In 1930, the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation put the first car radio on the market. They called it the Motorola. This in-car entertainment would setback a Fayetteville consumer about $120 which would be equivalent to $1200 today.

But, if you had that kind of cash, you would be able to cruise around in your Ford Model-A, DeSoto, Packard, or Studebaker and hear the music of the day from radio stations in Charlotte, Raleigh, or Atlanta. It wouldn't be until 1939 when Fayetteville would have its own stations.

Today, there's a radio in almost every vehicle on the streets of Cumberland and Robeson Counties. Despite the competition on the dashboard from other sources of entertainment, AM/FM radio remains the dominant choice for in-car entertainment.  This is great news for local business owners who depend on Fayetteville radio to market their goods and services.

Suppose you woke up one morning and found a 100-year-old machine in your basement. You soon discovered that every time you put a dime in the machine, one dollar came out.  How many dimes would you drop in that machine?

Good news for Fayetteville small business owners: such a machine exists and you probably have one in your car, at work, at home, even on your phone. It's called local radio.

Over the past few years, Nielsen has conducted over 20 studies to determine what type of return-on-investment (ROI) a business can expect from radio advertising.  Although the results varied by industry, the average company generated $100 in sales for ever $10 invested.  Turning dimes into dollars.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of WFNC, the first radio station in Fayetteville.

Since 1939, Fayetteville small business owners have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services to local consumers.  During the next 12 months, these consumers are expected to spend $7.1 billion.

By any measure, radio is still the best way to advertise in Fayetteville. Last week, for instance, significantly more consumers tuned-in to a local radio station than watched local TV; read a local newspaper; or logged-on to Pandora and Spotify.

To buy radio advertising effectively, there are some terms every Fayetteville small business owner should know.  Here is a list of helpful definitions.

This year marks 80 years since WFNC became the first radio station in Fayetteville.  From that time, small business owners in Cumberland and Robeson Counties have depended on radio advertising to market their goods and services.

So, it is a fair question for a 21st-century business owner to ask: Is Fayetteville radio is still relevant in the life of North Carolina consumers?

"You wouldn’t know it from all the media coverage focused on streaming video and streaming music," said media expert Doug Schoen in Forbes Magazine, "but recent Nielsen data shows radio actually has the most reach among American media consumers." 

Last week, for instance, significantly more local consumers tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station than watched local TV, read a local newspaper, or logged-on to a streaming audio site like Pandora and Spotify.

If you were one of the 288,946 adults who tuned-in to a Fayetteville radio station last week, it is likely you heard a commercial for Indeed.  That's because, last week, Indeed, the world's largest online job site was also radio's biggest advertiser.

The reason Indeed invested so heavily in radio advertising is that they have far more job openings posted on their than site than there are job-hunters to fill them. 

This is not unlike the predicament of Fayetteville small business owners who are also having difficulty finding and hiring qualified candidates.

What Indeed has figured out is that there are not enough unemployed people or disgruntled workers looking for jobs, especially among those in white-collar professions. So, the company is looking to attract what human resource experts call the 'passive job seekers'.

It turns out that advertising on Fayetteville radio is also  the best way for any business owner to recruit, hire, and retain those passive, white-collar job seekers.

The National Retail Federation has predicted that this year's back-to-school shopping season will set a new record. Households with school-age children are expected to spend, on average $696.70 preparing their kids for the first day of classes. This tops the previous record set in 2012.

For Fayetteville small business owners, this means there is $84,583,536 of back-to-school bucks in play between now and the first bell of the school year.

According to the NRF, here's how the $696.70 per household will be spent.

• Clothing & Accessories: $239.82
• Computers & Electronics: $203.44
• Shoes: $135.96
• School Supplies: $117.49

To grab the largest share of back-to-school spending will require small business owners to advertise.  By any metric, advertising on Fayetteville radio stations will be the most effective.  Here's why.

Striking a wrong note is the most potent tactic a North Carolina small business owner can use when advertising on Fayetteville radio stations. This can ensure commercials are heard and remembered.

At the moment a radio commercial starts, 11,000,000 other pieces of data are battling for the attention of the listener's ear. To win the fight, an advertisement must do the unexpected. Why?

Humans don't have earlids.  This means every sound a person is exposed to makes it as far as the brain. But, the brain can only process about 50 pieces of information at a time.  If you do the math, that means 10,999,950 bits never make it in.

Here's a quiz for Fayetteville small business owners:

Which of these online sites reach more adults each month than traditional AM/FM radio: Google? Netflix? ESPN? YouTube? Twitter Facebook?

The answer may be a surprise. Radio reaches more adult consumers every month than all websites and apps.  This is critical information for Fayetteville business owners to know so as to be able to choose the best way to advertise their goods and services.

The number one media characteristic that contributes to the success of an advertising campaign is reach. This is a measure of how many different people are exposed to an advertiser's message.

Fayetteville consumers are expected to buy $8.1 billion worth of local goods and services over the next 12 months. To claim the largest share of those dollars requires small business owners to advertise.

“Think you have a great product?” asks the Small Business Administration. “Unfortunately, no one’s going to know about it unless you advertise.”  The SBA goes on to say, “Advertising, if done correctly, can do wonders for your product sales, and you know what that means: more revenue and more success for your business."

According to the eBook Seven Steps for Success, "There are many ways for small business owners to advertise. Options include local newspapers, local magazines, local television, and online."

"But to achieve the “3-Rs” of advertising success, Reach, Recall, and Return, no other medium delivers results as effectively and efficiently as advertising on Fayetteville radio."

For budget-conscious small business owners, there are three tactics that can be employed to make sure every advertising dollar spent on Fayetteville radio stations works as hard as possible.

Forty percent of contractors reported that they turned down jobs this year because they don't employ enough skilled blue-collar workers. In North Carolina, there are twice as many job openings for truck drivers as there are qualified candidates.

Overall, half of all local employers say they are having difficulty hiring enough blue-collar employees to fulfill the increasing demand from customers.

According to the North Carolina Works Commission, a significant reason why the recruitment efforts of many companies are failing is that they still depend on strategies from a time when qualified candidates were plentiful.

These failing strategies include posting on job boards like Monster and Indeed; publishing employment ads in local newspapers; and pleading on social media pages. Some small business owners are still depending on help-wanted signs.

What many business owners have discovered is that the best way to recruit blue-collar workers is by advertising on Fayetteville radio stations.

Advertising on Fayetteville radio stations is the best way for North Carolina small business owners to reach the lucrative, local mother market.  Here's why.

Fayetteville consumers will spend $7.1 billion over the next 12 months. Forbes magazine reports that it is moms who control 85% of all household purchases. In Cumberland and Robeson Counties there are more than 87,000 women with children under the age of 17 at home.

Fayetteville small business owners need to pay special attention to these mothers and their wallets.

Thousands of Fayetteville small business owners depend on radio advertising to claim their share of the $7.1 billion local consumers will spend this year. Cha-ching.

These advertisers have, typically, 30 or 60 seconds to convince the 288,946 listeners who tune-in to Fayetteville radio stations each week to become customers. So, it is essential to know how to use that time effectively.

Gathering a sample of 6003 respondents, Westwood One in partnership with audio testing experts Veritonic studied how different elements of award-winning radio commercials affect a listener's intent to buy the products or services advertised. 

Here are the results of the study that Fayetteville business owners could find useful.

What small business owners say in their commercials on Fayetteville radio stations and how they say it are the most important factors for turning listeners into customers.  

A study by Nielsen indicates that the creative elements of a commercial are responsible for 47% of an advertiser's sales result. 

Creative, it turns out, has a more significant effect on sales for Fayetteville small business owners than does reach, targeting, or branding elements. 

Producing and judging effective creative, though, can be a challenge for a North Carolina business owner. So, here is some advice from an award winning, advertising professional.

There are two reasons why advertising on Fayetteville radio station is more effective than advertising on TV.

The first reason is reach.  In a study conducted by Nielsen, the number of consumers who are exposed to a commercial contributes profoundly to the number of sales it will create.  This is discussed in depth in the free eBook, "Seven Steps For Advertising Successfully In Fayetteville."

In Fayetteville, among all media, radio offers local advertisers the biggest reach.

The second reason why radio advertising is so powerful has been revealed in a new study Mindshare, an advertising agency that buys media for some of the most successful companies in the world including General Mills, Nestlé, Domino's, IBM, Rolex, and John Deere.

When a small business owner buys a 60-second commercial on a Fayetteville radio station, she is limited to about 160 words to persuade listeners to become customers.  To be successful, then, each word needs to be carefully selected to fulfill the desired marketing objective. 

A telephone number comprises seven words. Ten if the area code is included.  If the number is repeated three times during the commercial, then it will consume 21-30 words or up to 18% of the total.

So, should a Fayetteville business owner sacrifice a significant portion of a radio commercial to insert a phone number? Except for certain circumstances, described below, the answer is no. 

Here are the facts.