CHRISTMAS MUSIC

Let’s face it, if you’re a country station, you’re probably going to get killed in the ratings in December. The AC station playing all Christmas music will probably clean your clock. Don’t worry, the women you lose will be back on the 26th. December has become a really hard month to win in the ratings if you’re not wall to wall Christmas music. Even then, it’s can be tough. It’s not about playing all Christmas music. It’s about playing the right Christmas songs and having that “feeling” at Christmas time. Let me explain.

Just playing Christmas music isn’t good enough. It’s all about playing the songs that remind the listener of being a kid. That’s a secret. I’m sorry, the brand new Christmas song from a brand new group isn’t nearly as effective as Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis and even Mariah Carey’s 1994 Classic “All I Want For Christmas is You.” Those are the type of songs you should be playing, regardless of your format. Those are the songs that make people think of that best Christmas’s ever…when they were a kid.

Same goes for your imaging. Find drops from classic Christmas TV shows and movies. Go to a school and ask five or six year olds what they think of Christmas. Use that in your imaging. Again, it’s all about getting that “feeling” and putting it on the air.

Promotionally, have something big in January to welcome back the listener that went away. Traditionally, January hasn’t been a big month for radio promotions, but I think that should change. Start your contest right after New Year’s Day, but start promoting the day after Christmas.

If you want to keep your listener listening for a few more minutes before turning you off and going to the all Christmas station, then jog their memory. Make them think of Christmas when they were seven years old. It’s all about nostalgia.

BE THANKFUL...

This is a re-post of something I did year ago. I think it's worth seeing again.

Thanksgiving is this week and I thought it would be good to reflect on some things we should be thankful for working in radio. Now before you roll your eyes, I realize the last 18 months have been really tough with downsizing, cut backs, programming options forced down our throats and more. This is not just something radio is dealing with, it's everywhere. All businesses and industries are suffering. Radio is still a great gig and here are a few things to be thankful for:

• We work in radio. We play music and connect with people for a living. Pretty cool.

• We get to go to concerts for free and many times meet the artists backstage.

• We don't have to get up at 5am in the pouring rain to collect people’s trash.

• We get to talk to thousands of people each day that think of us as a friend. We have thousands of friends!

• We get to create magic (or at least you should be creating magic).

• We get to listen to music and get paid for it.

• Many of the biggest stars in country music know us by name.

• The chicks (Just kidding. Seeing if you are still paying attention).

• Our office environment is unlike any other place on the planet. Try working for a lawyer or CPA. Their offices are boring and stale. I've never worked in a radio station where someone didn't have a guitar in their office and played it often.

• Most of us are doing what we've wanted to do since we were kids. I bet most of your non radio friends can't say that.

• Over 90% of all Americans listen to radio each week. That's an impressive number. Very few media outlets connect with that many people each week.

• Each day we get to make people laugh, cry and think.

• Every day is different. Perfect for radio people that have ADD...which is most of us.

• We get free tickets to nearly everything.

• Competition makes us all better and radio has a lot of it.

Stay positive and take this weekend to think about all the great things that come with working in radio. There are many.

KNOW YOUR TARGET

Here’s an easy and extremely helpful way to get everyone on the same page about the exact target of your radio station. This is something I’ve done at nearly every station I’ve programmed. I put this list together using actual research from Arbitron, The Media Audit, Scarborough, and local perceptual to come up with this list. I gave this list to everyone at the station. Here’s a sample of my “Target Listener.”

Board Target Demographic
Adults 25-54

Narrow Target Demographic. We must OWN this demo!
Adults 35-44

On Target Demographic. We must always use her as a filter.
33 Year Old Female
• Married
• Young family
• Employed Full Time
• Contemporary in fashion and trends
• Trendy
• Not afraid to go out in the city
• Very into family/friends, but loves weekend getaways with husband
• Drives a foreign car (only 23.7% of metro population own a domestic car)
• Faithful/Spiritual
• Gives of her time to charity. Volunteers
• Loves new movies and Hollywood gossip
• Reads People, OK!, Women’s Day, Glamour, Cosmo
• Loves to watch ET, Inside Edition, E! Entertainment Television, HGTV, Food Network.
• Loves to find TV shows the whole family can watch at the same time
• Wants to protect her children from off color humor
• Has a college education
• Median Household income is $52,000
• Didn’t listen to country music before the early 90’s. Loves Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Brad Paisley
• She listens to the lyrics and knows their meanings
• Also listens to Hot A/C, A/C and CHR

SELL THE MUSIC

Most radio stations don’t sell the music anymore. They feel that just saying the title and artist is enough. Many stations don’t even do that because they are jukeboxes running jock less.

In every piece of research I’ve ever seen, listener LOVE to know the title and artist of every song. It’s always at or near the top of what they want. Yet, so many stations don’t even do that.

I’d think we need to take it a step further and actually SELL the music. Talk about the songs, the stars, have audio from the artists run over the intro of them talking about what the song means and how it came to be. Make the song a big deal. Be excited about being able to play it. Isn’t that a big reason why most of us got into radio?

Think about it. If we sell the music and make the listener a big fan of the artist and their song, they will want to hear them more and spend more time listening to us to hear that song. They may also go out and buy and download the single. It’s a win-win for records and for radio.

I think it’s not only our job to play the music, but to sell the music and make fans of the songs and stars.