Radio is Not an Afterthought. Radio is a Primary Driver.

When my partners and I formed a national, “radio only” advertising agency in 1993, I was offered polite words of encouragement and a couple of invitations to “call me when this fails.”  23 years later, I am fortunate and humbled to be leading a dedicated team of radio advertising professionals who survived predictions of radio’s demise to now command a robust fleet of radio advertising platforms that perform as nimbly and successfully as any other advertising channel.

While many Madison Avenue firms continue to place six or seven percent of their billings on radio as almost an afterthought, The Radio Agency continues to place 100% of its clients’ budgets across the many platforms of radio: AM/FM, Satellite, Streaming and Podcasts.  This single dedication and focus has spelled success for many of America’s best-known and unknown brands.

When my partner and I first met with Jay Walker, founder of priceline.com, six months before its launch, Jay already knew that radio was going to be its primary driver.  When we earned the opportunity to manage their campaign, the lion’s share of their advertising budget went to radio, complemented by a small slice of support in print.  Today, few remember that the first TV ads for Priceline didn’t air until 18 months after the radio launch.  Radio built the Priceline brand.

Since then, we’ve been blessed to work with some of America’s most trusted and dependable brands.  Cisco Systems.  Dish.  Ralston Purina.  SolarCity.  Wells Fargo.  Humana.  Travelocity.  Maggiano’s.  Cintas.  ADT Security Services.  Respected brands that saw fit to carve out the radio slice of their budget and hand it over to a specialist agency 100% focused on the medium of Sound Advertising.

Let’s face it.  With 10,000+ AM/FM stations, 50,000+ Internet radio stations, 100s of channels on SiriusXM Satellite, 100s of podcasts available for sponsorship, plus an infinite number of ways to structure an ad buy on Pandora and Spotify, it truly takes a full-time focus to keep the players straight and the placements profitable.  And that’s probably why we’re still in business 23 years later and loving every minute of it.

To our clients, our vendors, our partners and our team members past and present, we thank you for your contributions to our success.  And we pause just long enough to lift our glass in appreciation before returning back to work on the next media buy and creative script assignment.

Mark Lipsky is the President and CEO of The Radio Agency. 

Contact Mark Lipsky at [email protected]