More Feet on The Street. Less Clutter on The Air.

7-24-14

Pandora's local advertising revenue is growing. In Q2 the company took in $35 million from local advertisers, an increase of 144 percent from Q2 in 2013. A big reason for the growth is Pandora's investment in salespeople. The company now has 109 sellers in 37 markets, having added 91 salespeople in the last year. Pandora's goal is 343 sellers. The $35 million in local was 20 percent of Pandora's Q2 revenue total. If you were wondering about spot loads. Pandora averaged about three units per hour in Q2, and being that they are :15's and :30's, the clutter, when compared to radio, is miniscule. Pandora will go as high as six units every hour.

(7/25/2014 5:19:12 PM)
Dale has also generated another thought.
While, as a paid up member of the On-air and Creative Guild, I am loathe to bring this generalization forward:

Those stations with the fewest "live" on-air presenters may, indeed, be better off - given the caliber of the performances of the vast majority of the on-air talent.

Fact: Exceptional, listenable and effective broadcast performers are the rarest of commodities. Most are tune-out factors all by their own damn selves. And I repeat: I hate to be the one who has to say such a disempowering thing.

(7/25/2014 10:49:21 AM)
So with Clear Channel cutting many of their "local" personalities, with little to no local programming, what's the difference between them, Sirius and Pandora? CC's rates are higher for now.
Short-sightedness for cutting people now, and not looking into the future, but of course, they don't have much of one. What a lousy company...and I'm not a jock, but an owner.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SALES) Rise Above The Clutter

6-17-2013

Off to the firing squad I go. Yes, I am guilty! I do not write enough thank you notes. A thank you note is so much more than sending a simple acknowledgement. George Bush 41 attributed his presidency to writing personal thank you notes. He would always write something special in the note that would let the recipient know it was personally written by him.

I was never taught how to write a proper thank you note. I just knew that I had better send my clients something even if they could not read my doctor?s handwriting. Mailing a thank you note to a prospect who says ?no? is a great touch. Rarely do sales reps send a note thanking them for their time even when they told them to hit the Klondike Trail, so to speak.

When my mother passed away a couple years ago, I received a personal note from a friend that ?rose above the clutter.? I decided to ask my friend, Shawn, for some tips on writing a proper thank you note.

In today?s e-world, the younger generation does not realize the importance of the personalized letter. If time is of the essence, send the thank you electronically. If not, rise above the clutter and write those notes by hand. The handwritten thank you note is the best investment of a sales rep?s time other than being in the field.

Here are Shawn?s must do?s on thank you notes plus an example.

Top 10 Tips For Thank You Notes

1. There is no such thing as writing too many thank you notes. No reason to send one to the same client every time?make it rise above the clutter and change it up once in a while with a ?seeding letter.?

2. Thank you notes are another form of ?the first impression.? Leave a good one. If the front of the letter looks shabby, what will they think when they open the letter? (Sean?s note: When I started my own business, my mom addressed everything, so I knew the clients would at least open the note.)

3. Use good quality paper preferably printed with your name. Dress for success and write for success, also. If your station has thank you notes, use them. It is a good idea to invest in your own and mix it up a bit.

4. Handwrite the notes even if penmanship is poor like my friend Sean?s.

5. Make sure to use the correct spelling (especially names), punctuation, and grammar. Learning how to write correctly is still a work in process for my friend Sean. Work on it, and send the note anyway.

6. Write the note on your laptop first. Save them as examples. No marked-out words or scribbles.

7. Ideally, send out the note within 24 hours of contact. Forty-eight hours at the latest.

8. Hand address the envelope and include a return address, also.

9. ALWAYS use a stamp, not the postage machine.

10. Do not abbreviate when addressing the envelope. Example: Street not St.

Bonus Dozen

11. Properly address the person: "Miss" should be used for a woman who has not been married. "Mrs." and first name for married or widowed women. "Ms." if the marital status is unknown. Use "Mr." for a man.

12. Lick the back of that envelope. Then kiss it goodbye. The note always seems to find its proper home upon arrival with a lick and a kiss!
Dear Sean,

Thank you so much for the time that you spent with me on Monday. I enjoyed the sneak peak of the new addition to Flying R Western. Wow! Those extra square feet will really help display your new lines of boots and jeans.
I understand that you have already committed your marketing budget for 2013, but I would like to set up an appointment after your vacation to learn more about your business and see how KKDY could assist you in selling those new boots and jeans in 2014.
Happy trails on your Wyoming vacation! I will check back with you at the end of the month.
Warm Regards,
Shawn

There you have it? the tips and an example of how to write a thank you note that will rise above the clutter. Now get to writing those thank you notes! Write them either after a sales call, or at the end of the day. No procrastinating! Otherwise, they will stack up and you will forget about them. Oh yes, thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Sean Luce is the lead instructor for Luce Performance Group. To contact Sean, email him at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or visit www.luceperformancegroup.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(TALENT) As The Clutter Sputters

4-15-2013

The most important thing that radio, especially corporate radio, has not become over the last 20 years is: better. Were public safety and air travel services to be directed by corporate radio, few of us ? particularly the knowing group of radio?s own ownership and management ? would ever fly again!

Corporate radio swapping responsibilities with the FAA could result in aircraft heading for Duluth being controlled from a mainframe in Tampa with automated, voice-tracked pilot instructions originating from Delhi, India. Aircraft would be guided to taxi and offload in the Wal-Mart parking lot across the highway. Minnesota-bound passengers might be alarmed to hear a heavily-accented, lilting, pre-recorded voice come over the cabin intercom saying, ?We are most pleased to inform you we are coming down rapidly into the city of Alboo-queer-cue. In order to service our debt and lower costs, we will be skillfully landing on only two wheels.?

Further, well-trained, professional cabin attendants would be replaced with grocery clerks on a part-time, minimum-wage basis. Passengers would be welcomed aboard, herded to their seats with the aid of cattle prods, and invited to text the name of their favorite song to the flight crew.

Meanwhile, a number of radio folk have communicated to me that my criticisms might just be a tad too harsh. They point to talented folk who are typing (mostly) the hype, but who, occasionally ? given the chance ? can come up with some interesting and entertaining spots. I remind those who take this position, as an overall defense of the trade, that the exceptions are called ?exceptions? because they are so few. Sometimes, it?s all I can do to avoid becoming hysterical in my criticisms. Fortunately, I have a couple of editors ? one who can calm me down by chanting for solemnity. The other has skills in hacking my rhetoric to a point where I can avoid most slanders.

Now, I do understand my spot-scribing peers have yet to be exposed to far superior, communicative alternatives for the creation of the tripe we type. As such, it would be cruel of me to criticize my colleagues for not yet knowing what they need to know to enhance their skills and their careers. And yes, it would be a practical impossibility to expect radio writers to immediately begin generating nothing but gut-busting, explosive, award-winning spots that regale an audience while moving advertiser?s products off the shelves and out of the showrooms in record numbers. ?How would I do that?? they could ask. I submit we are obliged to immediately begin a significant transformation of the ways we create those spots. As I have suggested before: Management and Programming have yet to conclude it is the commercials that represent our (radio's) product. Everything else is for attracting audience.

I stridently suggest paying attention to commercial production is the first priority for any radio station ? private or corporately owned. This is where the money is ? more so than in generating a large, expensive audience and registering killer hours-tuned, quarter-hours, and/or cumes. Even a second-rate, 15th-place station could deliver miracles for their advertisers if the commercial messages they were producing were powerful, stimulating, effectively written, and appropriately delivered. There is nothing more pleasing to a station?s sales rep than hearing those magic words: ?How did you guys do that!? Can we do it again, please!??

It matters little to me which department gets addressed first. It could be on-air, creative, or both. The techniques and strategies I propose are consistent in their application to both programming and spot generation. My first intuition leads me, however, to where the dollars reside.

Since radio management will not be allowed to run the airlines or air traffic control, they might consider returning to their own knitting. I have proposed before that a generally accurate mission statement for commercial radio could be rendered as: ?We intend to make the most money possible in the shortest time possible by delivering the least expensive products and services possible while avoiding being tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail ? if possible.?

When I was originally being trained to do counseling and coaching work, I was also taught to accommodate my clients? well-formed outcomes by sometimes introducing hypnotic techniques in the coaching environments. At first, I was expecting to be learning to behave like Reveen or Svengali. What I got were techniques to assist individuals in altering, transforming, or otherwise adjusting their own internal states. I was impressed by how respectful of the client the strategies were. I was also amazed at how easy, after some serious, dedicated learning and practice, the techniques were to apply.

As we continue to consider the current state of radio, I urge anyone in a position of authority or influence to realize how over 90 percent of the commercials that will be cut tomorrow will be exactly the same as those produced in 1964. Same approaches. Same phrases. Same deals from the advertisers. Same concepts. Same vocal deliveries. The only differences will be in the price points. By the way, those same spots weren?t all that compelling or effective in 1964, either.

Maintaining our status quo will only reinforce the position that radio has, indeed, topped off and tapped out. The only way up and out of these intolerable doldrums, to my mind, is in the application of new knowledge and the acquisition of new (to radio) skills.

During one of my training sessions, I remember my trainer saying, ?The most appropriate and useful purpose of applying hypnotic techniques is not to put you into a trance ? but to get you out of the one you have been in for far, far too long.?

Ronald T. Robinson has been involved in Canadian Radio since the '60s as a performer, writer and coach and has trained and certified as a personal counsellor. Ron makes the assertion that the most important communicative aspects of broadcasting, as they relate to Talent and Creative, have yet to be addressed. Check out his website www.voicetalentguy.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(TALENT) Spots – Clutter On The Rubble

4-8-2013

Pro sales guy, regular blogger, and good friend of Radio Ink, Sean Luce, recently made some compelling arguments for having radio generate superior creative. This would be a noble and worthwhile effort, he contends, to produce advertising with better recall for the ad and the advertiser. My dad had a line that covered this circumstance: ?Nice dodge ? if you can pull it off!?

The (factual) story Sean used to demonstrate the point was of an advertiser?s somewhat bland billboard that was naughtily defaced and, as a result, drew more attention and awareness than spending multiples on straight advertising ever could. By accident, the ad did indeed ?rise above the clutter.? The advertiser enjoyed (?) a couple weeks of higher visibility in the market. There was no mention of any increases in the advertiser?s business.

While Sean?s point is well taken, there is still that niggly problem left over. That issue being: In today?s contemporary radio, almost every one of the spots written and produced locally will not be rising above any clutter. They will not be rising to near the top of the clutter. They will continue to be the clutter.

Practically, asking radio to start offering listenable and effective messages is like asking precocious, undisciplined kids splashing in the shallow end of the pool to swim Olympic times in the deep end. It ain?t gonna happen.

To continue the analogy: If radio is determined to swim with the big kids in the can?t-touch-the-bottom section, we will have to 1.) Learn to stay alive in water over our heads, 2.) Learn to swim, and 3.) Learn to do water tricks.

At no time has anyone ever come up with evidence that radio does not produce some of the worst examples of advertising ever to grace a professional, commercial, mass medium. When it comes to providing sophisticated, effective, advertising messages, music radio is still a stifled, third-rate jukebox.

As to generating conscious recall from an audience for the ad, the advertiser, and the content: It ain?t gonna happen. Accomplishing recall isn?t even a worthy goal. It is not necessary. The entertainment value and emotions that might be produced certainly do add to the listenable qualities and efficacy of the spots. Recall, however, is not a factor. ?And, why is that?? some skeptical broadcasters might inquire.

Before continuing, I do acknowledge the exception. This is the occasion when an advertiser?s message reaches the lowest of the low-hanging fruit. These are consumers/customers who are already in the market for the advertiser?s product or service; who hear a spot about a great deal from an advertiser, and have hundred dollar bills hanging out of their jeans. Only a slight nudge is required to take advantage of that advertiser?s offer. Even that is not about recall. It?s about triggering immediately available behaviors.

Meanwhile, any spot that has entertainment value or is producing a powerful emotional response in an audience does have extraordinary advantages over the (usually innocuous) content-heavy commercials. It perpetrates extended listening ? as opposed to immediate tune-outs. And it starts or reinforces the feelings necessary to drive a visit or a sale. But, expecting this particularly entertaining spot to increase [I]conscious recall[/I] is about roaring down a blind alley with an expectation that a hole is going to open up ? just in the nick o? time. Just as well then, that recall is not required because, again, it ain?t gonna happen.

Now, for another ?woo-woo? example: Since we are discussing a ?linguistic technology,? it is valid to mention Arthur C. Clarke?s famous comment: ?Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.? Properly executed radio commercials are generating and influencing desired behaviors ? without the necessity for, or assumed benefit of, conscious recall!

Plus, and this is absolutely a critical distinction, radio does have an advantage. Because radio is an electronic medium, the signal is accessed by an audience and processed (primarily) at a subdominant ? a right brain ? level. Any messages delivered through an electronic medium become speeding freight trains careening directly to that portion of the brain responsible for emotions, creativity, and pattern completion. Critical, information-processing capacities are snoozing over yonder in the left brain ? the dominant hemisphere ? and getting bypassed. Hence, the lower priority of content material in radio commercials.

As savvy marketers and their agencies have known for generations: ?Buying? is an activity influenced by emotions. These emotions are often already tainted by individuals? experience and influenced by cultural elements ? including advertising. Evidence can be provided that demonstrate how most of our emotions and the decisions generated through their influence take place at an unconscious level ? outside of our awareness. (This, I appreciate, is unwelcome information to those who insist their decisions are made only on the facts, the numbers.) It ain?t gonna happen. Not with humans, anyway.

Still, Sean?s admonition to get above the pile is not without merit. It?s just that my part of the radio team (programming and commercial production) is not even close to being well enough equipped to start launching four-baggers out of the yard on anything resembling a consistent basis. For us, a bloop single is cause for high-fives all around and towel snapping in the showers after we?ve been soundly thrashed 95-5 ? a reference to our share of ad revenues.

Further, ?digital? is nobody?s ?game saver? either. Our responsibility is to improve our product. Processing our standard-issue crap through a different strainer will still not produce a better pate. It will be the same crap on a different plate.

Meanwhile, Sean?s profession of training sales folk to up their individual games is an essential element of the radio business. The same can?t be said for the communicative aspects of what we do ? a legitimate reason for despair. After all, if we can?t/won?t provide the training to drastically improve our product, including commercial production and programming, Sean?s better-trained colleagues will still be going to the street with a leaking, or worse, an empty sample-sack of radio clutter.

Ronald T. Robinson has been involved in Canadian Radio since the '60s as a performer, writer and coach and has trained and certified as a personal counsellor. Ron makes the assertion that the most important communicative aspects of broadcasting, as they relate to Talent and Creative, have yet to be addressed. Check out his website www.voicetalentguy.com

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

(SALES) Make Your Advertising Rise Above The Clutter

4-1-2013

According to research from "Advertising Age" magazine, a typical consumer encounters between 254 and 5,000 advertising messages per day in one form or another. That number includes signage on cars, t-shirts, radio, TV, newspapers, and so on. If a business is going to be remembered, the advertising message must rise above the daily clutter of messages.

This following story is one of the best examples that I have encountered of an ad rising above the clutter. This week I am consulting for a media company in Ricky Land, Missouri. Ricky Land was made famous by the business owner who calls everyone ?Ricky? to keep things simple. While in Ricky Land, I traveled to Mountain Grove, Missouri which is home to Southern Missouri Financial Investments owned by Jim Bukowsky. Like me, Jim does seminars but in the financial field. We were comparing traveling notes and some small talk before we got to the meat of the call.

We discussed the meaning of rising above the clutter in advertising, and how to make one?s message memorable. Jim told me that his best rise above the clutter of advertising consisted of a billboard advertisement he did once showing the business name, his name, and a photo of himself. I thought that sounded like a fairly typical ad for the investment industry.

One day Jim was in his car listening to the local radio station and he heard the talk show host discussing how terrible it was that a local billboard had been defaced. The host continued to talk about how degrading this act was, and how he felt so badly for the local business owner who was advertising on this billboard. Jim certainly agreed. The host then said it was Southern Missouri Financial?s billboard. Jim slumped in his car seat in utter shock. He then drove over to his billboard to see that an artist had climbed up the billboard the night before and put a mustache thick with curls on his face. It was the perfect Doc Holliday mustache.

The story gets better?maybe. Also on the billboard, the artist had drawn on top of the photo of Jim?s head an obviously phallic representation. Jim said it kind of looked like a hat drawn on his head to go with the mustache.

Needless to say, it was graffiti on Jim?s billboard. However, Jim said it was the best advertising that he has ever utilized. Several local radio stations interviewed him about the graffiti on his billboard. In one case, he was interviewed for 20 minutes and had a chance to plug his business while talking about the ?terrible? thing that had been done to his billboard. Jim was the talk of the region which stretches about 100 miles in any direction. To the billboard company?s credit, they called the next day and told Jim they could take it down immediately and replace the billboard for free. Jim thought about it, and he said that he wanted to review the offer. I asked Jim how long he was able to keep it up (no pun intended). He said he was able to keep the graffiti billboard up for three weeks before the company insisted they take it down and restore it back to its original design. Jim knows something about helping his business? message rise above the clutter.

I highly doubt that Jim was the one who climbed up the billboard and defaced his photo. I also doubt that one of hiscompetitors did it. To this day, no one has 'fessed up to the great artistry that was laid on Jim?s billboard. However, keeping it purposely in place for three weeks, Jim understood more than most business owners about the concept of ?rising above the clutter.?

I am not suggesting that business owners conjure up something disgusting for their advertisements. My point is that to be different it has to be memorable. Since 99.9 percent of what a consumer encounters every day is washed and forgotten, the message must stand out in a crowd. Try asking a group of 10 consumers how many advertisements that they remember from yesterday. Out of 10 people, maybe one person might remember one advertisement from the previous day. In my seminars, the usual response is about three percent of attendees will remember one ad from the day before. For business owners, make sure your message is there every day, all day, over and over again. Building top-of-mind awareness does not happen overnight. 

As we wrapped up the meeting, Jim, and I discussed the possibility of a ?slogan? for his business. Jim is a clever guy. He said, ?It could be Southern Missouri Financial Investments -- the place where you can hang your hat on your investments.? Hmmm?.maybe Jim did climb up that billboard after all!

NOTE: If you have rise-above-the-clutter ads that you would like to share, please email them to sean@luceperformancegroup.com. I will feature the best stories in a future article.

Sean Luce is the Head National Instructor for the Luce Performance Group.

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

WARNING! WARNING! Pandora Targeting Radio's Advertisers And Station Clutter.

July 12, 2011

Pandora executives are making it crystal clear how they plan to grow revenue. They are going after radio's advertisers, both national and local and they say they are delivering a "dramatically better radio experience." And, Pandora is going after an Achilles heal for radio, overloaded stopsets and hours and hours of clutter, be it commercials, talk, liners, whatever. Pandora is downloaded on one out of every two smartphones purchased. It has delivered 3.9 billion listener hours in fiscal year 2011. And, Pandora executives say, "listeners are in control." "A far cry from what listeners are used to with radio" according to Tim Westegren.

Pandora co-founder Joe Kennedy explained to investors why Pandora is seeing early results at the expense of radio. "We get a modest premium over traditional broadcast radio. We'll get that for a :15 spot over what advertisers would pay for a :30 or :60 spot on radio. The key differences are: our ads are targeted, interactive and measurable, which is not the case for radio. And it's such a superior environment, less cluttered. If you are the advertiser on broadcast radio, you are one of 13 minutes of advertising in an hour. It's much less valuable to an advertiser to be stuck in the middle of a 6-minute pod." He added "Pandora is this wonderful environment that really allows an advertiser to focus on communicating its message to the target consumer as opposed to trying to break through the clutter."

Pandora Chief Revenue Officer John Trimble discussed the $37 billion radio advertising pie. "While that pie is not growing, we see it as an opportunity." Trimble also discussed the local sales teams calling them "our feet on the street" offering advertisers site, sound, motion and emotion. He showed investors a slide with details of the company's expanding sales offices. And he said Pandora has had 8 quarters of triple digit revenue growth. Another very interesting point made by Tim Westegren in today's call was the fact that Pandora has been holding listener town hall meetings all around the country to get feedback. When was the last time your radio station held a town hall listener meeting? When you do, perhaps the opening question should be, are you all comfortable hearing 15-20 minutes of commercials and chatter every hour? just remember to duck after you ask.

(7/13/2011 6:57:54 AM)
As the GM of a commercially supported Christian radio group, I've exploited the 6-or-more minute commercial sets of mainstream competitors for a long time.

Like Pandora, we've developed a rather simple concept of 'programming for the listener' - not the sales team.

Silly claims like "more music' and 'morning rock blocks' only send the message that your radio station agrees with the listener sentiment that programming so many commercial units per hour is distasteful.

But you go ahead, radio guys. Keep plugging in those 6-minute stopsets followed by a news update, followed by some inane jock bit and a liner.

Sure, the damage is done, but when the advertiser recovers from your sting, we'll step in and show them genuine results from terrestrial radio. Again.

Add a Comment | View All Comments Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here

The Mason Memo Part Two. Is Clutter Killing Radio? How Much is Too Much?

May 27, 2011

by Ed Ryan

CBS radio boss Dan Mason is one of radio's group heads not afraid to speak his mind and let everyone know what he thinks. When he writes a memo to his employees instead of worrying about somebody leaking it to the radio trades, his staff sends it out. He's visible at industry conventions, not worried about trying to fly under the radar. In light of the increasingly crowded and competitive battle for the consumer's ears these days, there's been a lot of talk about radio figuring out a way to speak with one voice. Mason wouldn't be a bad choice in that role.

His latest memo had to do with a directive given to CBS music stations. After a meeting with a music executive Mason came to the conclusion that the industry needed to do a better job identifying songs and artists on the air. Over the years, for some reason, stations have gotten away from opting, a lot of times, for unprepared and meaningless chatter that turns off the listener. That music exec told Mason identifying the artists would help him sell more music. That brings us back to the age old debate in radio. Why don't jocks back-announce songs? How much clutter is too much clutter? How much mindless chatter can the listener tolerate? There are many questions. And we turned to the industry experts for the answers.

Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs says we're all struggling with those questions. "Doing great radio and finding the optimal avenues for different formats in which to deliver artist and title information is a key.  This is clearly a promotable benefit.  In research study after research study, listeners tell us that they value this information - and they're frustrated when they don't get it.   The trick is developing the balance of delivering the information in a timely PPM-friendly fashion.  For well-branded stations with strong personality, this won't be hard.  Creative programmers will find a way, and their audiences will benefit from having this information, rather than using Shazam or racing off to a search engine to find out the name of that damn song!"

Jaye Albright of Albright & O'Malley tells Radio Ink there is no boiler plate answer. "The more compelling the personality and the content, the more.  The less personable and relatable the non-music programming on a music FM is, the better the station will do with less of it, as long is the goal is short term only.  LONG term, developing strong entertainers who know how to use content as a magnet, the better the station will do. Listeners like it best when there is NO clutter.  Limiting unwanted elements that make money has always been the greatest programming competitive challenge. Running any clutter of any kind which doesn't drive revenue or usage is foolhardy.
McVay Media President Mike McVay says he's a huge fan of identifying the music. "WBEB/Philadelphia invented the tactic of "Song Tags." That's my favorite tactic. It's a quick recorded blip that announces the song title/artist name. Even if you have the visual tags on the listeners radio tuner, they still want to hear the name of the song that's been played. I do not subscribe to the "one size fits all" philosophy, but I do believe that you have to declare if you're a music station or a personality station. If you're a music station ... play 12 songs minimum per/hour. We've learned from the People Meter that the "tune out" types are gone by the second commercial, if they're tuning out, but if a listeners sticks through two spots, they're likely to hang-in for the complete set.

Lund Media Research President John Lund says the research says that listeners really want this. "Listeners do want to know what played. That?s why stations have this info on their website ? including the last 10 songs that aired.  But it is impractical to B/A all songs in every format since it breaks the flow ? especially in PPM markets. Title and artist is highly desired ? and that means back-announcing after the song, but not fore-announcing.  Stopping to B/A every song will be perceived by some as stopping down.  Must be programmed carefully.  I bet Clear Channel and Entercom are looking forward to all CBS stations back-announcing every song with title and artist.

Humans like humans, and listeners like to hear our air talents communicate one-on-one.  I don?t consider liners to be talk, but rather benefits of continued listening i.e., mini commercials for the radio station, and liners reinforce reasons to listen.  I disagree with one sentence below ? not all talk is perceived as ?all that clutter?.  That would be especially true this week on the Country FM in Joplin, MO Kix 102.5.

Second oldest question in commercial radio:  ?How many commercials an hour do we play?? Oldest is ?what format do we run???  Answer:  Do not play many more than the competition you share audience with.  We?re in the audience satisfaction business and we play the music targeted for the researched demo.  But if we have to stop down, keep it competitive.  Don?t give reasons for customers to shop other stores.

Gary Berkowiz of Berkowitz Consulting says "Yes, yes, yes. I have been a major advocate of this practice for a long time. Afterall, what do DJ's do? They tell you the songs they are playing. I advise my stations that when they are into music, always make the jock raps about the station benefits and the music. The biggest excuse I hear for not doing this is "They know all the songs we play." That is not true. In focus groups across the country, listeners frequently complain that they would like the radio stations to tell them the songs and artists more often. I have been using "song tags" on many stations for the past few years (a recorded backsell on every song played) and the listener reaction is always positive to them.

Listeners hear two things on radio stations. Music and everything else. They do not delineate promos, commercials, liners, etc. Its just music and everything else. For that reason, I try to play as much music as possible, keep it moving forward and still find a way to weave the personalities into the mix. If station promos are not highly compelling, I say drop em!  I believe 12 minutes/12 units max is best. Lately, its the units that are causing problems. I have always believed that listeners hear "messages" not "minutes".

Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend

View the original article here