Love That CRB Exec Memo

Country Radio Broadcasters does so much for the country format, from an incredible annual seminar (next year's is 2/28-3/2) to involvement with regional meetings at ACM's in Las Vegas, the Conclave in Minneapolis and a Fall Nashville Forum, and hopefully you have subscribed to their great email "Exec Memo" service.

Executive Director Ed Salamon has just started a series that he is calling "Habits Of Successful Country Stations."

He just asked me for a quote for an upcoming one: "We will be writing an article about Country stations that are number one in their markets and are asking their General Managers for some of the reasons behind their success..." and that sounds like it should be a great read.

Here's what I gave him as my response:

1. Get out and get involved in the community.
2. Brainstorm every possible scenario for the next book and then come up with TEN things you could do to own every situation. Most stations stop at the first or second idea.
3. Motivate everyone on the air to over-prepare so be sure that each break relates powerfully in unique and creative ways.
4. Rehearse everything you do for maximum impact.
5. Compress content. Rewrite in advance for brevity and word power.
6. Entertain. Provide an emotional experience between every song.
7. Listen to listeners and use their names and voices, tightly-edited as often as possible.
8. Get one to one. Share your personal point of view and avoid the crutch and cliche by being specific and evoking theatre of mind.
9. Provide instant gratification and be sure your music delivers on your position. Balance everything and put your research on the radio.
10. Constantly attack yourself. What would you do if you were your own competition? Do those things.

Time management isn't about doing everything; it's about separating what will get you to your goal from everything else on your plate and placing first things first. The trick to effective time management is learning to say NO to tasks which don't advance you to your goals without making other departments feel you are unhelpful and uncooperative so that you can focus on what really matters before wasting any time on things that don't.

I can't wait to read what other folks are sending him too!