When Joel Grey was Program Director of KKLT-FM/Phoenix, he had a simple rule about station remote broadcasts:
The salesperson who sold it must be there for at least the first hour of the broadcast.
This accomplished a couple of desirable goals:
• It alleviated the air talent of the awkwardness of finding the advertiser and introducing himself or herself. Instead, the account executive was there to make the introductions.
• It turns out that when they’re required to be there themselves — on a weekend — many radio station account executives think twice before caving in to the demand for a badly designed or ill-timed remote.
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Amen. However, we make the AE stay for the entire remote. It’s an important event, right?
I worked at a station where the talent was responsible not only for meeting and greeting the client and writing copy on the fly, we also were required to collect talent fees. Sales should be required to be there the entire time arriving an hour before and an hour after to truly serve the customer. After all that is what they are getting the commission for and if radio wants to survive it needs to make sales and customer service one in the same.
The only thing I like about remotes is the money I make from them. I think, in most cases, the client is better off purchasing a schedule.
I’m the engineer on Remotes, I’m always hearing complaints about this.
I (as a jock) have no problem finding the client and introducing myself, although I do appreciate the sales rep stopping by. It helps if the sales rep at some point reminds the client, or at least the client’s staff, to not hassle me for prizes because they are to entice the listeners to the remote, and this can get a bit awkward for me. The sales rep can smooth that over by addressing it before it happens – I’d say I encounter it at at least 50% of my remotes. Otherwise I’m fine on my own with the other remote staff but I think it’s professional and says a lot when the sales rep comes by also. It shows the whole team is out in force.
Good point. I’ve really thought of remotes as the final piece of a promotion…usually a giveaway of some kind that has a campaign attached to it. I don’t recommend them as a stand alone.
3 cheers DOD thank you
I remember at least one station I worked for where the sales reps were NOT supposed to show up for remotes, because the sales manager thought it was beneath the dignity of the sales department to waste time on “programming events” (even though they were set up by the sales people). Just like Scott’s example above, the jocks were expected to collect their own talent fees and if the client didn’t pay, it was the jock’s problem. In fact non payment of talent fees were not considered a valid reason to stop booking remotes with any client.
I also remember several remotes where the client expected the jocks to read from a script that the client prepared for every break, that only talked about the client. This particular client would get furious with the air talent if they tried to say anything that wasn’t on the script, such as promo liners about upcoming events, contests, weather reports, song intros, and call letters.
ah… memories….
A few years back I realized that we were doing remotes the same way they were most likely done in the 60’s. “come on down, we have hot dogs and balloons for the kids. We have giveaways (for all you people who aren’t really going to buy anything but just come for the freebies…thus showing the client who are “real listeners” are).
For the most part I agree with Brule Eagan most clients should just buy a heavy schedual. A while back while doing a remote at a furniture store the manager asked me where were the free key chains and Cd’s to giveaway. I asked her if she wanted people in the store that wanted free stuff or qualified buyer who may purchase a thousand dollars worth of furniture…..she saw my point. I have come to believe that a remote should only be done if something big is really going on. We have several a year that are big events becasue the store makes it a big event and their sales show it. Today when kids have an I-pod, a cell phone, a TV at home that gets 500 channels, a computer and on and on, we are going to entice them with “free hotdogs and bring the kids for a free balloon”.
In days past I always felt the pressure to make the remote really work. Now I take the attitude that I do my best but the sales person sold it, they made the promises or claims, If the store has a problem it’s with the one who sold it.
Yip still done in new zealand every weekend!
nice blurb Steve S
“A few years back I realized that we were doing remotes the same way they were most likely done in the 60?s. “come on down, we have hot dogs and balloons for the kids. We have giveaways (for all you people who aren’t really going to buy anything but just come for the freebies…thus showing the client who are “real listeners” are).