If You Can’t Sell the Rock Radio Brand, Don’t Sell the Rock Radio Brand

I know much more about rock radio than I know about tires. I know very little about tires. Tread, rubber, pressure — that’s about as far as I can get.

No one is hiring me to sell tires at their tire store.

I once sold cowboy boots, but I was last in sales. Who was on top? The guy from Wyoming who could tell you 20 different things about a pair of boots that you’d swear weren’t real — but were. He was so into it, he’d get parents to buy two pairs for their kids, one for now and another for when their feet grew. That’s a true story.

I could have done better if I studied and worked harder, but boots didn’t register on my passion meter, and that’s the blind spot many brands ignore when they hire.

I’ve lost count of how many RockTernative stations I’ve been inside where the sales staff didn’t feel like legitimate fans of the brand. AEs that LOVE the station and:

• Listen closely every day
• Know the artists and albums
• Go to concerts
• Crash the PD’s office just to talk rock news
• Look the look, talk the talk, walk the walk
• Actually notice when the brand makes changes

Every station usually has one or two rock P1s in the sales pit. You don’t have to be a tatted-up die-hard to be the top biller. Many top billers rely on relationships and don’t know the difference between Bad Omens and Bad Wolves.

And sometimes that’s OK.

Sales is a learned skill, relationships matter, and many avails just require answering the call, stating the numbers, and then some finessing — but that gravy train is slowing way down.

Data will remain important for sales. But with more platforms, options, and endless data that isn’t always compatible, the era of purely quantitative selling is fading.

For decades, some buyers would demand to buy Rock, Pop, or Country, but most just wanted GRPs — it was all about making decisions based on a dataset. And they used to choose between Station A and Station B. Now it’s Stations A vs. B vs. Podcast C vs. Influencer D vs. Platforms E, F, and G — and many of those datasets speak different languages.

And data won’t always give the answers a buyer or brand owner needs to know.

• What does the brand stand for?
• What’s the DNA?
• Who IS the audience other than a broad, ambiguous demographic?
• Is the audience a fit for our brand?

Someone who really knows and loves the brand can best answer those questions with a real testimonial, not a flashy deck.

I love to hear stories about rocker AEs that go out and create new business out of thin air. They don’t rely on numbers first — that’s not their pitch. They use their love and knowledge of the brand, music, and lifestyle to close the deal. Just like your friend who can convince you to check out a new band you’ve never heard of.

Rock audiences are among the most loyal — they drive results, just ask promoters and attorneys. And the fans that like their music a bit louder often look great in qualitative comps.

There may be a day when Nielsen isn’t the goalpost and the data we use is more complementary, not judge and jury. If you’ve been following the industry news this past week, those days may come sooner rather than later. Either way, this goes for all formats, especially those that don’t typically have the biggest cumes:

When given the opportunity — ask AEs: Could you sell this brand if ratings didn’t exist?

When they inevitably say “yes,” reply with, “How? Sell me on the brand right now.”

That simple exchange will tell you a lot. Do you have a trained seller that has to lean on the boots looking good and being popular, or will you hear about the quality of leather, the arch support, the protection they provide, and that you should feel some slip in the heel?

Anyone can read numbers and fake it, but for how long? Hire right. Your revenue will thank you.

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Keith Cunningham

Keith Cunningham is a music industry and Rock/Alternative columnist for Barrett Media and the founder of Black Box Group, a modern-modeled creative & strategic consultancy built for brands that need strategies with teeth. He’s the former Master of Mayhem at 95.5 KLOS-FM in Los Angeles for over a decade, a nationwide consultant, and has been repeatedly voted one of America’s top Program Directors and strategic thinkers. Keith has built his career by taking multi-million-dollar brands from worst to first and leading Marconi & Gracie award winners along the way. A data nerd with a rock-and-roll heart, he is an advisory council member for St. Jude fundraising, a fantasy football champion, and lover of his daughters & dogs. Reach him at keithblackboxgroup@gmail.com or on LinkedIn or X.