Disney Radio, previously restricted to just five test market cities, is
going nationwide, according to an article in this weekend's edition of
"USA Today".
Writer Bruce Horovitz says that Disney will draw on some of the 21
stations owned by the ABC Radio Division and the affiliate stations of
the ABC Radio Network to build their network. Disney hopes to enter 25
to 50 new market per year over the next three years, and will likely
spend over $150 million, according to industry experts. Not a bad entry
fee into the 2 to 12-year-old market that influences some $8 billion in
spending each year.
CEO Michael Eisner is credited with the decision to go forward, despite
trouble convincing advertisers of the listenership and threats of
lawsuits from other childrens radio networks. Arbitron (the Nielson
Company for radio), doesn't track kids' listening habits, so Disney has
been doing their own market research--research that showed 20% of
households in the test areas tuned in. Not bad penetration!
Programming isn't all Disney songs. On a recent expedition to WDW that
passed through Atlanta, my count indicated about one song in eight was
Disney, with the rest of the music a mixture of the new, the old, and
the familiar. Clean lyrics are to be assumed, though I'm sure that some
fanatic censors would question a few of the innuendos. Live call-ins,
kid news, and contests (and of course, ads) make up the rest of the live
programming. The targeted age group varies over the day, but there's
always something on, even at 3 a.m.
As television settles further into the morass, and the screen in front
of kids is increasingly a computer screen, the demand for suitable kids
radio can only be considered a growth market. Not to mention the
potential for easing the grind of long car trips.
"Are we there yet?"
"Shaddup, kid, I'll turn up the radio."
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 (_)  Bruce Metcalf (with his antenna up)
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