Time On WIP Advisory Panel Proves Enlightening

From James D'Arcangelo Council Rock North High School for phillyburbs.com

I came to the radio station to share my opinions, but ended up learning a lot more than I thought.

There are times when you are positioned to teach and impart wisdom, but you actually absorb and learn more than you end up sharing. That often happens to me in my volunteer work with kids.

It happened to me, big time, when I showed up at the offices of Philadelphia sports radio leader WIP (610 AM) to participate on their listener advisory panel last week.

Having heard WIP program director Andy Bloom's on-air request for panel applicants, I submitted my application and waited hopefully and anxiously. I knew that the station would elicit a substantial number of responses and that my odds were unfavorable. So I was extremely excited when, out of the more than 1,000 people who had applied, I was chosen to be a member of the 40-person team, and was the only teenager in the group.

The "team" was broken into four sets of panelists, ranging in number from nine to my 14-person session. Showing up for the two-hour meeting that started at 8 p.m., I was very ready to talk sports and sports radio.

I listen to WIP quite a bit, mostly during the afternoon and evenings, and mostly during the Phillies' and Flyers' seasons, so I was ready to share my opinions. I wasn't alone — many panelists came with pages of notes!

Over the course of the two-and-a-half-hour session, the group discussed day shifts, hosts, technology use and the right mix of "hard" sports talk versus "general entertainment." The diversity of the panelists in the room (notably age ranges and the times that they listen to WIP throughout the day), led to discussions that were lively, straight and mottled — and disagreements certainly arose, but were treated respectfully by all.

Throughout, Bloom asked very pointed questions about preferences and what would prompt panelists to listen more, listen longer or simply not turn away.

I learned a lot throughout the session, but even more after the conclusion of the meeting and the ensuing station tour, as I sat down with Bloom to ask what the impetus was to create the panel. Despite the late 11 p.m. hour, he and his staff happily indulged me (and "indulge" me he did; he is a legend in Philadelphia radio, with well over 25 years in the market, and noted as the man who brought Howard Stern to Philadelphia in 1986, enabling Stern's first syndicated market expansion from New York).

I asked Bloom why he would create such a group, when times were great at WIP (in-market, the station is regularly at or near the top in its target demographic group, males 18-54), and what his goals were. He shared that the "best way to grow steadily and to be steadily top-rated is to seek out your customers' opinions, listen and act. Radio listeners follow the classic ‘80-20 Rule,' so you want to build loyalty among that group of most-active listeners."

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