When we first wrote about important alliances at Robinson Media — almost 20 years back in 2007 — we shared the strategic play record companies were doing to sneak clips on new tunes into successful television shows like The Fray, Anna Nalick, and Snow Patrol into Grey’s Anatomy. Across the ABC Television Hallway, sister company Walt Disney had their hands full keeping the soundtracks to High School Musical and Hannah Montana CDs in stock as the cross-alliance market exploded with those shows. Indeed, it was a big, groundbreaking deal at the time.

Now it’s almost standard practice to launch a song during an NFL broadcast, in a Netflix series, or during Monday Night Football’s opening video deck. Additionally, Chris Stapleton and Snoop Dogg reimagined Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight,” which premiered in 2023 on MNF. Furthermore, Carrie Underwood and Hank Williams Jr. have also padded their careers with partnership help on football kickoffs. Today, with limited resources, expanding your reach happens by building alliances.

The SiriusXM and Audacy Partnership

The recently-announced SiriusXM and Audacy radio alliance didn’t come as a surprise here. Bravo to both companies’ leadership teams for forging the partnership. Nevertheless, it does come with both opportunity and risk.

Combining SiriusXM’s massive national reach and digital platform with Audacy’s local stations, personalities, and programming creates powerful opportunities for content distribution, audience growth, and overall awareness to both audiences. On the flipside, alliances of this size create complicated business relationships, blurring the brands and taking focus away from local programming — or whatever’s left of it. So what does it signal to you — the local, market-integrated broadcaster? The walls are down. Clearly, there are no barriers to developing alliances even when they seem to be traditional competitors.

Before you plan any further promotion, think partnerships first.

Building Beyond Traditional Marketing

For years, active formats have chatted about being “everywhere.” Yet we hear and see nothing outside “Internal Marketing.” There’s contests to our cume, remotes that beg for attendance, and now social media posts that barely get traction. While those tactics still have value, they’re no longer enough. Today, we know our listener moves without effort between audio platforms, social media apps, bookmarked podcasts, connected cars, and smart speakers.

If your station only exists on your frequency and your digital efforts, you’re missing opportunities to meet listeners where they already are. The stations that thrive now and in the near future think beyond traditional media partners while building alliances. Subsequently, borrow someone else’s audience through strategic partnerships.

Finding Your Alliance Partners

Here’s a few places that also get starved for attention in their own crowded industry: A coffee shop or brewery that’s locally owned. The owner’s baristas and bartenders are in your community. Ask if they might play one brand in your cluster in their shop for mentions. Additionally, consider your community Little League or AYSO. Have the organizers or board include your brand(s) in their marketing. Moreover, offer to have your morning show update scores and standings.

Furthermore, the parks department in your town has activities year-round. Build an audio and online calendar that includes these camps in exchange for signage at all park events. None of these organizations are radio competitors. All of them have loyal audiences that overlap with yours. Develop ways to become indispensable to them.

Strategic Thought-Starters

Here are a few other thought-starters: Own a community — Through your ratings package, identify one city, suburb, or neighborhood that delivers significant listening and become woven into its identity. Be involved in the charity walk, holiday parades, PTO fundraiser, farmers market, concert series, and small business events throughout the year. Partner with local independent grocers. At one time, when running an Oldies brand, we had a local chain feature an aisle of products with one-week-only prices from the 1970s. Additionally, the grocery floor is one of the last clutter-free places in the store. Have stickers with your logo leading the way to featured products aired on your radio station(s).

Cross-promote between complementary media. Most of our stations already get branded weather — and at times news — from local television. It’s low-hanging fruit for these brands. Similarly, think about community newspapers. Use your gold-based brand to feature a “Yesteryear” like feature that prints in their paper and airs on your station. YouTube creators in your community might have audiences you want. Importantly, they are not competitors — they’re complementary content creators to your brand.

The Bottom Line

Tear down the traditional thought of competitive ownership groups and start thinking about how you can build shared audiences. A larger point: The competition for attention grows louder while our resources are being stripped away. Streaming podcasts, YouTube, satellite radio, app-based gaming, and AI assistants are all competing for your listener’s time.

Your greatest competitive advantage now consists of relationships within your community. No algorithm attends the Rotary Club breakfast. Spotify doesn’t emcee the county fair. Build local alliances and your audience will find you everywhere they already live.

Successful media outlets think in terms of solid, ongoing partnerships. And then promotion. Radio should be doing the same.

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