Dawn Le Men writes

It’s a huge privilege to work in radio, and we know from all the feedback what a great impact Boom has on your lives. 

Just before the station launched, I’d started what I thought was my retirement from my media career. I’d been a counsellor for over 20 years too, so very likely would have continued with that work but then I was surprised by a call from an old boss from my TV days who asked me if I fancied working with some of his old friends who were starting a radio station.

I hadn't ever worked in radio but thought it sounded fun! I’ve always loved the medium as a listener and Graham Dene had been my idol on Capital Radio in London years ago – so to work with him now is a privilege!

I’ve found Boom enormous fun and highly fulfilling. But, of course, I have the serious job of making sure we bring in sufficient cash to stay around. Alas, other stations sadly have not lasted the course even though they too have been well-received by listeners.

The costs of our staff and transmitters etc are significant – alongside the fees we pay to play the music you enjoy, plus we spend significantly on marketing. There’s no point in having a great station if no-one knows of it.

Boom, of course, is funded wholly from the commercials we carry. 

We do receive some comments from listeners saying they understand the need for advertising “but can you watch the amount”.  Rest assured we do!  If we were to halve the ads, we’d halve the income – and Boom would not last long!

We do, however, include only a modest amount of advertising - half as much as on some other stations!  Commercial stations used to be limited by the regulations to nine minutes an hour. Now that rule no longer exists, many stations exceed the figure by some margin. We have never reached even near nine-minutes and it’s not our intention.

The number of ads on Boom ebbs and flows, as does the demand from advertisers. We don’t keep going up – often we go down!

How do we sell the ads to clients? Well, I’m proud of our own small sales team including Sarah and Helen. They sell directly to companies we feel would be specifically at home with our audience.

One of my first meetings was with someone called Dean Friedman who wanted to advertise his upcoming tour. I had no idea that this was in fact THE Dean Friedman until that night when I told my partner about my day. Since that first meeting I have had the pleasure of lunch with Dean in New York when we were on holiday. He’s such a nice man.

You’ll also hear many of the major consumer brands advertising on Boom.  These campaigns are commissioned by major ad agencies across radio, TV, online and press etc.  Given our relatively small scale vs other media, it is unlikely the huge agencies would spend time arranging campaigns on Boom alone, so we've been represented since we launched by both major UK radio companies, Bauer and Global, who sell commercials on Boom alongside their own stations.  They do a great job for us and we have many friends there, even though, of course on-air we may be rivals!

Together, these sources of income add up to sufficient to pay the bills and help to grow the stations. And, although it’s never easy, we are delighted with our progress despite an unsettled economic climate.

What pleases me most is when we receive questions from you about one of the ads you’ve heard. Whether you’re looking to arrange surgery via Wellsoon, travel insurance from goodtogoinsurance.com, want to sell off some old records ore get a new electrical appliance fitted quickly from Marks Electrical it’s good to know that the ads are not only serving our clients well and keeping the station on-air, they’re helping you make the most of your life.

Thanks for listening – and supporting our advertisers.

Dawn

Dawn Le Men is sales director, Boom Radio. (And do drop me a line here if you're in business and have a budget for your next marketing campaign).