The Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma owns and operates Buffalo Run Casino & Resort in Miami, Oklahoma, in the heart of the Four-State area. The property features a 70,000-square-foot casino with more than 600 slot machines and a full lineup of table games, a 96-room hotel, five restaurants and bars, and the Peoria Showplace, which brings in live concerts and shows every weekend.

"If you’re a business with a lot of customers in constant contact with your music system, you’ve got to do something more interesting than just playing ’80s hits. You’ve got to capture their attention.”

- John Smilanich, General Manager at Buffalo Run Casino

Buffalo Run Changes Its Tune

The Challenge:

"Unimaginative" Music on a Loop

John Smilanich has over 35 years of management experience. He started at a large consulting firm, where he worked on projects for clients such as Boeing, NASA, and Station Casinos. As General Manager at Buffalo Run, he looks at the casino floor through the lens of a longtime finance and marketing executive.

And when he looked at the property’s music program, he didn’t like what he heard.

Buffalo Run was using what Smilanich describes as “one of the typical casino music packages.” 

“It was unimaginative,” Smilanich said. “It just played and replayed a loop of pre-recorded music. If you’re a business with a lot of customers in constant contact with your music system, you’ve got to do something more interesting than just playing ’80s hits. You’ve got to capture their attention.”

That’s when Smilanich turned to New Level Radio after meeting CEO Nathan Green at the Indian Gaming Association Tradeshow in San Diego.

“Most casinos are already paying to produce great marketing content and run it off property. But the guest standing on your casino floor has already chosen you. That’s the easiest person to sell a show ticket or a dinner reservation to."

- New Level Radio CEO and

Co-founder Nathan Green

The Solution:

"Our Own Radio Station"



New Level Radio built Buffalo Run a custom program that changes with the time of day and with the crowd in each part of the casino.

“If we want country in the morning, rock in the afternoon, and hip hop or EDM at night, we can do that really easily,” Smilanich said. “We’ve got different zones in our casino, so we can create a playlist for the younger gambling crowd in the back and the older gambling crowd in the front. With all that variation, it gives you options a standard package just doesn’t.”

He likes to put it in broadcast terms. “We basically have our own radio station,” he said. “We can play anything we want, whether it’s during a show or a quiet daypart.”

That's the idea, Green said.

“The crowd on a Tuesday morning isn’t the crowd on a Saturday night, and the music shouldn’t be the same either,” Green said. “We build every program around who is actually on the floor at that hour, and then we keep adjusting it with the property’s team.”

Buffalo Run also took the 30-second radio commercials it already runs across its market and worked them into the New Level Radio program. Guests hear two, three, or four songs, and then a Buffalo Run spot plays.

“It’s a reminder that you’re in a casino and we’ve got products and services and restaurants,” Smilanich said. “People are hit with that probably without even realizing it.”

“Most casinos are already paying to produce great marketing content and run it off property,” Green added. “But the guest standing on your casino floor has already chosen you. That’s the easiest person to sell a show ticket or a dinner reservation to.”

“We deal with some vendors that are so big we’re not even a blip on their radar. With New Level Radio, we know who is running our program. We know Nathan. So we can contact the team directly if there’s an issue."

- John Smilanich, General Manager at Buffalo Run Casino

The Result: 

"A High Level of Personalization"

The biggest difference is on weekends. Buffalo Run hosts shows every Friday and Saturday night.

“I don’t have to have an announcer stand in the casino with a microphone saying, ‘Hey, you can get your tickets at guest services,’” Smilanich said.

“We put that into New Level Radio every two or three songs so new guests walking in hear it. It sounds like an announcement, but it’s a pre-recorded message. This frees our security or marketing staff to actually work on the show. Otherwise, you’re using up at least one person sitting there making announcements all night.”

Because events and promotions change every week, Smilanich says planning ahead matters just as much.

“If a hard rock band is coming to play your casino,” he said. “You can play some hard rock music the week before, with a reminder to get your tickets for Saturday, and people start thinking, ‘I’ve heard that song. I want to go see that band.’ You can prepare weeks or even months in advance, send it to New Level Radio, and they sync it with your music so it sounds consistent and professional.”

Then there’s the service. Smilanich points out that Buffalo Run is a small to mid-size casino in the heartland of America, where service levels matter.

“We deal with some vendors that are so big we’re not even a blip on their radar,” he said. “With New Level Radio, we know who is running our program. We know Nathan. So we can contact the team directly if there’s an issue. 

“And it works both ways. I got an email the other day from New Level saying, ‘Hey, November is coming up. Let us know what you want running.’ It’s like buying from a local vendor. They feel local even when they’re not.”

So what would he tell a fellow casino GM about New Level Radio?

“It’s absolutely worth it,” Smilanich said. “The level of service, the ability to customize your package for your casino, and the ability to reach players in a way no other music system I’ve seen can do. It lets you target your customers, and that’s our whole goal from a marketing standpoint.”