Your house is full of things you don’t use, need or even want. We have a tendency to allow things to pile up and clutter our closets, garages and junk drawers. Once or twice a year, you probably get motivated to clean it up. Spring Cleaning feels good, and it’s good for you. It happens to your station and your show as well. New features or benchmarks are introduced and after awhile, the station is a mess. It’s cluttered, full of things the listeners don’t want, need or use. You need a radio Spring Cleaning. Here’s how to do it:
Start by realizing that your content choices are marketing decisions. Everything on the air affects your brand, your image, your equity with listeners. When we think about improving stations, we usually think about adding new features. That’s backwards. Spring Cleaning starts with getting rid of anything that isn’t premium A-List material. In order for new ideas to emerge, old ideas have to fall. New technology replaces old. This means that you may be getting rid of things you love, but are no longer effective.
Organization experts teach you to put everything in one of three piles: Definitely Keep, Trash, and Donate. Our version is: Keep it, Dump it or Repurpose it. Be brutally honest. Is it worthwhile? is it worth being on the air? Keep the things that work. Eliminate forever those that don’t. If you’re not sure, find another way to do things. Don’t allow “let’s think about it”. Force a decision. Make a commitment. Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Decide and move forward. Decisions are progress, and force you out of your “rut”.
When evaluating your show, follow these guidelines:
1) Everything boring gets dumped.
2) Everything average gets DUMPED or CHANGED.
3) Everything we’re not sure about gets dumped until we are.
As you eliminate features, you’re going to feel vulnerable. Your “go to” features are disappearing. Lots of things are cut, and as a result get better. Artists cut out songs to make a better album. Film Makers edit great scenes to make a better movie. I edited my book Morning Radio Revisited by more than 50%…and it was better. There are more works of art in storage at the Louvre than are on display. Disneyland stays fresh and relevant because they retire the “worst ride” on a regular basis, regardless if it’s still popular with some of the guests.
In many cases, you don’t need to find new content. It’s addition by subtraction. Your show gets better with less clutter. Focusing more of your time, attention and creativity on fewer elements allows you to develop each piece of content more deeply, execute it with more precision and increase the chances that it resonates with listeners.
Once you eliminate, rebuild your content with “new”. This is a fun, creative process that challenges and re-energizes your show. It also shakes you out of your “comfort zone”. Your energy level will naturally increase because you will be more alert. You can’t just “go through the motions”.
Let me know if you’d like some help! I’m a good “cleaner”.
Last week, I got an email from an air talent that has been off the air for a decade when she took a self-described “sabbatical to practice law”. WIth radio “in her blood” she is back and has taken on weekend and fill-in work on a few stations while she seeks to resume her career as an air personality.
With time away she has a new perspective, and sees radio through a new “frame”. In her email, she commented about how much has changed in radio, and yet in many ways, it hasn’t changed at all. I agree. But what I really loved is the following comments from her note to me:
“I am absolutely loving being back on the air. It is funny how different my perspective is now. I empathize and sympathize so much more with the poor bastards who have real jobs and are miserably driving to and from work — I truly get that radio needs to be their outlet and release, and being boring and serious is doing them a disservice. Plus, my newfound appreciation for having a job I love with a fantastic creative outlet motivates me to work so much harder at being fresh and topical. And, oddly enough, the 10 years of law practice has somehow allowed me to look at the overall business picture in different and more sophisticated way — hard to explain, but I think it is a good thing.”
If you – or someone you know – is looking for a terrific air talent, intelligent, and with perspective, let me know. She’s available now. Oh, and it can’t hurt that she can help you with legal advice : ).
There’s an art to relating your personal experiences on the air in a way that reveals character, yet focuses the attention on the listener. Some personalities do this naturally. They have a gift for making the listener feel special. Others (most) have to work on it. Fortunately, there are some guidelines that can not only help you improve your communication/connection skills, but will tighten and sharpen your show as well. It’s understanding how to construct a break effectively.
There are five steps:
1) Hook. A magazine attracts attention to their story by the headline. Your hook serves the same function. This is where you seek to capture their interest, and you have to make in personal (for them), relevant and fast. There’s no time to waste. You have 6-8 seconds to get the hook in and lure them deeper into your contest. The hook should rarely be about you, but rather to set up your story that supports the hook.
2) Set Up. In the magazine metaphor, the set up is the first paragraph. It’s designed to pull you into the rest of the article. Your set up should be quick and to the point, the first step toward the Payoff. This is where you develop the topic so they understand where the segment is going. What drama will you create? Why is it important? How can you set it up in one line? One phrase? Once they’re hooked, give them enough detail to hold the interest. In some cases, such as the Jeff & Jer segment below, your personal story can serve as the setup, particularly if you are inviting listener participation.
3) Dress Up. In this step, you accelerate toward payoff. How will you embellish, exaggerate, provide detail and color? How does every piece take the audience toward the payoff? This is usually where your personal story could be used. If it’s a phone topic, and your story was parts of the set up, this is where listener interaction comes into play.
4) Payoff. The most critical element of the process is having an exit. What’s the outcome? The end of the story? What is your out? Some bits don’t have a natural punchline, but rather depend on the talent’s ability to know when a peak has been reached and getting out quickly.
5) Black Out. Once it’s over, it’s over. Many great breaks are ruined going for one more punchline, one more joke, one more phone call, one more payoff. Find your exit and take it.
More often than not, personalities start with their story and as a result, they fail to hook the audience. A great topic falls flat because they haven’t made it relevant through the listener filter.
Here’s an excellent example of great bit construction from Jeff & Jer, currently the morning show on KYXY/San Diego. Jeff hooks the audience in the first line of the break. He then tells a couple of anecdotes from his personal life as the set up. Listeners contribute their stories, taking them even further (dress up) and they leave the listener wanting more by knowing “when to say when”.
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Enroute to a meeting yesterday (mid-afternoon) and trapped in my car for about 20 minutes yesterday, I turned on my radio as usual and checked out four radio stations. Here’s what I heard:
Station 1 ran a commercial from an attorney that was conducting seminars to set up a living trust. The ad told me I could “call and register now for the Carlsbad seminar on May 7 or the one in Oceanside on May 8″. Yesterday was May 8. The first seminar was yesterday, and it was already too late to get involved in today’s.
Punch
Station 2 had a commercial for a florist shop that told me “order now for Mother’s Day because during Mother’s Day Week, starting Monday, flower prices could double, triple or even more…so order this weekend”. It was Tuesday. This ads expiration date was last week.
Punch
Station 3 The third station has recently changed format, and two weeks ago finished a launch promotion during which they played several weeks of commercial free music. Great launch. Terrific promotion. I tuned in during a long stop set. It seemed like eight minutes, but probably wasn’t that long. Coming out of the break, they got back into music by telling me that they are the “Commercial free Music Station”. Huh? Really? I just sat through a bunch of commercials. They lost the credibility they built with their launch promotion.
Punch
None of these many be the PD’s fault - maybe it was an ad agency to blame, or an Account Executive, or the traffic department. There are many areas this could break down. But it is our responsibility to provide a product that makes sense to the listener. The station loses credibility. The industry loses credibility. We look ridiculous.
And you know what’s worse? It’s likely that nobody at the station heard the mistakes. Everyone is wearing so many hats there isn’t much time for listening. Or if they did hear it, they didn’t notice it. And it’s probably going to run over and over with embarrassing copy.
This will continue until the end of the month when someone at the agency level sends payment with a note that they won’t pay for the commercials that ran with the “dead” copy.
Telling stories about yourself without being self-absorbed and coming across as an egotist is a great skill for any performer. If you can relate things that happen in your life organically, naturally and without arrogance, your audience gets to know you, relates and can fall in love with your personality.
One of the many strengths of KQKQ/Omaha (Q98) morning show Pat & J.T. is Pat’s ability to tell self-deprecating stories about his family. They do a regular featured called “Is Pat a Bad Dad?” which serves as a Content Container for the show. Here’s a story of Pat’s son calling him a Douche!
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And here’s another of Pat relating how he wanted to have a teachable moment with his son, but all Bennett wanted was a toy.
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Both are great examples of how to tell a story with humility, focus and with a point.
Cat Country/Providence morning show recently had access to country superstar Blake Shelton. Instead of a typical, ordinary 9and potentially boring) interview, they got Blake involved with their show. Take a look at how the show was able to reveal their personality and character, promote their programming feature (the Workday Wheel) and create viral content that extends their image for being the Blake Shelton station.
Congratulations to Jess, Brian and Amanda, and to Cat Country Program Director Bob Walker for a brilliantly conceived and executed branding and marketing tool.
Radio stations and morning shows that work with me are probably tired of hearing it, but I’m constantly “pounding the table” on finding relevant content that resonates with your listeners as they define it, and not as we would like it to be. The Bert! Show is a terrific, female targeted ensemble from Atlanta (but are on in several markets). This week, I heard a relatively new feature that is a perfect example of how to do it.
One of the cast members, Kristen, is obsessed with shoes. Each week, she’s featuring a pair, describing them and telling a story of the memory that comes with the shoes. It’s great:
* The content is perfect for the target audience.
* It showcases Kristen’s personality and character. If you don’t like shoes, you’ll love the stories that come with it.
* It’s actionable-the audience is invited to discover where they can get the shoes, or shoes close to it online.
* Delivers traffic to the web site, where they can experience all of the stories in the series.
* It’s repeatable and share-able.
Here’s how it sounded this week on the show (Bert called it SHOES-Day):
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And here’s a link to the website to see the feature for yourself: http://thebertshow.com/its-shoesday-check-out-kristins-pair-of-shoes-of-the-day/
Notice how they also promote similar content on the site, including another Fashion Finds feature. This is also a great segment that shows women how to duplicate a celebrity’s outfit on a budget. Combines fashion, celebrity and thrift. Outstanding!: http://thebertshow.com/tag/fashion-finds/
There are many more feature ideas, as well as games, contests, benchmarks, etc. in the Clients Only section of the site…if you’re a client and don’t have the password email me to get it. If you’re not a client, and would like access, become one!
Seth Godin nails it: ”Too long”
You’re going to hear that more and more often.
The movie, the book, the meeting, the memo… few people will tell you that they ran short.
Shorter, though, doesn’t mean less responsibility, less insight or less power. It means less fluff and less hiding.
Program Directors are notorious for establishing rules for their air staff. Things like:
Only talk over the intros. Never on the trail of songs.
Open each break with the station’s name and positioning statement.
One thought per break. Never more.
Talk into the stop set only. Never out of the stop set.
Always promote what is coming up after the commercials.
And so on.
Having been a PD for more than 25 years, I understand how these rules come about. It’s easier and faster to lay down rigid guidelines than navigate the nuances of effective entertainment. It’s an end to a means. Lay down the law and the station will sound better. But many times, it prevents the station from sounding great. From being special. That’s because entertainment isn’t black and white, but many shades of grey.
Let’s examine these programming examples and the goal behind three of them:
1) Talk over the intros, not the fades. The goal is to establish forward momentum and keep the station’s moving. PD’s often cite research (especially the dial technology music tests) that prove when personalities talk on the fade of a just-played song, audience interest declines. But if they establish the next song first, interest remains consistent. But it’s really the technique, not the fact that they are literally talking for a second or two over the fade of the song. Great air personalities link format elements so that they connect, without sacrificing pace, energy or momentum. Talent should be trained to edit their breaks so they’re not wasting any words, and managing the music flow behind the talk over to keep the pace moving. This is becoming a lost art. Especially since voice-tracking has become routine, these techniques have not been taught or maintained.
2) Open breaks with station and position statement. It’s important to brand your station and imprint your message on the minds of your audience. This is a marketing challenge and an effective element of branding is repetition of message. Therefore, an easy rule is to require each break to begin with those branding messages. The real goal, though, should be to effectively communicate the station position, how the audience should use it and communicate brand values frequently in a variety of creative ways so that the audience hears it, understands it and believes it. Deliver your brand values through meaningful communication, not just repetition. That takes time, preparation, coaching and creativity. But it’s easier to issue a rule. Even if the rule results in robotic delivery of the same line over and over until the audience is numb to it. Side note: This also results in boring, stale television marketing that features hooks of songs with no call to action or invitation to respond.
3) One thought per break. The audience isn’t paying much attention. They are easily distracted and often get confused. That’s true. Many (most) personalities have poor discipline, preparation and have not constructed their breaks so they’re easy to understand. That’s also true. In the interest of being clear, concise and direct, the rule results in shallow, one-dimensional entertainment and talent that leaves a lot of relevant topics out. The proper approach is to coach talent to navigate their breaks so thoughts naturally flow from one element to the next without dramatically shifting gears at random. This too, is an art. It is achieved through changing vocal intonations, production effects, word economy and creative preparation so the topics flow together naturally. Side note: Talent needs to grow into learning how to do this effectively. Don’t just turn them loose.
I could go on and on. Rules can make the station sound less bad. In some cases, with the right execution, they can make them sound somewhat better. But they don’t make them extraordinary. There are dozens of rules designed to improve the listening experience, but result in limiting the value personality adds to the station. And personality is the distinct advantage we have over new and competitive music delivery technologies.
The ability-or better-the willingness, to go the extra mile is rare. Giving the extra 10% that makes the difference between ordinary and special. The first 90% of your effort may result in good.Certainly acceptable. But it’s also common. Everyone is at that level. Going the extra mile is what sets you apart, because not many are willing to go there. You can hear the extra 10% in hundreds of small ways:
* The richness of content and detail when telling a story. It can be as simple
* Local references as simple as mentioning relevant landmarks as part of ordinary banter. In a weather forecast: ”…and in (suburb) next to the AM/PM on Main Street, it’s 47 degrees at 7:08″
* Using a listener’s name in a phone call. “Laura says her five year old has a solution…Laura, what did Jason do?”
* Sounding like you actually listened to-and love-the song you just played. Taking the time to find out what that artist is doing today (Twitter, Google) and relating something meaningful in a back-announce.
* Actually answering the phone. There’s nothing worse than a fan calling their favorite station and having no response. Busy signals are better. When you call a restaurant for a reservation and nobody answers, do you call back?
* Responding to email, Facebook, Tweets. Don’t start a relationship with the listener if you’re not going to maintain it.
* Topical Comments. Virtually every topic can fit your show if you fit it to your personality and break structure properly. ”Traffic is a mess on the 470 Freeway this morning. You think it has anything to do with the transit strike? More people on the roads because the buses aren’t running for the 9th day in a row”.
* Personalizing Promos. “Thanks for listening this morning in (neighborhood)….Pete called in from the tech lab at the hospital on Grand…that’s just a couple of blocks from where we’ll be on Saturday…we’ll see you at Subway Sandwich Shop from noon-2…”
* Teases. Not just “here’s what’s coming up” but treating each tease as content that contains and incentive to listen.
Adding detail, color and richness to content is a commitment. It’s a lot of little things that together mean a lot. Make it a part of your show prep until it becomes a habit. This discipline will add great dimension to your personality and show.
Morning Radio Revisited
