Spend an entire day at home, listening to four formats you never listen to.
One of the Big Dumb Things that radio people do is pay attention only to what’s happening within their own format. As a result, everyone in that format is exposed to the same limited set of stimuli.
Same Old Stimuli lead to Same Old Ideas.
But New Stimuli almost always produce New Ideas.
Pick the four formats that are farthest from your own — formats with which yours has the least in common.
Listen to each station for two hours.
Keep three separate lists during this listening day:
1. A list of everything you hear that they are doing better than your station.
2. A list of everything you hear that they are not doing as well as your station.
3. A list of everything they are doing that is new to you: a new way to get into or out of news, a new way to brand their programming or promotions, a new way to enhance their “more music” or “up-to-date” news image.
You should end up with several tactics that are not being exploited by your direct competition. If you adapt them for your own on-air use, they will be completely new and fresh to your listeners.
Adapted from 101 Ways To Make Your Radio Station Invincible.
