Weekly Spots

POSTED: April 16, 2012

(White Plains, NY) April 16, 2012 – According to Arbitron, Norfolk is the 44th largest radio market with a population of 1,358,100.

• Norfolk (locally pronounced "NAW-fuhk"; also pronounced "NOR-fuhk" or "NOR-fik") is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area, officially known as Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA.

• Norfolk played a role in the revolutionary war with Great Britton. On New Year's Day, 1776, Lord Dunmore's fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for over eight hours. The damage from the shells and fires started by the British destroyed over 800 buildings, almost two-thirds of the city. The patriots destroyed the remaining buildings for strategic reasons in February. Only the walls of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church survived the bombardment and subsequent fires. A cannonball from the bombardment (fired by the Liverpool) remains within the wall of Saint Paul's.

• Norfolk is the corporate headquarters of Norfolk Southern Railway, one of North America's principal Class I railroads, and Maersk Line, Limited, who manages the world's largest fleet of US-flag vessels.

• Higher Education in Norfolk: Old Dominion University, founded as the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary in 1930, became an independent institution in 1962. Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, Virginia Wesleyan College and Tidewater Community College are also part of this community.

• Famous People from Norfolk include: 60s singer Gary U.S. Bonds; Football player Plaxico Burress; the late-great E Street Band Saxman “Big Man” Clarence Clemmons; Basketball coach “Lefty” Driesell; Las Vegas great Wayne Newton; Actor Tim Reid and New York Mets’ third baseman David Wright.

NORFOLK SPOT TEN

In Norfolk last week the #1 radio advertiser was GEICO with 1,082 spots. Coming in #2 was THE HOME DEPOT with 931 spots, while CASEY VOLKSWAGEN - SUBARU took #3 with 527 ads. ONE HOUR HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING was #4 airing 422 commercials and PENNINGTON was #5 with 412 messages. H&R BLOCK appears in #6 with 383 spots, while VERIZON takes #7 with 371 spots. LOWE'S was #8 running 346 ads and FARM FRESH FOOD & PHARMACY soars to #9 with 334 spots. RICK HENDRICK COLONIAL CHEVROLET was #10 with 314 spots.

TELECOM BUNDLED SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

In Telecom Bundled last week nationally, XFINITY BUNDLE was #1 with 10,485 commercials on the radio. TIME WARNER BUNDLE was #2 with 3,285 spots, while CHARTER BUNDLE ran 2,856 spots to take #3. CENTURYLINK BUNDLE were #4 airing 2,629 spots and COMCAST BUNDLE landed in #5 with 2,501 spots. FRONTIER was #6 running 1,780 spots, while TIME WARNER CABLE BUSINESS CLASS was #7 with 1,769 spots. COX BUNDLE was #8 airing 1,611 spots and BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS BUNDLE took #9 with 567 spots. And coming in #10 was OPTIMUM BUNDLE with 438 spots.

NATIONAL SPOT TEN

NATIONAL STATISTICS -

Last weeks' national spot radio map has THE HOME DEPOT with 59,170 spots. GEICO stays steady at #2 with 40,566 spots, while MCDONALD’S holds at #3 with 27,567 spots. AUTOZONE came in at #4 with 21,422 spots and LOWE'S drops lands #5 with 18,669 spots.

Posted: April 16, 2012

MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) was formed in 1994 by Roger Linquist and Malcolm Lorang as General Wireless, Inc. for the purpose of bidding on, acquiring and operating broadband PCS licenses. It is now a mobile phone service provider with the fifth largest mobile telecommunication network in the country.

In July 2004, MetroPCS Communications and MetroPCS completed a restructuring under which MetroPCS became a wholly-owned subsidiary of MetroPCS Communications. MetroPCS’ business constitutes substantially all of the business of MetroPCS Communications and the Company continues to conduct business under the MetroPCS brand. The company went public on April 7, 2007 at $23 per share.

MetroPCS is based out of Richardson, Texas and its regional coverage started out in the Miami, Atlanta, Sacramento and San Francisco metropolitan areas. The company’s coverage is consistently growing and is now available in northern Florida, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, San Diego, Seattle and Las Vegas, among other locales.

MetroPCS operates under the tagline “Wireless for All” providing predictability, reliability, and affordability for its customers.

In the latest annual report, MetroPCS produced revenues of $4.85 billion with net incomes of $301.31 million, which was a 19.1% increase in 2011 sales. They have 3,700 employees.

On Local Cable, MetroPCS ran only 18,176 spots in the last 12 months. Their biggest month was February 2012 when they ran 4,852 spots.

On Radio, MetroPCS ran most of their schedules to the tune of 69.47% of all spots ran in the last 12 months, which totaled 218,914 ads. They ran hottest in February with 24,322 spots, while January 2012 was pretty hot as well with 23,262 spots.

On Broadcast TV in the last 12 months, MetroPCS ran 78,047 spots with February topping the list with 10,642 ads.

POSTED: April 16, 2012

Rooms To Go Inc. was founded by Jeffrey Seaman and his father, Morty Seaman. Both had worked in the retail furniture store of Jeffrey's grandfather, Julius Seaman, who founded a Woodbury, New York-based home furnishings company in 1934.

In 1991, Jeffrey Seaman had decided that it was time to establish his own business. He envisioned a different merchandising approach and was anxious to combine his past experience in the furniture business with a new concept for a retail operation. He studied The Limited and The Gap and decided that his new store should be uniform, colorful, interesting and open. The opening slogan said it all, "Buy a piece, save a little. Buy the room, save a lot!"

Although the Florida market was intensely competitive, Jeffrey Seaman decided to locate his headquarters and first stores there with approximately 18 in west and central Florida. Sales quickly met expectations, with the company netting $30 million in the first year.

Innovative advertising was produced in-house to reflect the company's goals. Seaman deplored the strategy of fake sales (marking up prices, then advertising that furniture was marked down for sale) that he believed gave the industry a credibility problem, so they coined the motto, “no fake sales, no phony discounts, no delivery fairy tale--and assistance, not persistence, from the sales staff."

The chain grew fast in the early 90s and by 1996, Rooms To Go had mushroomed into Florida's fastest-growing furniture retailer, and Seaman felt that the company had saturated that market. A new distribution center was opened in Atlanta to support the 25 new stores opening in Atlanta, Charlotte, Chattanooga and Nashville.

Through licensing agreements with individuals or businesses, the company was soon selling its furniture in Turkey, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Columbia and the Bahamas.

Fort Lauderdale was chosen as the new testing ground for a spinoff concept that would exclusively handle children's furniture. The first of the youth specialty stores, called Rooms To Go Kids, was opened in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia. In 1997, the first Rooms To Go Kids store opened in Tokyo.

1998 showed overall growth of 20 percent over 1997 revenues and the company continued to expand into the next century. According to the web site, Furniture Today, Rooms To Go has more than 120 stores, as of 2008.

Rooms To Go are in 9 states with 106 locations and 7,000 employees.

Bob's Discount Furniture is a privately owned regional chain of furniture stores, primarily in the Northeast and it’s headquartered in in Manchester, Connecticut. They opened their door in 1991.

In 1976, future company co-founder Bob Kaufman was injured in a motorcycle accident; Bob discovered the benefits of a waterbed for recuperation. The experience inspired Kaufman to become involved with waterbed sales, and during the 1980s, he had rented space in 24 New England stores for selling waterbeds

By 1990, waterbed sales had dwindled, so Kaufman partnered with Gene Rosenberg (owner of Wholesale Furniture, where Kaufman had rented space for waterbed sales) and they acquired a building in Newington, Connecticut to open the first Bob’s.

As time progressed, the company expanded to additional locations, often acquiring buildings that had been vacated by tenants that had become bankrupt during recession.

By 1997, the company operated a dozen stores in Connecticut and two in western Massachusetts. The ability of the company to grow during its early years in spite of unfavorable economic conditions has been partially attributed to the company's extensive use of commercials.

In early 2005, the investment firm Saunders Karp & Megrue acquired 70 percent ownership of Bob's Discount Furniture; subsequently, Saunders Karp & Megrue was acquired by Apax Partners Worldwide.

In November 2006, Edmond (Ted) English, former president and CEO of TJX Companies, became the CEO of Bob's Discount Furniture, replacing Stan Adelstein, who became chairman.

In addition to being known for its distinctive advertisements, the company is also known for offering amenities at many of its stores, which may include in-store home theaters, video arcades, and complimentary refreshments. Many of the stores have a back room where people can get items that are considered imperfect; this area is playfully called The Pit.

The commercials usually feature company president Bob Kaufman, typically wearing jeans and a golf shirt or turtleneck, and have also included Bob's Discount Furniture employees. Cathy Poulin, the company's Director of Public Relations, is the female face of the company. Cathy appears in commercials and at events both with and without Bob.

They have 43 stores and 2,500 employees.

On Local Cable, Bob’s Discount Furniture is way out in front of Rooms To Go. Bob’s ran 66,321 spots in the last 12 months against Rooms To Go’s 19,881 spots. Bob’s biggest month was November 2011 with 7,717, while Rooms To Go ran the most in January of this year with 2,671 ads.

Rooms To Go ran 53,871 spots on the Radio in the last 12 months, while Bob’s Discount Furniture ran 80,964 spots. The biggest month for Rooms to Go was last October with 8,467 ads against Bob’s biggest month last December at 7,550 spots.

On Broadcast TV, Rooms To Go more than doubled Bob’s Discount Furniture. Rooms To Go ran 189,101 spots in the last 12 months, while Bob’s ran 65,022 spots. Rooms To Go ran the most last month, March, with 23,728 spots, while Bob’s was hottest last December with 6,187 spots.

Posted: April 16, 2012

For The Current Spots: