Value Drivers

A client PD sent me her station's marketing plan for the fall survey and she related every proposed action as a driver of value to the target listener.

• The station's unique and superior music, lifestyle and attitude position among all our competition.
• Their commercial load limits and placement, designed to increase usage at the expense of other radio stations our listeners may also use.
• The simplicity and fun of our "big" contest, which features very enticing prizes in contrast to other local media marketing.
• Air personality content, controlled using a content grid to assure that it is consistent and present.
• Personalities, unique in their compelling brand stories and always involved with the local community on the streets, meeting perceived listener needs and solving problems.

Running everything they do through the "is it a value driver to our target?" test is a great way to be sure that ratings will reflect an on-target brand, driven by loyal fans who know that the station is built around their needs.

Popularity

I don't know whether to blame this blog post on The New York Times or Taylor Swift.  Both are somewhat culpable.

They had to know that we'd all find their "Popular List" irresistible:

• 'I Gotta Feeling'
• Snickers
• 'Duck Dynasty'
• Behind the Best-Seller List
• Most-Stolen Author
• 'Finding Nemo'
• Top-Rated Shakespeare
• Most Pirated Movie
• Defending ‘Fifty Shades’
• Ten F-Train Reads
• Shockingly Popular Podcast
• Taylor Swift
• 'The Walking Dead'
• Most Visited Met Show Ever
• Top Pet Names in the USA
• Top Baby Names in NYC

And, I did.  Until I reached the ultimate point of the article:  "By one measure, no one watches “Girls.” By another, it’s fantastically popular. We already understand why this is: it’s a tenet of faith that we no longer experience culture as one hulking, homogeneous mass."

It suddenly started to sound a lot like one of the country programmers quoted by Country Aircheck as PPM ratings come out.  They want us to know that they are #1 in 20-23 year old boys who live on the south side of town and seem not to recognize that we can see their station's 6+ and 18-49 numbers, where the were beaten.

This game of demographics, of course, is not new to any of us in radio, who print new rankers every book with a different target where we hit it out of the park this time.

And, if we can't find a demo to brag about, we'll find you a psychographic or a flattering qualitative stat which proves how popular we are .. with somebody.

As Times writer Adam Sternbergh notes:  "Now, the concept of cultural popularity has been flayed, hung by its heels and drained of all meaning."

Let's stop bragging about meaningless rankers and begin to focus on the measure that really matters: 

• What proof do you have that your listeners are deeply engaged by your content and promotions?
• What can you show me that validates your advertisers get results exceeding their expectations?

How popular are you with the people who have money to spend on radio advertising?

Other Media Preview Radio's Potential

As Pandora increases it's ad inventory, making longer commercial breaks and Apple begins hiring ad sales teams, it's pretty obvious that it's now a multimedia world and radio must grapple with the ramifications of what competing media and not just other radio stations are doing.

CBS-TV's victory over Time Warner sets a precedent that says broadcast content is just as valuable as anything else.  CBS CEO Les Moonves says of the NFL:  "They deserve what they get because they deliver great ratings. ”

It wasn't just a win for CBS, but for anyone who creates great content that viewers and listeners demand.

Meanwhile, the up's and down's of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News provide another clue as to where things are going.  When politics are hot, the latter two do best. 

When world event warm up, it is CNN'S turn to jump up.

Selling media in 2013 requires the ability to predict when a medium's audience is going to spike and to credibly pre-sell those opportunities at aggressive and justifiable rates based solidly on the size of the audience.

Those of us who produce content need to become alert to times when we have unique viral information or entertainment that can push metered ratings above average.

iAds and Pandora are going to find that music alone can't do that. 

CBS-TV has proven that exclusive branded content non-musical content is worth the big bucks.

Now, it's up to audio media as well to develop/pre-promote big audience-builders (which of course is nothing new to great radio personalities) and market those things well in advance to maximize the money they bring in (which the majority of radio sellers still come up short on).

Another Push

With the news this week that eight test markets have now launched the NextRadio app and just three weeks after owners of Sprint’s HTC One and HTC Evo phones could begin accessing FM radio via the NextRadio application, nearly 10,000 people have begun using the app, I want to be certainly that you embrace this technology that can become today's "transistor radio."

It is a source of pride to see that the example shown on the website is a fast-growing country radio station.

I really didn't need convincing that this is a great idea, but if you need proof before you embrace it, let me send you back two years to my blog post from a Greek Island (click to read it).

If you don't know what to do next:  go to http://nextradioapp.com/ and click the "support" tab.

three weeks after owners of Sprint’s HTC One and HTC Evo phones could begin accessing FM radio via the NextRadio application, nearly 10,000 people have begun using the app - See more at: http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2695280&spid=32060#.Uic9qoXtjJM

three weeks after owners of Sprint’s HTC One and HTC Evo phones could begin accessing FM radio via the NextRadio application, nearly 10,000 people have begun using the app - See more at: http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2695280&spid=32060#.Uic9qoXtjJM

If You Don't Like Hank Williams...

Taste Of Country's Billy Dukes certainly achieved a coup with his terrific interview with Hank Williams, Jr. yesterday and it was terrific to learn that Hank Jr. is in a good space these days as he contemplates working only 10% of the days in the coming year.

Meanwhile, the revelation that he likes Eric Church and doesn't "listen to today’s country radio, so I am not sure who gets played and who doesn’t … I really don’t give a s—!" shouldn't be major news to anyone. 

Church is today's incarnation of what Hank Jr. brought to country radio three decades ago and it's always been an important part of our mix.  

Thankfully, there isn't much guitar-based rock on the radio dial today other than on country music stations so - if you love it too - we are the exclusive purveyor, which is a nice competitive place to be.  However, I doubt that Williams Jr. disdains Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift any more than he once did Gary Morris, Crystal Gayle and K. T. Oslin back in their heyday.  

He has never been what you'd call a 'radio-friendly' artist.

If you're a brand manager who came to country in the last 25 years and you ever have an opportunity to catch Hank Jr. either close up in an intimate setting or in front of a huge arena crowd, prepare to be blown away.  

His talents are massive.  

However, at the very start, don't be surprised if he kicks off his performance by demonstrating his life-long bad boy "don't give a s---!" attitude before getting down to the business of entertaining as only he can do.

Bocephus, I don't think you ever spent much time listening to the mix of music on commercial radio.  Or, if you did you'd never admit it as Taste of Country just demonstrated, but the smartest among us are still listening to you!

Finding The Best Listeners

"Not all listeners and advertisers are created equal.  And when you learn how each individual uses and perceives your uniqueness - based on their uniqueness, you can actually increase your profits, without having to increase your share of the market."


“Customers have different needs from a (radio station) and they represent different valuations to a (station).  Today’s information technology allows us to tell our customers apart and remember them individually.  From there, we can use technology to customize products and services for each one.”

Sound as cutting edge as today?

Not really.

Those quotes come from DonPeppers and Martha Rogers' 1997 book “Enterprise One To One:  Tools for Competing in the InteractiveAge” (Currency/Doubleday)

If you're not segmenting your listener database, you're more than 16 years behind.

Don't feel too smug if you are "using microchip technology to make it possible to know your listeners better than ever."  You still may be more than a decade in back of a competitor who has been learning from the people formerly known as the audience since these concepts were introduced. 

It's never too late to start. 

"Gut Wrenching"

A&O&B works with all parties involved in yesterday's huge transactions and so all of us have been busy counselling buyers, sellers, executives, employees, all longtime coworkers at broadcast groups, radio stations and networks we have come to love and admire.

Mergers and acquisitions require adaptability and change.  Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt wrote the book on the subject back in 1998. 

"Increasingly, the companies that win are those that learn faster, act quicker and adapt sooner. They will compress time by making and executing early, informed decisions about economic value creation, ruthless prioritization and focused resource allocation. They will use these decisions to take early firm stands on management deployment, organization structure and culture. Their actions will increasingly be linked to long-term, sustained economic value creation."

As someone who manages or works for one of those companies, you know intellectually the truth of of that paragraph, yet your individual needs and fears add relationships and emotion to the personal calculus which can work against getting what needs doing done.

I have another time-tested book I recommend that everyone read at least once a year which helps me with that process.  @ParachuteGuy Richard Nelson Bolles is now semi-retired, but his work goes on as the need is greater than ever.

Recent graduate of Villanova Law School Andrew Dellaripa blogs that it's important to be cautious about giving advice in situations like this:  "Good advice sticks to your very soul. The kind of advice Obi-Wan’s ghost gives.  Bad advice, though, is outdated, archaic clichés pulled from large-font posters of cats in baskets."

So, I'll go light on advice for you except to suggest that this weekend is a great time to think about your own personal goals, abilities and career.

The clearer you are on what makes you succeed the better communicator you'll be when that new leader you'll be working for begins opening up about your new role.

If you need a mentor to help with this process please reach out to any of the A&O&B team.

Your success is our success.

Did You Do A Summer Listening Contest?

With Inside Radio's report yesterday that Arbitron is running seasonal sweepstakes programs during the August and September ratings periods to help encourage panelists to wear their meters it's a good time for a reminder emulate the radio ratings giant.

ARB has long made use of radio's direct marketing experts as consultants to help them improve response and cooperation rates. 

What they learn can be a great primer for you as well (staying well within the rules of course!).

Arbitron's current program started this week and runs through September 8, following sweepstakes that took place from July 22-28 and August 5-18. 

“These programs are expected to have a positive impact on In-Tab rates,” the company says in a note to subscribers. 

It’s the time of year when a lot of normal life patters are shaken up,  and that includes people meter panelists, as Inside Radio's story notes.

If your station does online music testing, unlike ARB or BBM, you actually need to be doing two contests:  one, silently, to encourage participation in your own survey, thanking your listeners for doing it for you. 

And, of course, a second one on air (that's bigger, easier and more fun than your competition) designed to increase daily cume and daily occasions.

Two Very Good Jerry Cupit Ideas

Jerry has worked with such artists as John Anderson, George Jones, Hank Williams Jr., Lonestar, Tim McGraw, Ken Mellons, Kevin Sharp, Jo-El Sonnier and many others.

He's an accomplished songwriter, musician, author, producer, publisher, and manager who since he started Cupit Music back in 1980  has won awards for his songwriting talent from BMI and ASCAP, including the millionaire award for his writing contribution to "Jukebox Junkie" as well as the Tennessee Songwriter's Association Hallmark Award.

In addition, Jerry has authored two very successful books, Nashville Songwriting and a new gift book titled Daddy Always Said.

He's an inventor too.  The Cupit guitar is only 22.5" long and weighs 4.5 lbs. including the case.  That is idea #1, which he calls 'the travel guitar.'

Idea #2 is "Guitars For Soldiers," an organization dedicated to donating guitars to all military personnel 
desiring a small travel guitar.  Soldiers become eligible for a free guitar by simply entering their information at www.guitarsforsoldiers.com.  Civilians & Corporations contribute by donating one travel guitar at the price of $399.00.  Cupit Music will then match the donation with a second guitar to a second soldier 
in the donors name.

For questions and all other inquiries please contact:
Dan Hagar
Senior V.P.
Cupit Music Group 
Nashville, TN

615-731-0100 ext.13
dan@cupitmusic.com
www.cupitmusic.com
www.guitarsforsoldiers.com

Singing In Unison With Mark Lapidus

Any radio column that concludes with the recommendation to begin practicing this simple but powerful phrase: “Starting January 2014, we will stop giving away advertising of any kind, online or mobile. Instead, we will use these precious assets to generate money for our radio station” gets a "second" from me.

The Radio World promotions writer last week created a list of long-overused vehicles for mentioning client names along with routine programming elements, but the title of the article - Put Ads In Their Proper Place - rings my chimes.

Radio has no shortage of places to drop the names of advertisers within the context of what we do and listeners turn up the volume to hear.

The key question is:  are you getting enough money for the ones you currently do?  If not, why wait until January to do the right thing?

Seeing With Your Mind's Eye. Are Drop In Ads Spoiling The View?

Thanks to Blaine Thompson at Indiana Radio Watch for spreading the word on this from CNN:

• Bob Greene: Baseball radio play-by-play is working commercials into the announcers' descriptions
• He says baseball on the radio is still special -- it's free and comforting commentary in summer
• At times, play-by-play can reach heights, as in description of Stan Musial's last at bat, Greene says

Stop for a moment, click the link and ponder the ramifications:

It shouldn't be surprising that this is happening. Baseball has always been a relentlessly and unapologetically revenue-seeking enterprise. Have you ever seen photos of the outfield walls in big-league ballparks in the early to mid-20th century? Even NASCAR's marketing strategists would have been envious of the don't-waste-an-inch commercial clutter.

"And baseball on the radio -- distinct even from baseball itself -- is durable and steady in ways that can't be easily spoiled. Baseball on the radio is one part of the sport that somehow, despite everything, still manages to feel good."

"How good can it get? For a gold-standard example from the history of the sport and of the medium, listen to the KMOX radio broadcast of Stan Musial's final at-bat for the St. Louis Cardinals before his retirement."

"Take a good look, fans. ... Take a good look.  It's possible, on summer nights, to see most clearly with your eyes closed."

Music City Math

Running Mediabase's "five day" chart on a Saturday is a weekly habit with me.

Seeing Monday-Friday spin rank without the distortions of weekend airplay can be a good indication of next week's label priorities. 



For example, it already appears that next week's #1 is going to be Carrie Underwood and then the likely chart-topper the following week will be Keith Urban.

With this week's #1, Brett Eldredge heading downward in spins after taking 44 weeks to top the spin charts, will Easton Corbin have the staying power to be all powered up the week of 9/2 for a #1 on 9/9?

You can be sure that his advocates are already battling for that place on the ranker.

As of this week, "All Over The Road" has been on the charts for 33 weeks (which seems like a youngster compared to the 56 weeks it took Lee Brice's 2010 debut "Love Like Crazy" to ultimately get only to #3.

Since radio power rotations are usually five to seven songs, the actual difference from radio's perspective between a #1 and a #7 is just a few spins per week on the average monitored station.

Don't tell that to a promotion person!

The best ones play the game weeks in advance, creating strategies and tactics designed to outrank competing artists, publishers and labels, all of whem have plenty of skin in the contest.

No one wants to end up at #2.

Call Me Don Quixote

Is it just Bob Struble and me?

Digital radio developer iBiquity projects HD Radio receiver sales will jump 63% this year, forecasting 5.4 million units will be sold.  That compares to 3.3 million receivers that entered the market last year.

A&O&B has been chronicling the tortoise-like pace of North American radio's movement toward digital in this space for many years.  (click to read eight years' worth)

I suppose the fact that 61% of Inside Radio readers now see a "tipping point" somewhere in our medium term future is a positive sign.

Hey, 38%:  read this one (It's About Time) and see if it makes you change your tune as well.

There was a time when FM seemed like an uphill battle too.  HDRadio is our best hope for a big place in the coming digital dashboard.

Don't give up on it.

Digital radio developer iBiquity projects HD Radio receiver sales will jump 63% this year, forecasting 5.4 million units will be sold.  That compares to 3.3 million receivers that entered the market last year. - See more at: http://www.insideradio.com/Article.asp?id=2690513&spid=32060#.UhYNj4XtjJM

Bob Struble

Bob Struble

Bob Struble

New Gold Has More Than Just A Familiar Sound

A&O&B's Fall 2013 gold research composites are being tabbed and categorized now and probably the first thing most client stations will note as they placed the new gold recommendation on the air is the return of some “older” titles. 

Top of the ranker, by "net positive" among A&O&B USA client stations

Top of the ranker, by "net positive" among A&O&B Canadian client stations

In fact, two factors combine to make this development less startling then it first appears. 

The very small proportion of the library that now comes from the 1990's is songs that test very well 25-34.  

These young people may not even know that these tunes aren’t new country songs! 

They see them as a return to more traditional sounds, which is universally appreciated by the core. 

And, due to careful categorization of them, this well under 10% of your updated gold music library actually gets played less 5% of the time.

It's all about "variety," and research continues to reinforce that is highly-prized by most of the target, while their primary demand is to hear their favorites more than anything else.

Creating A Positive Brand Image

In radio, while the image of ‘just doing good for the community’ is seldom sufficient to win the ratings race for a station (especially in PPM markets where actual usage trumps all), the positive passion and powerful emotions that strong community involvement generate CAN often improve audience loyalty and station memorability.

Once we get beyond musical images, is there anything more important than being the station that helps kids or wounded vets?

In fact, there is.

Of course, doing a radiothon or a personality trip to a needy part of the world to dramatize the urgent need for them to lend a hand is often seen as a great way to activate your community and be experienced as a truly well-rounded Country station.

Savvy programmers understand that raising a large amount of money can require programming tactics which harm audience retention even as they build a brand.


Of course, in the long run, it is worth it and I encourage you to weave doing big things for your community into the fabric of everything you do year round, but there's another - often forgotten - way to achieve powerful brand depth without sacrificing a single quarter hour of listening or one cume listener.

It's simply being as responsive to everything your listeners care about in brief, meaningful ways all the time.

Get involved.  Share their stories.  Help.  Provide leadership.  It's what radio - voice tracked or live and local - does best, every day.

What's Your Music Scheduling Philosophy?

You can have the finest, newest, state-of-the-art music scheduler software available, but if you don't have a strategy behind your use of it, the output isn't going to be any better than a 1970's-era card file.

Here's a place to at least begin:

1. 50% of the average station's most-exposed categories contain songs by unfamiliar artists, thus I'd code for "major superstar," "familiar to the core but unknown to many of the cume" and "new to even the heavy users," making sure ever other song is from a well-known voice.  Yes, that causes the music scheduler to groan but the exercise is worthwhile - the listener is never far from a familiar voice.
2. Tempo is the second major issue.  Almost every category averages 40% slow, if not even more.  The tempo, energy and mood rules we recommend make scheduling tricky, but are important.
3. Repetition is controlled by use of extremely restrictive tight hour-repeat rules.  This also presents the potential of scheduling nightmares, but it's worth doing.

I think we can be reasonably flexible with all other parameters, but these are the big three…familiarity, tempo and repetition.

Chuck Buell

He is a headline selection this month on the largest radio show aircheck archive around, ReelRadio.com.

• The ridiculously talented Bobby Ocean spotlights one of Chuck's old radio shows from 1970 WLS (click Bobby Ocean's Aircheck Channel CB WLS Edition.mp3 to listen to a segment).
• Here's the 2013 Chuck Buell, with work that is still totally "precise, personable, powerful" and yet clearly updated for today's culture and target listener.

 Chuck Buell, for 45 years adapting his content and style, a perfect role model for talent wanting to remain relevant decade after decade.

What's Good For Public Radio, Is Good For You Too

"Essentially, we're raising the number of segments per hour," Arvid Hokanson, deputy program manager for KUOW tells Morning Fizz, in an attempt to keep up with the way audience surveys say people listen to radio—in short bursts, while they're making breakfast or in the car. "Our frequent listeners now are people who listen more times per day."

KUOW will effectively condense four hours of daily local programming into two.

Do the math.  If you want to keep up with a top-rated public radio station in PPM, it's time to say the same things in HALF the time!

Best In Class

I love this job.  One reason:  I listen to a lot of radio which exposes me to lots of mediocrity, of course, but now and than something really stands out.

Like:

• This Killam Properties ad (click Killam Properties.mp3 to listen to it) on XL-96/Moncton.
• I'd bet that hundreds of us saw this item on Taste Of Country.com.  But only the creative folks at WZZK/Birmingham ran right into production and got this promo (WZZK-Luke Bryan.mp3) on the air.

Brilliance is taking the things everyone has access to and doing something extraordinary with it.

P.D. In Absentia

Another Jay Trachman Treasure:

What a beautiful phone call I got today.  "You were my PD."

The caller explained that the PD they had wasn't very bright or experienced, and my writings taught him about how to be a real personality. "I was his PD????"

I thought... I hope I did the job well...
 
Did I impress upon him the importance of having something to say? It should be so obvious, but it isn't -- not to a lot of young jocks and their PDs: the importance of entering the studio each day with more material than one could use. Last week, I ran into Chuck Carson at the post office. He was morning man to my mid-day "housewife" shift when the two of us were both brought to Fresno by Triangle Broadcasting, decades ago. After not seeing Chuck for many years, practically the first reminiscence we Shared was about how we were suddenly required to do show prep. It was probably the most important thing we learned, on that job.
 
Did I help him to understand that entertainment is about helping another to experience emotions, and that one emotion is as good as another? At that very job, on KFRE, I started out hiding behind jokes and "oddities in the news." Then, one day, I happened to look out the window while walking between the on-air studio and the news room, and saw the most magnificent double rainbow I'd ever seen. I Shared it with my listener -- I must have gushed all over it -- and the phones lit up like I'd never seen them before; everyone had his or her own descriptive phrase or impression to add, and very quickly I learned that there were better ways than comedy to affect -- and infect -- my listener.

Did I teach him how to talk to one person, and why it matters?  I remember Mildred, the older woman who had the "hots" for me; she was out of the target demographic and her devotion sometimes bordered on frightening... But, needy as I was, I found it easy to talk directly to her on the air, knowing that she understood -- not just my words -- but my emotional tone... Over time, I realized that when I spoke directly to Mildred, many people felt like I was talking to them. At later times in my career, my Personal Listener was Bonnie, and then Steve... It mattered not; it was the idea of talking to one specific person, that made me sound intimate and real, and "liberated" me to show the spectrum of my emotions.

Did I help him to develop the self-confidence to show his real self to his listeners? Perhaps it was the day when I was just coming down with the flu -- I wasn't sick enough to stay home yet, but I felt like death re-heated. I told my listener about it, and invited everyone to phone in with their own special versions of "poor baby" for me. It was one of the most powerful bits I ever did; there were offices full of people saying it in chorus; someone doing it in Spanish, someone else serenading me, and the phones stayed lit beyond the end of my show. Tell your listener you feel crummy? It worked so well for me, I was ready to risk trying a few other emotions...

Did I impress him with the idea that radio is a business, as well as an art? Oh, what a tough lesson that one was for me. I was "Jay Trachman, DJ hero!" Don't mess with my programming, don't try to tell me what music to play, and don't bring me spots thirty minutes before they're supposed to air, on a Friday afternoon. Ultimately, the station was sold, the new owners deemed me more trouble than I was worth, and I was shown the door. The saddest, most embarrassing thing about it was, on reflection years later, I understood that they were right.

Did I teach this successful radio manager, back in his early days, well enough to help him become successful in a rough business? Oh, I hope so.  Being a program director -- even in absentia -- involves a great responsibility to the people you're trying to "direct." One needs, not only to lay out the ground rules and formatics, but to help them to put forth their best each day, to celebrate their job, their work, and each other, and constantly, to grow better at what they do. I hope I was up to the job.

Ray Martin

The longtime CBS MarketWatch columnist is one of those voices that keeps writing things that I save and read over and over again.  I'd like to combine some of his "keepers" from over the years and put a radio spin on them for you:

1.  Don't do what you are told.
More precisely, never "settle" for doing "only" what you're told; always try to do a little something extra.  Ask yourself, "Why did he/she request this of me, and what can I do to deliver more than they want?" As Martin puts it, "The way you get promoted is not by doing what you are told, but by taking the initiative to do more..."

2.  Under promise and over deliver.
The idea is to get your manager to recognize you as one who frequently exceeds expectations. My old friend Jay Trachman used to brag that one of his proudest achievements as a beginning jock was to empty the "in" basket in the production studio each evening before going home. He didn't steal other people's voice work, but anything routine that simply required dubbing to cart, or copying with a tag -- he finished. Not only did he get a rep for doing something extra, but he also learned production. By the time he was ready to seek his next job, he could sell himself as a "production Wiz!"

3.  Always make your boss look good.
One of my favorite old sayings: "There's no limit to what you can achieve, if you don't care who gets the credit." And when the person getting the credit is in a position to reward you with a promotion or a pay increase, well -- that sounds to me like the best kind of rational selfishness.

Top qualities of people who get promoted:

• They work for a company and for leaders they respect and admire.  In part, this means quit whining about the lousy outfit you work for, if you do, and find something more to your liking. It may not happen in a day or even a year, but if you're unhappy where you are, and settle, you're settling on your own hopes and aspirations.  Never stop looking until you find someone you can devote your heart and soul to.
• Always keep the "big picture" in mind. Understand how the things you do every day fit into the whole picture. We on-air talents tend to have an inflated view of how important our work is to the company: "Without me, they wouldn't have anything to sell." (Sales people have the same inflated view:  "If we didn't sell, they'd starve!") It takes both sides, along with management and support staff, to make the station "work." It's wise to be seen as one who can bridge these gaps -- one who communicates well with all the various departments of the business.
• They have strong technical skills and work hard on technical projects.  How many things do you know how to do at the station, besides your own principle tasks? In the age of multi-tasking, the more things you can do, the more valuable you are to the company, and the more secure your job is.  It's to your advantage to learn how to sell, create logs, manipulate a data base, etc.
• They work beyond "nine to five" - not just on the work of the day, but by taking classes, reading books and getting extra training that continuously increases their human capital. This is a tricky one for radio people: I don't suggest you "live and breathe" radio, because it's to your advantage, as a performer, to mix with other people and to "have a life." The more different things you do, the more well-rounded a person you become, and the more interesting you are, potentially, on the air. Still: you've heard it a thousand times.  This is not a forty-hour-a-week job. Never was, never will be. When things need to be done, the one who's there to do them will be the one the management values. And if, between going to the movies and concerts, and watching the popular TV shows and being active in civic or religious organizations and all the other things we need to do to become a visible member of the community, you also find time to read the trades and an occasional book on how to improve your skills, so much the better.

Thanks, Ray Martin, for career advice that stood the test of time.

George Madden

He was named GM of CJJR/Vancouver after doing a masterful job managing Canada's Expo '86.  He hired me as the first consultant to the fledgling country station.

George was the consummate gentleman, brilliant and an excellent communicator.

In fact, he was so intelligent that he knew after several years that the Lower Mainland Jim Pattison Broadcast Group stations needed a more broadcast savvy individual to do the job.

He went to work for an executive search firm and the first executive he found was today's GM at JRfm, Gerry Siemens, whose approach launched a quarter century of consistent growth.

George Madden was very wise.

He knew what he didn't know.

So, he got to know people who did.

Becky Brenner

She had already done traffic, middays, production director and promotion director duties by the time I arrived at KMPS and I subsequently worked, first as her boss and then later as her consultant, with her for most of the 25 years she was there, spending 16 winning literally every radio programming accolade possible.

So, there are innumerable things I have learned from her.

Let me highlight one that just happened today.

Some of us, after numerous years of listening to new music and being pushed to add things that don't sound bad on the air by aggressive promotion, many of us become somewhat jaded and adopt the point of view that since almost anyone can be auto-tuned, Pro-Tooled, reverbed with those great Nashville backup musicians and singers to the point that even a mediocre song can "test" well enough and a vocalist can sound good enough that you develop a "heck, it won't hurt me that much" attitude.

Maybe they'll beg and plead, catching you on a good day.

Maybe the artist will do a free show for your listeners.

Maybe you overlook on "just this one" that performance and star power matter.  What rings the bell for all elements of the business is to reserve radio airplay for potential stars who understand "performance," who release only amazing songs that resonate to the point that in a year or two the artist has four or five songs plus a reputation for delighting in-person audiences so that they can pack a large arena.

Keeping your standards that high requires a passion for and understanding of all aspects of the music business.

It means recognizing that you go to showcases and live shows not to get your ego stroked, but to see how an act commands the stage, moves the listener.

That takes time and effort.

This morning Becky was a four hour drive from our Seattle offices in Central Washington where A&O&B clients and listeners had attended Watershed Music Festival. 

The event's three day passes had been long-since sold out.  No one day tickets were ever available, due to the three-day-pass sell out.  Becky felt that it was her duty to spend at least one day at the event and yet wasn't able to spend more time than that due to other professional commitments.

I told her to skip it.  Our clients could fill us in on how it all went on the phone, but that's not Becky  Brenner.  She wanted to experience as much of it as possible.  A music FAN, she sees it as part of her duties.  She paid for a three day pass so that she could go for at least the final day.

I've learned how to be a passionate country music fan, even after four decades in the business, thanks to the example of Becky Brenner.

Michael O'Malley

Mike and I have known each other for more than three decades and have been business partners for coming up on twenty years.

When a friend and I planned a month-long trip to Italy a few years ago, I invited Mike and his wife Wanda along.

I've never invited a coworker on even a week's vacation, so I wasn't sure if it was even "proper," but I was so delighted when they agreed to meet us in Rome and go with us for three of the four weeks.

The four of us traversed Italy in a rented car from the capitol, through Tuscany, Umbria, up to Venice, all the way down to Sicily and then Sardinia, followed by Corsica in a whirlwind adventure.

During those three weeks we got to know things about one another that we had never known, even after many years of working very closely together.

For example, we had a chance to visit the small city near Naples where Mike's grandfather was born before his family emigrated to the USA.

Amazing!

What I learned from Michael O'Malley:  deepen the relationships with your coworkers.  There is a lot more to all of us than what we share in even a large number of busy workdays.

Jim McGovern

The names I am going to drop in this post need no introduction from me.  Both of them are better known and have done more big things in their radio careers than I could ever hope to do.

Jim McGovern was the GM at KMPS who made me a Seattle PD.

Pat O'Day told a very revealing story at Jim's wake:

When Les Smith and Danny Kaye owned WUBE/Cincinnati, Jim was the manager and Pat went to visit his old Seattle friend over a long Memorial Day weekend they decided to drive up to see the Indianapolis 500.

The instant the idea came up, O'Day got on the phone and started calling in favors.  Eventually, he was able to pull strings and get a pair of passes to both the pits and the press box.

As they were walking from the car to the track, McGovern asked O'Day to wait a moment so that he could try to sell the pair of tickets he had in his pocket all along.

Pat exclaimed, "you let me go through all that and you had tickets????"

McGovern replied, "sure, because what you were getting was much better than what I had."

The lesson I learned from Jim McGovern:  don't micromanage.  Your team will often exceed expectations.

Jim always had a "plan B" -- which the people who worked for him seldom found out about (as long as their "plan A" was superior to it).

The Owens Family

It's in their genes.

Buck's nephew and General Manager of Buck Owens Productions, Mel Owens, as a click on these weblinks demonstrates is carrying on the tradition of world-class entertainment and consistent community service today.

It was my great good fortune to be OM/morning personality at that Bakersfield music mill when Buck's middle son Michael was made GM.  I have worked for some terrific managers over the years, but Michael was the very best, having been groomed for business by his father from his high school years when he ran Buck's record shop.

We were in the midst of a competitive battle.  Michael and I created a budget for our contest with a grand prize of 50 times your age in cash.  We took the plan to Buck who challenged us to do better.  "Why don't we do 97 times?  That's our frequency, after all."

Leaving that office thinking to myself that I better not mess this promotion up since Buck had just doubled our budget.  I knew he'd be expecting spectacular results for his money.

He got them.

The man who recorded 26 consecutive #1 hits didn't accept second place.

So, when Michael was made manager at KTUF-KNIX/Phoenix, he took a similar approach, vowing to earmark roughly 10% of monthly gross revenues to marketing.

Even in those days that was unheard of.  Radio owners were famous for selling advertising to others but the creatively aggressive ones often felt that they could generate buzz with programming, trade-outs and co-promotions.

Michael did things differently.  He took a very good radio station and using high frequency television for several decades, he built a brand.

The more they billed, the more they advertised.  During those years, KNIX was often the heaviest TV advertiser in Phoenix.

Was it worth it?

In March of 1999 when Jacor purchased Owens' Phoenix cluster they were the market's highest billing properties, justifying a sale price of $142 million.  A reported $84 million for KNIX and and another $58 million for KESZ.

The Owens Family taught me that spending money on marketing is an investment, not a cost.

Larry Daniels

It is quite ironic that his last few years before retirement were spent successfully consulting country radio stations because my 32 year consulting career would never have started if Larry wanted to do it in 1981.

A little history:  when I first heard KNIX/Phoenix in the early 1970's I knew I simply had to meet its obviously brilliant programmer.

I had never heard a country station so upbeat, well-produced, populated with compelling personalities and totally in synch with the crossover success of Arizona's Glen Campbell among many others.

It was incredibly contemporary in its appeal, clearly "Phoenix, Arizona, country."

Fortunately, a mid-70's joint promotion between KHOS/Tucson and KNIX offered ample opportunity as four of us spent several days together peddling 128 miles from the Pima County Fair to The Phoenix Zoo in what we dubbed "The Great Arizona Bike Race" as a kickoff for the state's Cancer Society annual fund drive.

Later, Larry helped me land one of the best radio jobs of my career at KUZZ/Bakersfield, where he served as my group PD.

Then, in 1981, when Drake Chenault attempted to recruit him as a consultant, he turned the job offer down, recommending me instead.

I was enjoying selling for KEEN/San Jose after having been morning personality/program director and the phone call from Southern California came completely out of the blue, but - knowing that Daniels was convinced I could do it - I jumped at it, falling in love with consulting before very long.

Larry Daniels' personal modesty in spite of incredible long term career success is an inspiration.

He always let his deeds speak for his accomplishments and demonstrated to me (and many, many others) how to mentor.

PS:  I confess that Larry and W. Steven (the two bikers on the right) won that bike race because, as usual for Larry, they were simply much better prepared for it than Dan Gates and I (the pair on the left). 

That was another lesson.  We all had fun working together for a great cause, of course, but Larry Daniels went into battle quietly fully mentally and physically equipped to win.

Tom Weidle

He spent the 1970's at KLUC, Las Vegas, first as PD and later as Sales Manager before helping write Sacramento radio history as GM of KZAP.

Long before all that he hired me twice, first as Promotion Director/Night Jock in the late-60's during his tenure as PD of Bud Crowl-owned WAVI/WDAO in Dayton and then later to do "rock 40" mornings in Vegas under owners-managers Rick and Bill Phelan.

During that tenure he saw something in me - that even I didn't - which changed my life forever.

When Western Cities Broadcasting purchased a country station in Tucson, Tom encouraged me to be their first program director there.

Knowing nothing about country, but wanting to program, I accepted the opportunity, which led to more than four decades of constantly-increasing country radio passion and continuing personal and career growth.

Tom Weidle taught me:  challenge and promote people based on their attitude and aptitude as least as much as their past experience.

Joe Portraro

I had watched him on TV while I was in school, so it seemed like a big celebrity was coming to help us relocate our studios and transmitter when my General Manager (Bill French) at KTBT-FM, Orange County first introduced us to Joe two decades later.

We were changing the brand to KORJ and the format to AC.  This was a few years before that 94.3 frequency and I both went country.

The owner sent Portrero in to handle oversight of the site selection and construction project.  The biggest challenge he faced was to navigate all the hurdles of putting a transmitter, tower and antenna atop an existing building at a reasonable price.

Engineering consultants and the traditional broadcast tower installers were proposing extremely expensive projects that had little chance of getting zoning approval.

It was then that Joe came up with the idea of adding a free-standing flag pole to the top of the building which would be sturdy enough to hold an FM antenna too.

It got the job done and it was amazing to watch on a Sunday morning as a helicopter lowered it into place, looking very nice and at a cost that was far lower than the professional tower experts ever thought would be possible.

When someone tells me something simply can't be done, I am grateful to Joe Portraro.

It simply means you haven't considered enough possibilities ... yet.

Bob Martin

I knew that he really liked me from the first day the Program Director of WCUE, Akron, hired me.  Bob and his wife Barbara made this first-time Production Director feel like a part of their big family, welcome to their community.

He suggested an idea for a client spec spot which I wrote and produced.  It got the buy.  In fact, it went on to win one of the RAB's "Best Locally-Produced Radio Commercials" of that year nationally.

Bob gave me full credit, never mentioning to anyone that the core creative concept was actually his idea.

He taught me how to motivate a young person, making them feel important to the mission and competent. 

Thank you, Bob Martin, for teaching me that generosity is an important motivational leadership tool.

Russ Jones

He owned a local appliance repair and sales business in Salem, Ohio, my hometown. 

After Westinghouse Broadcasting gave up on FM radio in the early 1950's, Russ purchased their used 100,000 watt FM transmitter from KDKA-FM and applied for an FM license about the same time I was entering high school.

Russ constructed what was then WSOM-FM (105.1) on the top of a hill just outside town, ran it for several years and sold it to a Youngstown-based company.  It has changed hands multiple times over the years at higher and higher prices/multiples.

It's still doing very well almost 60 years later as WQXK, now licensed to Youngstown, covering a wide swath between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

I think of Russ each time I hear someone say that "HD Radio" is a waste of effort.

He taught me that evolution takes dedication and time.

Success requires patience, courage and vision.

Shared Strengths

It's so empowering to receive a prestigious award, but let me tell you a secret that winners know.  It's really shared with other amazing and inspiring folks who helped immensely along the way.

Last Friday at The Conclave I took a few minutes to thank my parents, Dick and Jane Albright, who taught me "good, better, best, never let it rest, when your good is better, make your better best" and imbued the values that have driven me all my life. 

I mentioned Chuck Crouse, the night jock on my hometown radio station when I was a high school kid (he went on to much bigger things) who found time to teach me the basics. 

I recognized Rusty Walker, for making me better with his passion, smarts and energy during more than three decades of competition.

Then, I ran out of time, so over the next few days, I'd like to mention some others who were very important to me and a lesson I gleaned from my experience with them.

Radio Advertiser? Don't Waste Your Money.

Heard at The Conclave:  Tim Burt maintains that only one percent of all radio ads really work to convince and get results.

His tips to use with your clients to be certain that they get more than they expect from their investment:

1. As you refine their message ("a radio commercial is a business card, not a brochure") ask them "why shouldn't I go to your competition."
2. Challenge them to think about their spot as if they had :15-:30 seconds to talk to the crowd at the largest stadium in your town.  Would they say "open Friday night till 9 at our convenient location, stop in or call or visit our website"?
3. Have them take "the competitor script challenge."  Replace their direct competition's name in their ad and talk about whether their ad is the same as the guy across the street except for the brand name in it.  ("if you were lost in a forest, would you dress up like a tree?")

Make sure the communication contains ONE core, easily understood message, the element of surprise, an undeniable, irrefutable fact (results), exudes safety/trust and tells a story, ending with the principle of closure.

You Will Thank Me For This

1.  Go to Twitter.
2.  Search for this:





3.  Thanks to all of the prolific Tweeters, you'll feel like you were at today's Conclave Jacobs Radio School.

Here's To The Survivors

Novels have been written about sinking ships and the ramifications of powerful Captains' fateful decisions on what to save and what to toss overboard.

The turbulent economic seas of the past two decades in the radio business are replete with stories of stations and companies which crashed after executives under horrific pressures made sad decisions about people (dead weight? powerful fuel? ballast?).

That's why yesterday's Access Atlanta tribute by writer Rodney Ho to an impressive list of that city's long-lasting voices who still remain on the air after a decade or more is essential reading.

Most radio personalities are really only known to the folks who use one station or format.

What's important to success is the depth of awareness and loyalty from that group of listeners.  Occasionally, there is a person on one station with an opportunity to really break out and totally impact the entire market.  That kind of person is rare these days, given the fact that most listeners use between three and seven radio stations.

Getting on that radar requires exceptional abilities as well as extremely broad appeal.

"I’ve been blessed to work with some very talented programmers through the years.  I always try to put the listener first and think like (what I believe) the audience is thinking.  I’m imagining I’m with the listener in his car and what would be informative and entertaining, and try to come up with ways to relate and interact with him without being annoying in our hellacious Atlanta traffic.  The listener is my ultimate boss, so if I’m not connecting with him I fail.  I believe consistency has been important to my success, as well. I show up for work every day and on-time, and I work hard.  That may sound silly, but you don’t realize how many people aren’t consistent. I also enjoy my co-workers. Then, of course, there are always the elements of luck and timing, and I believe I’ve had my share of those!"  -- Kaedy Kiely

Thanks to Ho for spotlighting Atlanta's survivors of 2013 - Kaedy, Cadillac Jack. Jenn Hobby. Capt. Herb Emory, Scott Slade, Clark Howard, Mark Arum, Kirk Mellish, John Kincade, Buck Belue, Chuck Oliver, Matt Chernoff, Christopher Rude, Dallas McCade, Kevin Avery, Taylor Scott, Parks Stamper, Art Terrell, Silas “SiMan” Alexander, Jordan Graye, Ryan Cameron, Greg Talmadge, Melissa Carter, Steve Goss, Lois Reitzes, The Regular Guys’ Larry Wachs and Eric Von Haessler, Axel Lowe, “Southside” Steve Rickman, Bert Weiss and Jeff Dauler, Rob Stadler and Mike Bell.

Every city has them, deserving more recognition for their daily toil than they receive.

This week at The Conclave in Minneapolis let's all toast as many of them as possible, paying close attention to the life lessons they have to offer.