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RADIO PROGRAMMING: Action is Character

An axiom of dramatic writing is: Action is Character.

You might have heard the expression, “Actions speak louder than words.”

They certainly speak louder than radio station positioning statements.

A positioning statement spoken in a void, with no substantiating action, is just an empty boast.

One of the smartest guys in radio, Randy Michaels (in case you missed it, he recently returned), refers to most radio station positioning statements as “selling their aspirations.”

In other words, those stations proclaim what they wish listeners were thinking about them:

That they’re the best station….

Or that they play the best mix….

Or that they’re the only station everyone can agree on at work.

The example Randy gives is:

“And now back to more of our Hot Talk, with today’s topic: Which is your favorite color — red or blue?”

Well, you can call it Hot Talk. But that won’t make it Hot Talk, and it won’t fool your listeners into believing it is Hot Talk.

“We always talk over music because we want to reinforce that we’re a music station.”

When you talk over music, you’re not a music station. You’re a “talk over the music station.”

Sometimes at my live seminars, I’ll play a station promo that spends 67 seconds boasting about how “all we do is play great oldies.”

And before the promo ends, they add, “And if you’re ever in the mood for some great Country music, tune in our sister station….”

When the promo finally finishes, the disc jockey rambles on for several more seconds as he fumbles his way through a song intro… and then we hear music.

What you say you do is important.

But only if what you say you do actually is what you do.

Because Action is Character.

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • scott snailham September 6, 2011, 5:14 pm

    You know, this should be really a no brainer for radio management.

    is it that they like tooting their own horn too much in imaging that they get lost in the self imposed hype?

    Most listeners really don’t care what you say. You are background noise. Unless you are doing contesting or want their opinion, you’re “that oldies channel” or “that country channel” They like the music, occasionally that guy (if he is actually interesting) “between the records” gets a nod, the morning people, sure, but little outside that.

    This is all the more reason to live up to you claim….otherwise it’s lip service….