Weekly Spots

POSTED: January 10, 2011

(White Plains, NY) January 10, 2011 – According to Arbitron, Boston, MA is the 10th largest radio market with a population of 4,054,600.

• The Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party both took place in the city, along with several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston.
• America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635) and college, Harvard College (1636) were both founded in the Boston area. There are a total of 51 institutions of higher education, including 7 junior colleges, 14 colleges that primarily grant baccalaureate and master's degrees, 8 research universities, and 22 special-focus institutions.
• In 1897, Boston opened the first subway system in the U.S. And most recently, the underground road system known as the Big Dig was to cost taxpayers $2.8 billion in 1985, the final result may cost more like $22 billion.
• The city was home to the first baseball World Series in 1903. The winner was the Boston Americans, who took five from the Pittsburgh Pirates. The World Series that year was the best of nine.
• Sports are important in Boston with many championships: 7 World Series wins, 3 Superbowls, 17 NBA titles and 5 Stanley Cups.
• Famous bands from Boston: Aerosmith, Boston, and The Cars. In comedy: Dane Cook, Conan O’Brien and Madeleine Kahn, in literary pursuits: Emily Dickinson, Jack Kerouac, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Robert Frost.
• More than a fair share of presidents came from Boston: John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John Kennedy. And how can we forget Sam Adams; one of the revolutionists and then Governor of the state of Massachusetts, as well as the name sake of an American Beer. On the screen: Barbara Walters, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Matt LeBlanc.

BOSTON SPOT TEN

The #1 radio advertiser in Boston last week was GEICO with 861 spots. EPSON was #2 airing 598 announcements, while HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE hit #3 with 578 spots. VERIZON was #3 running 461 ads and EMPIRE LOAN took #5 with 401 spots. PLANET FITNESS dropped from #4 to #6 last week with 399 spots, while MCDONALD’S bagged #7 with 370 spots. AAA insurance jumped from #62 to #8 with 341 commercials and the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL was #9 with 328 spots. XFINITY BUNDLE was #10 with 296 spots.

WEIGHT LOSS & GAIN SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Taking weight off is an important subject for a lot of people this time of year. In the nation, SENSA was #1 with 6,164 spots. RIGHTSIZE was #2 running 5,837, while ACAI FRESH was #4 with 3,288 spots. NUTRISYSTEMS was #4 airing 2,345 announcements and WEIGHT WATCHERS was #5 with 859 spots. WEIGHT LOSS CENTERS slimmed from #4 to #6 with 856 spots, while MEDIFAST was #7 running 702 spots. JILLIAN MICHAELS was #8 with 645 spots and EVERYDAY HEALTH was #9 with 628 ads. Coming in #10 was QUICK WEIGHT LOSS CENTERS with 610 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

The gecko stays on top with GEICO running 64,382 spots in the nation. MCDONALD’S was #2 with 27,193 spots, while the HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE moves from #6 to #3 with 21,549 spots. #4 was THE HOME DEPOT with 20,010 ads and WAL-MART was #5 with 19,821 spots.

Posted: January 10, 2011

Discover Financial Services is a financial services company, which issues the Discover Card and operates the Discover and Pulse networks. Discover Card is the third largest credit card brand in the United States, when measured by cards in force, with nearly 50 million cardholders.

The Discover Card was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was a unit of Dean Witter, which merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997. In 2007, the unit was spun off as an independent, publicly traded company. Today, Discover is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, Illinois.

In 2008, Discover acquired Diners Club for $165 million and then unveiled their campaign nationally during the 1986 Super Bowl.

A "Dawn of Discover" commercial featured a rising sun, uplifting images of traditional American life and the simple message: "Very few things cost you nothing to get and pay you back every day. But now the Discover card does."

Discover Network connects millions of merchant and cash access locations, PULSE serves more than 4,400 financial institutions and point of sale terminals nationwide and Diners Club International, which created the first multi-purpose charge card in the world, is a global payments network with acceptance in 185 countries and territories.

They report net income of $1.28 billion and they have 10,500 employees.

In the last 12 months, Discover ran 238,395 spots, with October being their biggest month with 36,880 ads. April also was a productive month with 32,524 spots.

On Radio, Discover ran 229,551 spots in the last 12 months with very little activity in January, July and August. April was the biggest month with 36,499 ads and strong showings in February, June and November.

On TV, Discover ran a smaller number of spots with 65,140 in the last 12 months. The biggest month was July with 9,042 spots.

POSTED: January 10, 2011

General Motors, also known as GM, is the global automaker headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. GM manufactures cars and trucks in 34 countries. In 2009, GM employed about 209,000 people.

In 2008, 8.35 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Vauxhall and Wuling.

General Motors (GM) was founded on September 27, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, controlled by William C. Durant. It acquired Oldsmobile later that year.

In 1909 Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland (later known as Pontiac) and several others. In 1909, General Motors acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck.

Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers' trust because of the large amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions coupled with a collapse in new vehicle sales.

A few years later, Durant started the Chevrolet Motor car company and through this he secretly purchased a controlling interest in GM. Durant took back control of the company after one of the most dramatic proxy wars in American business history.

GM’s unprecedented growth lasted into the early 1980s when it employed 349,000 workers and 150 assembly plants. They are a bit leaner today. About a year ago, GM took $50 billion from the US government to stay afloat.

In the recent public offering back in November of 2010, GM raised $15.77 billion, as well as $4.35 billion in preferred shares, more than the initially planned $4 billion.

According to the latest records, GM has revenues of $104.59 billion with net income of $104.82 billion. They have 65,000 employees.

Chrysler Group LLC is an automobile manufacturer headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925.

The company was founded by Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) on June 6, 1925 when the Maxwell Motor Company (est. 1904) was re-organized into the Chrysler Corporation. Walter Chrysler had originally arrived at the ailing Maxwell-Chalmers company in the early 1920s, having been hired to take over and overhaul the company's troubled operations.

Then in January 1924, after getting rid of the Chalmers brand, Walter Chrysler launched the well-received Chrysler automobile. The Chrysler was a 6-cylinder automobile, designed to provide customers with an advanced, well-engineered car, but at a more affordable price.

The original 1924 Chrysler included a carburetor, air filter, high compression engine, full pressure lubrication, and an oil filter, at a time when most autos came without these features.

Following the introduction of the Chrysler, the Maxwell was dropped after its 1925 model. The company then incorporated under the Chrysler name.

Among the innovations in its early years would be the first practical mass-produced four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a system nearly completely engineered by Chrysler with patents assigned to Lockheed, and rubber engine mounts to reduce vibration. Chrysler also developed a road wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This safety wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide.

In 1998, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were purchased by German-based Daimler-Benz AG, creating the combined entity DaimlerChrysler AG. Under DaimlerChrysler, the company was named DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC, with its U.S. operations generally referred to as the "Chrysler Group".

On May 14, 2007, DaimlerChrysler announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler Group to American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., therefore being known as Chrysler LLC, although Daimler (renamed as Daimler AG) continued to hold a 19.9% stake.

On April 30, 2009, Chrysler LLC filed for Chapter 11 reorganization and announced a plan for a partnership with Italian automaker Fiat.

On June 10, 2009, the sale of most of Chrysler’s assets to "New Chrysler", formally known as Chrysler Group LLC was completed. The federal government financed the deal with $6.6 billion in financing.

The Ford Motor Company was launched in a converted factory in 1903 with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, most notably John and Horace Dodge (who would later found their own car company). Henry's first attempt under his name was the Henry Ford Company on November 3, 1901, which later became the Cadillac Motor Company August 22, 1902.

During its early years, the company produced just a few cars a day at its factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. Groups of two or three men worked on each car from components made to order by other companies. Henry Ford was 40 years old when he founded the Ford Motor Company, which would go on to become one of the world's largest and most profitable companies, as well as being one to survive the Great Depression.

As one of the largest family-controlled companies in the world, the Ford Motor Company has been in continuous family control for over 100 years.

In the recent bailout frenzy of a year ago, Ford decided not to take any of the money offered by the Federal Government, which helped their image with consumers.

In the latest news from Ford, an all-electric version of the Ford Focus will be hitting the dealers as a 2012 model. Ford will work with Best Buy to offer a 240-volt home charging station.

According to latest documents, Ford shows revenues of $118.31 billion with net income at $2.72 billion. They appear to be back in a big way. They have 198,000 employees.

On Cable GM dominates the media with 1,320,066 spots against Chrysler’s 431,875 ads and Ford’s 781,054 ads. Chrysler’s biggest month was August (62,436), while Ford’s biggest month was October (80,604) and GM pushed hardest in December (141,478).

The Big Three all use radio wisely, with GM edging out the other two with 1,289,265 spots. Chrysler ran 1,059,865 spots and Ford was in with 999,596 in the last 12 months. Chrysler finished the year strong with October, November and December all over 100,000 ads with December totaling 157,824. Ford banged hard in July (103,807) and August (102,384), while GM had six months over 100,000 ads with July the biggest with 143,390 spots.

On TV, GM ran 909,356 spots in the last 12 months, against Chrysler with 583,791 ads and Ford’s 825,283 commercials. Chrysler’s biggest month was July (57,503), Ford’s top month was December (81,448) and GM pushed hardest in December as well with 105,100 spots.

Posted: January 10, 2011

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