Weekly Spots

POSTED: November 21, 2011

(White Plains, NY) November 21, 2011 - According to Arbitron, Cleveland, OH is the 30th largest radio market with a population of 1,756,100.

• Cleveland got its name in 1796 from surveyors who named the area after their boss General Moses Cleaveland. The spelling of the city's name was later changed to "Cleveland" when, in 1831, an "a" was dropped so the name could fit a newspaper's masthead.

• Cleveland was home to numerous major steel producers and carmakers, including steam car builder White and electric car company Baker.

• By 1920, Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller had made his fortune in Cleveland, which had become the fifth largest city in the country.

• The city diversified its economy and is now home to corporate headquarters of Applied Industrial Technologies, Eaton, Forest City Enterprises, Sherwin-Williams Company and KeyCorp. NASA also maintains the Glenn Research Center and Jones Day, one of the largest law firms in the U.S, began in Cleveland.

• To honor Rock ‘n’ Roll, Cleveland built The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with $65 million in public money. To get Cleveland as the site, a petition drive was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland over Memphis along with a USA Today poll, which Cleveland won by 100,000 votes.

• Cleveland's professional sports teams include the Cleveland Indians (Major League Baseball), Cleveland Browns (National Football League), Cleveland Cavaliers (National Basketball Association), Cleveland City Stars (United Soccer Leagues), and Lake Erie Monsters (American Hockey League).

• Some of the famous people from Cleveland: actors Paul Newman, Hal Holbrook, Debra Winger, Halle Berry and Alan Ruck; presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich; talk-show host Phil Donahue; comedian Drew Carey; inventor Thomas Edison; G-man Eliot Ness and football legends Chuck Noll and John Heisman (yes, the same) and the infamous convicted murderer, Sam Sheppard.

CLEVELAND SPOT TEN

In Cleveland, Ohio the #1 radio advertiser was BILL DORATY KIA with 828 spots. CHRYSLER JEEP DODGE was #2 airing 623 spots, while GIANT EAGLE bagged #3 running 595 commercials. KIA OF BEDFORD drove from #14 to #4 with 547 spots and ACE CASH EXPRESS was #5 with 490 spots. THE HOME DEPOT landed in #6 with 414 spots, while FOX TV was #7 running 413 spots. WAL-MART dropped from #3 to #8 with 387 spots and GEICO was #9 with 385 spots. Coming in #10 was MCDONALD’S with 365 spots.

SPORTING GOODS STORES SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In the Sporting Goods category, the #1 radio advertiser was REI with 6,545 spots nationwide. DICK’S SPORTING GOODS held on to #2 with 697 ads, while the SPORTS AUTHORITY stayed at #3 with 500 spots. EDWIN WATTS GOLF swung into #4 with 380 ads and ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS graduated from #9 to #5 running 288 commercials. SPORTS CHALET scored #6 airing 282 announcements, while DUNHAM’S SPORT landed in #7 with 253 ads. THE GOLF MART soared from #56 up to #8 last week with 243 spots and SKI WORLD came in #9 with their 217 spots. HOOVER TACTICAL FIREARMS shot up from #22 to #10 with 191 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

GEICO had a good week moving from #3 to #1 with 40,067 spots. WAL-MART slipped into #2 with 39,130 spots, while THE HOME DEPOT took #3 with 33,013 commercials. STATE FARM was steady at #4 running 33,004 ads and AUTOZONE zoomed from #48 to #5 with 28,544 spots.

Posted: November 21, 2011

SONIC Corp. is an Oklahoma City-based, publicly held company that owns, operates and franchises SONIC Drive-Ins (NASDAQ: SONC).

In 1953, the prototype of the first SONIC Drive-In opened in Shawnee, Okla. SONIC was founded by Troy Smith and was originally named Top Hat Drive-In.

Upon learning that the Top Hat name was already trademarked, the name was changed to SONIC in 1959. The new name worked with their existing slogan "Service with the Speed of Sound".

In the 1950s, SONIC's unique use of curbside speakers to allow customers to place food orders without ever leaving their cars, spawned the slogan "SONIC, Service with the Speed of Sound." In recent years, that slogan has been replaced with "SONIC®, America's Drive-In.®"

After the name change, the first SONIC sign was installed at the former Top-Hat Drive-In located in Stillwater. Because the first SONIC sign was installed there, the Stillwater location has been considered to be the first SONIC Drive-In; the original sign can still be seen at that location.

Fast Lane SONIC, which specializes in made-to-order fast food, is known for its specialty menu items and personal service. SONIC's unique menu items include TOASTER® Sandwiches (sandwiches served on thick Texas Toast), Footlong Quarter Pound Coneys (hot dogs with chili and cheese), Onion Rings, Tater Tots and a variety of Frozen Favorites® desserts and Fountain Favorites® drinks.

There are 398,929 drink combinations making SONIC Your Ultimate Drink Stop!® SONIC's ever-growing menu includes real Fruit Smoothies.

In December 2008, SONIC launched a system-wide value menu. SONIC's Everyday Value Menu allows customers the opportunity to build a value-oriented three-piece meal or add sides and snacks to their order.

As of August 31, 2010, there were 3,500 restaurants in 43 U.S. states. SONIC serves approximately 3 million customers daily. Last year SONIC had revenues of $545.95 million with a net income of $19.23 million.

On Cable TV, SONIC ran 118,189 spots in the last 12 months with their biggest month being last September when they ran 15,979 spots.

On the Radio, SONIC ran 183,078 commercials with their biggest month being September 2011 with 24,123 spots and their lightest month being January clearing 7,490 spots.

On TV, they ran 77,643 ads in the last 12 months with their biggest month being March 2011 when they ran 9,496 ads.

POSTED: November 21, 2011

DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., as of June 30, 2010 provided more than 14.3 million satellite TV customers with the high quality programming and technology in their homes.

Subscribers have access to more than 200 national HD channels with the ViP 922, the world's only DVR with built-in Sling functionality, which allows customers “place shifting.” Users log-in to the device via a piece of software on their computer from anywhere in the world and have full control of their tuner and can watch television from wherever they want.

DISH Network is first in Customer Satisfaction among all cable and satellite providers according to the 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey results for the U.S. largest cable and satellite TV providers.

DISH Network is the offspring of EchoStar Satellite L.L.C., a satellite TV equipment distributor founded by CEO Charlie Ergen, his wife Candy and their friend Jim DeFranco in 1980.

In 1987, EchoStar filed for a Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) license with the FCC and in 1992, was granted access to orbital slot 119° West Longitude. With the successful launch of the EchoStar I satellite in December 1995, EchoStar established the DISH Network brand name in early 1996 and began providing a wide array of programming to consumer homes.

Since then, EchoStar and DISH Network launched a number of satellites to accommodate the companies' rapid growth, and count 14 owned and leased satellites in their shared fleet.

In January 2008, EchoStar and its DISH Network subsidiary split into two separate companies, DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS).

EchoStar Corporation now serves as a key technology partner to DISH Network Corporation.

In 2010 the DISH Network produced revenues of $12.64 billion with net income of $984.73 million. This represented an 8.4% increase. They have 22,000 employees.

DIRECTV has a legendary beginning when Hughes Electronics gained FCC approval to build and operate a direct broadcast satellite system, or DBS back in 1984. The satellite DIRECTV-1 was launched on December 17, 1993 and in 1994, Hughes Electronics founded DIRECTV and premiered the first North American offering of DBS service.

Often called the "minidish", this new satellite dish was considerably smaller than what consumers were used to - approximately 18 inches in diameter - and much more manageable than those large, cumbersome TVRO satellite dishes from our past.

In 1998, with over 4 million subscribers, DIRECTV Satellite entered into an agreement to purchase its partner, US Satellite Broadcasting for over $1.3 billion in stocks and cash. In July of 1998, DIRECTV invested $250 million in XM satellite radio.

In 1999, DIRECTV acquired Primestar, Inc. along with their 2.3 million subscribers. As part of the transaction, DIRECTV inherited Primestar's satellite assets - specifically, 11 transponders and two satellites - giving them high-powered DBS frequencies to provide full coverage of the continental United States.

By 2001, DIRECTV Satellite had gained over 10 million subscribers. In October of 2011, DIRECTV attempted to merge with its prime competitor, EchoStar Communications, the parent company of DISH Network, but by 2003, the merger fell through. Then later that same year, Hughes Electronics sold the major portion of their holdings to the News Corporation.

2003 also saw the introduction of a new high-definition video recorder from DIRECTV and TiVo as well as a second-generation model through a partnership with Philips.

In 2010, DIRECTV reported revenues of $24.10 billion with a net income of $2.20 billion, which represented sales growth of 11.8%. They have 23,000 employees.

On Cable, DIRECTV ran 386,376 spots in the last 12 months. DISH Network ran 84,841 ads in the same time frame. It is quite interesting that services that are trying to get you to switch from Cable advertising on Cable. DIRECTV’s biggest month on Local Cable was August with 46,248 ads, while the DISH Network ran hottest in February with 18,690 spots.

On Radio, the DISH Network ran 130,208 spots in the last 12 months, while DIRECTV cleared 60,654 spots. DIRECTV ran the most in November 2010 with 9,955 spots and the DISH Network ran the most in the same month last year with 17,727 spots.

On TV, the DISH Network ran 226,522 spots, while DIRECTV ran 46.25% as many spots at 96,618 spots. DIRECTV’s hottest month was last month, October with 10,568 spots, while the DISH Network ran the most last month as well, with 33,769 ads.

Posted: November 21, 2011

For The Current Spots: