Connect Personally And Keep It Real

For the last few days I've been sharing info-graphics from "State of Listening in America" which haven't gotten press coverage and yet I believe impact you very directly much more than than "good news" headlines picked up by media the day after the New York data presentation.

1.  CONNECT PERSONALLY WITH LISTENERS

Listeners have deep affinities with DJs and value the time spent with them.

2.  DJs ARE CONSIDERED CELEBRITIES WHO KEEP IT REAL”

Listeners expect a lot from us.

How have you delivered on those hopes in the last few minutes on your air?

Radio Cornerstones Of Lasting Engagement

"State of Listening Today," according to Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman, “Confirms that radio’s reach and appeal remain strong regardless of the platform, geography, ethnicity, or age group.  American listeners – particularly younger generations – feel a strong connection to their favorite on-air radio personalities – which is made stronger by social media – in a way that isn’t replicated by other media.”

The study also helps explain why:

It Was Actually More Than Just Great News For Radio

The trade press coverage of "State of Listening in America" in the last week has focused largely on the many positive aspects of radio in 2013 as a vehicle for advertisers.

Dr. Subramanyam also did something very clever at the conclusion of the presentation in New York that hasn't gotten the coverage that I feel it deserves.  Once the media buying targets were nodding "yes" to data about the reach, impact, target and power of radio, came this advice I want to underscore. 

IMPLICATIONS FOR MARKETERS 

These are the messages that I wish more of our trade media had covered and that all of us in radio need to share with our production departments, our talent and our clients.

Pass it on!

Our Uncertain Economy

Prosper Research's monthly tracking of consumer attitudes has it's up's and down's this month:

• Those very confident or confident in chances for a strong economy wobble in May, decreasing slightly to 39 percent. With the up / down action we’ve been seeing with confidence this year, it’s evident that consumers are struggling with feelings of uncertainty regarding the economy.
• Eight out of ten consumers feels that there will be “more” or the “same” number of pink slips handed out over the next six months, increasing slightly over a year ago. So even as the official US unemployment rate continues to decline, consumers seem unable to quell their concerns.
• Consumers are feeling uncertain about employment because their guts are telling them what the numbers are telling us – the unemployment rate is down because the opportunities are slim and an increasing number of capable, working age adults are being labeled “discouraged” – and are lost from the labor force as a result.
• It appears that, at least in recent months, consumers have become a bit more comfortable in their ability to meet monthly spending demands, with a decreasing number of consumers saying that there’s too much month at the end of their paychecks “all” or “most of the time.”
• However, more than a quarter of adults 18+ reported that they are feeling “worse off” financially compared to a year ago.
• And, while consumers may feel that they are getting better at handling their month to month expenditures, it appears they may be doing so at the expense of their savings, with the US personal saving rate currently remaining at lows not seen since just before the Great Recession.
• New discoveries from our Analytics Unit provide support that happiness increases with age. Members of the Silent generation rank as the happiest in America followed by Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials.
  
  
  Consumer Snapshot May 2013 from Prosper Business Development

(5 Last) "Measure It To Manage It"

16.     Number of local stories on your website with listener comments/reactions

17.     Number of blog posts by every personality ranked by page view and responses.

18.     Open rate of your weekly e-mail (to determine effectiveness of subject lines, etc.)

19.     Text Club subscriber rate and unsubscribes

20.     Website Metrics: 

           a.  Unique Users

           b.  Total Pageviews

           c.  Top 5 Most Viewed Pages

 - a final set of numbers from some smart managers willing this week to share what they watch to be sure their stations pace toward their goals.

No doubt, you can think of many more.

So can I, but if you have 20 priorities, do you have any priorities?

Start with this 20 and focus on the handful of them where you find your farthest from where you want to be that will move you forward fastest to where you need to be.

Once you ingrain the levers on them in your daily execution, pick another five and repeat until all 20 metrics are positive.

Only then, start to look for more metrics to measure and manage.

(More) Simple Stats To Track

Readers have been sharing the numbers they watch like clockwork to be sure their stations pace positively.

A few more:

11.     Number of public appearances per week by each on air personality/estimated number of people who attended each appearance

12.     Number of cold calls per week by salesperson

13.     Number of spec spots presented to new prospects per week

14.     Number of irritating commercials which harm listening levels per week

15.     Number of advertisers per month (and names) on your competition, not you

Thanks to BCAB for inviting me to moderate their research panel which featured Chris Byrnes, Warren Kurtzman and Sean Ross, providing the idea for creating a list of key objective management data.

Gauging Your Growth

I started the list with just five.  Now, thanks to many readers, you're going to want to start a table or a spreadsheet to track these numbers on the same date each month:

6.     Annual survey of email database: how satisfied are you 1-10? (% "very vs % not)

7.     # of Facebook friends + gain/loss + followed by # of people

8.     Twitter followers (gain/loss)

9.     Total number of units available for sale per week/revenue = average unit rate (track for total and also by sales person)

10.     Number of different advertisers per month by business category

Radio Management Vital Signs

Crucial (but no-cost) numbers to track to make sure your station is on course:

1.     Call your station’s business office phone.  How many rings before someone answers?

2.     (if you have ratings) Weekly cume (daily cume if PPM) trend

3.     Target demo TSL (daily sessions if PPM) trend

4.     Track streaming hours tuned monthly.

5.     Contacts in your listener email database (grown/loss)

Write these numbers down on the same date every month.  If they're not consistent or even better, growing, you're dying.

What else do you trend to be sure you are on pace toward your goals?
 

Country's Gen X (Conversation)

My Country's Gen X Problem post initiated a Facebook dialog:

Bob McNeill:  Of course country has a 35-44 problem. The average age of a country listener has been right in the middle of that demo for decades and now, with the influx of pop, they're disenfranchised. We never learn.  Country has always been the only adult format that's sustained by current music. Balance is always the issue. And with that, the development of core artists that aren't disposable as they are in pop formats. Disposable songs and artists are a danger to the country format. I fear we're allowing the music business to drive the direction of the format which is problematic since radio and records do have divergent goals at some point.

Ralph Cipolla:  Classic Rock PDs (and Sales folk) have been lamenting the inevitable march of time... now, they face what traditional Oldies stations did 15 years ago. The cell they owned - 35-44 - is now a secondary demo, as the format is firmly rooted 45-54. And each year, it gets one year older. The "newest" legitimately fitting songs in the format are now 25 years old, Led Zeppelin I is 44 years old and was the music of those who are now 60+ years old. Throwing in a category of polarizing Grunge & Metallica songs works for some stations with Rock roots and little competition, particularly in The South, but can be a disaster for others. I've always been interested in the Country airplay vintage v. audience age connection that appears to defy the typical music vintage to listener age if/then equation.  Is this a potential opportunity? A difficult-to-reach young cell appears to be coming along and could be welcomed into the fold, while a traditional core demo sees the ever-growing distraction of Sports/Talk & Talk & time-shifting tech that Arb can't yet measure - but they remain in attendance and need to be the object of a re-doubled engagement effort - assuming its not just a music issue (is it ever?)

Drew Edmundson:  I've always been more of a variety guy (mixing the classics in with the new) in pretty much any format. People 35-44 like new songs (I'm 44 and love Lady A, Zach BB, Aldean, etc). I think there needs to be a healthy dose of older songs so as to not alienate that demo.  I do nights on a country station as well as afternoons on an AC station and I see many crossovers. Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Jason Aldean, Kelly Clarkson, Lady A, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, etc.  I look at this as a good thing for the country format.

Leslie Humble As a DJ/Programmer of Country Music dating back even before my days at WSM and The Grand Ole Opry, I see several factors at play. A large section of the age group 50 - 65 hate the Pop country with the semi Country vocal over Rock/Pop instrumentation. The aforementioned 35-44 Cell is on the edge of being torn by the extreme fragmentation that is today's micro cell centric choices. Even 35-44 should be more incrementally targeted.  Two things: Going back to Jaye's original thought on capturing the 35-44 demo. Isn't it the same as it's always been? Lifestyle. Target your promotions, on air comments, remotes, to a 40 year old woman for that demo. Lifestyle. As far as the music....I must slightly disagree that Garth or 90's are as far as you can go. Even if it's testing that way. I do national voice over work mostly now and my shows are live ones. I see 20 year olds jumping up for Hank Jr., John Anderson, Mel McDaniel, Charlie Daniels and on and on. It reminds me of the story of how top 40 was discovered by Todd Storz by watching the same song played over and over on a jukebox. The music that demo and others will accept is also a self perpetuating thing. How many of us feel like we helped "break" or Make a hit record by playing it? Musically WE tell them what is a hit or good in many cases. The only distinction, to me, is that the PRODUCTION VALUES, must be of the level we expect today. 

Jaye Albright: Thanks, to all of you.  Personally, I don't think that it gets solved by playing 90's or earlier for a mainstream or a "new country" station, since the majority of 35-44 available to country radio today were not listening to country music when they were teens.  It's about balance, as more than one of you have noted. The great majority of today's A artists, almost all of which have emerged in the last five years aren't crossover acts.  Right now, country has 18 touring acts able to fill arenas, which is an unprecedented development in the history of the format.  We do have a handful of them you'd call "crossover" acts, but still the vast majority get played only on country radio.

PS:  If this piqued your interest and you want some specific advice on what to do next, click on the CRS 2013 session "Younger Country: Is 18-34 the New 25-54? and listen to very savvy panelists John Dimick/Lincoln Financial, Chris Huff/KSCS and Sean Ross/Edison Research share their perspectives on coalitions vs conflicts between tastes of the wide country  demographic targets.  It's an hour well spent, if you missed that session at CRS.

Country's Gen X Problem

Arbitron's full Radio Today 2013 annual update tracking all format quantitative and qualitative trends reflects both change and growth as my blogs of the last week have previewed.

It highlights something troubling that you're going to want to look at locally. 

Has recent under-30 growth hurt 35-44?

* All of the demographic proportions have remained relatively steady except for adults 18-24, which rose to its highest level in a decade, and adults 35-44, which declined to its lowest.

*  The country and new country formats are a strong performer in TSL, regardless of age group. Among the 16 top formats, it was tied for No. 1 among persons 12+, and was No. 1 by a full hour among persons 12-24. It ranked No. 2 by a wide margin among adults 18-34, was also No. 2 among adults 25-54, and third with adults 35-64.

Suggestion:  look very carefully at 25-29, 30-34, 35-39 and 40-44 in local perceptual and music test data.  Arbitron's data tracks actual PPM and perceived diary usage data, but isn't designed to be used to choose your most effective target, but 35-44 is going to be with us for too long as a marketing target for our clients to ignore any weakness there.

It's the only target cell in 2013's national averages where it appears that country radio is failing to get its fair share of the total population.

* Radio Today 2013 (get the full client exclusive report at "my.arbitron.com" (the Arbitron customer site where you download data). 

Scarborough Surprises

Radio Today 2013 was posted on "my.arbitron.com" this week (that’s the customer site where you download data) and it's full of fascinating facts about every format.  The country format data is  especially interesting, as it reflects both change and growth.

Where do country radio listeners go when they are on the Internet? 

Really, no big shocker in those stats, given that when you look at country listeners in 2013 you're looking at a very large mass audience, but what did surprise me is this comparison of country listener behaviors compared to the average radio format:

"Take college courses?"  Who knew?

Just another indication of powerful positive info on our busy and engaged audience today, just the kind of people advertisers want to reach.

Country Radio Listener Education Levels At All-Time High

More great info from Scarborough and Arbitron:

The 51.4% of the Country + New Country adult audience that has attended college reached an all-time high in Spring 2012.

- Radio Today 2013 was posted on "my.arbitron.com" this week (that’s the customer site where you download data)

Country Radio Listeners Are Affluent And Becoming More So

Radio Today 2013 was posted on "my.arbitron.com" yesterday (that’s the customer site where you download data).
 
As Country remains the No. 1 format in America with an all-time-high 12+ national share of 14.2, there is also very exciting qualitative data along with the quantitative for every format. 

I am going to share a few quick headlines over the rest of this week, which hopefully entices you to dig into the data, comparing it to your local stats.

The 26.1% of Country + New Country adult listeners that resided in households generating $75,000 or more per year in Spring 2012 was an all-time high.

The study is also chock-full of other info about Country (and all of the other top formats).

My Inscrutable Blog Post

Sometimes attempting to "explain" something that simply didn't make much sense in the first place only serves to further cloud an issue.

I hope to avoid doing that here.  My New In 2007; Obsolete In 2013 post made sense, I hope, to the people I work directly with since it was designed to serve as a somewhere coded, confidential and personal reminder.

However, a comment came in over the weekend from an innocent reader who can be forgiven for feeling that it was...

Completely biased and useless rhetoric. I have no idea what this post was intended to accomplish. Could you clarify? I mean, how does an iPhone age and model relate to an elder and youth relationship? And what is the goal of a new phone as compared to the goals of each an elder and younger in a mutually satisfying relationship? What are you saying?

I appreciate the feedback and emailed my commenter:  "As I travel and listen to radio, I hear too many personalities talking to an audience that maybe existed at one time - "next hour, we'll..." "more details on our website" etc etc and I keep trying to get their attention and tell them to talk like real people do by reminding them that the only way to avoid cultural obsolescence is to be sharing emotions and telling stories each time you open your mouth. I use Dick Clark and Ed McMahon, rest their souls, as examples as I coach this point by noting that Dick was remaining relevant right to the end as he counted them down every New Year with Ryan while Ed was selling adult diapers and insurance to old people.  Staying fresh, current and contemporary is a personal choice, requiring the breaking of deeply-ingrained old habits which die hard.  Am I a voice in the wilderness?"

My correspondent replied, perhaps teaching the lesson far better than I did...

I believe the essence of radio has always been company, entertainment, and information for the masses. But it has always been one sided. Interactive media like web blogs, chat, and social sites like Twitter have influenced this, clearly, as they cater to individual interaction. The question may have become how can radio become more interactive? Less pretense and more camaraderie is appreciated and demanded by the radio audience today, in my view. And to at least sound (believably) interactive is crucial.

Why didn't I think of that?

Any time you read this blog and feel like improving on it, please add a comment or clarification.  Help me to "at least sound interactive."

New In 2007; Obsolete In 2013

An internal Apple memo now calls the original iPhone, launched less than seven years ago (to put it more kindly) "vintage."

How are you doing in that department?

Fortunately, there aren't many areas of our culture moving faster than the tech world, but move they do.

If you're still talking to the same "personal listener" you created when you first got into radio, it's likely that you're as "today" as American Family Publishers.

Every parent knows:  young people aren't going to make the effort to understand and relate to their elders.

If anyone in an older person to younger person relationship is going to "speak the language" of the other person, only the older of the two is fully-equipped to understand and communicate to the other.

Take a bite out of today's "apple" before it takes a bite out of you.

Terrestrial Radio

Another from my intermittent series of "Trachman treasures:"

As opposed to radio that's bounced off a satellite or grabbed from "the world wide web."  In other words, "us." Or, what's left of us.

Somebody expects us to need a descriptive word in the near future. It reminds me of "the private sector" - which, by implication, legitimizes every business the government cares to get into.

It used to just be "business." It used to just be "radio."

Well, fellow terrestrials, what can we do to ensure our survival in an era when we're just one segment - perhaps some day, even a minor segment -- of all the radio that's out there?

Come close and listen carefully; I have a plan.

Here are six ways we can survive this new competition, or any competition:

1.  Listener and community involvement.
This is radio's most natural turf. Talking about, and participating in community events on the air.
Instructing DJs to use packaged material only as a back-up. The main source of raps should be about the DJ's life in the community, and how he or she responds to it. Encourage him to talk about his children's school; the local athletic teams, the traffic on Main Street, the colorful late-night movie host on TV, the latest campaign to clean up the downtown area.  Encourage some expressions of opinions; it doesn't matter whether everyone agrees or no one does. What you need now, above all else, is live humans behind the mike. Start a station campaign that reflects a community wish or un-met need. Any time some big event is going on in town, don't just send a news team to report it; send staffers to participate. The goal is to make your station central to everyone's perception of the community.  Be there and be visible!

2.  Timeliness.
Another of radio's inherent strengths that we've ignored.  Jocks should be informed, not just about what's going on in the community in general, but also about what's happening at this minute. On an elementary level, every DJ on the air should pop his/her head out the window once an hour, to see if (regardless of what the forecast says) it's raining. Or fogging or snowing. Or windy or partly cloudy; if the sky looks "ominous" or "glorious" or whatever else. But timeliness is not limited to weather. Are there local streets blocked off today because of construction or a parade?  Is some recording act appearing in town today (even if the competition is sponsoring them, it's still your town)? Music is generic.  Real personality is specific to this place, at this moment.

3.  Real personalities.
"Where can I find some?" asks the GM. Well, you grow them. You hire people who are passionate about life, and teach them how to do it within the confines of a radio format. (It's what Jay Trachman  wrote about every week of his life as long as I knew him.) Helping to develop and guide them is part of what he did, and now I do. If your management needs help, have them email me. I have a dog-eared old copy of "The Art Of Personality Radio," I'll share with you.  (Really.)

4.  Identity.
Your station should be perceived as a "thing," an identifiable entity that stands out from everything else in the market. And the fact that you play twenty Classic Hits in a row isn't going to do it for you, any more than saying the right liner cards will. Not for much longer.  What is your station "about"? What sets it apart -- that the listener can perceive -- from everything else available?  If the music you play is the only answer you can give, you're headed for trouble.

5.  Promotions that cause chatter.
Ask programmers to tell you their favorite contests, and many respond by telling you about their biggest or most unusual prize. The contest itself should be fun to listen to, and make your listener want to share the experience with others. When it all comes down to the competition saying, "The fifth caller wins $1 million!", your station ought to be someplace else.

6.  Being fun to listen to. 
I believe a station becomes fun to listen to when it is perfectly obvious that the DJs are having fun themselves. You can't mandate it; "Have fun, or you're fired." But each of the items above helps build an atmosphere of fun for the performers. When they're involved with this community on this day, participating in the life of the listener, expected to be creative, invited to respond to events, I think you'll find most of your staffers are having fun on the air, and that's contagious. As Jay mentioned over and over again for as long as he lived and wrote, "Having Fun Is Good For You."

Check The Bookcases Around Your Radio Station

Hopefully, after a full free year as a CMA member last year thanks to 2012 "The Year Of Radio," I am hoping that your management saw the amazing return on investment and joined for 2013.

If so, something amazing is back this year after living online for a few years.

It's the CMA Directory, full of the contacts you need at your fingertips almost constantly:  artists, management companies, record labels, talent representatives and booking agents, publishers, publicity firms and of course every radio station, syndication company and satellite broadcaster in North America.

I don't know about you, but there are times that opening a browser and searching just isn't as convenient as opening and paging through a fact and content-filled book.

Thanks CMA, for bring it back!

I am betting that whoever opened the envelope this week with the new one quietly snagged this incredible, useful resource and added it to their office reference bookcase.

Before you have to run all over your building yelling, "help, I need the new CMA Directory, who has it!," now would be a good time to locate it and let everyone in management, programming, marketing, promotions and sales know where it is.

Before too long, they'll all find that they have a need for it.

"Broadcast Radio Continues To Strongly Dominate Listening"

Pardon me, if I join Katz in bragging a bit this morning:

“The latest findings bear out what we continue to find from all our research – and hear from consumers – that broadcast radio is still by far the overwhelming leader in audio listening,” said Mary Beth Garber, EVP/Radio Analysis and Insights at Katz Radio Group.  “Broadcast radio isn’t losing listeners – in fact just the opposite, which makes it clear that digital listening actually represents incremental listening.  So as digital listening – which is both AM/FM digital listening and personal music collection digital listening – continues to grow, it is an expansion of broadcast radio listening, additive to it rather than a substitute.  Research from Infinite Dial 2012 shows that digital listeners are also heavy broadcast users (3); digital extends the reach and popularity of broadcast radio to new devices and new listening opportunities. We're pleased with digital's growth and how it has added to the broadcast radio experience.”

Garber continued, “A digital-only ‘music collection’ audio service like Pandora only has 4.4% of total audio listening, even if you assume the Triton measurement of when the service is left on is comparable to the measurement of actual listening that Arbitron does.  That said, even though it is still a relatively small percentage of all listening, we remain excited about the role of digital listening in extending radio listening to new devices, further enhancing radio's role as the major mobile entertainment and information service to the consumer.”

In the most recent RADAR findings, the gold standard measurement system for radio, which measure national listening behavior from October 2011 to September 2012, broadcast radio continues to strongly dominate listening – reaching 243 million listeners per week and representing 92.4% of all listening (1).  In comparison, digital listening currently represents only 7.6% of all audio listening (2).

(1) RADAR 115 (Dec 2012, for period Oct 11 - Sep 12
(2) RADAR 115 (for period Oct 11 – Sep 12); Triton Digital Audio Top 20, Oct 11 – Sep 12;
(3) Infinite Dial 2012 

Coincidentally, that news comes this week just as Canada's entire Astral Radio group gets ready for their annual "Have a Heart” Radiothon events in every one of their markets.  This annual 12-hour live broadcast calls upon listeners to help raise much-needed funds to support care for young patients, enable the acquisition of new specialized pediatrics equipment and provide parents with support services.  This year's will run from 6am to 6pm Thursday May 2nd and one hundred percent of the money raised during this nation-wide one-day event will stay in Astral communities to help babies and kids.

Actually, now that I think of it, there is no coincidence.  

Radio everywhere routinely does large and small things for our communities.  

The announcement could have come ANY day, and there would be many things to point to that radio's dedicated public servants are doing somewhere.

"Don't sell the ratings. Sell the reasons you HAVE those ratings,."
   - Mary Beth Garber

AMEN.

Codes Don't Stay Coded

A&O&B is very fussy about song coding.

Becky, Mike and I each recommend our own unique, special approaches designed to balance song schedules for maximum variety and flow for every individual station and market situation.

For this reason, it's tempting to spend a lot of time making sure that every song is coded perfectly when it's first added and in sync of carefully-crafted policies/priorities to manage them and then locking them for as long as the song us played.

Not a good idea.

• Yesterday's "C" artist is today's "A" act.
• What sounded "new" yesterday is "old" today.

Revisit and update your music coding and policies at least once a quarter, if not more often than that (as you listen to your music mix every day!).

Don't Worry, George, We'll All Be There

I first experienced George Jones when he and Tammy Wynette were touring together at the heights of their "Mr. and Mrs. Country Music" power in 1974.

That was at Tucson Civic Center and I was amazed by their ability to perfectly recreate their recorded vocal gymnastics live, not missing a single note.  Some fifteen years later I was to Emcee a Fremont, California, nightclub show by Jones. 

He was very gracious to me, a young radio personality, and his many fans in a pre-show meet and greet with radio contest winners.

So, as I stood on the bandstand at the microphone a few minutes later all set with a glowing introduction to bring him onstage I was shocked to see George's tour bus starting up and heading out.  I told the crowd, "if you want to see George Jones tonight, I think we had better head out the front door right now and wave goodbye to him."

We did.  One concertgoer was heard to say that night "I've been to see George Jones three times and have yet to see George Jones."

Later I learned that what happened that evening wasn't due to his legendary struggles with substance abuse.

Back in the 1950's George had performed a great show for the club owner who paid him with a bad check.  So, Jones had come to Fremont in the late 1980's to get a good check from him and pick up a bit of revenge.

So great was his talent and skill that we who loved him and his music in spite of his sometimes mean and violent side were always willing to show up in hopes that he would not disappoint.

That's why it's so seemingly "normal" now to reread the press release in light of his death yesterday (click to see it) announcing his final tour, culminating in a quickly-sold out November Bridgestone Arena date.

He had long since had to postpone last week's Huntsville date and reschedule it due to ill health, yet that date also rapidly sold out.

It's my hope that the promoters will keep that November 22 Music City date, which was to have featured a list of music's biggest stars paying tribute to Possum.

As in the past, we'd all be there, knowing that in spirit and memory at least, George Jones will be as well.

Broadcast 101

A.J. Clemente joins Steven Tyler, Tom Hanks, Bob Beckel, Joe Flacco and many others - not to mention Howard - in an infamous club.

It was ironic that all three major network morning show personalities. including NBC's, seemed to relate in the aftermath to the faux pas. 

I'll leave it to others to decide whether this latest incident sets a precedent or is a cautionary tale, but before you count on "a light touch" from regulators, my advice is to live by that simple rule we all learned during the first day at broadcast school:

Treat every microphone as if it's ON.

Powerful Advice In Four Killer Quotes

You must read Russ Penuell's Country Aircheck article (click for the pdf) this week, "Boston And Beyond."

If that one sentence doesn't convince you, these will:

“The biggest challenge is determining what the most appropriate course of action is quickly. Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, the audience is becoming aware of major news events at the same time we are, not an hour later. As a result, we’ve got to react immediately.
  -- WGH/Norfolk PD Mark McKay

“Everyone at the station (it really is everyone at my station, not just programming) must know their responsibility beforehand,” King says. “Everyone who joins our staff is well aware we serve the public interest at our own expense. It’s better to do more than less every time. No one is surprised when they are called upon to go way beyond normal duties. It’s a given along the Gulf Coast where we regularly gear up for hurricane and severe storm coverage.”
  -- WYCT/Pensacola PD Kevin King

“If we ignore a news story of this urgency and magnitude, we tell our listeners we cannot be depended upon to alert them of things we know they care about."
  -- consultant and talent coach Doug Erickson

“A successful radio station serves its audience by every possible means available,”
  -- WKLB/Boston’s Mike Brophey

There's Always Room For A Great Idea

Until this morning if you wanted to use a Broadcast Calendar on your smart phone, you turned to RAB's pdf's.

“Now, no matter where you are, you have a three year broadcast calendar with you!” said Cathy Csukas, co-founder and president of AdLarge.  “The industry has been in need of a broadcast calendar mobile app for a long time, and thanks to the innovation and generosity of AdLarge Media and AirKast, it is now available.”

OK, that's stretching it a bit to thank your own company for its generosity.  But...

Check the latest "new thing" out for iTunes and Android.

Very cool.

Thank You, Congressman Todd Young

Join me in making sure he knows how much we appreciate this. 

Boston and West, Texas, are just the two latest examples of how important local emergency information is - broadcast by mass media every day, somewhere.

For A Day We All Live In Boston

Chairman/CEO for Boston-based Greater Media Peter Smyth's moving open letter to the industry bragging about his stations' response to the Boston Marathon bombings is radio at its best.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks Greater Media Boston Market Manager Rob Williams, Director of Programming Cadillac Jack and the entire staff for all they did to inform and comfort our listeners, their families and the community." 

Meanwhile, it's also hard to disagree with Denver-area media blogger, international consultant and talent coach Doug Erickson as he bemoans the inability of most radio operators to do anything in real time when suddenly disaster hits.

It's always interesting these days to scan local radio when any catastrophe occurs. Not one Denver FM music station had one word about the bombings during multiple times I checked out their frequencies.

So, what did you do on your stations?

It seems to me, you need a procedure for these things now. An emergency play book, ready to go.

If your station is in Boston, or a suburb -- and that includes a lot of major east coast cities -- I don't see how you can not go wall-to-wall coverage, regardless of format. But even if your station is in Colorado, what is more compelling content than a terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon? Taylor Swift? Seriously?

Country Aircheck Associate Radio Editor Russ Penuell started working immediately on a story on country radio's response to the tragedy by browsing station websites and social media pages looking (largely in vain) for any empathy in reaction to the senseless event: 

They were continuing with social media based contesting, etc, as the bombing story was breaking and as it unfolded throughout the day. We understand some of these are pre-set, time specific posts, so maybe some just forgot it was going up, but it nevertheless made for a pretty disconnected appearance, at least in that realm.

Part of the question to us, given the growing importance social media, is how or to what degree to address (or not address) whats going on via those platforms, or how important it is at all during tragedies, etc. It seems common sense to me, but maybe not.

It's frustrating how few have any policies in place, to - for example - avoid using social media during tragedies like Boston, resting any auto-contesting and Hoot Suite-generated posts not related to a response to the fast-moving situation during such an event.

Reviewing your library for insensitive songs seems like the very least a well-programmed radio station should do.

A&O&B's Becky Brenner notes that there is part of the right reaction plan that says "life must go on" or the terrorists win, foreign or domestic.

Having said that, it is certainly necessary to acknowledge what happened, send out thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families and give your listeners a forum to share their fears and feelings about such a horrific event.  It impacts every individual so differently that there is not a one size fits all solution to the challenge.

Now, less than 48 hours after the blasts went off, I am actually finding myself listening to news radio and watching less cable TV now due to all the repetition of the Boston info over and over which is starting to sound repetitious, making me weary, sad and helpless.

Is radio's role in a 24/7 "always on" info world no longer an in-the-moment reflection of what's happening in the listener's world?

Are we now just a safe place to escape from it, ignore it, where you can hide from reality that comes at you from every screen you own?

Has our role changed from "immediacy" to "apathy?"

I hope not.

It's Only Words

That search delivers "about 1,390,000 results."

So, before you open you mouth and mic today, click on a few of these links, for example, and try not to be a stereotype.

Dan O'Day famously says, "if everyone does it, it's probably wrong."

I'd like to add two more phrases to the lexicon:

• "More details..."  Is there anyone who is anxiously waiting for more details in their life?
• "That wraps up..."  An excellent way to remind your listener that it's a good time to stop listening?

Crutches come up in your content when you stop thinking about what you're really saying and just put your brain on auto-pilot.

It's audio, so all you have is words.

Choose yours well.

How to Trick People Into Thinking You’re Good Looking

You can't be Jenna Marbles. 

There already is one, and thanks to You Tube, the 26-year old was just called "the future of celebrity" by The New York Times, and employs every tool at her command to drive more than a million views every single day and more money than she had ever seen before in her life.

"She is a D.I.Y. digital entertainer who conceives of, stars in, shoots, edits and uploads her own videos — often in a single day."- NYT writer Amy O'Leary

You can learn from what she does.

“My perspective is to think, ‘I just have a lot of Internet friends.” - Jenna Marbles

1. She skillfully juggles Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to build a deeply loyal connection with fans who find her eminently easy to relate to. 
2. Her mom is a Rochester-area marketing consultant, so what she does isn't an accident.
3. Unlike other YouTube personalities who invest in better cameras, lighting and production values, she has stuck with her original lo-fi operation.  It looks "real."
4. She polls her Facebook fans for ideas
5. She does impersonations.
6. She rants.
7. She plays off gender dynamics.
8. She undermines her camera-ready good looks for the sake of comedy.
9. She starts mini-memes.
10. Her videos typically last five to eight minutes.

“What I get to do is have fun in my house, by myself, and put it on the Internet.”

That's a top ten "to do" list and an effective mission statement for anyone who wants to do "You Radio" too, don't you think?