The bleaker the news headlines the more your listeners will be eager to celebrate the good news and the heroes! It’s like gasping for fresh air. It’s why the flight attendants say to put on your oxygen mask before helping others. We need oxygen to be able to help others, and your station can be that for your community.
Tommy Kramer, my brilliant friend of more than 40 years, puts it this way…
“The Coronavirus isn’t the subject of every single break (you still want to be entertaining, too), but the virus IS the ‘backdrop’ of everything.
If a large portion of the content is people sharing about what the virus means in their lives, then remember that it’s not just their sweet stories, but also their concerns, and what that means in terms of being a good wife/husband/neighbor.”
Sports stations will never have fans that aren’t also sports fans.
Country stations will never have fans that aren’t also country music fans.
Christian stations will never have fans that aren’t also devout Christians…
…unless…
there is something else we have in common.
“We connect with people who interest us.
Roy Williams
We have fun with people who know how to have fun.
We bond with people who believe what we believe.
But our deepest relationships are with people who have shared our pain.”
My friends at Z88.3 in Orlando had their first #1 Women 25-54 ratings in the summer of 2004. What did the Z have in common with the 2.1 million people living in the 22nd largest metro in the USA?
Their names were Charley, Frances, and Jeanne. These are the names of hurricanes, as anyone who has attended CMB’s Momentum in Orlando would know.
Z88.3 became THE station to connect listeners with resources to survive the hurricanes. (Warning: this is not about advocating you put nifty hurricane liners on the air. No, you have to live it. You have to camp out. You have to deliver water. You have to share your common pain. Believe me, you can’t fake it.)
What’s your station’s common ground with your broader community during the coronavirus pandemic? I urge you to look beyond your Christian radio tactics and you’ll discover an entirely new audience eager for the hope your station has to offer.
We’ll never have more in common than now with the people tuning to your station for the very first time.
Without common ground there IS no opportunity.
Please. Don’t miss this opportunity!