With the current special offer on PD Grad School 2009: The Complete Audio Record continuing for just one more week, I thought you might enjoy hearing leading News/Talk radio consultant Holland Cooke — a previous PD Grad School guest speaker — explain what a profound impact I’ve had on his career.
What Part Of This Sign Is Difficult To Understand?
December, 1994: After a few days at home for the Thanksgiving weekend, I left for Hawaii…for an entire day. Ronnie Hope arranged for me spend a day with KQMQ’s air staff. They put me up at a hotel that caters to Japanese visitors…which means the building was painted completely white (or off-white). (Next time you’re in Hawaii, take a look at your hotel’s color scheme.)
A few days after returning from Hawaii, I took my last business trip of 1994 — to London, England. JFM’s Katy Turner and Mark Sebba had attended the air talent seminar I conducted for the NAB Radio Show a couple of months earlier, and they arranged for a customized, one-day seminar for their entire air staff (as well as members of their northern station).
JFM’s Acting Programme Controller, Carole Straker, had not joined the station by the time of the NAB confab, so in some ways I probably was foisted upon her. But she was very gracious and welcoming. (Actually, I believe she had seen the video of my morning show seminar, so I guess she had some idea of what I might be like.)
My plane arrived at London’s Heathrow Airport at 6:55AM, after a 10-hour flight. After the one-hour ride into the city (experiencing London’s morning rush hour), checking into the hotel and unpacking, I was exhausted and plopped down onto the very small, narrow bed that is standard among London hotels, looking forward to a 3-hour nap before walking over to JFM.
Mark knew of my plans to nap, so when he called the hotel with some information for me, he carefully instructed the Front Desk not to ring my room but rather to quietly slip a note under my door.
And that is just what happened — except that as he quietly slid the note under the door, the bellman shouted, “SIR, I AM PUTTING A NOTE UNDER YOUR DOOR FOR YOU TO READ WHEN YOU WAKE UP!”
Next Week: Even more extraordinary “service” from the same London hotel.
Tonight we surprised our STARTING YOUR VOICEOVER BUSINESS: Everything You Need To Know To Turn Your Dream Or Your Sideline Into A Business teleseminar series students with a bonus call:
“How To Get Things Done,” by…Well, by me.
This post is for to allow our students to share their “reviews.”
According to Inc. magazine, when Gordon Segal founded Crate and Barrel he used to tell his employees:
“You’re selling a candlelit dinner by poolside, not a piece of wax on a stick.”
End of today’s lesson.
A Reader Asks:
“My radio station is using a local TV meteorologist for our on-air forecasts. What’s the best way to introduce his forecast? Should he introduce himself? Should the on-air jock intro him? Should the intro always be the same? How long should the forecast be? How in-depth should the forecast be?
“Should he just state the facts or should he include patter like, ‘If you’re going to the Blue Sox game tonight bring a jacket/umbrella/ change your plans they will be rained out, etc.?’
“I’ve never used a meteorologist before. The only thing we’ve locked in on is ‘Your FM Weather Authority,’ because we are the only FM station using a local meteorologist for the weather forecasts.”
My Reply
The three major reasons to use a local TV meteorologist are:
1. To leverage his “celebrity” factor. The TV station uses its nightly air time (plus, possibly, on-air and outside advertising) to create an image for him in your market. You are exploiting his fame.
2. To lend credibility to your weather reports by having a well-known meteorologist deliver them…as opposed to a 19-year old jock reading them from the wire service.
3. To call attention to your forecasts via #1 and #2 above; you’re using this guy to make your station’s forecasts stand apart from the competition’s.
For all of the above reasons, I would not have him do his own introduction. He’s not just another disc jockey. He’s a big, famous meteorologist who really understands this stuff.
Either produce a snazzy, high-impact intro for him or write a quick, simple introduction to be used by your on-air staff.
Generally speaking, the intro always should be the same. You’re establishing your “weather authority” brand, and you want to hammer that message home again and again and again. Here are two exceptions, though:
A. It wouldn’t hurt to revisit the intro every three months, just to see if it’s getting stale or if you can discover a fresher way of delivering at least the same impact.
B. If he is introduced via live read by a big personality, you’ll want that personality to ad-lib the meteorologist’s introductions to create a “We’re two big stars, working together on this show” feeling.
