Connecting Locally with Your Listeners

Programming consultant Alan Burns has gotten a lot of ink recently for his study of what we used to call “the stuff in between the records.” (What Does Music Radio Communicate When It’s Not Playing Music?) And the conversation is justified.

Back before I became a general manager and sales manager I was a program director and programming consultant in markets like New York, Nashville, Cleveland and Atlantic City. And in the late adolescent years of FM Radio (the 80s), we spent a lot of time in programming meetings and aircheck sessions (remember them?) talking about making jock breaks “Timely, Topical and Relatable.” The goal was to make sure we struck an emotional chord with the audience when we opened the mic and to give more than the call letters, slogan and frequency. Alan is right. Somewhere in time relating to the audience and their community fell out of fashion.

The irony is that the decrease in relatable content has taken place at a time when our ability to easily find that content is at an all time high. Think about it; something as simple as localizing the weather for your hot zips was tough 10-15 years ago. Now we just type in the zip code and there it is. In most major markets, finding out what was happening in suburban communities meant waiting for a weekly newspaper or asking co-workers or request line callers who lived there. Now we can get high school and little league sports scores, honor roll lists and other local information delivered to a personal home page. With pre-set homepages on Google, Yahoo!, MSN or others, even out-of-market voice-tracked talent can deliver a quality local experience.

Over time an increasing number of liners, sweepers and sales promos took the place of breaks that once connected emotionally with our listeners. On the programming side we added extra station IDs and sell lines in the hopes of growing our audience share. Meanwhile the sales side added more live and produced promos hoping to sell a few more sponsorships to our latest NTR package. But we forgot that talking to and about our listeners creates a bigger emotional connection, and longer time spent listening, than shouting our name and slogan repeatedly. And we can’t rely on our websites and Facebook pages to carry this load.

Whether you are a diary or People Meter market station identification, or station branding, are still critical programming elements in the highly clutter media world in which we live. (The People Meter doesn’t require that you recall listening but people still need to have your station top of mind to get them to choose you in the first place.) And creating engaging integrated marketing programs for clients is more important than ever.

So how do you turn the tide and make your more personal and relatable? Here are two ideas that are simple but require some thought and great execution.

From a sales standpoint, make sure your events, promotions and sales contests are a benefit to your listeners. I know it’s hard and days are busy but we still need to protect the product (especially for the sake of our clients). So make time to jam in a brief brainstorming session with your programming folks and come up with ideas that resonate for both the audience and the advertiser. Don’t settle for the first easy idea that comes up. Force your sales promotions to add value to the listeners’ experience. After all, selling round pegs to square holes doesn’t help anyone.

For programmers and air talent, make your talk elements more personal and local, especially the “live” ones. First, eliminate any excess verbiage and get to the point (edit, edit and edit again). Second, find a person, event and/or place to relate it to. Third, creatively connect the programming or sales element to the audience. Try these examples:

Weather: “Sunny, really hot and humid today with a high in the 90s… the annual RiverFest in Tarrytown is a great place to be today and the Johnson family of Rye texted that they are rafting there now in 95 sticky degrees.”

NTR Event: “We’ve already signed up brides-to-be Joan Spalding of Ridgewood and Maria Russo of Tenafly for our third annual Bridal Expo this Saturday at the Hilton, sponsored by David’s Bridal and the Men’s Wearhouse. And they’re bringing the future husbands Jimmy and Brent, too. Why not join them by registering right now at myradiostation.com/brides?”

Sales Contest: “So far thirty couples have registered for the Chrysler Kiss-Off Contest at Jerry’s Chrysler Jeep in Hawthorne, include Tina and Joey from Colts Neck and Myra and Seth from Valley Stream. Want $500 off a new 300 Convertible and a chance to win one from New Jersey’s biggest and best Chrysler dealer? Only ten slots are left so go to myradiostation.com, keyword Jerry.”

Web Promo: “Tony from Staten Island just Tweeted a big LOL about the new comedy videos posted on Dan’s Morning Show web page. Need a little chuckle while you slave away in Brooklyn or Queens? Then go to myradiostation.com, keyword Morning Funnies.”

Sometimes we forget the basics. Sometimes we get too busy. And frankly, sometimes we just get lazy. Connecting with our listeners and tying our stations back to our local communities is easier and more important than ever. And we don’t get a lot of time to do it. So don’t miss a single opportunity. Push yourself to avoid these traps by taking full advantage of every second and every word you have to make an emotional connection with your listeners.

You’re Only Radio on the Radio

When I first mentioned that phrase to a friend he looked at me like I was standing on my head. But the Internet has turned every communication medium on its ear and more than a decade after “the Web” entered our homes and daily conversations we still struggle to figure out the new business model. The process of reinvention is made more frustrating because new technologies and communication channels seem to pop up every day making yesterday’s Cinderella today’s Ugly Stepsister.

One thing should be crystal clear: You are no longer the business you were ten years ago. And the first step is to stop thinking of your business as “Radio” and start thinking of it as a “multimedia content and marketing company that uses music, news, information and entertainment to connect targeted, local communities with businesses and products that improve their lives.”

Notice the absence of the words Radio, TV, Newspaper and Magazine. You see, when you put your business online you become medium agnostic. The goal is to provide your audience what they want from their online experience, when they want it. What they want is information pertinent to their daily lives and connections to their various communities. And they want it in a variety of formats including text, audio and video.

You are not Radio online. You are only Radio on the Radio.

“But wait,” you say, “I have these studios and towers and transmitters. Surely they are important.”

And the answer is yes assuming you have a strong on-air brand and your Radio stations (and their companion websites) are the center of your audience’s various communities.

So here are ten things to consider as you develop your online strategies.

1) You are much more than Radio online. Online is where you can (finally) service your audiences’ many interests beyond music, news, general entertainment and celebrity gossip.

2) Use the tools your audience expects from a top-notch website – text news and information, audio from your Radio station, entertaining video and the ability to connect with you and one another.

3) Make your brand the center of your listeners’ on-air, online and physical communities. If you have a four-station cluster consisting of Classic Rock, Country, AC and CHR, you should have four on-air and online communities.

4) Use your transmitter and tower to turn your on-air community into online communities. Do this by producing or acquiring targeted content and weaving it into a seamless brand experience on-air and online.

5) Connect everything on-air to a corresponding online element.

6) Integrate your website promotion into your content rather than making it sound like the latest sales promotion.

7) Put your brand on your online content. Yes, it is important to be on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But you must brand those channels with text, video and audio identification.

8) In sales, “A-B-C” means “Always Be Closing.” In content, it means “Always Be Current.” A Twitter account, YouTube channel or Facebook page that isn’t up to date does you more harm
than good. If you can’t stay current, don’t use it.

9) Put your logo on your homegrown video. Most home editing programs allow you to do this easily. Better yet, get a video partner that will add real value to your website.

10) Be sure your e-mails contain a benefit the audience perceives as valuable. Don’t just drop in a client graphic and send it out thinking the contest or discount offer is enough. That’s not how to treat the P1 listeners who signed up for your database.

Local Radio stations have a great opportunity to bigger than ever by being the center of their listeners’ lives. The trick is to have in-depth knowledge of your audience (beyond the usual music and entertainment) and connect with them emotionally on-air and online.