It hit him like a bolt of lightning. One night, Len Rhodes, Montreal-based VP of global marketing for The Hockey Company, was listening to the radio and found himself tuned into a show about personal finance…executed by a finance company. ‘And I thought, if they’re doing that in personal finance, we could do that in sports!’ says Rhodes.

So he jotted his idea down and arranged a lunch with Wayne Bews, general sales manager with Montreal sports radio station The Team 990. As it turns out, Bews was looking to increase local content. ‘And not only did Wayne like the idea,’ says Rhodes. ‘But he said I should consider using myself as a co-host. And that’s how it started.’

In so doing, Rhodes – whose company sells well-known hockey brands like CCM, JOFA and KOHO – joined the swelling ranks of marketers looking for different ways to use radio to cut through the clutter and develop a more in-depth relationship with consumers.

‘We’re getting more and more requests for customized programs,’ says Jean-Marie Heimrath, president and general manager of Toronto-based Sound Source, a division of Standard Radio, who notes that custom options like The Hockey Company’s venture currently represent some 15% of Sound Source’s business.

‘Clients are asking ‘What can I do to not only support my brand but also offer some consumer benefits?’ You’ll see more and more of this happening because there’s too much out there and no one can distinguish themselves.’

For now, custom radio programming is akin to product placement on television or advertorials in magazines. It’s all about new ways of breaking through the wallpaper in a very cluttered world.

And that was the lure for The Hockey Company, which for the past two years had relied on television and print advertising to get out its message.

‘We have a long-term relationship that we want to establish with hockey players in the community, and this is a way to connect,’ says Rhodes. ‘We hear from people that they want to talk directly to the manufacturer, but traditionally in marketing, it’s one-way communications. This is an opportunity for us to get feedback and at the same time, allows us to communicate with them outside of the box.’

The one-hour weekly show, called Hockey Buzz, is co-hosted by Hockey Company marketing services manager Mike Sinel and addresses issues such as what to look for when buying certain pieces of equipment, how to fit equipment and more. Plans include eventually visiting retail locations for face-to-face meetings with customers.

‘It’s very difficult to stand out from the clutter on radio,’ says Rhodes. ‘I’d rather concentrate one hour of quality programming on one station than scatter several spots on different stations within the marketplace and not really make an impact.’

While he won’t reveal the cost of producing and airing the show, Rhodes does say it’s on par with the cost of producing and buying an equivalent number of spots. However, he’s careful to point out that the strategy isn’t born out of economic savings.

‘It’s based on making a media buy that is more effective for the same number of working dollars,’ says Rhodes. ‘In other words, it’s a concentration strategy: It allows you to own an hour of a show delivering higher frequency within a defined audience instead of a lower frequency across a broader reaching audience.’

For The Team, it’s quite simply a new revenue opportunity – one that is projected to boost revenue by 15% this year. At least four new clients have already lined up to do their own shows, including a local golf school and a men’s Web site.

For each show, the marketers provide the content, and the shows are thematically based around issues such as the business of sports. Each company has to submit a program proposal and an hour-long demo, and the station sets aside non-peak hours such as Saturdays from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m.-noon to air the programming.

But what do these shows really do for the marketer’s brand image – not to mention the reputation of the station? Is there any concern that audiences could be turned off by advertising messages dressed up as shows?

‘If you tell them straight up where you’re from and what you’re all about and don’t try and hide your motive, you’re fine,’ says Rhodes, who reasons that as long as his show provides useful, interesting content, viewers won’t mind who produces it. ‘If we had gone into the show not telling people we worked for The Hockey Company, that would be in bad faith and we’d lose credibility.’

Meanwhile the station reserves the right to intervene should any concerns arise about the quality of the shows, with a clause giving it authority to pre-empt if the marketing/content line is crossed.

When it comes to hard listener numbers, both The Hockey Company and the Team say it’s too early to tell – they won’t know for sure how many sports fans are tuning in until the March BBM numbers are released. In the meantime, Rhodes says anecdotally that when they throw open the lines to listeners, there’s no shortage of callers with questions about hockey sticks and helmets.

The Team is not the only station tapping into this type of revenue. Sound Source has been executing similar marketing plans since its inception in 1988, says Heimrath. Past projects have included creating a 39-week series on e-business for Nortel Networks using Jim Carroll, a technology writer and speaker.

In the past, marketers have relied on weight to cut through radio clutter, says Heimrath. ‘But today people are more prudent about targeting a particular message to a particular group than ever. There’s too much waste and people really want to get things to the right person.’

And then there’s a different kind of customized radio which involves third-party selling. Toronto’s Youth Culture Group, which publishes teen magazines Verve and Fuel (for girls and boys respectively), is in the midst of planning to take the magazines to the radio airwaves this fall, advertisers and all.

‘We wanted to extend the brands into radio,’ says Michele Erskine, managing partner, research director with Youth Culture Group. ‘For us, the two things that radio does really well is offer frequency and the ability to target locally. As we layer that in with the magazine and the Web site, it gives us abilities we don’t have with the other two media and we really like that.’

Erskine adds that Youth Culture specializes in giving its clients multiple channels to reach youth, and that while having magazine-sponsored shows will help push the magazines themselves, third-party spots within the shows also give her clients new options.

‘We have a number of clients who are interested in it,’ says Erskine, noting that said clients haven’t used much radio to date. ‘This gives them an opportunity to try it out.’

Similar ideas are brewing over at Deep Sky, a radio advertising-oriented division within Corus Entertainment, where general manager Francesca Briggs offers a ‘toolbox’ of concepts in programming customized to clients’ needs. Briggs notes that, for instance, if a client wants to be attached to something controversial for attention, Deep Sky has a roster of household-name journalists who could produce commentary on the issue of the day.

Deep Sky is also currently in talks with an agency in Toronto that has a number of small-business accounts, and they’ve shown interest in creating a small-business program.

‘It’s getting harder and harder for branded messages or any sort of sales message to be heard,’ says Briggs. ‘Customized programming, there’s a huge opportunity there, and more and more companies are looking for it. It’s all about finding the right environment.’