Townsquare Media: Oneonta's Hidden Gem

By Jimmy Laurenzo- (Oneonta, NY)

     For those unfamiliar, 34 Chestnut Street may look like just another building they breeze by on their way to Main Street. Little do they know that inside sits an Oneonta institution, Townsquare Media. Townsquare is a media, entertainment and digital marketing solutions company that owns and operates market leading radio stations, live events and digital, mobile, video and social media properties, Principally focused on small and mid-sized markets. To help cut through this fancy definition and get to the bottom of this business was Townsquare traffic coordinator, Rebecca Daly. 

Townsquare's front entrance located at 34 Chestnut Street

    Rebecca greeted me with an impressive list of Townsquare Media's accolades including, 309 radio stations and more than 325 local websites in 66 U.S. markets. Approximately 550 live events with nearly 18 million attendees each year in the U.S. and Canada, a digital marketing solutions company serving approximately 8,000 small to medium sized businesses, and one of the largest digital advertising networks focused on music and entertainment reaching more than 60 million unique visitors each month. With such a robust variety of credentials I let Rebecca take over.  "I can't really give you one answer, there's a lot we do.", Rebecca stated before elaborating, "If you asked the average person they'd probably give you one of two answers. They have no idea who we are or what we do or they would say we're the radio station." This is true, Townsquare Media operates nearly ten station from this location throughout the Central New York region. Including two of Oneonta's most popular stations, WZOZ at 103.1 FM and WSRK at 103.9 FM, which feature local Oneonta favorite DJ's, Leslie and Big Chuck.

Townsquare's recording studio where dozens of commercials are edited every day. 

     There is much more to Townsquare Media than just their strong radio programming. The company recognizes the growing need for a strong multi and social media presence. "There is no doubt that you need social media to survive. It is not enough to just have good radio stations anymore. People want blogs and videos and pictures and frequent social media posts. So there is definitely a need to evolve." said Rebecca. Townsquare faces these concerns head on, utilizing social media to try and target demographics that aren't captured by just a song on the radio, like college students. 

   "That is a group that we've struggled in the past to get listener-ship from. I went to SUCO and I had never heard of Townsquare Media or even knew that it existed until I was offered an internship that I would have never heard about unless it was through a friend. So that is a big goal from the whole staff, to lock down Townsquare stations as the go to stations for college students in Oneonta." 

Rebecca Daly, Townsquare Media's Traffic Coordinator 

     That's where the companies emerging strength will come to good use. Townsquare believes that it's newly undertaken social media skills will be useful as a key tool in locking down college listeners. They believe that multi and social media appeal the most to college age listeners and will lead to great success. Be on the lookout for Townsquare Media Oneonta to emerge as a strong multimedia presence in the coming months.