In the decade plus that Genuine Austin Radio owned KTAE ‘The Horn‘ in Austin, Texas, the signal was always a little bit of a problem. The ownership group had multiple debates about whether or not they should invest in a stronger signal. That debate has ended, and Genuine Austin Radio is now all in on being an all-digital company, with no terrestrial signals at all.
“We are going to make our investment in what we believe is the future going digital, so we just decided to make the transition,” said Jake Guarino, Owner/Manager for Genuine Austin Radio. “With the offer from Norsan Media, it gave us the opportunity. It just made a lot of sense to us.”
Norsan Media operates Spanish language stations in a few different markets and has been operating other signals in Austin which were previously run by GAR. A sale of the signal which was airing The Horn was announced in mid-April and last week it was announced it would become a digital only brand.
“For us, it’s just a natural migration to what we believe the future has in store for radio,” Guarino said. “I think we’ve jumped ahead.”
Guarino said he had been looking recently at the MillerKaplan numbers for the market and sees all the growth in digital, while local and national spot business has been consistently going the other way. Additionally, the digital numbers from The Horn indicate a lot of traffic coming from Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
“We have great digital numbers for a small radio station with strong numbers in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. We get a broader, denser coverage with regard to our audience and that allows our advertisers to have a better ROI on their investment. Some advertisers have taken that and run with it, some of the old school agencies and advertisers are just not prepared to go digital and I understand that. But as we grow, we will be able to attract some advertisers we don’t currently have right now that are more Texas based.”
The content on The Horn is currently the main local show they have had on the station, The Rodcast with Rod Babers and Patrick Davis. That show is on a loop, but Guarino indicates that will not be for long as he hopes to have at least three daily shows.
“I am looking to plug in legitimate sports content for our audience,” he said. “I am in conversation with two or three other people. I am also working with a couple local Texas high school football organizations, and we are looking at some other options that are podcasts and are associated with the Texas Longhorns.”
He added right now they are looking to monetize their website, streaming and app impressions. They are also working with third parties on digital ad insertion and programmatic advertising.
“We are local, we are going to stay local and appeal to the local audience, but our local is now not just Austin metro, its Austin, Houston and Dallas. We plan to try and develop programming that caters to that audience and that advertiser group.”
