With today’s launch of the broadcast Sports stations on SiriusXM’s platform what stuck out to me was that many of the stations received new branding so-far exclusive to SiriusXM.
Outside of WIP Philadelphia, all of the Sports stations that launched on SiriusXM today did so with new logos that removed any of the station’s AM/FM frequencies. “96.5 The Fan” KRBZ Kansas City is simply “The Fan Kansas City“. “95.7 The Game” KGMZ San Francisco is “The Game San Francisco” and so forth. One other exception to WIP was the newly reminted “95.7 The Fan” KIKK-FM Houston, which used its old branding package as “Sports Radio Houston“. These logos are being on car displays and all implementations on the SiriusXM app.
The logo usage on SiriusXM follows a new logo rolled out last week for News 1070 KNX Los Angeles. Like the SiriusXM logos, “knx” also removed its frequency from its branding as it moves to a multi-platform distribution that includes 1070 AM, 97.1 HD2, the Audacy and iHeart apps, and soon the SiriusXM app.
The continued multi-platform distribution pattern displayed in these cases is a continued trend for where we’re headed as an industry. When you go to the iHeartRadio app in Portland and search for “Z100” KKRZ, you have to first make sure you don’t inadvertently select WHTZ New York or even WBIZ-FM Eau Claire WI. Having brands that carry over identically no matter where someone is listening or to find the station on social media should be the number one priority when launching any new brand or solidifying an existing brand especially as video and on-demand content take on growing significance for revenue across the industry.
Should we expect WFAN New York to stop pushing 101.9 as their primary home any time soon? Not at all. But making sure listeners know all the ways to find a station from its name needs to be just as important. There are still stations and major group operators that do not have branding packages and strategies across platforms. If you don’t this needs to become close to your top priority.
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