The New York Times has a lengthy piece on how successful sports talk radio has become for local advertisers, despite the fact that the format might not be the top rated station in a market. The article begins with a success story from the Goldberg law firm which uses Portland station KFXX-AM to reach men. The station was ranked 21st in June.

The firm’s founder Rick Jones says at first the company used yellow pages to reach men but then turned to radio which appealed to him for its reach and price. “When deciding at that point which stations to target, sports radio stations were a no-brainer because of the demographic. The cost per relevant person was manageable and within our budget.”

Entercom, which owns KFXX, tells the paper that 11 million people listen to its 40 or so sports radio stations every week, 71 percent of which is male.

ESPN Audio’s Traug Keller tells the paper that between 80 and 90 percent of the audience listening to ESPN is male.

And John Fitzgerald, vice president of ESPN’s multimedia sales for audio and ESPN Deportes, says the sports format is not simply for the older demographic anymore and advertisers understand that. “We do well with 18 to 49, we do well with 25 to 54, and we do well with 35-plus, but there’s this idea that, this old white guy — and I can say this as an older white guy — and they’re now trapped in what they do and they’re going to do that forever.”

The article also highlights the success advertisers have with host endorsements in the format.

Read the Times article HERE

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