Old Habits Die Hard

PPM statistically-proved several years ago that a longtime staple of morning radio, song parodies, seem to entertain the personalities more than they do the listener.

Yet, as I travel, I still hear from morning jocks whose prep services continue to provide them, if there's ever a place where they fit and do not lose audience.

In general, I feel like they don't achieve anything affirmative for the real driver of usage and loyalty, authenticity, personal values and character-building.

However, two comedy masters used this one to deftly pay off on a six month stunt, that I have to say works for me.



However, television and even the internet isn't morning radio, and as priceless as this great story line is, I worry that it still would lose more listeners than it would keep if it had been a radio bit.

PPM duration of the totality of all listening occasions for the vast majority of listeners (a mode of two and a half minutes) means that more folks would have missed the setup or have had to leave before the ending than would have been there for the whole thing.

For anything that goes much longer than 2:30, it's likely that the only people you can be absolutely certain have heard the beginning, the middle and the ending are in the control room.

Country "Tastes" Very Good

Hats off to Townsquare Media radio stations and their national interactive team which hit the ground running just nine months ago on a terrific achievement, 700,000 "likes" on their Taste Of Country Facebook page.

A proud post Saturday by the Taste of Country Staff:

Country music is stronger than ever right now, and we’re blessed that our readers let us bring them country music’s breaking news, the most insightful interviews and the best new music on a daily basis. We’re also very grateful for your timely feedback. It keeps us to stay on task to what is truly important in country music right now. 2011 has so far been a whirlwind year of country stars penetrating the mainstream in ways fans can embrace.

If anyone doubts that small and mid-sized market radio can get large-sized response, Townsquare's 176 radio stations and companion websites in 38 markets across 16 states prove again that great content and strong focus make a powerful combination, generating engagement and excellent radio results.

Unbelievable!

News: One of Cleveland’s best-known radio voices has been silenced. Chuck Collier, afternoon host and music director at 99.5 WGAR, as well as midday host on Majic 105.7, died Thursday from a massive heart attack. Chuck was 64 years old. Chuck had been a fixture on WGAR for 40 years, starting when the station was still on the AM dial, and playing adult contemporary music.

Comment: Ask any of us to knew and worked with Chuck over the last four decades and you'll hear endless stories of hard work, a positive approach to life, a wonderful family and a dedicated professional who loved Ohio and Cleveland. That smile on his face was always there and it's incomprehensible that we won't see it again except in photos. Please remember his family when the memorial service is announced.

News: Cumulus' Thursday Conference Call For 500 Programming Executives in their newly enlarged conglomerated empire. Among many other rumored imperial dictates: no outside programming consultants, flip-flops, piercings, exposed tattoos or bluejeans.

Comment: It's a source of pride to find myself, by implication on THAT list. A&O worked with Citadel and had some great relationships there - which we'll sincerely miss - but if tattoos, bluejeans, piercings and flip flops aren't welcomed in the new configuration, I wouldn't want us to be there either. Bon Voyage, Cumulus. It's going to be fun to compete with you. I'm tempted to have that tattooed in an exposed place on my body today.

Let's ALL Embrace Country Music Month

The Country Music Association is celebrating Country Music Month with 45 days of promotions, events, and activities designed to drive awareness of the format leading up to the annual CMA Awards, “Country Music’s Biggest Night(tm),” on Wednesday, Nov. 9.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean issued a proclamation from the city citing the important role and tangible impact of the Country Music industry on Nashville’s economy and reputation as a center for entertainment business and global tourism.

“It is important to recognize and celebrate the numerous contributions that CMA, the Country Music industry and artists have made to our community and to the lives of millions of people around the world,” Dean said in the Proclamation, which was presented at a reception Tuesday for the CMA Board of Directors at CMA.

First observed in October of 1964, Country Music Month was created by the Country Music Association to celebrate the format and bring additional awareness to landmark events and institutions in the history of Country Music, including the formation of CMA and the anniversary of the WSM Grand Ole Opry. What followed was a groundswell of support from dozens of states, which issued proclamations in support of the idea, and eventually the White House with several Presidential Proclamations beginning in 1970.

Can you get your Mayor? Governor? Wouldn't be be terrific if every state, province and city in North America formally proclaimed and acknowledge the event?

Click to see Gerald Ford's and George Bush's. President Obama eloquently celebrated country music in the White House two summers ago (click to watch the video), G.W.'s iPod reveals a country fan and Bill Clinton is a supporter too so your local politicans, no matter what their party loyalty, would be in great bipartisan company if they made it formal and official in your community too.

News And Comment (An Ongoing Series)

News: "In 2009, the majority of radio newsrooms (56%) relied on social media for story leads from "citizen journalists," and 34 percent of radio newsrooms said social media not only provided leads but can also provided possible sources of information for news stories. Today, only 31 percent use citizen journalists, down 25 percent from 2009. So while use of social media among stations has exploded over the past two years, the use within the newsroom in terms of leads has actually declined."

Comment: Hopefully, this study serves as a wake up call to radio newsrooms and reverses this troublesome trend. Get with it, news people.

News: John Klesewetter: “Heritage rocker 102/7 WEBN Cincinnati is looking for its next morning show for the next decade and beyond. We’re looking for a team or ensemble that can connect with men 25-54 in the confines of a music intensive morning show in a PPM market. Prior ratings success in a major or medium size market a must. Please no voice-trackers, wacky morning zoo types, syndicated morning shows, or shows that need a prep service for material. We want real, honest and fun. We haven’t had a morning opening in over 25 years."

Comment: Hellllloooo, wannabe radio personalities! This job description is for you in the year 2011. You'd think that by now everyone who aspires to do well in ratings in either PPM or diary market surveys would have gotten this memo by now.

News: Bobby Rich continues to prove that doing good in your neighborhood works as well as ever at Tucson's 94.9 MIX FM.

Comment: Let's all help out and bid that house WAY up for him!

Well, That Didn't Work

A year ago when Country Aircheck asked subscribers to vote for in their "Power 31" balloting, I requested folks not vote for me and ended up in the "power rotation" part of the list, so this year I kept quiet about it and hoped that my plea to vote "the country radio audience" to the list might naturally perk up after my recommendation last year.

I must admit that it's an honor to make the list and it's gratifying to know that A&O, since our music recommendations to clients are 100% listener-driven, is seen by so many as influential by programmers.

It's an honor to rank #5 on the list, just behind Clear Channel's Doug Montgomery.

Congrats, #1 Scott Borchetta, #2 Mike Dungan and #3 Luke Lewis for topping an impressive list.

Those three guys fight each week for a #1, so I'm very happy to see them top the list.

I'm betting I join Doug in saying that we'll take our positions on the list with humility and always try to lobby on behalf of the listener on country radio playlists.

That's radio's job #1.

Is Radio Faster Than Twitter (When It Comes To Selling Our Strengths)?

So if twitter is faster than an earthquake. What's radio (both commercial and ham)?

Why couldn't we make a similar claim? Or at least be as creative?

When your station responds to an emergency, do you post-promote your coverage, linking the image to dependability and trust?

My Favorite "Research Email" Each Month

As radio's content imperative moves from time-worn things like the long-serving horrible-scopes, today's birthdays and anniversaries, song parodies and other Boomer benchmarks to more fresh Gen X and Gen Y info, authentic and interactive perspectives on the hottest topics right now, victory often goes to the personality who understands what the right buzz topic is today and how to make something personal, engaging and unique that he/she can brand from it.

For example: "What’s Hot…is the NFL or College Football the top pick?"

• For many this month “autumn” and “football” are synonymous…specifically, 64.4% are glued to NFL games, while 54.0% enjoy college football.
• Also hot this month? The Help was blockbuster among the majority (51.6%) and 3D TV (46.0%) might just be the gift that saves Christmas 2011. Those under 35 are digging the Nintendo 3DS (and presumably its recent price drop), while females will be integrating ankle boots and the color red in their fall wardrobes. What’s not? The stock market…’nuff said there, right?

OK, now that you know that, what do you plan to DO about it?

To start getting Phil Rist's interpretations of Big Research trend reports, follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

Radio Companies Are Marketing Again

Once upon a time two or three very high profile TV production companies dominated both the NAB Radio Show hospitality suites and the exhibit hall floor.

Today, as a number of high profile radio programmers churn out music video-based TV spots for radio on their home computer, stations invite listeners to create spots for them via You Tube, every small town cable TV operation has the high-tech video/audio production bells and whistles that used to cost millions, TV production companies appear to be no-shows at the 2011 NAB.

However, at the risk of leaving out someone I may have missed yesterday I won't mention names, but I have run into at least eight different direct/interactive marketing for radio suppliers demonstrating impressive state of the art multi-media resources which are laden with innovative smart mobile, email internet and address-based geo- and values-targeted direct mail database-driven tricks which promote usage, regularity and relevancy not even the largest radio companies have in-house.

Lesson 1: if you're not marketing in some way, there are at least eight other stations in town which these folks are trying to sell new tactics which are designed to hurt your ratings shares.

Lesson 2: (from someone who has made this mistake): never market a poor product. Nothing will kill it faster than great marketing.

Lesson 3: if you have anything but a terrific product, you're especially vulnerable to lesson 1. It's called being a sitting duck.

Nashville's Country Genome Project

Pandora founder and evangelist Tim Westergren: “There is little doubt now that the future of radio is Internet radio, and personalized radio.”

I appreciated Tom Taylor's perspective, as he quoted the former musician, composer and Pandora visionary's claim of 3.6% of all U.S. radio listening, followed by "a radio executive in the hallway who isn’t discounting Pandora, but knows that broadcast radio, done right, offers a sense of community. So it may come down to broadcast versus customized radio – which must grow its share of ad dollars to break out of its business model where the royalties consume more than 50% of total revenue."

Music discovery is no doubt important to any transitional format, but as any experienced radio vet will testify, trying to use "new music first" as a tactic to create a musical difference almost always loses to the direct competition who lets the newbie familiarize the audience with the unfamiliar material and then plays the biggest hits.

It seems to me that, as with so many other upstarts that have emerged since the dawn of format radio, we don't have to fail for Pandora to succeed.

Newness and similar sounding genres are a dual-edged sword.

Today in the NAB convention hallways I ran into Edison Research's Larry Rosin a longtime student of country radio and music who currently has a concern about country even as new music and artists are clearly booming. His wife listens to country in her car almost constantly thanks to SiriusXM, but he can't listen as much over the last several years since New York has no country FM station anymore: "I hear all this new music, and she obviously loves the songs, but I can't tell one singer from another."

Radio doesn't need a genome project. We have one already. The music biz does it every time. The instant something starts to work, every label seems to have a soundalike.

For the majority of the population, it takes a curator to separate wheat from chaff.

Radio wins by doing what satellite and personalized streams can't do, making sure our local community of listeners gets plenty of the era and genre variety they prefer along with surprises presented by a trusted friend who relates compelling stories about artists we expose, to be sure that the fresh becomes familiar and favorite, reflecting local, topical values and concerns.

A Lost Art?

Bill Dodd has such deep programming and management roots in the Kelso-Longview-Castle Rock area of Washington State, that it's easy to forget that he was a major market talent in San Francisco (see the 1975 KSFO scope here for proof), Portland and Seattle:

"We’re undergoing the agony of a new traffic system. Marketron merged with DeltaFlex and we are forced to change. Today I found out the new system does NOT provide for prioritizing the filling of spot breaks. For 20 years we have filled the last one first, etc--- a lot more music, a lot less talk. It’s worked great. Now we’re going to have to move spots by hand. Sheesh. We can’t be the only people doing this! These companies providing service seem to have forgotten that they are working for us. I suspect that today's traffic software was developed mostly for TV, and most stations just don’t care about what spot placement can make them sound like."

He's right, of course. With PPM's proof in minute-to-minute usage that great commercials can be eight times as engaging as normal ones, it has become even more of a competitive edge to set your breaks up so that the spots run in an order designed to hold maximum audience yet doing so with the new traffic software is next to impossible unless you do it manually.

Hopefully, someone at one of those firms reads this blog and a lightbulb goes off over their heads.

Meanwhile, do you have a system for setting up your breaks to maximize flow? Or, do you worry about it at all?

Changes

The difference between last week and this one is huge.

Last week was Summer.

This week is Fall.

This change has nothing to do with the Autumnal Equinox. It is all about lifestyle (and also survey dates!).

Your listeners have been going through more adjustments over the last week than any other time of the year. Vacations are done. School starts. Some folks are carrying PPM meters through it all and others are getting ARB and BBM diaries to measure their use of radio through it all.

And a lot of ʻfirstsʼ for many of your listeners. Those crucial surveys to us are the least of their concerns right now.

For some it is the beginning of all day kindergarten for their kids. First day of grade one, first day of high school, first day of university. It is a stressful time. It also brings a sense of relief. It also creates lifelong memories.

Relating to your listeners experiences will help make you memorable.

Relatable, memorable radio makes your listeners happy. PPM likes it, too.

What you are doing now is being measured for the Fall Book.

(adapted from JRfm/The Peak PD Gord Eno's weekly 'jock memo.')

Ten Things To Do Now To Tune Up For Ratings

1. Get out and get involved in the community. Loyal listening audiences are built on a personal bond.
2. Come up with TEN things you could do to own your time slot.
3. Over-prepare so be sure that each break relates powerfully in unique and creative ways.
4. Rehearse everything you do for maximum impact.
5. Compress content. Rewrite in advance for brevity and word power.
6. Entertain. Provide an emotional experience between every song.
7. Listen to listeners and use their names and voices on the air, tightly-edited as often as possible.
8. Get one to one. Share your personal point of view and avoid crutches andclichés by being specific and evoking theatre of mind.
9. Provide instant gratification and be sure you present the music in line with our station image.
10. Constantly attack yourself. What would you do if you were your own competition.

If You Like Change, You'll Love Today's News

• Radio Info's discussion board is buzzing about Nielsen's new TV market rankings which assert that the number of America's TV households has gone down. All the top ten markets lost TV homes. Radio, get ready, because on October 1, it's our turn in the same box as Arbitron re-weights all its fall samples with new government-issue census data. Keep that in mind as you get your first fall 2011 monthly.
  
  
• Unilever and AXE have partnered with Shelly Palmer to create AXE App Day 2011, the first-ever developer day staged by a brand. Attendees will include world-class developers, representatives from Unilever and the AXE brand, and teams from platforms like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple and Sony. Keep an eye on this. Which radio station will be the first to sponsor an app-developer day for local techies to design apps to interact and engage with our brands? If no one else brings this up at NAB and CCMA this week, I will. If you will be there, let's talk about it.
  

Peak Broadcasting Takes Boise For A Balloon Ride

Check out PEAK BROADCASTING Top 40 103.3 Kiss FM night slammer NATHAN FAST and morning diva MICHELLE HEART as they take to the sky on opening day of the 2011 Spirit of BOISE Balloon Classic.



Peak's Senior VP Kevin Godwin has a right to brag:

For five mornings and the Friday Nite Glow Concert…we were front and center in the community and across the many media outlets that featured Peak & the event. Estimates from previous Riverfest operators/producers were 20,000-25,000 people attended over the 5 days this year and as you can imagine most of everyone in the valley knew what was going on with balloons overhead for five straight days. We confidently had over 10,000 people just at the Nite Glow concert Friday evening. We were able to fly all five days, with 4 days providing us a “box” wind to get a few balloons back into Ann Morrison Park to land. I believe we did a great job of communicating and super-serving our sponsors and their needs throughout the event and I have heard from many of them on how much they enjoyed being involved.

Is it worth the hard work? Godwin sends along these links to some of the coverage the event received:

• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/09/03/1784566/spotted-spirit-of-boise-balloon.html#storylink=misearch
• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/09/02/1782230/balloons-floating-above-boise.html#storylink=misearch
• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/09/01/1781075/get-a-taste-of-the-high-life.html#storylink=misearch
• http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/08/31/1780464/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic.html#storylink=misearch
• http://idahostatesman.com/2011/08/31/1780464/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic.html#storylink=misearch
• http://www.ktvb.com/boise-balloon-classic (multiple stories, reports, pages, photo galleries, video, etc., plus live coverage Wed-Sat morning from 4-8 person production/talent crew)
• http://www.12ktrv.com/story/15377933/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic-2011
• http://www.12ktrv.com/story/15340735/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic
• http://www.12ktrv.com/story/15348403/spirit-of-boise-balloon-classic-is-this-week
• http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/03/a-lot-of-hot-air-in-the-capital-city/
• http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/02/balloon-rally-fills-boise-skies-color/
• http://www.spokesman.com/search/?q=balloon%20classic&type=blogpost&sort=pubdate
• http://www.idahopress.com/news/veteran-pilot-makes-balloon-classic-a-tradition/article_0235f7ce-d522-11e0-a7b5-001cc4c002e0.html
• http://www.idahopress.com/news/spirit-of-boise-takes-to-the-air/article_5c9bafe2-d455-11e0-b4b2-001cc4c03286.html
• http://www.idahopress.com/community/hot-air-balloons-to-take-flight/article_c6e179aa-d06c-11e0-a91a-001cc4c002e0.html

A&O is so proud to work with Peak Broadcasting's country stations. They think big, and over-deliver on experiences for their listeners, which is why they are winners.

WOLF/Syracuse Shows How It's Done

Want some extra visibility at a concert?

• Involve fans and give them center stage to express themselves.
• Help the artist over-achieve their aspirations for the show.

"I have to let you know what happened at the Sugarland concert tonight in Essex Junction, VT. I was in the front row of the pit and held up a sign that said, "Thank you for making last night INCREDIBLE! The Little Miss Project." In between songs Jennifer read my sign, did a double take and then said, "no, thank you for making last night incredible!"

Click to watch the magic.

She then told the entire crowd what we did last night in Syracuse and how we surprised them with the biggest "Little Miss Project" to date. She said that it was heartwarming and incredible. Kristian turned to me and covered his heart and said 'thank you.' Jennifer said thank you for doing that for us. Then Valerie, Sugarland's Videographer came over and asked if we were the fans that did the project with WOLF. I said yes and she went on raving about it. She said that she was very moved by it. 

Just thought I would share 
Thanks for helping us pull this off. It was absolutely incredible!!!"
 -- Amy Stephenson

"Of all the years in Radio this has to be one of the BEST radio promotions I have ever been part of." -- Skip Clark, Program Director/On Air, New Country WOLF 105.1 & 96.7

Things I Don't Understand (A Continuing Series)

I scratch my head when a song charts #1.


.. and almost immediately the label puts out a "live" version.


.. once upon a time a programmer told a music promoter that he was dropping a #1 song due to "burn," (probably because he didn't want to admit that he was so stupid that he thought playing a song that ranked lower than #1 made more sense than playing #1 another week or two).

So, the label came up with a "live" version in hopes that would overcome the objection to keeping the #1 song in "heavy" rotation just as they were starting to get the biggest retail action of the release's "life at radio" on the tune.

I wonder...

1. Why drop a song just because it hits #1 on national spin charts? Isn't this the peak of its popularity, audience reach and acceptance?
2. Why test a hook for weeks and weeks, past the unfamiliarity and the polarity to the point that positives are at their highest, and then change the version of the song you play?
3. How could a song that is finally on 100% of the monitored and reporting panels and still growing spins to the point that it's capable of hitting the highest chart number be sufficiently "burnt" that you'd want to play it less?
4. If your recurrents - which is where songs like that move - test better than your heaviest rotation currents with higher positives and low negatives, wouldn't it help your targeting, cume and time spent listening potential to play them more, not less?
5. Has there EVER been a "live" version that listeners liked better on the radio than the "original hit?"

High Tech Firms Use Radio Advertising

"Radio is a congenial home for many advertisers in the hardware business, whether the hardware is lawn mowers or e-mail archivers. All that remains to be added are regular holiday sales for the I.T. products. Maybe the Labor Day weekend will bring a Sale-A-Bration — for load balancers."

- Randall Stross, Silicon Valley-based author and professor of business at San Jose State University in the New York Times

Thanks to Randall Bloomquist for reinforcing the key reasons why:

Affordability – “’We discovered radio was unnaturally inexpensive,’ says Michael Perone, Barracuda’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Targeting – Radio is an efficient way to reach the handful of decision-makers and “influencers” who are responsible for buying IT gear for their organizations.

“[Barracuda] also sells to medium-sized businesses, defined as those with 300 to 2,000 employees. It can be too expensive to send sales representatives to make the multiple visits necessary to close a relatively modest sale to these customers. But it turns out that radio offers an economical alternative way of reaching the three or four people who might work in the I.T. department of a 300-employee company.”

Endorsements – Citrix has found that endorsement spots provide effective “third-party validation” and “can create a brief sense of personal connection with each listener, in a way newer media can’t really match.”

(Still More) "Pot Shots" by Jay Trachman

(A continuing series, with the goal of keeping his memory and philosophies alive) Here are some of my favorite paragraphs from articles Trachman wrote over the years. They're in no particular order, other than the fact that I've strung together some that obviously complement each other.

Enjoy with me...

Personality is the natural state of radio, for most listeners.
I think most people who turn us on want some form of companionship, whether it be the limited contact of the DJ on a music-intensive Rocker, or the full-blown camaraderie of the morning host on a full-service station. What chases people away is chattering jocks saying little or nothing worth listening to.

I believe we spend too much time begging people to remember us, and far too little in giving them some motivation for *wanting* to remember us.
In real life, we remember individuals because of the things they say, the unique ways they impress us; the way they impinge on our thoughts and feelings and make us think and feel in return.

In radio, we hope that people will remember us because we say our names (call letters, frequency) and positioning statements so often.
Whom do you think you're more likely to remember -- someone who gets you to respond to them? Or someone who keeps repeating a couple of facts which are important to him, but practically meaningless to you?

What's been lost with all the emphasis on formatics is everything else.
The contact with the listener; the sense of humanity; above all, the creative impulse of the performer. I believe the right thing to teach young jocks is this: "Here is our format. I expect you to follow it strictly... *unless* you have good reason. If, for a few minutes, these rules interfere with something you've *got* to do, something both you and your listener will enjoy, something that will make your show more appealing to listen to, then *do it*! Be prepared to explain your reasons to me later. If they're good, I will not only approve, I may even take you to lunch. If they're not, well, you had my permission, so let's talk it over and see how we can fine-tune your approach."

Have something to say.
So obvious. So elusive. Personality radio isn't in trouble because the DJs talked too much; it's in trouble because we said too little that was worth hearing. Talk about your community, this day, your listener's life and your own. How are you going to sound intimate and real if you never ever Share something real from your own life with your friend, the listener? If all your raps have the same inflection, and you never express a true feeling? My name for the condition that destroys jocks' credibility and leaves them sounding like machines: "Up And Bright Mania." How come the PD never says to you, "Once in awhile, be down and tender..."??

My advice is: LIVE all you can.
You don't become an interesting personality by couching out in front of the TV every night, and you don't learn to talk intelligently and *colorfully* about the world by experiencing it second hand. Listeners expect us to be slightly "larger than life," more active, more involved, more interesting than most people. Ideally, we turn ourselves into the kinds of people *they* are in their own fantasies.

Emotional variety is one of the things that makes you believable on the air.
All real human beings display it. One minute you're up, the next you're down. Sometimes you're assertive, sometimes intimate; you're funny, then serious, then sarcastic, then empathetic. The emotional repertoire you can call upon is among the things which define you as an individual: a "personality," as opposed to an "announcer." Not everyone will like the "real you." You can't win 'em all. But if you never show who you really are, you don't even give people a chance to like you. And if you're worried about offending anyone - reflect for a moment on how you might spend Howard Stern's paycheck,

Make sure that your new listener feels included in everything you do.
Every break should be self-contained, as though that may be the only break your listener will hear this day. You may have given the station's phone number out a thousand times, but to assume I know it, when I'm just sampling you for the first time, insures that I'll feel left out. Each time you refer to station personnel, they should be identified. Not, "I was talking with Sheila before...," but "I was talking with Sheila, your overnight host on KJT before..." Whenever you promote or play a contest -- although your regular listener may have heard about the prize and how to enter a hundred times, HE'S not the one the contest is for! You've already got him. It's the new listener you're trying to entice, and he or she doesn't know the prize yet, nor how to win it.

When you're doing an interchange, the other party (be it contestant, partner or news person) becomes a "surrogate" to the listener.
The way you treat him or her is the way the listener will feel treated. So don't put him down, correct him, make him look foolish or play "one-up" with him. Never leave him/her sounding or feeling like the "goat," or your listener will sense this bullying tendency in you and identify with your "victim."

In one way or another, a lot of us function -- or *seem* to function -- normally, even wonderfully, in the little dream world we've created.
Nobody can see our obesity, smell our breath or see our limp or our balding head. Or... Or -- if we're good at it -- sense our insecurity. At the other end of this fantasy is a listener who *wants* to believe; someone who wants to think of us as a little larger than life, as the perfect companion, the intimate friend. Between our fantasy and theirs, the illusion can work perfectly -- provided we're talented enough to offer our friendship and to create the illusion that we're talking directly to him or her.

Satellite radio is a very listenable sound for many people.
It's surgically clean, clutter-free; when it's running well, you don't hear a lot of mistakes. No erratically performing jocks, no long-winded, self-indulgent chatter. You don't hear any local chatter or much real intimacy either. But, all other things being equal, it appears more people will be drawn to an antiseptic, remotely-programmed station, than to a poorly executed local
one.

Save good news about your community whenever it clears the wire or is reported in by your news department, staff, or listeners.
Use it to counter-balance the usual run of grim stories. Make sure every shred of "good news" about your market is spiked and re-written as often as necessary. The effect is to position yourself as the station that always has "something nice" to say about the town. A very nice position to occupy, indeed...

I believe radio is more like other businesses than we like to admit.
Our managers are no flakier than managers in other fields, no less humane, no more callous. In my experience, managers, to borrow a quote, are not "like" the rest of us--they *are* the rest of us. Some of them are nice people; some of them aren't. Some of them are faithful to their long-term self-interest, some are self-destructive, and a lot are both, at different times. And because their skills are very different from those of "production" people (that's us, folks), we often have problems communicating with each other. So it is; so it always will be.

(What we have just started calling "terrestrial") radio will survive or perish as a local medium.
There is nothing non-local we do which can't be done better by others. Not news: we've lost that to TV. Not music: anyone with an in-car CD player or satellite radio knows better. Not high-powered non-local personality: see Stern, Howard. What we *can* do better than any others is to be neighbors, members of the community, companions, symbol and distributor of the local life-style.

Generality: If you just play the hits, you can't go too far wrong.
Specific: But if everybody's "just playing the hits," then doing so gives you no advantage.

In the long run, I believe the ability to be (and thus, to sound) intimate on the air flows from self-confidence.
It's a by-product of feeling good about who you are and how well you do what you do. For most of us, this comes with maturity. I don't know any way to rush it. I didn't begin to acquire that kind of self-acceptance until I was past thirty. But perhaps my pointing out to you that this is one of the keys to success as a performer will help aim you in the right decision.

If you believe, as I do, that one of radio's few remaining exclusive strengths is its potential for intimacy, then it's to your advantage to sound like you're talking to one person.
And in my experience, the only way you can sound that way is if you think you *are* that way: talking to one person. To anyone who listens to a lot of DJ tapes, the difference is glaringly obvious: so many DJs today sound like they're talking to "no one in particular."

I believe a station becomes fun to listen to when it is perfectly obvious that the DJ's are having fun themselves.
You can't mandate it; "Have fun, or you're fired." But 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 air talents are having fun on the air, and that's contagious. As I've mentioned a few times before, Having Fun Is Good For You.

30 Years Of Recorded Music Sales In One Graphic

via Buzzfeed