – home of the Inland Empire and its own recognized and measured radio market. And oh yeah – the bigger stations also have no problem reaching San Diego County. The Los Angeles radio market’s reach is advertisers reward. And I almost forgot – most stations also reach portions of Kern County and San Luis Obispo County too. And that’s all during the day when the FCC regulations state that broadcaster’s signals need to be dialed down. Take a station like KFI-AM 640 in the evening and factor in the atmospheric conditions to the signal and the station can be heard in about 13-states. There have even been reports of a radio enthusiast picking up that station’s signal in Norway – huh? I don’t know – some nut on a mountain top with nothing better to do.
  1. LA Radio Specialist’s Home Market. Insert gratuitous plug here: Hi, I’m Tom Smith, media and marketing geek. News fiend. Passionate griller. Car lover. Meticulous perfectionist. And above all husband to my beautiful wife who puts up with me and my crazy ideas and pursuits.
  1. Traffic suuuuuucks! Los Angeles and Orange County drivers spend more than 80-hours stuck in traffic annually. That’s on average. It’s far, far worse for many of us. My colleague Gil Perez, awesome radio producer, calls it a good day when his commute is just under 2-hours – each way! I get up at 4:30AM to miss traffic – and sometimes I still don’t miss it! Nothing worse than pulling onto the highway and witnessing nothing but brake lights as far as the eye and see. And it happens every day in LA.
  1. Ad Blocking, Click Fraud, Cord Cutting & DVRs are not ‘things’! Not one of these are factors in radio – none, nada, zilch. It’s funny, I personally listen to a lot of talk radio – especially KFI-AM 640, KLAC-AM 570 and KEIB-AM 1150. And since the advent of DVRs, while listening to radio, I often find myself reaching for the remote control. I’m not reaching for it to fast forward through commercials like we all do on TV but to hit the little circular arrow to jump back about 30-seconds and hear again whatever stimulating thing I just heard.

You want to talk about increasing sales, customer acquisition and making lots of money together? Give me a ring, let’s talk B2B and/or B2C. My number is in the footer below-left. And by the way – I live in LA but can help grow your business across the country. Cheers!

Tom Smith
Tom Smith
Tom Smith
20+ year marketing and media innovator. Husband, dog lover and passionate griller.

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