Monday, May 24, 2010

MORE WAYS TO MAKE YOUR MORNING SHOW BETTER

1) If you don’t have one, get a HD Flip Mino Camera. Awesome. Make two different promos each day for your show. A video promo to post on the web and an audio promo for the radio.

2) It’s all about recycling and promoting other dayparts. It’s a lot for a morning show to worry about each hour. Instead, have all the other dayparts record short :10-:15 promos promoting their show or a feature coming up later in the day. Run them going into EVERY stop set in the morning. Now you are reclying from your daypart to others without worrying about doing it live and taking away from your content.

3) Everyone seems to have a “Friday Song.” Many times it’s George Jones, maybe Steve Azar, even Todd Rundgren’s “Bang the Drum.” They are all fine, but take it a step further. Make it topical each week. Every Thursday take the past week’s topical audio from TV, news, movies and your show and put the drops in the song. Each Friday it’s a “week in review.” It’s always updated, topical and fun.

Here’s to a great show.

Monday, May 17, 2010

IT’S TIME TO DROP POSITIONING STATEMENTS

“The best radio station”, "Bluegrass to 50's & 60's Rock n' Roll to 70's Golden Country and even some all time favorites through today." These are actual positioning statements that I’ve heard. Really, I’m not kidding. Do you really need a position statement anymore? Have they become too radioish, too cliché, too crutch? I think so.

Don’t confuse the station name and the positioning statement. The name is great. Calling yourself “The Wolf”, “Today’s Country 95.7”, “Power 106”, “New Country 93” are fine. It’s when you get into telling the listener your station is “more fun and the best country from yesterday and today” that it gets to be clutter and cliché.

When jocks say the positioning statement every time they crack the mic, it slows down the momentum and it’s just that much more time before the jock gets to the content. Plus, most jocks say the position statement so much, they don’t “sell it”, they are just “saying it.” How can the listener be excited for the station, when the jock doesn’t sound like he/she are?

AC stations are the worst. It never made sense to me on a format that is all about “less talk and more music” to have the jocks open up each break with “Today’s Soft Rock Favorites with more music and less talk” (another real position statement I’ve heard on the air). You say less talk, yet you just said a complete sentence of nothing but “blah, blah, blah.” At least that’s what the listener heard. Don’t believe me? Ask any listener to repeat verbatim your positioning statement. I bet they can’t do it…and would probably be embarrassed to do it in front of their friends because it’s just not a natural thing to say.

Talent Coach Tommy Kramer taught me something that instantly changed the sound of my station for the better. Have your jocks stop saying positioning statements and only have the voice guy read them in the station imaging. Your jocks can focus more on content, opening each break with something brilliant, not a positioning statement that becomes an instant tune out. Better yet, drop the positioning statement all together…yeah, I said it. Especially if you are a heritage country station. Simply saying “Country 95.5 WXYZ” is enough. Listeners know who you are and what you’re about by the music you play and the talent you have. Give them more credit than constantly thinking you need to remind them that you play “John and Jane in the morning with the best country from yesterday and today without a lot of talk all day on a no repeat workday.”

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

WHAT MAKES RADIO GREAT

I’m a radio guy. I’ve always loved radio. Working on and around radio is all I’ve ever wanted to do. Blame it on WKRP in Cincinnati or the fact my Dad always had the radio on, maybe it was because I listened a lot when I was a kid. Thinking about how much and why I love radio got me thinking I should make a list of “what makes radio great.” So, here goes. They are in no particular order:

CONNECTION-If done right radio and the personalities can connect on one with the listener better than any other medium. I love being able to listen to the radio and not being able to imagine anyone else listening. The DJ is talking ONLY to me. It’s truly a one on one medium.

COMPANIONSHIP-When a listener is alone and they turn on the radio, it’s an instant companion. Sit in a quiet room all alone, then turn on the radio and listen to the difference. The radio can change everything about a quiet room.

IMMEDIACY-Unlike other mediums, radio can be instant. Whether it’s a topical sweeper, promotion or a brand new song you can’t wait to share with the listener, we can make that change and effect people instantly.

NEW MUSIC-Studies show that radio is still the biggest place for people to discover new music. New music has and always should be an important part of radio.

COMMUNITY INVOLVMENT/HELPING OTHERS-How many times is radio behind a massive benefit helping the less fortunate in your area? I bet a lot. Radio gives back to the community more than any other medium. We can move faster and do more than TV, newspaper or the internet.

PROMOTION-This is one of my favorite parts of the business. It’s a totally clean slate on anything you want to do. For those that are really creative, this is the area that will separate your station from the rest. I love the feeling after doing a promotion that has gotten everyone in the market talking.

IMAGING-Like promotions, the more creative you are, the more you will stand out from the rest. I love having an imaging idea in the morning and hearing it on the air later that day. I can’t think of any other business that can take something that’s playing in my head and in a few hours be able to share it with thousands.

HALLWAY VIBE-I know this doesn’t exist at every radio station, but it should. I have friends that are lawyers and CPA’s and I can guarantee you that their office environment is nothing like radio. We’re in the entrainment business and the hallways should reflect that.

There are many other things that make radio great (like free food samples from a new client) but these are the big ones. Make sure your radio station focuses on these and you’re station will be great.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

LETTER TO THE COUNTRY MUSIC INDUSTRY

This is a copy of a letter that we sent to the country music industry this week touting Dial Global's massive country audience.



5/4/10

Country Music Professional:

We are very excited about some news recently given to us from the American Forces Radio (formally Armed Forces Radio) pertaining to Dial Global’s Mainstream Country format AND YOUR ARTISTS.

Dial Global now supplies The American Forces Radio with our Mainstream Country 24/7 format and rebroadcasts it over their worldwide network. In addition to our network of over 200 radio stations in the United States that carry us through Dial Global Radio Networks, we are now heard in 188 countries around the world wherever there are military installations, bases, offices, etc. We are heard in every United States Embassy and Consulate around the world. We are also heard on 37 ships at sea, including all aircraft carriers. In addition, some of the installations broadcast us terrestrially so surrounding English speaking civilian support personnel and the native civilian population can listen. The conservative estimate is that the audience of Mainstream Country on the American Forces Radio Network is over three million per week. That doesn’t include the domestic cumes of nearly three million, making Dial Global’s Mainstream Country format the most listened to country outlet, not only in the United States, but around the world with a total weekly cume around six million.

For those of you that don’t totally know what Dial Global does, in addition to ten other formats, we program four 24/7 Country Formats (Hot Country, Mainstream Country, Classic Country, and True Country, all of them consulted by Albright & O’Malley). We provide a 24/7 radio station, complete with live talent, promotions, imaging and music logs to over 600 affiliates around the United States including Alaska and Hawaii

Country music is heard around the globe through our Mainstream format. Dial Global’s country formats are truly your one-stop to reach millions of country music fans around the world!

Please call us any time with questions. We are pretty proud of our massive audience.

Respectfully,




John Paul
Sr. Dir/Country Programming
Program Director, Hot Country
Dial Global, Denver


John St. John
PD, Mainstream and Classic Country
Dial Global, Denver