Radio Disney’s Listeners Aren’t Small Fry to Pop Acts--They’re Giants

Where do taste-watchers and music marketers tune to check out the next sounds? KROQ-FM (106.7) and MTV, right?

Sure, but there are a couple of surprising spots they’re dialing up more and more: Radio Disney and the Disney Channel--and that’s not just Mickey Mouse stuff.

Radio Disney, the network launched by Disney owner ABC about two years ago to target preteens, has found itself on the leading edge of the pop wave that crested last week with the record-breaking first-week sales of the Backstreet Boys’ “Millennium” album. Such youth-skewed acts as Britney Spears, ‘N Sync, B*Witched and Five have all received major boosts from exposure both on the radio network, which has 41 stations including L.A.’s KDIS-AM (710), and special programming on the cable TV outlet, helping to drive a new generation of kids into record stores.

“More and more people are talking about the Radio Disney charts,” says Rob Gordon, vice president of marketing for Capitol Records, which is using the radio network as a primary platform for the launch of its new group the Moffatts, a Midwestern siblings act that has drawn Hanson comparisons.

The Moffatts’ song “Until You Loved Me” has become one of the most-requested and most-played songs on Radio Disney without having crossed over to other pop stations yet, and Gordon says the impact is clear from sales in the markets where Disney broadcasts. Capitol has also teamed with the network for a contest that will send winners out as honorary roadies at Moffatts concerts, and the group will be on the air live from Disneyland on Monday.

Jive Records, which already credits Radio Disney and the Disney Channel with helping put Spears on top of the charts, is aggressively using the radio network to launch the Steps, a teen group that has already sold more than a million albums in the U.K.

“The only place you’ll hear the Steps on the radio in America through July will be Radio Disney,” says Joe Riccitelli, Jive’s senior vice president of promotion. “The album won’t even be out until August. We’re hoping we’re ahead of the curve here. I think a lot of record companies are looking at Radio Disney. It’s a pop era, and this could be a perfect stepping stone.”

Robin Jones, who programs Radio Disney from the company’s Dallas offices, says it’s simply a matter of giving an ear to an audience that had generally been ignored by radio, since the key Arbitron ratings only account for people 12 and older. Officially, the Radio Disney audience is 6 to 12, though officials say it reaches as low as 2.

“We’re just playing what the kids want,” Jones says. “That’s the reason we created this.”

The programming mixes current acts with bubbly favorites and novelties from the past (the Village People’s “YMCA” is a staple, as are such acts as the Beatles and the Beach Boys) and, of course, movie hits (both Disney and others) in a lively, chatty setting of contests, games, celebrity visits and call-ins.

“You’ve got a large group of older parents with more disposable income,” says Jones. “Therefore, the kids have more disposable income. So we are seeing that we are starting to drive [record] sales.”

THAT’S FORCE, NOT FARCE: Having previously tackled “Star Wars” with “Yoda” (to the tune of the Kinks’ “Lola”), Weird Al Yankovic returns to a galaxy far, far away with his upcoming single and video, “The Saga Begins.” Working fast, Yankovic has already written the song summarizing and spoofing the plot of the new “Episode I The Phantom Menace”--all done to the music of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” The single will premiere on radio in a few weeks, with the video expected to be ready for the July 4 weekend.

Meanwhile, Yankovic is working on more parodies for an upcoming album, with the Offspring’s “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” being transformed into “Pretty Fly (For a Rabbi)” and Puff Daddy’s “All About the Benjamins” inspiring “All About the Pentiums.”

Offspring manager Jim Guerinot says neither he nor the band have heard the “Rabbi” take-off or seen Yankovic’s lyrics, but the band approved the reworking without hesitation.

“The original song was done as a goof in the first place,” says Guerinot. “They’re thrilled about this.”

PUNK ON A BUDGET: Epitaph Records, the L.A. company that rocketed to prominence a few years ago as the original home of the Offspring, is re-energizing its grass-roots approach on several fronts. The company is behind a new cable TV show, a new tour and a compilation album, all using the title “Punk-O-Rama.”

The TV show, a no-host half-hour featuring videos and behind-the-scenes segments of various Epitaph acts, will debut June 18 on various cable companies in six major U.S. markets, including most of the L.A. area. (Day and time will vary, so check listings.) The first installment has Pennywise, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Bouncing Souls, H2O, Ten Foot Pole and Agnostic Front. New shows will come each month.

Meanwhile, Voodoo Glow Skulls top the bill of the tour, which starts July 16 at the Glass House in Pomona. Union 13, 98 Mute, Straight Faced and Oscar are also on the show, with tickets expected to be between $8 and $10 for most dates.

The low-priced album, the fourth in the “Punk-O-Rama” series of samplers, features an otherwise unavailable Pennywise track.