DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

O’DAY’S TRAVEL WOES #122: My Brilliant Retort At The UK Radio Academy Event (if only I could remember)

by Dan O'Day on October 7, 2011

January, 1998 (continued):

Claire Paul was supposed to pick me up at 8:00 Thursday morning for the 90-minute drive from London to Cambridge, where the BBC seminar was being held.

At 7:50AM, I got a phone call from her husband, John. Claire had a bad case of the flu; instead I would be picked up by one of her presenters (i.e., disc jockeys), Jim Hawkins.

Although I felt bad about Claire’s illness, I looked forward to meeting Jim because it was his interest in my work that initially brought me to Claire’s attention.

At 8:00, I settled into an oversized chair in the hotel lobby to wait for Jim. At 8:05, the concierge approached me and said, “The gentleman who was supposed to pick you up has been in an accident, and the BBC is sending someone else to drive you to Cambridge.”

Later in the day I learned that this was inaccurate. What happened was Jim was stuck in traffic on the other side of town and realized he wouldn’t be able drive me, so he arranged for the BBC to send a driver for me.

When, using his mobile phone, he called the hotel to let me know, they accurately told him that I wasn’t in my room – I was in the lobby – and asked if he wanted to leave a message on my in-room voice mail.

No, he said, he wanted to give them a message to give to me immediately. The hotel operator then offered to take the message and have a note left under my door. Finally, in desperation Jim said, “No, look, you have to give him the message NOW. If I stay on the phone any longer I’m going to have an accident!”

It wasn’t until 9:00 that the driver showed up, and the seminar was scheduled to begin at 10:30. I slept almost the entire way; I foolishly had allowed myself to stay up too late the previous evening.

We arrived at 10:32, I ran into the offices of BBC Cambridge, I was escorted upstairs, introduced to the station’s managing editor, Nigel Dyson, and then hustled cross the hall to a meeting room where a couple of dozen editors and presenters from five BBC stations were gathered.

By this time I was fully awake, the attendees were very congenial, and we dived into the seminar…pausing only for a 30-minute lunch break before continuing to a bit past 3:00 in the afternoon.

Nigel finally pointed out that I had to return to London; otherwise I’d probably still be there, talking radio with them. I packed up my notes & tapes, and Jim Hawkins drove me back to London.

We left at 3:30 with the expectation that I would be back at my hotel by 5:00…thus giving me an hour to relax, eat and refresh before walking the couple of blocks to the Radio Academy session.

The traffic was slower than Jim had anticipated, however, and we reached the hotel at 5:35. This gave me barely 25 minutes.

My plan had been to eat yet another room service sandwich, but one usually needs to allow 20-40 minutes for the food to arrive.

I pushed “1” on the in-room telephone, Room Service answered, and I said, “I need a club sandwich up here in no more than 10 minutes; can you do it?”

To my shock & delight, they had it to me in eight minutes, allowing me to sit and ingest the protein (and raise my blood sugar level, which by this time was drooping) before going back downstairs to meet Jim.

The Radio Academy event was entitled “Stars, Who Needs ’Em?” and consisted of a panel session comprised of Chris Moyles, Steve Orchard, John Dash…and me. Riding herd on us was the panel leader, John Inverdale.

This turned out to be a very lively session, and the building management finally got us all to leave only by turning off the lights.

Yeah, that’s what happens when radio people get together and start talking about radio.

This also appears to have been an occasion on which I gave a witty reposte to a criticism from an audience member. Francis Currie — a 3-time PD Grad School attendee — emailed me to say:

“Congratulations on a great talk at the Radio Academy bash yesterday – and the put-down on the guy who said UK radio could learn nothing from US radio was a real gem.”

I do remember someone making the remark, and I do recall responding with some pithy, cogent reply.

Sure wish I could remember, though, what I actually said.

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RADIO STATION OWNER DOESN’T WANT JOCKS TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES “TOO OFTEN”

by Dan O'Day on October 6, 2011

A Loyal Reader Writes:

“I’d love it if you could address one subject that you hit in a previous PD Grad School. I totally agree with what you have to say regarding how often you give your name.

“We’re live 24/7, very personality oriented. But our owner believes the jocks should never I.D. themselves more than twice an hour.

“Your remark {at PD Grad School} about the ‘arrogance’ factor was beautiful and logical. Maybe if he reads it here….”

An air personality who gives his name only once or twice an hour is like the host of a party who introduces himself only to the very first guests to arrive: Somehow it’s assumed that everyone else who arrives later knows who you are.

That’s arrogant.

And rude.

And foolish.

I’ve attended more than one conference session that began with someone standing up in front of the room and beginning the session without identifying himself.

Apparently he knows who he is, so we must know, too.

It’s the humble radio person who gives his name frequently.

It’s the thoughtful radio person who gives his name frequently.

A good radio personality establishes rapport with the audience.

A good radio personality develops a personal relationship with the listeners.

A good radio personality is a human being, not an announcer.

And human beings have names.

Giving your name frequently actually increases your listeners’ comfort.

A woman awakens in a hospital bed, wearing a hospital gown. She doesn’t remember any of the events that led to her being hospitalized; the last thing she recalls is sitting in her living room, watching “The X Factor.”

When she speaks, her first words are a question.

Not, “What happened?”

Not, “How long have you been sitting there?” or “What is your name, Nurse?”

Her first words: “Where am I?”

Giving your name (and the station name) answers that question.

Of course, there are different ways of telling listeners who you are. The most common is simply to say, “I’m (ED JOCK).”

You say it casually, matter-of-factly, on your way from the previous element to your next thought.

Or a pre-recorded bumper using someone else’s voice.

Or a jingle.

Or liners recorded by listeners.

Of course, I’m talking about radio personalities — not bland, personality-free announcers who never bring any of themselves to the microphone, who never say anything worth listening to.

If all you ever do is back-announce the songs, announce the time, and read the liner cards….

If you never bring any of your own humanity to the party….

Then saying your name once per day is once too often.

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WHAT TO SAY TO THE CLIENT WHO WANTS TO “TEST” RADIO ADVERTISING

by Dan O'Day on October 5, 2011

A Loyal Reader Writes:

“How do I explain to a stubborn client that ‘radio coupons’ don’t work? He loves the commercials that we have created for him, but insists that we insert ‘tell us you heard this on RADIO X and receive a free air filter, valued at up to $5.’

“His reason for wanting to include this ‘coupon’ is that he believes it will tell him how many people listen to the station. I know this is bad on so many levels, not the least of which is that his offer is tepid at best.

“I should add that he has made it clear that all future decisions to advertise on our station will be based on the results of this test.”

I’m going to address the second part of your question, because the first part — what do you say when an advertiser wants to use a “radio coupon” — already is covered quite well here.

You say, “He has made it clear that all future decisions to advertise on our station will be based on the results of this test.”

My advice is that you refuse to run his advertising under those circumstances.

From what you say, he is insisting that your station pass a “test” that you are doomed to fail, because of the way he has constructed it.

Tell him, “Save your money. What you are asking us to do is bad advertising, it’s bad business, it’ll make you sound foolish, and it won’t work.”

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SOCIAL MEDIA TELESEMINAR – Free

by Dan O'Day on October 4, 2011

Feeling overwhelmed by all this “social media” stuff?

Our good ScandiCanadifornian friend, Mari Smith, is releasing a new book this month: THE NEW RELATIONSHIP MARKETING: How To Build A Large, Loyal and Profitable Network Using The Social Web.

Even before the book is released, she’s agreed to conduct a special, live teleseminar just for us radio and voiceover folks.

It’s free.

Sign up here.

NOTE: Registration for this event has closed.

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MONDAY RADIO COMMERCIAL SMACKDOWN – This Is NOT How You Sell A Book Via Radio Advertising

by Dan O'Day on October 3, 2011

Yes, this is incompetently written.

But this radio commercial for a book goes beyond bad copywriting:

I’m always slow to blame the voice talent, because usually I have no way of knowing if the bad performance is the result of faithfully following bad direction.

It’s at :10 that I first realized, “Holy cow. This is embarrassing.”

Please raise your hand if after hearing this radio spot, you’re at all closer to purchasing this book.

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