The latest issue of my Radio Programming Letter includes a programming philosophy face-off between a certain well-known consultant and me, as well as four questions for radio station manager and program directors. (Oh, and also silly idea I had for a radio competition.)
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Love the chat with Mike McVey. We don’t have reliable PPM figures in the UK, so have a lot to learn from this.
I question the idea that listeners are paying attention at the end of a song. Radio people pay attention there – anyone who’s ever been on air is trained to be in high alert mode whenever there’s a button to be pressed – but music radio is background for most listeners. I once worked with presenters who recorded a show, then went to a typical listener family home to see how they consumed it. They felt more than a bit surprised about how little attention was being paid to things they had worked hard on, but how much the listeners loved the show and built their morning routine around it anyway.
In my view, listeners don’t often give you their attention, but you can grab it, and when you do, you’d better earn the right to keep it, at least for the length of your “bit”. Attention is grabbed by surprises and transitions, and that’s why I think the advice to go straight into something ear grabbing works. But never, ever, assume that the listener is already paying attention – they don’t owe it to you. A lengthy “bit”, even if perfectly placed, will annoy the listeners who only start giving their attention half way through, perhaps when they start wondering where the music went. Good structure helps in that event, but that’s another topic…
“Do your station invoices include a promo for your hot morning
show or exciting contest? ”
When I was a PD, I would also stuff the envelopes of local businesses with promotional material when I was paying my bills if it was obvious that the payment would be opened at the local office. I encouraged the air staff to do so , as well. (They thought I was nuts). Seemed to me that if those businesses were trying to up-sell me there was no reason why I shouldn’t ask them to cume my station, increase the frequency of their tune-in, or at least, increase top-of-mind.awareness.