Happy Birthday to SKOR North. It was on this day six years ago when the branding of 1500 AM in Minneapolis changed to that moniker and set in motion what would ultimately become an entirely new way to distribute daily sports content. The brand has been led by Hubbard Radio Minnesota Vice-President/Region Manager Dan Seeman and host Phil Mackey.
To summarize what happened between the time SKOR North launched and what it has become, Seeman explained, “It started as an AM radio station that was creating a lot of content for digital and that then morphed into a digital property that was creating some content for AM. And that’s a big difference.”
The idea first came up in the fall of 2018. Seeman gives all the credit to Mackey who he said was often coming into his office asking how they could think differently about what they were doing and the distribution of the content. Seeman said at the time they were seeing research which showed only 20-25% of the market was getting content from AM radio.
“That’s a tough hill to sled,” Seeman said. “So, we were doing 1500 ESPN and really seeing where ears were going. And it was really Phil challenging me and him and others around us to think differently about how we do this.”
Mackey added, “We knew AM radio wasn’t going to be the solution 10 years from now to building audiences and connecting them to advertisers, which is what we do in this business, we build community, largely through audio, for a hundred years in the radio business. And then we connect them to advertisers and partners. And if we wanted to keep doing that and reach the bottom end of the demo, the younger end, 25 to 44 it was hard to pry them away from wherever they were to AM radio.”
The problem was clear, but the solution took some time to develop. Fortunately, Seeman, Mackey and the rest of the team working on SKOR North had support from ownership and were given the time necessary to work their way through it. The timing was good, too, as the company was very intrigued by the podcast space.
Mackey said he remembers Seeman saying to him that it was time to “take a chance and do something bold that no one’s really doing, which is build something digital off the back of an AM radio signal.
“And now it has morphed almost entirely into YouTube and podcast six years later, it’s kind of become untethered.”
As they look back on it all now that the concept has been more than proven, with social media, YouTube and engagement numbers to back it all up, Seeman said, “When I go back and look at the notes from what Phil was talking about, the vision and the mission really haven’t changed. And that’s extraordinary when you think about it. This idea was so crazy, it might just work, and it worked, and it is working. I look at revenue and I look at profitability. It works.”
While both Seeman and Mackey are incredibly proud of what they and the rest of the team have built, they are even more excited for the future. All signs point to continued success. “Here’s the best part of this story,” Seeman said, “the growth is unimaginable.”
From a content standpoint, the idea hit and grew fairly rapidly, it was the business side that took a bit to catch up. As the first ones in, they had the job of explaining what it was, how it would work and answering a lot of questions such as whether or not someone’s spot would run in afternoon drive on a podcast.
Today, there is a much better universal understanding of the way SKOR North distributes content which certainly helps. Seeman said the go-to-market strategy now is more about the fear of missing out and showing businesses how they can’t afford not to be in this space and in front of this audience.
Mackey said it’s been great to see clients who were skeptical about advertising on podcasts come back and talk about how they are blown away by the engagement from the SKOR North audience. Often times, while shows are going on, the audience is posting about specific show sponsors in the chat rooms.
“We have just seen this fire burning with the audience and the advertising partners,” Mackey said. “It’s unlike anything, at least in the 20 years I’ve been in this business, I’ve never seen it like this.”
From a content standpoint, those consuming the product have dictated what gets covered more and what is covered less. Ultimately, the fans decided they couldn’t get enough Minnesota Vikings coverage, so their main Vikings show, Purple Daily, became a show which airs 365 days a year.
As Mackey put it, “Why would we deprive the audience if they want more Vikings, and they want Vikings content on a Saturday in June? And that’s what they’re telling us, that’s what the metrics are telling us, that’s what the emails are telling us and the social media.”
Of course, once you have success others are going to try and replicate it. Mackey looks at all the digital sports content being produced today targeting Vikings fans versus when they started and sees at it all as a positive. “That competition brings more people to podcasting and YouTube and more advertisers to podcasting and YouTube,” he said.
The story of SKOR North is very much one in progress. Looking ahead, Seeman and Mackey see open field ahead. “There’s no cap on the digital world,” Mackey said. “So, if it makes sense for us in five or 10 years to have 20 different podcasts and 20 hours a day of content being created or whatever it ends up looking like, it’s fun to think about the fact that this is all uncapped space.
“The best thing you can do is build great brands and build audiences that are a community. And if needed, take them to wherever the distribution evolves and changes, then be nimble and be willing to pivot to those places.”
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
