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By Steve, March 4, 2010 8:07 pm

From Full Throttle Country:

1) Keep away from “square pegs in a round hole”. If it don’t fit, don’t force it. Stay away from out of life group information and bits. Today’s listeners are more wired into other mediums and media than most air talent. They can smell phony a mile away. You can talk about Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts on Top-40, but talking about Kesha and Jay-Z on a Country station makes no sense.

2) Make sure news, traffic and weather all tie in as part of the show and not distractions. Weave these elements into the show and production to avoid bumps and snags. Especially if the traffic and news delivery is weaker than the morning show. Quick hand-offs without all the noisy beds and intros. Don’t bring attention to long strings of talk.

3) More short calls over song intros between stop-sets. Use the intro time between and after stop-sets to air calls. The short intro will cause you to edit and get to the point without a thesis.

4) Become aware of the :30 rule: If it goes past thirty seconds it better be good! Get to the point quickly — no old school set-up that drags on forever. This has got to move from element to element fast and without snags. They occasions of listening are shorter and more frequent — There is no TSL with the PPM.

5) Outward not inward. Morning shows massage each other’s egos and this will not grow the audience and the life group. Like politicians, morning shows can sometimes be out of step with the audience and life group. Be in touch with what listeners are talking about.

6) Conversational tones with peaks and valleys for high points and emotional points. Why do air talent talk in the same tone most of the time with no change in their inflection? This is theater of the mind and acting — it’s not announcing. Get excited and get emotional.

7) Play hits — never drop powers. PD’s, don’t let the morning show play with the logs any longer. Never let a morning show edit the log. You will get every story in the world to why two inane titles played back to back. Don’t let it happen. We need to play concentrated hit titles in the PPM-world.

8) Be honest, no more fake. Disc-jockeys doing mornings won’t cut it and un-trained morning show professionals will give way to syndicated personalities or talent from other dayparts coming to mornings. Playing games and contests mixed with music and contrived content will fail.

9) More change and surprise. Mundane and boring will be perceived as such. Make marks by being in touch with their interests and work to find out what perks their interests.

10) Talk about what interests the audience. Timing is everything — hit it early, often and get off it before it becomes yesterday’s news. Talk to people, join organizations, talk to your kids’ teachers and parents, make it mainstream and make it happen. Never blue or crass, but off the wall and unpredictable. Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t make it cool.

Is this list missing a commandment? Add a comment.

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By Steve, August 2, 2009 4:26 pm

From the Hear 2.0 blog:

Seacrest…out?

So Ryan Seacrest has reportedly been coached to talk less between the songs on KIIS FM.

In a competitive market, the PPM ratings decline when the mic opens, or so the general consensus (with plenty of exceptions) says.

Ryan is supposedly miffed, and who can blame him? There are, after all, lots of companies that pay him lots of bucks to say stuff in front of an open mic. Putting a lid on it is the last thing they want.

More here. Be sure to read the comments.

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By Steve, July 21, 2009 12:08 pm

Twitter and Facebook allow you to pop into your listeners’ online lives when you want. It’s true! If someone joins your radio station Facebook fan page, or follows you on Twitter, anything you type is inserted into their personal news stream.

So don’t blow it.

I follow many radio stations on Twitter, and tweets like this one leave me dumbfounded. It’s a real tweet, but the station and jock names have been changed:

Jack in the Morning is back! Carl Adams is in for Art Williams rest of this week from 10am-12pm on K-107. Join Bill Peters today for the 5 at 5!

Hundreds of K-107’s listeners have said, “Yes! Please enter my life stream through Twitter/Facebook!” — and the best it can deliver is a DJ schedule.

Here’s a better tweet:

JACK: I’m back Wed. with the craziest lost luggage story ever. Tune in at 7:15 and share YOUR vacation/travel nightmare. Trust me…you won’t want to miss this!

1) Instead of a robotweet from the station, the update was sent by Jack (even if it was really sent by Jack’s producer).

2) Jack has given the station’s followers a pretty compelling reason to tune in. Everyone’s had a vacation nightmare and, more importantly, if I enjoy Jack’s show and like his stories I’m going to tune into to hear what he has to share.

Like a radio show, Facebook and Twitter are personal forms of communication.

Comments (9)

By Steve, July 5, 2009 4:49 am

I just read a great post by Jaye Albright on contests that award a prize to the “Nth” caller. In a nutshell, Jaye says:

• Being the 9th caller is fun…for the disc jockey.
• Eight other people “lose” because they learn on the way to #9 that they were “the wrong caller”.
• Everyone else “wins” a busy signal.
• We’re likely not doing these contests because listeners like them but because radio’s always done them!
• Historically, the best radio contests reinforce the station’s brand image or key unique selling positioning points.

This is not to say contests shouldn’t be played. As Jaye reminds us: Only a very small percentage of your audience will participate in a contest so you want to make sure you are offering entertainment value to keep those who are not playing the game entertained.

This can be as simple as an identify-the-song-clip contest, or some compelling trivia. Another thought: Don’t ask for a caller. Instead, why not reward someone who phones in with a request or compliment. Example:

Caller: “I just wanted to say we love your station. You guys always play the best music and we’re jamming to you right now out at North Side Park!”

You: “That’s awesome! For everybody out at North Side Park, I’m gonna play one of the best summer time songs ever. And since you were kind enough to call in, I’d love for you to be my guest at Saturday’s monster truck show. Would you like a pair of tickets?”

Caller: “That would be great!”

You: “Then enjoy the monster truck show and enjoy this song for everybody at North Side Park…”

One other thought: Use prizes to reward those who’ve given you permission to interrupt their lives — email club members, text club members, Facebook group fans, etc. These listeners are very interested in what your station is doing so perhaps they should be rewarded first.

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By Steve, June 30, 2009 2:52 pm

Dan O’Day wrote a short but sweet little blog post about silly little radio ideas that turned out to be, well, wonderful:

We plan and produce and exhaust ourselves in an effort to do something wonderful on-air…

…and then it’s the casual ad lib that our listeners rave to us about.

Years ago Jeff Kaiser shared with me a wonderfully silly radio idea that his station, KGBI, was doing:

A daily Surf Report.

KGBI is in Grand Island, Nebraska. Which is at least 1,000 miles from any ocean. But Jeff would present the Missouri River Surf Report, using information reported in the local newspaper about the river’s daily depth, high water, currents, etc. Using the theme music from Hawaii 5-0 underneath. And the report was SPONSORED (by a local bar).

Now that’s radio.

What accident or offbeat comment turned into a regular feature on your show?

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By Steve, March 29, 2009 10:41 am

Howard Stern’s old station has flipped format.

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By Steve, March 13, 2009 2:25 am

Jaye Albright

• Forgets that the most important part of the job is to protect the station’s license.
• Still thinks that it’s a sales versus programming world and as long as (s)he gets ratings (s)he has done the job.
• Doesn’t worry about heavy radio-users or passionate fans of the kind of music the station plays.  Targeting takes care of itself.
• Does whatever it takes to win.  Ethics and fair treatment of his/her employer and coworkers do not matter as long as the station is winning and profitable.
• Has a ‘not invented here’ attitude about new ideas and approaches.  Doesn’t bother to network or seek objective opinions of knowledgeable counsel.
• Under-estimates the competition.
• Sees radio as a craft, not an art.  You can get everything you need to know by copying winning radio stations in the same format in other markets.
• Feels that people are replaceable.  As long as everyone is working as hard as possible, everything is fine.
• Thinks that business management is the GM’s job and time management is a sales thing.
• Doesn’t need research.  (S)he knows what listeners want.

Reach Jaye at:  jaye@albrightandomalley.com
.
 Michael O’Malley

• Doesn’t make time to listen critically to his/her own station and the competition.
• Doesn’t competitively evaluate jocks, music, content, freshness, benefits, etc.
• Fails to make people a priority.
• Doesn’t spend time in talent development.
• Doesn’t communicate effectively with the staff.
• Doesn’t have an intimate understanding of Arbitron.
• Doesn’t maintain a product focus/vision. Too frequently can’t see the forest for the trees. Gets too caught up in tasks to see the big picture.
• Elements of the station are out of synch with the target. Too many programming decisions are made without regard to the target and mission or because of succumbing to internal and external pressures.

Email O’Malley at:  mike@albrightandomalley.com

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By Steve, March 7, 2009 11:01 am

From ComputerWorld:

The majority of radio listeners still do it the old fashioned way: They turn on the radio in the car, for example, and just listen to whatever is playing locally. But over time, more people will discover and use cell-phone-streamed radio. And the cars themselves will grow that capability.

All of this raises a serious question: When Joe in Nashville is listening to New York City’s Z100, when Carla in New York is listening to Miami’s MEGA 94.9, and when Paul in Miami is listening to Nashville’s Big 98 WSIX, what does the “local” in “local radio” mean?

… It’s time the so-called local media opened its eyes to the new reality: Nothing is local anymore. And it’s a huge opportunity. The new mantra should be: Cover local events exclusively, but for a global audience.

Read it all…

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By Steve, March 4, 2009 8:25 pm

If you’re one of the 16 million people who bought the Eagles’ album “Hotel California,” or if you’ve spent any portion of your life somewhere other than the underside of a rock, you’ve heard the song, “Life In the Fast Lane.” For 33 years it’s been a staple on classic hits radio stations like WBPT 106.9 FM in Birmingham, Alabama.

Recently, some radio stations have begun to censor the song.

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By Steve, February 6, 2009 7:54 am

You’ve heard the phrase “pay it forward“. This morning I was the recipient of prep it forward. The morning guys at B93.7 in Grand Rapids dropped me an email about a Jessica Simpson stage meltdown that occurred last night. She’s opening for Rascal Flatts, and they’re in Champaign, Illinois, tonight (where I host a morning show). So I get this email which alerts me to Jessica Simpson’s meltdown — which turns out to be a nice bit of prep to have since the concert’s a big topic of conversation this morning.

That’s prep it forward.

When an artist says or does something unique at a concert, or you see something crazy in the crowd, why not find out where the act is playing next and email a morning show in that town?

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By Steve, February 5, 2009 7:51 pm

Here’s what’s really scary. In the past few months, “On-Air with Ryan Seacrest” has spread to approximately 140 markets, including most of the 50 largest cities in America. How did this happen? The show has no record of ratings success. The content is no different and no better than the average local radio morning show. Okay, Ryan gets more and better celebrity guests, but who cares. There’s absolutely nothing special about his interviews — no intimacy and no revelations.

Read all of Bill McMahon’s post, then comment…

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By Steve, May 23, 2008 5:28 am

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” 

From Hear 2.0: Why does radio so abhor risks that it punishes those who take them when they fail? After all, those who fear to fail rarely achieve success.

This has never stopped Google. Or, for that matter, thousands of other go-getters on the Internet. Is failure OK? Yes. Pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and try again.

PC World’s look at Google’s failures reminds us that radio needs to keep trying new things, coming up with new ideas. And the article reminds us that all employees at Google are supposed to spend 20 percent of their time working on personal projects of interest. The policy encourages creativity.

Call it research and development, if you will. Imagine how innovative every company would be if we were encouraged to try something new?

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By Steve, February 13, 2008 5:31 am

From the New York Post:

Emmis Communications announced this week that it was switching New York’s 101.9 FM station from smooth jazz to WRXP, the “rock experience.” The news release added a charmingly retro statement, that it would feature “a playlist not determined by era, but rather by the acoustic quality of each song, as determined directly by on-air personalities and staff.”

Holy high frequency! You mean DJs will actually pick the songs?

Read more, then check out WRXP’s cool website.