Almost every radio personality starts out as…pretty bad. Even the ones who become great.
This bit from The Greaseman was recorded within his first year as a full-time pro.
22 years old and already performing a truly unique style of radio.
A couple of days ago I gave an example of what happens when radio programming consultants don’t understand what I’ll dub “The Structure of Success.”
That example dealt with music formats.
Here’s a radio morning show example.
Someone once worked as a “producer” for a successful American morning host.
“Producer” has a different meaning in the U.S. than in many European radio stations.
With few exceptions, in the U.S. the producer works for the star. Regardless of who writes the paycheck (the station or the star), the star is the boss.
But many European radio people perceive the producer as the boss.
’Taint so. But it has helped a couple of people who were hired hands in the U.S. position themselves as morning show experts on other continents.
One guy took the entire program log of one successful American show and transported it to a European morning show.
That market never had heard a show like it. It was a big hit.
But by now I had seen the pattern, and I said to one of the station’s competitors, “Relax. In two years they’ll be history.”
It was sad to see: from #1 to “just one of the pack” in two years.
Because the American star whose show was copied understood how and why the show worked, his show continued to evolve.
But the clone couldn’t grow or evolve, because it wasn’t a living thing. It was just a copy of the way the American show used to be.
Copycats can succeed in the short run. But if they don’t understand what makes what they’re copying work, invariably they’ll be forced out of the race.
Ever run into a client — oh, maybe a car dealer — who spends lots & lots of money on advertising and therefore considers himself to be an advertising “expert”?
This is a true story.
A while ago someone mentioned a mutual friend, a successful TV producer.
“Stevie’s a great blackjack player, you know,” I was told.
As a former serious and successful blackjack player, this surprised me.
“Really?” I said.
“Yes. Last weekend he went to Vegas and lost $50,000!”
I swear that’s a true story.
Doing it a lot doesn’t mean you’re an expert. It just means you do it a lot.
Recently I wrote about the folly of forcing talented radio personalities to follow on-air formulas.
American radio is held in high esteem by other radio people around the world.
You’re familiar with the stereotype of a consultant as someone who can’t make it in the industry and, instead, declares herself to be “a consultant?”
While some of my best friends really are talented, successful radio consultants, the negative stereotype of the know-nothing, blowhard radio programming consultant is supported by a number of living examples.
I began consulting/coaching radio stations in North America 25 years ago. Six years later I took on my first European client. By now I’ve worked with radio people in 37 countries.
And still I’m occasionally astonished when a radio person on another continent refers to “X, the famous American radio consultant” — and it’s someone I’ve never heard of.
Or maybe I have heard of them — barely. Someone who had a fringe career in the U.S., moved to Europe or Asia and declared himself “an American radio consultant.”
Hey, a person’s gotta make a living, right?
Here’s What Happens When They Don’t Understand The Structure.
Example #1 (Music Programming):
A guy worked as an engineer for a very successful music station. The music was the star; it was a product-driven format.
He moved to Europe and, under the guise of “consultant,” put that music format on-air at an existing station. Before leaving the U.S., he had diligently copied all the music clocks, rotations, etc.
Big ratings success.
For eighteen months.
And then the ratings took a dive.
What happened?
Well, it was a product-driven format. And the product flow changed. Fewer hit songs. Fewer hit artists.
The architect of the format, back in the U.S., knew how to modify the format to accommodate the product flow changes.
That architect saw the format not as a magic pill but rather as a living, ever-changing organism. That person was able to adapt, and that station’s ratings didn’t suffer at all.
But the clone in Europe? The “consultant” didn’t know why the format worked…or even how.
He knew how to read the blueprint, but he didn’t understand how or why it was designed that way.
Upcoming: True example of a Copy & Paste, Crash & Burn radio program….
