A new nine-country study shows traditional media still packs a bigger punch than social media when it comes to advertising. Deloitte research and YouGov conducted the study in 6 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, U.K and the U.S.). They combined their results with qualitative studies from Brazil, India and Korea. Deloitte and YouGov asked respondents how often they visited websites after being exposed to various types of media, dividing answers into 3 categories: "frequently", "occasionally" and "rarely or never." In every country, social networks registered scores below those of radio spots, newspaper ads and email offers...
Here in the U.S., social media scored in single digits (9%) as the choice for those looking at ads. The UK only registered 3%. Search engines returned the best ratings as 36% of contributors agreed companies like Google and Bing are their number one source for finding websites. That percentage reached 43% in Japan. Television ads followed with 20%, edging email alerts and deals with 16% and press advertising at 13%. Deloitte says email marketing has become more effective, as the number of Americans accessing sites has grown from 61% to 66%, based on data collected over the last 3 years...
Without looking at all the results of the various studies, I would say that social networks are used less for finding a great buy but not necessarily for socializing. As a user of both Facebook and Twitter, I would say social websites are quite healthy. I just wouldn't be looking for my next purchase on a social web unless "word-of-mouth", not used in the studies, influenced me...
1.1918] Time after time: For the first time in U.S. history, Daylight Savings Time goes into effect. Clocks are moved ahead one hour at 2 a.m...
2.1923] They shoot horses, don't they?: The first U.S. dance marathon is won by Alma Cummings who sets a new world record of 27 hours in New York City. Gig Young finishes second...
3.1931] Luck of the Irish runs out: 43-year old Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne and seven others are killed in a plane crash in Kansas as the legendary coach was headed to Hollywood to make a football movie...
4.1943] Another opening, another show: Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma" opens on Broadway. Although Howard Keel played the lead on Broadway, Gordon MacRae played that role on the big screen with Shirley Jones as his wife...
5.1975] Going out a winner: John Wooden coaches his last game, a 92-85 UCLA win over Kentucky which gives the Bruins their 10th National Title under 'The Wizard of Westwood'...
6.1976] Pulling the plug twice: The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that Karen Ann Quinlan could be disconnected from her respirator. Quinlan remains comatose until 1985 when she passes away...2005] Terri Schiavo dies at a hospice in Florida, 13 days after her feeding tube is removed in a right-to-die dispute that reached the courts, Congress and the White House...
7.1986] 'Happy Trails': O'Kelly Isley, who I had the pleasure of knowing, dies of a heart attack at 48. The Isley Brothers first hit was "Shout"..1998] Former New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug dies from heart disease at 77...
8.1992] Premiered on this date: "Dateline NBC"...
9.1995] Tejano tragedy: 23-year old Tejano singing idol Selena is shot to death by Yolanda Saldivar, president of Selena's fan club. The shooting takes place outside a Corpus Christi motel room...
10.1999] Murder is the rap: 4 New York City police officers are charged with murder for killing Amadou Diallo, an unarmed African immigrant, in a hail of bullets. The officers are acquitted in 2000...
Music Memories:
•1958] Released on this date: "Johnny B. Goode" - Chuck Berry...
•1975] Number One on this date: "Lovin' You" - Minnie Riperton. The song was produced by Stevie Wonder. I never met a lovelier person than Minnie who at one time sang backup for Stevie and led the group Rotary Connection...
(WRKO...The Launch (Part 23) (March marks the 44th anniversary of WRKO Boston. This is the final day I'll be serializing the story behind the actual launch of what would become one of the country's legendary Top 40 radio stations and today continues to be a mainstay in New England with a N/T format)...
That, to the best my memory bank can process information stored 44 years ago, is the way I remember events leading to and including the launch of WRKO. The history of the station is still being written. Top 40 ruled from March 13, 1967 to
1981 when WRKO changed to its present news/talk/sports format...
1981 when WRKO changed to its present news/talk/sports format...
When I was hired to program WRKO-FM, I was told I was hired for "what was between my ears", not for my voice. What? They didn't like my aircheck? Programming "ARKO" was easy. I knew the music and ARKO didn't talk back. The great Curt Gowdy once summed up his success to me as "being in the right place at the right time." That may be true but we all know what he did with the opportunity he was given. There's probably some wisdom in Curt's statement for all of us who ever had the privilege to work at WRKO...
My own memories of 1967 are filled with once-in-a-lifetime events. Two months after we launched WRKO, Robert Dean Phillips was born in Needham's Glover Memorial Hospital on May 31, making his Dad, a happy man and giving his sister. Lynn, a brother to play with in the backyard. The next month WRKO would become the number one music station in Boston, beating WBZ and WMEX. I was officially named program director of WRKO-AM that summer - the "Summer of Love", which would give way to "The Impossible Dream" for the Red Sox who went from next to last in the standings in 1966 to the World Series in 1967. What a year!!!
This history of "WRKO...The Launch" was written for those of us lucky enough to have worked in the early stages of a great radio station and for all the terrific radio people who followed us, including the legion of listeners who chose a career in radio because of what they heard on NOW Radio...
- The End of The Beginning -
Mel Phillips March, 2011
(Many thanks to Shel Swartz, webmaster of the WRKO.org website for all the airchecks, photos, profiles, news articles, station memos & maps he provided. Access to his website can be made by clicking here, to Donna Halper for all the hours of research she did at the Boston Public Library to verify dates and events, and to everyone who offered quotes, information, advice and support)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Sal Selletto (39), Rhea Perlman (63), Al Gore (63), Gabe Kaplan (66), Christopher Walken (68), Herb Alpert (76), Shirley Jones (77), Richard Chamberlain (77), Gordie Howe (83) and William Daniels (84)...
Timeline Countdown: Today is MLBs Opening Day, 2 days until Final Four, 19 days until Passover & 25 days until Easter Sunday...
