Local DJ spins the ’60s sounds for online audience

“Have you ever noticed that Hawaiian shirts are never exactly in style, but they are never really out of style? They’re always out in the periphery of fashion,” said Kaufman, founder, DJ, “chief cook and bottle washer” of the online radio destination www.60sradio.com. 

Kaufman has been running his Garland-based Internet radio business for the last year on subscription fees paid by members. Thousands of subscribers all over the United States and the rest of the world paid an annual fee of between $90 and $150 to listen to Ricky the K’s brand of ’60s radio programming. 

He considers his Solid Gold Time Machine Radio Network to be one of a kind — real oldies radio directed toward anyone who loves the ’60s. 

Most radio markets only have one oldies radio station, he explained. “And most of those stations are owned by CBS/Infinity (Broadcasting Corp.) … and what they’re doing is cheating. They’re removing the older stuff and trying to extend the top end well into the ’70s,” Kaufman said. Also, most stations play the same 800 songs over and over again, 20 percent of which are from 1972 to 1978.

“We are providing a service that does not exist anymore. Where else are these people going to be hearing their pre-Beatles music?” he asked. “And I don’t repeat a song in 12 weeks.”

Kaufman spices up his programs with original commercials from the Turbulent ’60s to drum up some nostalgia. He records six, 30-minute segments five days a week and stores them on the Web site. Each show is stored on the site for seven days so listeners can tune in whenever it’s convenient for them. 

Ricky the K’s listener base has increased in recent months, topping out in “the thousands.” Of course, at any one time, the number of listeners could vary dramatically. Once Internet is commonplace in cars, Kaufman expects his program’s market penetration to increase. 

“If we pulled 1 percent in each of the top (radio) markets, that would be $15 million (a year),” he said. 

Compared to traditional radio, which can bring in hundreds of thousands to millions of listeners, Internet radio has had a troubling time attracting listeners. 

“It’s a huge uphill battle. Anyone can go on the Internet and provide some kind of product and have 25 listeners at any given time,” said Don Halyburton, senior vice president and general manager of Susquehanna Radio Corp., which owns and operates four radio stations in Dallas — KPLX-FM (99.5), KTCK-AM (1310), KLIF- AM (570) and KKMR- FM (93.3). All four of Susquehanna’s radio stations in Dallas broadcast their live content over the Internet.

“It’s wonderful for creativity, but it’s pretty hard to build an audience,” he said. Despite its heavy promotion of its Internet broadcasts, only 10 percent to 20 percent of KKMR’s 300,000 weekly audience members are using the Internet to listen, he said. “That’s a fairly small number, and advertisers have expectations for a very high delivery of bodies.”

KKMR, or Merge (www.merge933
.net), sells Internet ad spots that have accompanying visuals, but has had only mild success with it, said Halyburton.

For the most part, online listeners are early adopters of technology or need the Internet to get radio reception, he said. 

“Advertising has to be sold on an aggregate basis, no single Internet radio station has enough listeners to warrant an advertiser spending the amount of time it takes to buy,” said Kurt Hanson, a publisher of the daily, Web-based Radio and Internet Newsletter (www.kurthanson.com). 

Hanson said the market for online radio stations is brimming with competition. “There are thousands and thousands of Internet radio channels right now,” he said. 

Companies have taken two approaches to the industry — either operating a huge multichannel site or starting up a targeted niche Internet radio station. The multichannel sites like NetRadio.com feature 120 channels of programming for listeners to choose from. 

But that’s not to say that the niche market can’t be profitable. “If (Kaufman) can work this up so eventually he’s got a couple hundred listeners simultaneously with advertising, he’ll be making good money … that could be a nicely profitable business,” Hanson said. 

Kaufman’s plan of attack includes a variety of revenue streams. Besides banner ads and on-air commercials, he’s open to per-inquiry advertising, or PI advertising. Examples of PI advertising can be seen on late-night television. Think Ginsu Knives and singing fish plaques. An advertiser can hawk its goods without paying for air time, but the station gets a percentage of whatever is sold. 

“We’ve never lost any money, and we’ve made money since day one,” said Kaufman. “I will do this show until a nurse has to take me to the bathroom … When I’m too old, the audience will be too old — we’ll erode together. I’m in this for the long-run.”