DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

View this radio commercial critique on YouTube.

View this How To Negotiate video on YouTube.

A Loyal Reader Writes:

“First, a thank you…your Morning Show Ratings Explosion has some great stuff in it that I’m using already.

“Okay, the question: How do I convince my partner that doing something at the same time every day doesn’t encourage people to listen longer?

“When I mentioned that we should move it around he said, ‘Is that what it said in those CDs you’ve been listening to?’

“I had to tell him, ‘Well, uh, yeah, but see…’ — and that’s as far as I got with my answer.

“Our market is notorious for channel surfers, so his contention is that this way they know when to jump in. My fear is that they will jump right back out again!”

Anyone who believes doing the same thing at the same time every day “encourages people to listen longer” doesn’t know a thing about radio.

“His contention is that this way they know when to jump in.”

Again, that is the thinking of an ignorant person. If people are listening to another station, they are not going to keep an eye on the clock so they’ll be sure to jump back to your station at the correct moment.

When they leave your station, they will stay at whatever destination they go to until that destination loses their interest.

The way to increase time spent listening is to do things on your program that are compelling and entertaining enough to keep people there — and to promote and tease them effectively…not to give your listeners a blueprint that shows them exactly when each event will occur.

But to address your question directly:

You probably cannot convince your partner.

The difference between an amateur and a professional is that a professional never stops learning.

And it sounds like he hasn’t learned anything new in years.

“Fast Talking Is Good”

During your career someone might have told you that fast-talking radio commercials that squeeze in as many words as possible are good, because “studies show people listen more closely when you speak faster.”

Don’t believe it.

In that study, a dozen volunteer college students were asked to listen to one of three audio recordings: one of a person speaking at a “normal” rate of speed, one speaking more slowly than normal, and one speaking faster than normal.

Then each experimental subject was tested to see how much of the speaker’s content they retained.

In that study, students who heard a person speaking faster than usual scored better in retention.

To generalize the results from that experimental setting to that of a typical radio listener is foolish.

The experimental setting in no way resembles the way people listen to the radio.

They don’t hear it in a psychology lab, with instructions to listen closely.

They listen to the radio with, at best, half an ear. The rest of their attention is focused on the traffic ahead or on their own interior dialog.

Ignore psychological studies of dubious value. (Anyone who ever earned a degree in Psychology will vouch for that. We psych majors were involuntary guinea pigs for many a specious study.)

A radio commercial is nothing more than a story — told in the first, second or third person, 30 or 60 seconds long. (Or 10, 20….)

It’s a story.

Think of someone you know who tells stories well — perhaps a friend, perhaps a famous performer or comedian.

Think of one of their best stories, and imagine them telling it right now….and notice how they’re speaking slowly and deliberately, pausing for dramatic effect, for emphasis, for the overall flow of the story.

Is it possible to create a successful, results-producing commercial using a fast talker? Sure.

But only when the fast talking somehow fits the entire selling approach of the spot — not when the announcer has to speed up his delivery to squeeze 55 seconds of verbiage into a 30-second frame.