Recap Everything

Most of us schedule a recap meeting after the station fronts a big NTR event or music festival.

• Did this work as planned?
• Complaints?
• Comments?
• What could we do to improve or put a spin on to make it better next year?
• What did we like?
• What didn't we like?

This is always a hassle to do, of course, as you write down notes, throw them into the file and pull 'em out the following year. Then, suddenly, you're grateful you took the time to do a recap.

It helps to really make signature events better and better, as those old notes tell you that next time you need more seating, more prizes, a different way to judge a contest.

Hassle or not, do recap meetings with everyone involved producing TV campaigns, major contests, imaging, all of the touch-points with listeners. Improving their experience of everything you do is what winning is all about.

Intelligent strategies, pulled off half-heartedly, get trumped by excellent execution every time.

Before We Move On

"I'm a big believer of stations sounding real....no, best, most, baddest w/ blips, bips, zips, growls, and zaps.....that is soooo over......just communicate the core values (listener benefits) in as real and as brief a fashion as humanly possible....people are so burned on hype.....if at all possible let others speak about you, instead of speaking about yourself...attached is an example from actor Shia LeBouf.....all we do is identify him at the beginning, and that's it.....the rest of the "co-signing" is all on him....if we added anything else here it would have been piling on and way too much.....make your station sound real, listener focused, and genuinely fun, not goofy, not dated with lasers, and no chest thumping copy......is it any wonder we are a TSL challenged medium, a majority of stations continue to insult the intelligence of their listeners by still insisting they sound like 1986.....younger demos coming up today, just don't give a shit.....so please don't drive them away from our medium.....you are are free to disagree here....I will just close with this.... I travel a lot, and hear a lot of stations driving listeners away...if you are in a PPM market you know how important brevity, sincerity, and creativity are.....yup even more important than they were in the diary system.... " -- Jimmy Steal, VP/Emmis/Los Angeles

Do It Right "Orr" Else

Paul Orr: be certain what goes between your songs stands out ... in only the "best" ways:

• Use local lifestyle for imaging content
• When imaging flows into the music, you have extra momentum
• Listen to your competitors for claims that you might turn 180 degrees and use against them
• Use hooks as themes for imaging
• Hot new thing: produce jingles for song stamps so the integrate with your music and don't sound like "old" jingles
• For random audio: clips from remotes where the talent is very excited, after Listener Advisory Board panels
• Listeners doing imaging adds to ‘personal’ feel of station.
• Set up listener comment line to collect comments
• Sound real; communicate the core values and listener benefits in as real and brief a fashion as possible.
• Listeners are burned on hype; let listeners talk about you instead of us talking about us. No chest thumping.
• Think: brevity, creativity and sincerity.
• Use artists (or listeners) to explain a contest
• Add random but related copy to attract listener attention.
• Archive artist audio for music and contest promos.

Nick Michaels' Philosophy

If you've heard or seen Nick anywhere, at a seminar or even on his own website, you've no doubt been exposed to at least a part of his approach to imaging anything today:

"The secret of all great radio is great story telling. Great radio is made when intimacy and emotion are used to connect the audience to what is coming out of the speakers."

Understanding radio and what makes it different.

1: Emotion

Radio is an emotional medium. More than television, more than print, it is best at conveying emotion.

Radio messages work best when they are driven by an emotion. Take full advantage of radio's emotional nature by writing for it. The power of emotion over facts is evident on radio.

Save the facts for print. Print is where facts can be enjoyed, perused at leisure, re-read and referred to.

2: Give it a face and a name

When writing an image ad for radio, always try to personalize it by giving it a face and a name.

Instead of "When the weather gets bad , turn to News-Radio 1100, First with weather facts and school closings."

Try to build the message around a person not a concept.

" This is Marie Jenkins, her twelve year old son Ronnie has kidney disease. He needs dialysis or he could die. When Marie needs to know about weather, she turns to News-Radio 1100, Because to her, the weather, can be a matter of life and death."

This stresses the user benefit of the station and the personal nature of the message does not cause listener tune out.

3: In an over communicated world a whisper becomes a scream.

The environment into which your message is sent is hostile. Your message must factor this in from the very beginning or it is doomed to fail. Too many messages means only a few get through. Is yours one of them?

4: Don't burden the listener.

Never forget that the listener can only take home one thought. Trying to make the message carry more weight than it can causes the listener to be burdened.

5: Words are the enemy in a message.

Too many words. Wherever possible establish mood with sound not words.

6: Write powerfully, read humbly.

If the words are powerful, you do not need to add any power to them with your voice. Lose all the additional vocal power and let the word power shine through. If the words are not powerfully written, get better writers.

7: Creativity is perspective

Deliver your message from a different perspective. Be different.

Tomorrow: Journal Knoxville PD Paul Orr takes this all one step further for stations in competitive situations.

Stationality: Who Is Your Listener? What's YOUR "Word?"

Yesterday's post included a slide from Daniel Anstandig's 2007 presentation at Dan O'Day's PD Grad School, because Dan made some evergreen points so perfectly.

#1: choose YOUR ''word."

"Comfort," the one that resides in the center of his example bullseye works perfectly for a Christian AC or other soft format.

What one word gives expression to everything you want to stand for in the mind of your audience? Choose thoughtfully.

It is imperative to understand the target listener’s world of experience.


Successful stations give listeners a sense of belonging by validating their values and lifestyle.

It is impossible for us to “out-technology” new technology.

Creative distribution can’t hurt us, but the bottom-line for continual growth is cultivating relationships through your programming.

How can you make a one-on-one connection with your listener in a way that they believe you’re talking to them on a personal level every time they listen?

It’s not only about what your radio station does. It’s about what your radio station means.

Tomorrow, another audio communication expert, Nick Michaels, on how to make sure that this happens on your radio station.

Elements Of Stationality

What parts of your radio station do you employ to develop "stationality" listeners can consistently experience?


.... Everything!

.. with thanks to McVay New Media's Daniel Anstandig.

Burger-ality

Pulling It All Together This Week (...like last week, one day at a time)

Last week's four-part series of ideas to max your engagement in listeners' celebrations and holidays during February got some nice feedback on why it's so important to do that.

For example, this treatise on stationality from an old colleague, who's looking for his next job right now:

· Local, local, local. Engage the community and get involved and talk about local events and happenings. Radiate civic pride!

· Review, develop and maintain station benchmarks.

· Terms of endearment: Tie into local charities and events that evoke emotion and tug on the heart strings. Find a charity that you can hang your stations hat on and make it a mission.

· Have fun! Develop listener talk and curiosity through little or no cost signature station promotions that are ongoing, fun and not just seasonal.

· Theme It Up. Review and develop station(s) “Theme Weekend” arsenal to make sure it’s fun, always fresh and give some relief to the library.

"Radio Is Life! It’s a culmination of the things going on around us, how we feel and are reflected in the things we do, what we say and the songs we play. Let’s make sure your station and branding is on track. Then we can get those creative juices flowing and build some fun promotions to make people talk about your station and don’t forget to have some fun!"

PS: If you'd like to know in confidence who this savvy/"available" programmer is, just drop me an email and I'll send you the entire package of philosophies this came from.

Why I Love NAB's Radio Show

The sessions are eye-opening, the research presentations are always impressive and the free handout publications are almost worth the price of registering in themselves (almost, since you can click those links to view them free right now).

Then, there's the exhibits. For one, U.S. Tape & Label's new twist on the usual packets of radio bumper/window stickers.

They now also have a business card on adhesive tape. It would be great for a "Club (frequency)," "Party Line," "Cryin' Lovin' Leavin'" or "Lunchtime Request Cafe" host to remind listeners to stick the station phone and frequency on their telephone.

Also new: a window sticker designed to go on sliding glass patio doors, which can then be marketed as safety devices.

When you encounter something that's share-worthy, please add a comment and plug it!

Marketing Lessons From CMA

The 2010 CMA Music Festival was a huge success in many ways, not the least of which as an opportunity for sponsors to personally touch fans individually. CMA provided each corporate partner a customized wrap book that showcased their presence and activities in positive ways after the event, so that they'll want to see and be seen next year too.

If you do NTR events, you'd be proud of what your industry organization did this year on the country music business' behalf, but also you'll learn a thing or two about how to create a big event for fun and profit.

Before You Try To Take Concert Visibility From A Heaitage Leader

Go big, but good legal advice and insurance is worth the money. The small amount of money you'll spend having attorneys review things beforehand and informing your business insurance agent and/or corporate is money well-spent. You will want to KNOW that you are on solid ground when the competition goes to the promoter, the venue and the police, scrambling to shut you down.

Focus on beating yourself, not the other guys. Brainstorm for your pre-show concert, walk chalk, banners, logo projector, stage signage, mascot, inflatables and everything that might be available to you, but only minutely consider reaction from the other radio stations.

You, first and foremost just want to do the best job for the artists' fans that you can so that they have a great experience and associate your brand with that.

Advertisers notice well-done station marketing. Of you look like a class act, long-time clients of other stations in the market may move ad dollars to you, since they see from the size or your crowd that although Arbitron/Nielsen/BBM may not yet fully reflect it, the country audience is much more active for you than "them."

You may get an immediate financial payoff from doing this "programming" promotion, but NOT if you come off like aggressive, offensive jerks.

...and last but not least...

Big things only happen with teamwork. It will take everyone in your building to pull off a major street event/promotional coup, including personnel from all of your radio stations.

If you're going to attack a well-defended hill, bring lots of troops!

And, besides, it builds morale when everyone feels that they personally contributed to a big win at an important time.

Fun/Creativity Beats Visibility

One station at a recent sold-out arena show had banners inside the venue, but the other station’s “(superstar name) City” (a big top tent in a parking lot across the street) became a destination for concert-goers...as evidenced by the thousands and thousands of cans of food they collected as otherwise free admission to their pre-show mini-concert.

The people who brought food were listeners to the station. They had to be to know about the “I Gave My Can To Help (Artist Cause)” food-for-a-T-shirt swap deal.

(The station had received the artist’s management's written approval in advance to design custom T-shirts for the event. They would not have been permitted to distribute the shirts without a fax at the concert site that proved that.)

Lots of shirts very visible all over the venue, of course, but what made it all work was the clever verbiage and design of the shirts supporting the act’s favorite charity.

What made them approve the t-shirt? It had to be the fun, creative design in support of the star's charity.

When You Hit The Streets

• You can't go wrong helping a noble cause.
• Make friends; make a big difference for charity.
• Size counts.
• Make it visually striking.

KMPS Takes "Rock Band" Live

Until live-band karaoke, the only time most people could strut in a rock-star fantasy was in their heads or aided in their living rooms by a karaoke machine or video game like "Rock Band." But this version of karaoke lets amateurs unleash their inner idol — with the help of a live band and in front of an actual audience — and revel in three minutes of fame. -- Nicole Tsong, Seattle Times Eastside reporter

Stephen Colbert Gives Us A Lesson In Powerful, Creative Teasing

Stephen Colbert has deployed to Iraq for a USO tour entitled "Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando." He will perform his shows in front of the troops for the next week, according to Comedy Central.

While there, Colbert will host Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq Barham Saleh and General Ray Odierno, commander of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, among others. The show is taking place at an undisclosed military base in conjunction with the USO, and promises to boast "shout outs from notable figures in society."

Anticipation (get excited in advance about what you're going to do), Realization (create word of mouth by standing for something relatable and important) and Memory (don't let them forget what you did) are in full force at Comedy Central. Watch and learn how it's done.

Dierks Bentley Pays A Surprise Visit To Mark Patric

MountainFest - Canada's Number 1 Country Music Festival is in full swing right now and at least two A&O clients are broadcasting live from the event.

Click to view: Here's a look, thanks to the JRfm Facebook page where they are posting videos of their viewpoint on the event.

Some Event Ideas Just Take Your Breath Away When You First Hear Them

1. Click to read more, as someone who listens to KSON, San Diego's entire Christmas Experience is restaged for military (and family) who were deployed during the 2007 Holiday Season.

2. George & Katie at Eau Claire's WAXX have turned GREEN.

3. What are YOU doing to make your listeners' lives better today?