Radio Twitter, Dumb Music Context, Local-Sounding Network

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• James May 10, 2009, 3:56 am

  Dan, I like your suggestion of a “Radio Twitter.” A nationally syndicated talk host I listen to has been like a kid in a candy store with his Twitter following, but it’s obnoxious to those of us who 1) aren’t listening live and listen via podcast and/or 2) don’t use Twitter. He bleats out these obscure Twitter handles of people, rips through their comments like an inside joke, sometimes out of context, and groups them into little sub-cliques. I’m really tiring of it. I’d rather hear a “15 Words or Less” recorded bit or montage like you suggest.

  While we’re at it – why don’t call screeners or producers ever tell callers NOT to say, “As I was telling your screener…”? I can think of no greater momentum killer in the Talk medium. (But I digress…)

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• Tom Berg May 10, 2009, 5:34 am

  Love this idea.

  Consider it stolen. 😉

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• Steve May 10, 2009, 7:02 am

  On the Content thing–I wouldn’t blame anyone at the station level. It’s the poor mess commercial radio is in and nothing going to get it out of it. Go any “harder” with a theme that has any social or intellectual relevance and the PD, VP of regional Programming, or the investment banker who ones the company, is going to tell you to dumb it down. Or you’d have to go outside the format to make the theme and get told you can’t play that song. (George Michael, Gary Glitter, Peter Townshend–Rock and Roll Sex Offenders).

  It would also actually take some thinking, and that has been extinguished from Commercial Radio.

  The Twitter thing: That proves my point above. Copycatting is the surest way to loose your audience’s respect and your own dignity. If you’re not smart enough to come up with your original idea, at least have the common sense and couple of hours of thinking to come up with a name that hides your larceny.

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• TomR May 10, 2009, 10:21 am

  Dan, I really liked the 15 words or less “Radio Twitter” idea, especially if you get enough calls to group together a “theme” such as cooking, kids, something in the [local!] news, etc.

  Also, think about using the push-button tones as a mnemonic for your station – if your jingle package sings the station name, try to match that musical progression (in a rapid-fire edit of) the telephone dialing tones. What the heck, it could be a fun weekend project for an intern to cut their production teeth on!

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• CryingPrunes May 10, 2009, 3:57 pm

  I think too many people get hung up on ‘local’. For example, everyone and their dog was talking about swine flu for the past month. We don’t have any local cases of the virus, but it’s of obvious interest to our listeners. So why wouldn’t we talk about it?

  If you’re looking for a great place for prep, hop on a bus, stand in line at the bank, go to the mall and eavesdrop … creepy yes, but at least you know what’s really ‘local.’

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• Rich Roszel May 10, 2009, 8:32 pm

  I think the only way this 15-word audio tweat idea would work is if you have a person editing and producing these clips on the fly so that the context isn’t lost. One thing that I hate about twitter is that, unless you spend your entire day reading tweats, you’re left with a lot of unattached comments that lack context and relevance. As has been said before, in order for radio to survive and thrive, it has to be (more) relevant.

  To me, what makes calls on live radio work well is that they are like the comments posted on this blog. They are responses to what’s happening at that very moment on that very station. Get the clips on the air within minutes of the last comment in that thread, and you may have something. If not, you’ll have another situation like James described in which there are too many inside jokes, cliques, and comments made out of context.

  Sorry, I think I exceeded both the 15 word and the 140 word rules…

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• Anonymous May 11, 2009, 4:07 pm

  Sorry to disagree with you Dan, but I think we’re being a bit harsh on the poor announcer (or “disc jockey” as I was just called in a national newspaper).

  A competition like that wouldn’t last a week if all the connections were that lame. Maybe Steve could contact his fellow professional and ask what other ‘connections’ there have been before making such a judgenment call. Maybe the night before was that Wang Chung, Slipknot and The Beatles and you had to figure out all three have left handed bass players. Maybe the three female lead singers was a sort of in house joke with regular listeners. But let’s not judge a jock by one little segment.

  The end result was the listener was engaged and listened through all three songs increasing tsl – and hopefully an advt break before the answer was given

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