Comments (1) A while ago I taught my Guaranteed 5-Step System For Creating Radio Commercials That Get Results to members of the Hawaii Association of Broadcasters.Much of this workshop focuses on teaching 20 different, unique styles of commercial “headlines” — the opening lines that determine whether or not the targeted listener will keep listening to the commercial message.As I teach in this seminar, the opening line of a radio commercial is “the commercial for the commercial.” It is your one chance to attract and hold the attention of your targeted consumer.Here are two of the headlines the attendees came up with.One for a anti-smoking campaign: “If you don’t stop smoking, you’re going to start accessorizing: Iron lung, wheelchair….”And the other for Viagara: “Are you a gigolo with too much low?”Do your commercials begin in a way that forces your target audience to listen?
Of course if you're doing an afternoon drive show and want immediate feedback then some of CopyBlogger's findings won't pertain to you. But if you're doing a once-a-day blog post or social media update you'll probably find this information helpful.
Do you own an iPod, which is made by Apple?
No, I have a Zune.
What if one of your children says, “Mom, I have to have an iPod?”
I have gotten that argument — “You may have a Zune.”
Do you have an iPad?
Of course not.
Is it true that Bill works on an Apple laptop?
False. Nothing crosses the threshold of our doorstep.
Isn’t there room in this world for both Apple and Microsoft?
Microsoft certainly makes products for the Macintosh. Go talk to Bill.
Don’t be a Bill Gates! Use the competition’s products. Tune into competing AMs, FMs and satellite radio stations. Visit their websites when you want concert info, half-off coupons, school closings, etc. Drop by their remotes. Aircheck them and listen back in real time.
Every call, every email, every handshake should be seen as an opportunity to add content to your show, your website, your blog. One of my listeners just sent me an email with a photo. I've turned it into a simple blog post for my show that I'll be mention on-air sometime over the next couple of days. Heidi emailed: "A couple months back you asked for the strangest pet names. I called in and told you my mom had two cats, one named Angus and the other named Holstein. You'd asked for a pic of Holstein the Cat. Sorry I'm just now getting around to this but here you go."
Before traveling to visit his parents in Nebraska last winter, Jeremy Duensing consulted what he always checks before a trip: the “McRib Locator” website. To his delight, he found a McDonald’s restaurant near Omaha that, unlike most of the burger chain’s 14,000 U.S. restaurants, had the McRib on its menu. He bought six of the pork sandwiches, ate one right away at the restaurant, and carried the rest home to Burnsville, Minn., in an ice-packed cooler. “Either you find places that have them or you’re out of luck for the rest of the year,” says Mr. Duensing, 34 years old. The McRib actually has nothing to do with ribs. It’s a boneless pork patty molded into the shape of a rib slab and adorned with pickles, onions and barbecue sauce on a bun. The sandwich made its debut in 1981. But McRibs are almost never available at all McDonald’s restaurants at the same time. Instead, the Oak Brook, Ill., company offers them in different cities at different times, rarely for longer than a few weeks. The sandwich’s elusiveness has created a fan base of people who go to considerable lengths to munch on a McRib.
More at WSJ.com
What the J-Walk blog found on Floyd:
Floyd Phillips Gibbons (1887-September 1939) was the war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune during World War I. One of radio's first news reporter and commentators he was famous for a fast talking delivery style. Floyd Gibbons lived a life of danger of which he often wrote and spoke. As a World War I correspondent at the Battle of Belleau Wood, France, Gibbons lost an eye after being hit by German gunfire while attempting to rescue an American soldier.Although Facebook and Twitter are popular with TV stations, only 27% of radio newsrooms use Twitter and 1% have a Facebook page. The survey’s conductor, Robert Papper of Hofstra University, said the contrast in usage is due to staff size. “If you had a staff of three or more, you were involved in a number of social networking things. If you did not hit that magic number you were not involved.” He explains why radio stations do not participate more in social media:
How is your radio news department using Facebook, Twitter, or text messaging?
source: Mashable.com
Considering a job in radio?
* Many broadcast employees have erratic work schedules, sometimes having to work early in the morning or late at night.
* Entry-level jobs in news or program production increasingly are requiring a college degree and some broadcast experience.
* Employment in broadcasting is expected to increase by just 7 percent over the 2008–18 period,
* Keen competition is expected for many jobs, particularly in large metropolitan areas, because of the large number of jobseekersattracted by the glamour of this industry.
Check out the Federal Bureau Of Labor Statistics’ facts on their website and you might decide that car sales is more promising, yet the upside to our great business for those of us who know it well still far outweighs the risks and demands.
It gets into your blood. That’s obvious too.
Source: Jaye Albright’s Breakfast Blog
Do your emails include a sig line? Probably. And I bet your email signature line looks something like this:
Laura Smith, General Manager
Acme Radio Group
Sunnyville, Texas
WSXY 100.1 – WERT 92.5 – WVBV 102.5
Here’s the thing: Every email you send is a chance to insert a little ad into your recipient’s email inbox. And because it’s part of your email signature it won’t be seen as spam!
Here are a couple of better signatures:
Laura Smith, General Manager
Acme Radio Group
If you’re on your computer, you can listen to our award-winning stations right now! Click a link and listen live:
WSXY 100.1 for Country: http://www.wsxy.com
WERT 92.5 for Oldies: http://www.wert.com
WVBV 102.5 for Jazz: http://www.wvbv.com
and
Laura Smith, General Manager
Acme Radio Group
Look for WSXY, WERT and WVBV at the Sunnyville Community Center June 10 at our 7th annual Indoor Family Adventure Party! Click here for the schedule: http://www.schedule.org
and
Thomas Ganes
Program Director, WERT 92.5
Want a good laugh? Listen to the WERT Clean Joke of the Day every weekday morning at 7:15. You can also get it on the WERT Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/wert
This could be a handy copy writing/press release tool. HubSpot’s Gobbledygook Grader evaluates your written content and checks for use of gobbledygook, jargon, cliches and over-used, hype-filled words. You’ll receive a grade together with a full report.
By the way, Dan O’Day’s got a fix for Gobbledygook.
From TVSquad.com:
“Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” the reality series in which the famed British chef attempts to spark change in the West Virginia city that the Centers for Disease Control named the unhealthiest in America, will air on Sunday, March 21 in the 10 p.m. slot followed by repeats and new episodes every Friday. The show mirrors his attempt to revamp the British school food program. This time, it chronicles the chef’s attempt to “plant the seed” of change in Huntington, W.V., the same town that scorned his help and drove him to the brink of tears. Here’s just a taste of the town’s reaction to his offer to help. I’m shocked that the guy in this clip was spitting hamburger crumbs at Jamie as he refused to eat “lettuce”.
Since your station’s likely playing everything from music to commercials off of computer, there’s never a bad time to ask your engineer if everything’s backed up.
The theft of an estimated $10,000 in equipment included the hard drive that contained all the Perry Broadcasting station’s music, says KSWO. KJMZ jock Joe Biggs says “I actually had to hook up my laptop and played some music off of there.” GM Joy Chapman says it’s been a trying year, starting off with the loss of the tower during an ice storm. The burglary at the East Lee Boulevard studios happened early Friday morning, and the culprits made away with computers, monitors, TVs, webcams and two transmitter tubes – tubes the station was using to get back up to full power. The police are offering a cash reward through the “Crimestoppers” program. More at Radio-Info.
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.
From PewInternet.org:
In the digital era, news has become omnipresent. Americans access it in multiple formats on multiple platforms on myriad devices. The days of loyalty to a particular news organization on a particular piece of technology in a particular form are gone. The overwhelming majority of Americans (92%) use multiple platforms to get news on a typical day, including national TV, local TV, the internet, local newspapers, radio, and national newspapers. Some 46% of Americans say they get news from four to six media platforms on a typical day. Just 7% get their news from a single media platform on a typical day.
Got more than one computer? Need to keep some key show prep files or audio in sync? Want to move things between your home and station computer with ease? Get Dropbox. It’s free (up to 2GB) and the program works like a dream. Get Dropbox. (After you set up Dropbox, check out these hacks.)
If you’re applying for an on-air position, a blog with career highlights, awards, photos, videos, community involvement and loads of audio beats an emailed résumé hands down. But if a Program Director requests an emailed package then the résumé is not optional. (Of course, that email should include a link to your blog.)
DivineCaroline.com offers up some signs your résumé is passe (though I prefer the word lame):
1. You’ve forced it to fit onto one page.
You’ve reduced your font size to eight, eliminated margins altogether and left out key information about yourself, all to conform to that age-old “one page résumé” rule. Big mistake. After all, would a recent college grad really need the same amount of resume real estate as someone who’s been in the workforce for twenty years? Of course not. Your resume should be concise. But if your experience warrants two pages, by all means, don’t limit yourself to one.
2. You list an objective.
Of course you’re looking to gain more experience in the field/sector/type of company to which you’re applying. Your interest in the job implies that. Do you really need to say it at the very top of your résumé? If you want to explain why you’re applying for the job, say so in your cover letter. Résumé space is far too valuable to waste on information that is both redundant and inconsequential.
3. You write “References available upon request” at the bottom.
Once again, a waste of valuable space. Do you really need to say so? The hiring manager can only assume that if they ask you for references, you’ll provide them. What, are you going to say “no?” Instead, prepare a list of references with contact details and your relationship to each. Hold onto it until you’re further along in the selection process — you don’t want to annoy your referees with repeated contact by employers who are less than serious about you. Most respectable employers wouldn’t bother to contact a reference until they are fully ready to make you an offer.
4. You attach it to your email as a Word document.
While you’re unlikely to be penalized for emailing a Word document, there’s a lot to be said for converting it to a PDF before sending. A PDF document just looks neater. And even if you’ve gone crazy with the formatting, it will show up correctly on the hiring manager’s computer no matter what their settings, Word version, or font inventory. Besides, do you really want those squiggly red lines showing up under your former company’s name? Stick to PDF. It’s the only surefire way to display your resume exactly as you intended it.
5. You list every job you’ve ever had in chronological order.
In the olden days, the person with the most experience got the job. Nowadays, the person who’s most talented, has the most relevant skill set, and has proven to be most valuable to his or her former employers gets the job. If you want to be that person, make sure your resume says so. Don’t list jobs that are irrelevant to the one you’re applying for just to fill up space. Instead, expand on the jobs that are relevant. Focus on measurable achievements in each role as opposed to a play-by-play of your daily responsibilities.
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