Get this: it’s not about what you say. It’s about what it makes me feel. I, the listener, will make up my mind pretty quickly about this. Information is fine, but unless I feel something about it, it’s just not relevant.
You have a choice when you open the mic. You can scatter words all over the place, but unless it fires up a pilot light inside the listener, it’s just ‘blah – blah – blah.’ Continue reading
Back to school time is everywhere. In the stores with sales. On our neighborhood streets with school buses. There are even tax-free days for Back to School. It’s not an official holiday like Christmas, Ground Hog Day, or Millard Fillmore’s birthday, but it is just as evident.
Back to school affects everyone’s schedule, even those that don’t go to school. That’s Common Ground. (Can’t say that about ole’ Millard’s birthday.)
“The difference between school and life? In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
Tom Bodett
So, let’s go back to school and discuss what really matters in transforming your station’s programming.
Continue readingThis is a voice tip for radio, and artistically, the way you’re going to perform the best.
We’ve all heard way too many “foghorn” deejays trying to “impress” us with their big, impressive delivery. And it’s not just in radio – the “HI THERE!” bad disc jockeys are doing Sports on TV now, shouting at us about everything.
But that’s just so 1975.
This week’s Frost Advisory is about something that we all inherently know. But as we approach another political season, understanding your listeners’ worldview will help you avoid potential potholes. After all, I live in the same county as Mar-a-Lago. You can thank me later.
Sure, we understand that targeting is important, but there is more to it than just demo, gender, ethnicity, and shoe size.
Continue reading“To see things in the same way it helps to be standing in the same place looking in the same direction at the same thing.”
Roy Williams or unknown author or someone else
Having coached over 300 team shows, and doing 5 different team shows in my career, I can tell you that true team show communication is often elusive, or sometimes erratic. Let me help you with that.
The minute you close the mic at the end of a break, talk about what you’re going to do next. Lay it out, who’ll do what, etc. then go about your business. It’s free time now, to do whatever you want – talk to each other more (always a good idea), just have a little silent time, check your email… whatever.
What’s coming out of the speakers?
Mostly I’m invited into a radio station with the thought that I might impact what’s coming out of the speakers. And while it’s true that excellence in programming can fuel a station’s growth and impact, there is an aspect of that transformation that can be easily overlooked.
Continue readingHere’s a question for you: Do you come across as PART OF the music, or like you’re just waiting for the song to end, so you can talk? You’re either going to a part of it, or not.
I’ve talked about this before, but you should want to match the mood, the “vibe” of the song, or match the pace of the song – or both – so you’re a PART of the listening experience.
Too many stations are running Imaging way too much of the time, and the air talent doesn’t get to talk often enough. We need to hear these people so we can bond with them. Just your tone of voice, or a little remark over the song, can say a lot.
I’m not bonding with your Imaging guy.
On last week’s show I shared how our minds crave simplicity. Our ego seduces us to consider things close to us as more important than things more distant.
I’m often brought into conversations about a dip in the ratings or a fundraiser falling short of the goals. (Rarely do we have these conversations when things are humming along). The quick answers are always telling.
First, they are always simple. “We’re playing too much Praise and Worship.” “We’re playing too little Praise and Worship.” “We need more variety.” “My neighbor doesn’t listen anymore.”
Rita in accounting will inevitably react with, “We’re not playing enough tobyMac.” Or too much.
Continue readingIt depends on what it is, but only rarely have I heard a Positioning phrase or slogan that actually matters, especially if it’s just touting things like “12 in a row” or “50-minute music hours,” or the nebulous “More music.” (More music than what? My refrigerator?)
Anybody who wants to do so can make those claims, and somebody will, I guess, but why settle for that?
Here’s what you really are: What the listeners think you are when they listen to you.
So consider taking off a lot (or all) of the “sloganeering” and SHOW me why I should listen. It starts with THIS time you open the mic.
Note: there are stations whose Imaging actually means something. But I wouldn’t say they’re in the majority.
Her name was Jane. She was the first girl I ever asked out on a date. She said no.
I convinced myself that it was because of the big zit on my forehead. Or that I wasn’t the quarterback on the football team. I found out later it was because she and her family went out of town.
We think we’re pretty important, don’t we?
It’s tempting to think our station fans’ (P1s’) behavior is a direct result of our programming tactics. I’ve hear otherwise reasonable people exclaim that ratings went up because of the new jingles, ratings went down because we didn’t hit the spot breaks within the bow tie, or question our ratings because we didn’t have a specific number of songs on our playlist. I’M NOT MAKING THIS UP, as Dave Barry would say. (See Frost Advisory #221-Up Is Good And Down Is Bad)
Continue reading
