Former Radio Programmer Changing Infomercial ‘Rules of Engagement’

(DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TX)     A Dallas-based media company has discovered a new recipe for selling products and services through infomercials.   Radio and television infomercials traditionally use the same on air format.  Big promises, huge testimonials followed by a ‘once in a lifetime offer’ that is available only for the next 100 callers.   McQ Media President/CEO Pete Thomson has developed an alternative to traditional infomercials.  He calls it the ‘anti-infomercial’.    Thomson said, “I spent the first 14 years of my career in programming.   Because of that, I’ve always been sensitive to building and maintaining audience.   Most infomercial programming you hear on the air might be good at making the phone ring but absolutely awful at building audience.  Programmers call infomercials audience killers.   At McQ Media, we approach each of our long-form programs with the goal of first building audience with compelling content.   Based on the response we get from listeners, clients and program directors, the concept is working very well.”

“The Found Money Report” and “The Consumer Team” are two of McQ Media’s programs that air in the Dallas-Ft. Worth market.  The Found Money Report, sponsored by local financial planners Texas Retirement Specialists, is a one-hour program focusing on retirement planning issues.  It airs on both WBAP and KRLD.    The program is co-hosted by Thomson and Texas Retirement Specialists CEO Jim Poe.  Thomson calls The Found Money Report an example of how good paid programming can sound.  He said, “There are a number of financial planners on the air in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market.  And they’re all doing the same thing on the air.  Pitching their dinner workshops or pitching specific investment products.   Ratings on the these programs are, to nobody’s surprise, bad.   On The Found Money Report, we lead with information that is valuable to anyone who wants to plan for financial success in retirement.    And while we do have a call-to-action for workshops and initial consultations, it only happens after we give listeners something valuable first.”

Another McQ Media production, The Consumer Team, airs on KRLD Radio.   Hosted by Pete Thomson, The Consumer Team is a combination of consumer oriented information along with sponsor interviews.    Thomson said the same programming logic of leading with information has worked for this program.   Thomson added, “The Consumer Team is very compelling combination of consumer advocacy and interviews with select sponsors.  We regularly discuss the hottest consumer issues with leading consumer advocacy groups like Consumer Reports and Consumer Affairs.   And we hand-pick only credible, high quality sponsors to be part of the program.   The end result is a huge amount of listener trust that translates into both very good ratings and sales for sponsors.”

Ratings for both The Found Money Report and The Consumer Team confirm that listeners are drawn to this style of programming.   According to Thomson, both The Found Money Report  and The Consumer Team attract listeners to their respective stations.  He said, “You can see the listening levels increase whenever The Consumer Team or The Found Money Report come on the air.”

Beyond good content, Thomson credits programming strategy for McQ Media’s paid programming success.  He continued, “At McQ, we apply basic programming blocking and tackling to build a program.   Successful programs build audience through the hour by giving listeners a reason to stay tuned in.   I look at an hour program as 6 shorter segments or programs.    And in every segment, I imagine the listener’s hand getting ready to change stations at all times.   With every segment and every topic we remind ourselves that the listener’s continued attention needs to be re-earned constantly.”

What about selling the client’s product?   Thomson says this a critical part of the formula.   He added, “Because we’re not constantly hammering listeners to call for an offer, we need to make sure that when we do have a call to action, that we’re very effective.   I believe the best calls to action are genuine and include real benefits to calling now that don’t include the typical ‘we only have 10 seats left in this workshop.'”

Beyond producing content that keeps listeners tuned in, Thomson says McQ Media’s strategy includes working with market leading talk radio stations.   He said, “Our strategy is a bit different at McQ Media.  Instead of buying a market deep, we anchor our programs on the top rated talk radio stations in the market.   Even though this strategy is more expensive, it reaches more listeners, maximizes results and ultimately makes our programming more distinctive.”

Regarding expansion plans for their special brand of programming, Thomson was specific.  He said, “We have several new projects that will hit the air this year.   We’ll be expanding our paid programming concept to television which is very exciting.  Beyond that, we have several new programs getting ready to launch in other markets.”