|
This a few
weeks ago I was on a road trip visiting radio stations in the
Midwest so I listened to a lot of radio stations along the way. I
always learn a lot of things when I do this. The one thing that
stands out on this last trip is that many stations are not paying
much attention to detail, detail the average listeners can and will
pick up on right away. Here are some examples:
I heard one
station running a sweeper telling people, “After the game we’ll give
you a complete breakdown on this weekend’s playoff games…” This was
puzzling considering that it was Wednesday and the games were over
that past Sunday.
Another station
was proclaiming over and over again that they are “Live & Local”
with instant information, while I was sitting in a 1 1/2 traffic jam
with no mention of what was going on while listening to a syndicated
program.
Another station
told me that Garth Brooks/Thunder Rolls was actually Martina McBride
and Independence Day. Every other voice track was out of sequence as
well. This is always a real crowd pleaser.
I heard many
stations giving me the weather forecast, but never
told me what the temperature was, the very statistic I wanted to
hear the most.
I heard stations
tell me to come to their event on Saturday, which is fine, but not
on the Wednesday after the event.
One station told
me to wait for 45 minutes to get a traffic update, which I needed,
only to have it superseded by a remote broadcast. The announcer was
aware that they skipped the traffic, BUT he assured me there would
be one in 30 minutes. I didn’t wait.
I was told many
times that it was 20 minutes “Past The Hour.” What hour?
Many announcers
told me that they were taking a break and they would be back in a
few minutes. Each time they did this I flipped to another station. I
wonder how many thousands of people did the same thing?
Many music sweeps
on stations were actually much shorter than they promised. They
might want to double check the batteries in their stopwatch.
A few radio
stations thought they needed to tell me what a song I just listened
to for 3:45 was saying.
Some stations
asked me if I wanted to do something fun this coming weekend. Did
they think I would be looking for something boring to do? Just
invite me to the event.
Are we so busy
that we are not listening to our radio stations? It sometimes sounds
like it. Are we too busy to provide our listeners with accurate and
compelling information? That would be like a restaurant being so
busy washing the dishes that they don’t pay attention to the way
they are preparing the food.
Brian is a 30 year radio veteran
who has successfully served many companies over the years as Program
Director, Operations Manger and VP of programming. After many years
of success working for individual radio stations and clusters, Brian
Joined one of the most trusted consulting firms in the country,
Audience Development Group. For the last 15 years Wright has enjoyed
building alliances with scores of stations in the US & Canada
helping them grow in ratings and revenue. Contact Brian at
brian@audiencedevelopmentgroup.com
|
