Most People Approach Radio Completely Wrong

When I asked Jim how he thinks about radio, he immediately called out the biggest mistake most people make.

"A lot of people think radio, especially if they're younger people, think radio has died with their grandfather. It's still strong," Jim said. "Over the past two decades because of digital primarily, radio has declined and it's kind of hit a safe low point."

He compared it to buying a new truck. When you drive it off the lot, it loses thousands in value. But after a few years, it hits a floor and doesn't drop much after that. Radio has done the same thing. It's lost some equity, but it's now very stable.

Over 80% of Americans still listen to radio weekly somewhere - in their truck, car, elevator, doctor's office. It's being piped in even when they haven't asked for it.

But here's where most business owners mess up: they just buy 30 or 60-second commercials. That's what Jim calls the wrong approach entirely.

The Long-Form Formula That Actually Works

Instead of traditional commercials, Jim recommends buying long-form programming - 30 minutes to 1 hour in an infomercial style.

"It is so much less expensive, Danny, to buy a one-hour show than it is a 30 second commercial per minute," Jim explained. "So you can spend $50 for a 30 second commercial on a radio station, but the whole hour could only cost $500 and you can tell a story in an hour and it's a totally different process."

This blew my mind. An hour of airtime costs less than what most people spend on short commercials, and you can actually tell a complete story.

When Jim works with home service contractors, he doesn't help them buy 30-second spots. He invites them onto his radio program, crafts a direct response message, and makes the phone ring with appointments, not just leads.

"Those aren't leads. Those are appointments because that listener knows the owner because they're on the radio with me. They know the product or service. They know the offer," Jim said.

Plus, the contractor gets branding for free. While the direct response pays for the radio time, you're repeating the company name throughout that hour.

The Simple Formula for Making Phones Ring

Jim shared his exact formula, and I'm going to break it down because this is gold for anyone considering radio.

First, you need to be interviewed by an expert. Don't make the mistake of doing your own show. It's always better to be a guest.

"If you watch any infomercial for, let's say, a blender or exercise equipment, you're going to see the host of Home Shopping Network or something like that, and they're going to have the inventor or the owner of the company on to explain the blender," Jim explained.

Jim plays the pitchman who interviews the HVAC operator or plumber. He plays a bit dumb, asks questions, and positions himself as that avatar customer. He's 58 years old, which is exactly who most home service companies want to reach.

Second, offer a product with a discount. This is where it gets tactical. It's very hard to sell a service over radio, but you can sell a product or a specific offer.

Jim gave the example of attic insulation. Instead of just offering HVAC service, you offer a free attic inspection and then pitch insulation at a special radio-only price. Maybe it's normally a dollar twenty-five per square foot, but today on the radio it's only a dollar.

"If they know their attic is a thousand square feet, they know it's only going to be thousand dollars. So they can qualify themselves as a homeowner," Jim said.

The homeowner is in charge. They've qualified themselves. When they call, they know what it costs. No more wasted calls with price shoppers.

Third, always throw something in for free. For the attic example, you'd include a free attic stairway insulator - one of those zipper foil deals. It's ordinarily $300, so the homeowner gets another $300 off.

"But only 10 of these are available. You must call now. Here is the phone number," Jim explained.

Throughout the show, you create urgency. There are only five left. Only four left. At the end, there are none left, but keep the number in case you need help with your attic, water softener, HVAC system.

The Demographics That Make Radio Gold

As a digital marketer, I've always focused on where the most people are. But Jim taught me something crucial: it's not about volume, it's about qualification.

"This is such a perfect model and when people get it, they continue to invest in it and generally take money from other places and put it into this because you can almost not lose with this because you get free branding," Jim said.

The people who listen to radio today, especially conservative talk radio, are exactly who home service companies want to reach. They're 50 plus, financially set, and incredibly loyal.

"Day one. Day one, when we put this on the air, if they've never heard us before in Cleveland, Ohio or Las Vegas, the phone will start ringing because they're not sold so much on us as they already believe in the station," Jim explained.

It's like buying a hammer and nails at Home Depot. You feel good about those products because they're at Home Depot. If you're on someone's favorite radio station they've listened to for 15 years, you're in the club.

Here's what makes this demographic perfect: these people are home. They're empty nesters, many are retired. They're sitting in their house all day watching Jeopardy. They need their air conditioning to run well because they don't work anymore.

"They get a pension or they get social security or they've got 3.2 million in their 401k. Their house is paid for. They don't have kids anymore. They're not traveling much anymore. They're putting money into their comfort and that's their home," Jim said.

This completely changed my perspective. A lot of contractors chase the 4,000 square foot homes with people making $250,000 plus. Jim says that's a big mistake.

"Those people who live in those homes are in midlife and it's crazy. They're not available to meet with you. They're too busy working and they're up to their eyeballs in debt," he explained.

What That Hour Actually Sounds Like

When I asked Jim what the 30 to 60 minute segment actually looks like, he explained it appears to be a home improvement radio show.

He calls it the Check a Pro radio show and goes by "Check a Pro Joe" on air because Joe rhymes with Check Pro and radio. When people hear the program open, they can tell by his voice and what he says that he's in their peer group.

60% male, 40% female, very loyal listeners. And they're already comfortable with him because he's been doing radio since 1984.

"I watch people's podcasts. I listen to people's podcasts and I go, oh my goodness, anyone can do these things now and they don't have the training," Jim said. "Some are good, some are pretty good, and most are pretty bad, but at least they're out there doing stuff on digital. But they wouldn't be able to get on the radio. The radio station would be like, no, no, no, no."

One thing that really stood out to me was Jim's point about trust. With AI and digital content, people don't know for sure if something is real anymore.

"The Federal Communication Commission will not permit radio television to lie," Jim explained. "You can't say bad words. If you do, you'll get fined by the government."

If you saw President Trump on Instagram saying we're being attacked by Russians, what would you do? I said I'd ask my friends and search it to verify. Jim said he'd turn on the radio and TV - the real news that the government regulates.

Creating Demand Instead of Waiting for Problems

What really clicked for me was how radio creates demand instead of just capturing existing demand like digital does.

Picture this: someone's driving home from church, they're 70 years old, and they hear about garage door maintenance on the radio. They weren't thinking about their garage door, but now they're thinking about it.

"Oh my goodness, if I don't get it checked, maybe my spring will break. I better call this guy Cody from Garage Door Doctor," Jim said.

You're creating demand versus waiting for that 70-year-old to hear a bang in his garage, search Google, and maybe find your competition first.

And even if they forget about the show, three months later when their spring breaks and they're on Google, they see Garage Door Doctor and think "oh yeah, I remember that from somewhere."

"It was seared in his brain. And then Garage Door Doctor still gets the business," Jim explained.

This reminded me of my conversation with Dan Antonelli about branding. Dan did the branding for A1 Garage for Tommy Mello, and Tommy went from $30 million to $300 million. Branding matters because when people finally have a problem, they remember who they've heard about.

In pest control, people aren't calling until they see ants or spiders or a raccoon. But when they do call and they're searching Google, if they recognize your company from radio or other marketing, they're going to choose you over the random company they've never heard of.

Beyond Radio: The Podcast Strategy

Jim doesn't just put shows on traditional radio. He also creates podcasts for each client and blasts them out to Audible, Spotify, and Amazon with backlinks to the client's homepage.

"If someone is looking for air conditioning repair and they type it in, the podcast site might come up. It's actually like a duplicate site of their website, but it's a totally different domain," Jim explained.

The podcast player is embeddable on any page of the client's website. Even if people don't listen, it says "listen to us on the radio" which provides credibility.

But Jim was very clear about one thing: if you're going to do a podcast, don't host your own if you're a home service professional.

"You are not the host of a show. Have someone who stands over here, me or someone else. Could be anyone. It could be someone who works at your company in HVAC, but he or she needs to position themselves as the host of a show and put you up on a pedestal," Jim said.

It's less credible to go around saying "hey, I'm great, I'm an HVAC guy and I have a podcast" than having someone else say "I have this guy on my show. He's an HVAC guy and he must be good enough to be on this guy's show."

I completely agree with this. It's way more powerful when other people say good things about you versus you saying good things about yourself.

The Strategy of Getting in the Door

Jim emphasized that the best way to get customers is often through a free inspection or discounted entry-level service, then upselling once you're in the home.

For HVAC companies that also do plumbing, he recommends leading with water softeners.

"The best way to get into the house is through a free water test and a discounted water softener. But once you get them as a client, a new customer, homeowner customer, you can sell them HVAC later," Jim explained.

You get in the door, make friends with them, build that like and trust. Then while you're there doing the water test, you mention you can send another technician to do a free HVAC checkup or offer a discounted one.

"No like and trust. And they're like, oh, really?" Jim said.

Now you've got an HVAC and plumbing customer all in one just by being strategic about your entry point.

The Three Critical Questions

When companies contact Jim (and he gets a lot of incoming interest, he doesn't usually reach out), he asks three critical questions.

First: Do you answer your phones? This sounds obvious, but Jim says you'd be surprised how many don't. He uses a tracking system that routes calls through his number first, so he can hear everything and send analytics each week.

Second: Are your salespeople killers? Are they just waiting to take an order or are they going to make things happen?

"I will get you in the house. The homeowner understands the offer. They know, like, and trust you. Now, it's up to you because I'm not going out to the house with you," Jim said.

Third: How much annual volume do you do? If you're doing $50 million or more, you're already doing radio and you get it. If you're doing $5 million, you're probably great for this. At $3 million, maybe. A pressure washing company doing $850,000? Never. Not going to work.

What It Actually Costs

The average hour of radio with Jim's fees and the radio station runs between $750 and $1,000 per week. Budget roughly $4,000 a month for an hour every week with a 13-week commitment.

"I wouldn't do it for less because you got to do it. You either do it or you don't. You don't join a gym for a day," Jim explained.

If you're in a smaller market, it'll be less. Larger market on a larger station could be more. Jim's had clients spend over $3,000 an hour, but they got 40 appointments every hour. Not leads - appointments.

"A lead is when someone generally finds you. Well, I'm in the market of having my kitchen remodeled and you're the third contractor I've called. Versus someone saying, I heard you on the radio. I wasn't even in the market for this. I want you to come out," Jim said.

You're creating demand. They don't know where else to go. When you drive up as the plumber or HVAC guy, you're not bumping into competition. It's like a referral.

Why Radio Is Safer Than Digital

Near the end of our conversation, I asked Jim about the future of radio. His answer surprised me given how much time I spend in digital.

"It's a much more stable and safer place than digital," Jim said.

Radio has been around for 105 years. It's the only medium that hasn't changed. Jim has an RCA radio from 1930 with old vacuum tubes. He can turn it on in Houston, Texas right now and listen to local radio. Same transmitter, same receiver. It hasn't changed.

"Radio's a cockroach," Jim explained.

Digital, on the other hand, is constantly changing. TikTok almost went away. Facebook accounts get suspended. Google screws with businesses all the time. You can be blocked, taken away, shut down.

"Radio does not get unlocked or locked to begin with. It's just old fashioned stuff," Jim said.

He made a great analogy about tractors. His new diesel tractor has tons of electronics. If something happens to any of them, it won't run. A diesel tractor from 1980 runs forever because it's simple.

"It's so complicated and digital. It can be shut down. It literally can. You can be blocked. You can be taken away," Jim explained.

That's why Jim has made a business decision to actually double down on radio. Years ago, he was thinking he needed to get out of radio and into digital. But over the past year, he's realized radio isn't going anywhere.

"Digital's moving a million miles an hour. Every day there's something new, new algorithm, something comes, something goes, you need a new password for this, something's been shut down," Jim said. "Radio, it's the same old. It's boring. It's simple, but boring and simple is good."

Does radio have the same viewership and listenership as before? No. But prices have come down proportionally. If you got 10 phone calls from an hour 10 years ago and you're only getting five now, the price is half. Just buy two hours.

My Main Takeaway

The biggest lesson from talking to Jim is that radio isn't dead - it's actually one of the safest marketing investments for established home service companies doing $5 million or more.

While everyone is doubling down on digital, radio is wide open. You can establish a trustworthy customer base with the exact demographic you want: 50 plus, financially set, home during the day, and incredibly loyal to their favorite stations.

The long-form approach is completely different from traditional advertising. Instead of 30-second commercials that get ignored, you're getting a full hour to tell your story, build trust, and create demand with people who aren't even in the market yet.

When those listeners call, they're not leads comparing you to three other contractors. They're appointments. They know you, they like you, they trust you because they've been listening to you on their favorite radio station. You're not competing on price. You're the expert they specifically want.

Jim has clients like Garage Door Doctor running the same show every weekend for three years straight. It costs about $1,000 per week and generates predictable appointments from qualified prospects who will invite you into their home.

Radio is boring and simple, but boring and simple works. It doesn't change like digital. There's no algorithm to figure out, no platform to get banned from, no AI disrupting everything every few months.

For home service companies at the right size, radio might be the most overlooked opportunity in marketing right now. Everyone else is fighting over digital while radio sits there stable, predictable, and converting listeners into customers who already know, like, and trust you.

If you want to dive deeper into Jim's radio strategies and hear more about why he's doubling down on this "old" medium, definitely check out the complete episode.

Want to learn more from Jim? Visit radiopitchman.com to learn about his services, or go to checkpro.com to see his referral network. You can email him at jim@radiopitchman.com for a free copy of his book, or listen to the audio version (about 27 minutes) at radiopitchman.com. Connect with him on Facebook under Jim Klauck.

Listen to the full episode to hear more of Jim's insights on radio, podcasting, and why traditional media is safer than digital for building long-term customer relationships.