Lee Eckley brought this very different local dar dealer commercial to my attention.
1. “People don’t remember DJs’ names. Therefore, there’s no point in radio air talent training.”
Some programming consultant actually said that in a trade publication interview.
If your hosts don’t make enough of a connection to your audience to be memorable, then “air talent training” should be at the top of your priorities.
2. “You can’t get people to listen for more than 30 minutes, so don’t waste your time trying.”
If you believe that, then I trust you believe it’s impossible to fix a broken carburetor.
After all, I can’t fix a carburetor.
Reminds me of a radio convention panel session I was on years ago.
Someone in the audience asked, “Is it possible to teach somebody to be a radio personality?”
One of the other guys on the panel replied, “No, it can’t be done. I know, because I’ve tried.”
He can’t teach someone to be a personality. But there are others who can.
I can’t fix a carburetor. But there are others who can.
Many programmers can’t get people to listen for more than 30 minutes. But there are others who can.
I’ve seen their ratings.
3. “Giving your name frequently is self-aggrandizing.”
On a music station, hosts should give their names frequently.
As in, “Each break.”
Making sure listeners know who you are is humble, not boastful.
It’s also good for your ratings (in markets that use self-report measurements and depend upon listener recall).
4. “The audience doesn’t care about you.”
Practically every DJ in the world (including me) has, at one time, worked for a program director or manager who said that.
Of course they care about you!
If you make a human, personal connection to them.
If you’re a personality, not just an “announcer.”
(The difference: An announcer never says anything worth listening to.)
5. “Never say ‘I.’ “
This one is big among self-styled consultants and certain station managers who never were successful radio personalities.
You know the stereotype of the person who couldn’t make it radio and so instead became a consultant?
I was shown an air talent critique written by one of those “can’t-get-a-job-in-America-so-she-became-a-consultant-overseas” types. She instructed the talent, “Use the word YOU instead of the word ‘I’ to deepen the engage.”
(Yes, she did say “to deepen the engage.” Yes, I too had been under the impression that “engage” is a verb, not a noun.)
You see, when you use the world “you,” then boring material magically becomes…um, engageful.
I just checked, and so far in this article I’ve used the world “I” seven times.
Do you find this posting to be impersonal?
Should I have said, “YOU can’t fix a carburetor”?
In your daily conversations with friends and colleagues, do you ever say “I”?
Well, guess what: A good radio show is nothing more than a conversation between the host and the audience.
But you still think it’s wrong to say “I”?
Okay. Test it yourself:
Listen to the 20 highest rated air personalities in America. They all say “I” and “me” and “my.” As well as “you” and “your” and “yours.”
I guarantee it. I mean, “You guarantee it.”
I went to three different US Bank branches yesterday.
In the lobby of one of them was this.
Cold lemonade. Styrofoam cups. Napkins in a cute little holder. And the most inexpensive vase of flowers imaginable.
On a 100-degree day like yesterday, I really appreciated that tiny gesture of thoughtfulness to the bank’s customers.
What is your radio station’s (or other employer’s) “lemonade moment” — that little extra thing you do that makes a listener’s/advertiser’s/sponsor’s routine encounter with your company just a wee bit more pleasant?
That little thing you do that they’re not expecting, that surprises and delights them?
First, the radio commercial….
Forget about the lousy opening line. The biggest problem here is that this the story of a guy who “likes,” “loves” and “doesn’t like” things, and the conflict it engenders between him and the woman.
A radio commercial’s listeners remember (if they remember anything) what they picture during the advertisement. The only visual image this spot plants in the listeners’ minds is the guy reacting to the gal.
The product this commercial was supposed to sell was supported only by words, not by any action. Sorry, the words of a radio commercial don’t reverberate with listeners; it is the pictures that do (or that should).
This could have been for any product or service, in which the “I don’t like that” refers to the offer being limited. When you can replace the advertiser with virtually any other advertiser, you know you’ve got a worthless commercial.
What do they call it at your radio station? Non-traditional revenue (NTR)? Non-spot revenue? New revenue? Vendor revenue?
Regardless of the term you use, these days the most reliably profitable method of delivering revenue that doesn’t come from radio ad sales is Event Marketing.
Next week, I’ll be presenting a special, live teleseminar:
“Bigger & Better Radio Event Marketing” with the “king” of radio
promotions.
I recorded this short video to tell you about it.
We’ll be delivering a ton of great info that you can start using immediately.
Hope you’ll join us…
