New format gets multimedia push
A toronto radio station originally licensed in 1987 to broadcast an easy listening format has a $250,000 campaign under way to promote a new ‘music image’ and its association with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club.
Walter Levitt, director of promotions for Z97.3, says the station’s campaign is multimedia, using tv, print, outdoor and direct mail.
Levitt says the campaign is costly for a radio station, but argues the popularity of CJEZ 97.3 with its listeners has remained a secret for too long.
He says the radio station had a ‘solid’ fall book, picking up some male listeners aged 25-54, although there was some drop-off of all listeners over 55.
Levitt says cjez is a ‘female leaning’ station with a predominantly 25-54 demographic.
‘White collar’ radio
He says it is ‘white collar’ radio, with listeners having higher levels of income and higher levels of education, adding cjez is the ‘most clearly positioned’ station in the Toronto market.
He says the station changed to classic hits last Labor Day, after some prior tinkering with the easy listening format, but is only now promoting its new music.
He says classic hits – essentially ’70s recordings from such performers as Billy Joel, the Eagles, Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac – is the ‘hottest’ fm format in the u.s. at the moment.
Leafs broadcasts
According to Levitt, Z97.3, which simulcasts Maple Leaf games with Toronto’s all-sports station CJCL 1430, will also benefit when the am broadcaster drops Leaf games – as the club heads into the playoffs – to broadcast Toronto Blue Jays games as the baseball season begins.
Telemedia, which owns cjcl, is negotiating to buy cjez from Calgary’s Redmond Broadcasting.
Levitt says cjez produced in-house three tv spots to advertise its classic hits music, one 30-second spot and two 15-second commercials.
He says the spots run on cfto and cbc in Toronto, and ckvr in Barrie, Ont., a station that suits Z97.3 very well given its ‘classic’ tv broadcast fare.
As well as the tv commercials, Levitt says the radio station has print ads running in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Sun, Chatelaine, TV Guide and the Toronto edition of Maclean’s.
Also lined up are advertising on the Pixel Board Network and direct mail.
