Old Dog, New Tricks: Staying Relevant in the Digital Era

Anders Dahlberg is at a crossroads. As Underwriting Director at WMUK, he must find new ways for the local, NPR affiliate-classical music radio station to remain relevant. The station’s listener base is historically affluent and aging; yet it needs to attract younger consumers to listen. For the past two years, WMUK had experienced declining listenership and losing sponsorships revenues from local businesses. A recent online survey among local college students suggested that 77% did not listen to WMUK primarily because they did not know it existed. Anders knew that in order to remain relevant in the ever changing media environment, MWUK needed these potential local listeners, who would, in turn, generate new sponsorship revenue for the station. The organization has never seen the need to do much in terms of marketing communication. However, times have changed and the station must effectively compete against several other media outlets for consumers’ attention.