July 13, 2011
I've only written two blogs for Radio Ink and yet my inbox was almost immediately filled with questions about dealing with things through a small market filter. I have been spending so much time with Google plus this week, it seemed like a good time to answer a few of the questions instead of expounding on Google+, which was the original plan. So here goes. Names held to protect the innocent from their bosses.
I do mornings in a small market that is under the influence of a major market. Their signals all get in here and I have virtually no chance of having the tools that they have. My PD doesn't have a plan but I want to win, or at least TRY to win here. What would be the first thing you would concentrate on?
KM: That's an easy answer with a tough follow through for you. The main thing that you have that they don't is ACCESS. You have ACCESS to your listeners on a personal and local level. SPEAK TO THAT. Every show prep session focus more than 2/3 of your show on local content and local events. I am assuming that this major market is within 50-75 miles? If so, that means that the listeners are also under the influence of that citie's events and festivals. It is only natural to be shifted by those events during your prep sessions. Focus your attention on what you can do there in your town. Local contests, something that requires YOU to be out in the public are always helpful but as far as your morning show goes; you need to make every effort to bring in local people, talk about local events, make an emotional connection locally and personally. Don't be cookie cutter and don't try to imitate the big guys that are on the dial.
I am a PD in a small market, and have a question regarding social media and streaming. How do you handle people from out of the market entering your contests? We have had three winners from more than 100 miles away in the past year. I feel like I am wasting my schwag on them.
KM: That's GREAT! That must mean that your streaming strategies are working and you are connecting with people from outside your broadcast circle. That is a good thing! We live in an ever shrinking world. They way I handle this is by taking the stats of our web stream to our sales manager. It gives them the understanding that there is a base of people out there that could be reached by our sales department. It might mean a day trip a few days each month or hiring someone specifically to sell those outside towns. Web streams can be a significant revenue stream if you have an ENLIGHTENED sales department that isn't living in the 80s. We have built a REGIONAL station. We position it as regional, and we like it like that. The point of streaming in the first place is to connect with people that can't otherwise hear you. Keep up the great work and remember that!
Whatever happened to small markets being a bed of talent?
KM: I was just discussing this this other day with a PD friend. When I started, small markets were kind of like the minor leagues. I worked my way up from an unrated market to a Top 100, then to a major. It was a right of passage. You learned the craft and moved up. Now it seems that small markets are populated by people that are doing the job because they were local people that had been recruited by management and have never done the job before or by older jocks who are on the downside of their career. There doesn't seem to be the young hungry kids who love the business and want to learn and move up.
I had a meeting last week with an under-performing staff member who actually said to me that she didn't CARE if she got better because she would just go back to her old career if this "didn't work out." I would love to see small market owners take the responsibility of grooming younger people to carry the torch. After all, they grew up in a digital world. They know more about social networking, connecting with people and global issues than most anyone else. Why not take that knowledge and let them mold it around a radio career? Why not USE that knowledge to better a small market station. Take a chance. GIVE a chance. The only way our industry survives is by passing the info that we have to the younger generation and let them take THEIR skills and mesh the two.
Kit Mann (The Kit Mann Morning Show) can be reached at 214-702-MANN http://www.kitmannmorningshow.com or http://www.facebook.com/kitmannrocks or http://twitter.com/kitmannrocks
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