If you are a radio program director, programme controller, or manager, there’s something you need to know:
People cannot read your mind.
Some managers figure they don’t need to praise their staff because “they know I appreciate them.”
Oh, really? If you don’t tell them, exactly how do they know?
All through junior high school and high school I had a classmate named Janis. One of the nicest people I knew.
We always ended up in the same homeroom together, so I saw her every weekday morning for 7 years.
And because her last name started with a “P” and we were seated alphabetically, she usually sat right behind me in class.
The summer after we graduated from high school, I called her up and asked if she wanted to go to a movie with me.
She said okay, and when I picked her she told me how surprised she was when I called…because she always thought I didn’t like her.
I was flabbergasted! I couldn’t imagine anyone not liking Janis, and I asked whatever gave her that idea.
She said, “Well, whenever you’d come into class in the morning, you’d always be scowling. So I figured you didn’t like me.”
I always liked Janis. I always HATED mornings.
And I assumed she just somehow magically “knew” that I was scowling at having to be awake before 9 o’clock and not at her.
Trust me: The other people in your radio station cannot read your mind.
Click here for tips on How To Critique and Coach Radio Talent.
One of my favorite sessions from the International Radio Creative & Production Summits was entitled “SECRET CASE HISTORIES FROM THE RADIO RANCH: From Client Problem to Creative Solution to What You Heard On The Air.”
Radio legend Dick Orkin pulled back the curtain to reveal behind-the-scenes stories of a number of The Radio Ranch’s many advertising successes — some well-known, others less so.
(That’s Dick on the left, with me on the right, pretending to be interested.)
One great success was for Carlsberg Beer, but only after they figured out how to solve a problem:
The ad agency insisted they use the line, “Don’t touch my Carlsberg!”
As Dick explained, it wasn’t easy to find a way to use that line in a manner that didn’t sound overly aggressive.
But they managed to overcome that obstacle, as you’ll hear in this spot (featuring Tom Poston along with Dick).
When doing a comedy radio commercial, it’s important to build to a payoff at the end. Notice how this one does just that.
Most radio program directors practice what I call “Paperboy Management.”
If you’re old enough to recall having subscribed to your local daily newspaper…
Did you ever call the paper to give feedback on the news carrier’s performance in delivering your newspaper?
If so, I’ll bet it was because either one day the newspaper wasn’t delivered…or it got wet and you wanted it replaced.
The only feedback the paperboy (or the guy on the truck) received from you was when the newspaper was missing or wet.
And you didn’t need to give him more feedback than that, because motivating him wasn’t your job; it was his supervisor’s job.
A radio PD, however, is charged with motivating a staff of people whose duties usually are more complex than throwing a newspaper in the general vicinity of the customer’s house.
The following, by the way, is not a helpful critique:
“That comedy bit you did this morning? It sucked.”
If you can’t tell the jock why the break didn’t work or what she could have done to have made it better, you have no business criticizing her.
Click here for tips on How To Critique and Coach Radio Talent.
A Loyal Reader Writes:
“This copy we received from the regional office of International House Of Pancakes is so bad that it’s almost funny. It came from their Vice President of Marketing.
“It’s incredible that a company of that size would turn over the task of representing this restaurant to someone who may have never written radio copy before.
“Here is a verbatim copy right down to the typos, missing words and abbreviations.
“I can’t wait to get my lips around those pancakes between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Can you?”
(I’ve altered the location information but nothing else.)
“IHOP”
Been to IHOP Lately? Well now is the time to go
because we’ve just opened a new location in
Smallville, located on Hwy 102 and Orange
Avenue in the XYZ Shopping Center. We’re open
from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Mon-Thurs. and
6:00 a.m. until midnight Fri. and Sat. We offer
more than 16 types of pancakes, omelettes, and
other breakfast specialties, as well burgers,
sandwiches, salads and steaks. So if you in the
mood for a special treat, stop in to see us at our
new IHOP in Smallville, or one of our other four
locations in the area. “Any Time’s a Good Time
for IHOP!
Note to Readers: All errors above were in the original.
That’s a Yellow Pages ad, not a radio commercial.
One of the big things I teach radio advertising copywriters — that so many people who create radio advertising simply don’t understand — is the importance of delivering a single “Core Message.”
Your Core Message is the one thing you want the targeted listener to hear, to understand, and to remember.
Just one.
Most radio commercials either don’t have any Core Message…or they have more than one.
You need to teach your clients that the way to get the most from their radio advertising dollar is not to cram as much information as possible into their commercial.
The way to maximize the impact of the commercial is to say just one thing — clearly, powerfully, and memorably.
The IHOP commercial (above) included these messages:
* We’ve opened a new location
* Here are our (oh-so-interesting) hours of operation
* We offer “more than 16” types of pancakes. (Um….How about telling us the exact number? The precise number of different types of pancakes actually could form the basis of a good commercial…If they had settled upon “pancakes” as their Core Message.)
* Omelettes and other breakfast specialties
* Non-breakfast food
* Four other area locations
As I’ve said before, the easiest thing in the world to write is a bad radio commercial. That’s why so many people write them.
