DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

A Loyal Reader Asks:

“What should be the role of someone who produces a show but is not the star of it?”

First, you should know that “producer” means different things in different cultures.

To many European radio people, “producer” = “boss.” This most often happens in public radio environments, much less frequently at commercial stations.

I always find it amusing when someone from a European station pays for consulting advice from someone whose sole qualification is that s/he once worked as “(American Radio Star)’s morning show producer.”

They think that means that person was the star’s boss. Sorry, no.

Although the station pays the producer’s salary (with a few top-tier exceptions in which the highly paid star hires and pays for his own staff), the producer is there to serve the air talent — even though the producer also is prey to the expectations, demands and whims of the program director.

I’ve worked with some large European public broadcasters that employ the “state” or “national” model they inherited from the days when they had no competition.

In some instances, although the producer wasn’t “the boss,” she decided what topics, guests and features would be included in the day’s program. With that model, the host essentially is handed the outline for each day’s show and it’s his job to bring it to life.

That’s a very efficient model.

But in radio, what’s most efficient rarely is most effective.

It’s much more effective when the on-air talent has a vision for the program and it’s the producer’s job to help bring that vision to life.  

With that background, here’s my answer to the question….

The producer’s role is to:

• Make the host look good.

• Make the guests (both “celebrities” and listeners) look good.

• Make sure the program always is moving forward, that at any given moment it has a goal.

First, the Los Angeles market radio commercial.

Ironically, the only part of the sales message the audience might hear is contained in the announcer tag.

But no one will listen long enough to hear it.

Someone who’s more of a techie than I can explain what kind of processing should have been used to make it so the music didn’t compete with the voice. But any good radio producer (even without technical wizardly) would have known (and cared enough) to say to the engineer, “Hey, her audio is muddy.”

Advertising Solves Problems. Do you see any consumer problems being solved below?

“Incredibly low prices.” Well, if the advertiser says the prices are incredibly low, they must be.

“Their selection is massive.” Oh? Compared to…?

“There’s more choice than you can imagine.” That’s what I look for in an appliance/plumbing/home theater store: more choice than I can imagine. You too?

“Customer service is Priority One.” It wasn’t until the fifth or sixth time I listened that I realized (I think) she’s saying, “Customer Service,” not “Custom Service.”

What does that actually mean? If they’re trying to say, “Our #1 focus is providing great customer service,” why did they first talk about their low prices, massive selection, and your inability to imagine how much choice they offer? How about showing us how their customer service is so extraordinary?

“Their knowledgeable staff.” Yes, someone — presumably calling himself or herself a “copywriter” — actually took the time and effort to write that.

“Get a great deal.”

Remember their “incredibly low prices”? Guess what: They’re still “incredibly low.”

Because their prices are still incredibly low, “you can shop with confidence.” Really? Incredibly low prices = confidence?

Probably the copywriter meant, “So you don’t have to worry that you could get the same merchandise cheaper somewhere else,” but we’ll never know for sure.

“The staff will help you with the details” of making a purchase. Wow! Not only is the staff knowledgeable, but they’ll write up the order, too.

“Incredible service.” Okay, let’s be fair. If only there were some adjective other than “incredible.” But until the dictionary people invent more adjectives, we’re stuck with “incredible” — three times in 30 seconds.

“Massive selection” — in case you didn’t understand earlier when they said, “Their selection is massive.”

Bonus Commercial Copywriting Tip

Copywriters have been taught not to say “dollars,” and in some cases that’s good advice.

For example, when in the tag the announce says, “Only fifteen-twenty-eight,” that does sound less formidable than “one thousand five hundred twenty-eight dollars.”

On the other hand, talking about a “stainless steel kitchen package for under two thousand” unnecessarily distracts the audience because it forces them, for an instant, to translate “under two thousand” to “under two thousand dollars.”

They will translate the language the advertiser used into the language that they, the targeted listeners, use.

Don’t believe me? Ask three different people (separately, without explaining the context), “How much does a good refrigerator cost?

I don’t know what the quoted price will be, but I guarantee at least two of those three people will answer something very much like, “Oh, about 7 or 8 hundred dollars.”

Hint: Speak the language your targeted listener speaks.

Hey, the couple of hundred public radio program directors in the room didn’t get mad at me.

So I trust you’ll be cool with this, too.

Click here to download this entire public radio fundraising audio seminar.

I’m fairly well-known as a big proponent of radio show prep. But in my seminars I warn jocks:

If you do what we’re talking about; if you constantly stay aware of what’s happening in your community; if you always walk into the studio prepared…

You can expect to be ridiculed.

“Oh, isn’t that cute? You’ve got your little notebook of ‘show prep.’ You know, a real professional doesn’t need to prepare. A real pro knows how to ad lib. ‘Spontaneity,’ ever hear of it?”

If you’re always prepared before your show, sooner or later you will hear that from someone else at your radio station.

Invariably, it’s some older jock (always a male, for some reason) whose claim to fame is that he once worked in a “big market.”

For a few weeks.

Then he left that big market and has spent the past 20 years in smaller markets.

Why did he leave the Big Market?

“Politics. The program director played favorites, and I refused to kiss his ass. So instead of staying there and playing that game, I left.”

Strangely, this guy never says, “To tell you the truth, I wasn’t good enough. Plus, I had a lousy attitude, so they fired me.”

This guy couldn’t make it in the big leagues. He’s bitter, he despises his job, and he’s jealous of anyone who has achieved any level of success.

Also, he hates your enthusiasm for radio, because in the distant reaches of his memory he recalls when he felt that passion.

That emptiness hurts. He hasn’t found anything to replace it, other than a couple of very unhealthy addictions, several marriages, a bankruptcy or two, and an aggressively negative attitude.

When that guy ridicules you, don’t take it personally. Stepping on your dreams is just so much easier than owning up to his own failures.