Airchecker

Everyone knows the world has changed in the past few weeks. Life has been disrupted, and there’s no timeline for returning to normal. The current crisis has had a lasting impact on everyone.

So now what? What’s our new normal?

In our webinar this week, Ken Benson (P1 Media Group), Dave “Chachi” Denes (Benztown) and I shared best practices and ideas for the current environment, provided guidance for the near-term, and offered our forecast for the long-term.

Here are some highlights from the webinar.

The New Normal: Programming

• In contrast with recent surveys indicating listeners say they are listening to the radio more, early ratings results show AQH has declined significantly in most markets. Listeners are now forming new habits, which may or may not be similar to previous habits. The longer folks are at home, the more difficult it will be to re-attract them to our stations when society is more mobile.
• Listening to AM/FM radio via streaming and smart speaker usage is higher. Programmers that have not converted to Total Line Reporting to consolidate over-the-air and online listening into one ratings number should do so immediately.
• Stations should focus on connecting with listeners emotionally, providing an escape from anxiety, and renew efforts to reflect the local community.
• In times of stress, listeners seek comfort. Consider adjusting the music mix to play fewer new songs and more popular library titles. This is a great time to become more nostalgic, familiar and comfortable.

The New Normal: Personality

• Air talent plays a vital role at this time. Most shows should remain calm, generally upbeat, and positive. Don’t ignore the crisis, but find ways to relieve listener stress.
• Personalities should continue to be themselves, with a few subtle adjustments. Some segments that were hilarious a month ago (like prank calls) may seem mean-spirited now. Be a little more sensitive with a little less edge.
  Keep your sense of humor. The #1 most desired trait listeners seek from radio personalities is someone that makes them laugh. That may be even more important now. But be tasteful. There’s plenty to have fun with, but it’s probably not a good idea to make jokes about the disease itself.
• Personalities having a hard time finding content ideas should consider just being the show that listens to the listener. Many personalities are finding connections just by asking “How are you doing today?”

The New Normal: Promotion

• It makes no sense to spend marketing or contesting budgets now. If it hasn’t already been taken out of the budget, save it for when life returns to normal. However, play games on the air. You don’t even need prizes! Just have fun.
• Most stations report phone and text activity is virtually non-existent, but social media engagement remains strong. Use that leverage.
• Create videos. Take listeners behind the scenes into your new normal. Some should consider starting a podcast now.
• Plan now for the future. It seems a long way off, but this will end, and life will return to normal. Be ready to take advantage of it. Brainstorm ideas for being at the center of your city’s celebration when life resumes.

Forecast & Recommendations

• From Tracy Johnson: Just when you thought the radio industry had no more room to cut, the COVID-19 event has made it necessary for more changes. This is a painful time for everyone in the radio business. Some stations will never recover. Some may simply go off the air. There are two major challenges ahead. One is re-attracting listeners to your radio station. The other is finding new sources of revenue because we can’t assume advertisers will automatically return anytime soon.
• From Dave Denes: Radio is going to struggle well into 2021. Smart managers will apply the principles in the Stockdale Paradox by maintaining a balance of reality and optimism. This is the time great leadership steps up to keep their teams positive and inspired.
• From Ken Benson: The world has changed as much as it did after 9/11. We need to step back and take a new look at the industry and realize there’s an opportunity for radio to shine. This is the time to pull together and make major differences in listener lives. This could be one of the most exciting and meaningful times in your station’s history.

The webinar is available to watch on-demand anytime for free here. It includes a 50-minute presentation, followed by 40 minutes of Q & A.

Nothing like this has ever happened before. So there’s no model. No template. What should radio stations do now in response to the fast-moving worldwide disaster that impacts every single person in the world? What should your radio station do now about COVID-19?

There’s a lot of advice out there, from well-meaning experts recommending every station add a newscast every half-hour. Or passing on information from reliable sources. Both may be the right thing for your station. But maybe not. There’s no way one set of rules applies to all stations

I’ve published a new eBook Dealing With Tragedy and Emergencies with far more details. It’s available now for free to all stations. Download a copy here.

Get the book. Study it. Take inspiration from it. Apply the principles to your station tomorrow. It will help. But most programmers and air personalities probably are looking for immediate suggestions on how to respond immediately.

With that in mind, here are my recommendations to help your station find your own solutions for dealing with COVID-19.

How To Respond to COVID-19

Be Who You Are

We’ve never seen an emergency quite like coronavirus. And I know you’re already responding. But as the story develops, here are some things that might help.

If you’re a news station, be great in covering the story from all angles. But if news is not a reason for coming to your station or show, don’t suddenly try to be the news station. It’s not what you’re for. And the more you try to be a news station, the less relevant your station becomes. Listeners have a place to go for updates. However, that doesn’t mean to ignore the topic.

News Coverage

One thing is for sure: Every station should communicate with listeners based on their brand values. But that doesn’t mean every station should add a newscast. It doesn’t make sense for a lot of stations, especially music stations.

Whatever information you use, make sure it is accurate. Double-check the facts. The world is full of fake news and misinformation.

Here are 7 Ways To Avoid Misinformation During Coronavirus, according to Politifact.

• Learn the basics of the disease.
• Be wary of claims about the epidemic’s source.
• Verify images and videos related to the epidemic.
• Double-check case numbers, death tolls, and fatality rates.
• Beware of attempts to downplay or amplify the threat of the disease.
• Don’t share prevention or treatment methods without consulting official sources.

Be Local

You may not be the authority for breaking news, but you can tell local stories and relate how this is affecting your audience better than anyone. Find unique stories, then connect with stories. Watch how the TV networks do it. CNBC focuses on the financial aspect. ESPN is locked in on how it affects sports and athletes. CNN is round-the-clock full coverage of breaking news. Maybe your angle is simply finding positive stories and comforting listeners looking to get away from the anxiety and stress.

Plug into the local community and communicate the most topical and relevant issues that matter to listeners:

• What schools are closed? Churches? Gatherings of over 250 people?
• What businesses are closed or have instructed employees to work from home?
• How are doctors and hospitals dealing with new patients?
• Dig a little deeper to find stories of those most affected that we would not think of, such as vendors at public events or parking lot attendants. How about waiters and waitresses? Or people who can’t see their parents in the nursing home, leaving them lonely and isolated.

Adjust Personality

If you’re a fun, upbeat, positive air talent, be who you are. If you’re funny, be funny. Don’t joke about important, life-threatening facts. But find ways to show who you are. You may need to back off some aspects of your personality profile and accent other traits.

Contests, Games & Promotions

Some stations have suspended contests and promotions, which is probably a good idea, at least for now. But don’t stop delivering the reasons listeners come to you. Play games and have fun with listeners. You don’t even need prizes. Have fun with listeners. Remember, the biggest reason most turn on the radio is to be put in a better mood!

Stay Calm

Nobody wants to hear a hysterical, panicked broadcaster. There will be some emotional moments. Just be sure to collect yourself and avoid being emotional in the presentation.

Don’t Perform For Ratings

This is going to be a very difficult rating period unless you’re the news station in the market. I also believe Christian stations will do extremely well in this period. But for everyone else, radio listening overall is likely to be lower since there will be fewer cars on the road, and most listening takes place in cars. And, with many folks working from home, TSL is going to suffer on stations specializing in at work listening. The exception is news stations: Listening will be up. And with overall listening down, their shares will skyrocket. There’s not much you can do about this reality. However, you can be authentic, be yourself and connect with fans in deeper ways.

Find a Parade

This promotion concept is to find a movement or idea that is happening in the community and being a part of it. The same theory applies now. In fact, it’s time to double down on community involvement. Look for ways to make a difference in your city, community, and neighborhoods. And tell those stories to make a difference.

Do Something

Don’t just stand there. Do something. Be proactive. Your exact course of action is your own. Nobody can tell you exactly what is right for your station in your market. This story changes quickly. Stay on top of it and reflect your audience. If you’re not sure exactly what fits for your show or station, we’ve launched a special COVID-19 Show Prep site as part of my Personality Magnet Show Prep service. It’s packed with updates (daily), topics and ideas for all formats. Get a free one week trial here.

Conclusion

It’s certainly bad. No doubt about that. But it won’t last forever. Hang in there, take a deep breath and stay focused on how to become more meaningful parts of the audience’s life.

To win a game, players must have a strategy. Or be incredibly lucky. And relying on luck is not a reliable path to success. When a player chooses to play not to lose, it doesn’t work out. Today, radio stations are in that situation.

Investing resources on music flow is important. But a perfect music flow isn’t going to reverse the trend of listeners spending less time with radio.

Researching the music library ensures the right songs are on the radio and placing the most popular songs at the right spots in clocks is a solid programming tactic.  But is that creating more fans?

45 minutes of continuous music sounds like a competitive music position, but eventually, commercials come on. And those stop sets fall at the same time as every other station in the market. Yes, stop set placement is important. But is any music station winning the most music position against streamers and pure plays?

Promotion and contesting can cause rating respondents to take action. Promotion is important, but does a cue to call or tickets to a backstage meet and greet move the needle?

Avoiding needless talk is important, but shaving a few seconds from talk breaks or tightly controlling break length doesn’t make personalities more appealing.

None of these tactics impacts TSL. It makes programmers feel better because they’re doing something. But it’s a defensive strategy. Radio is playing not to lose.

Play To Win, Not To Lose

Here’s something that is happening almost for sure: Radio’s TSL is going down. And each station’s Time Spent Listening is going down, too. Yet broadcasters obsess about share gain or loss.

Programmers: Other stations are not the competition. That’s just playing The Ratings Game, hoping to lose less than a radio competitor. This internal focus is killing the industry.

Turn it around by aggressively competing to earn more attention.

That’s playing to win.

Here’s how to break the pattern of programming not to lose and start playing to win.

Talk Breaks

Stop worrying about coaching talent to shave 2 seconds of talk time or editing a few words out of a segment. I know one programmer that instructed personalities to edit phone calls to remove pauses and breaths.

A few seconds here and there add up. It’s important to maintain forward momentum, but shorter talk breaks are not a competitive advantage. Effective, personal breaks filled with personality and human connection should be the goal.

I’ve heard many 2 minute breaks that are 1:50 too long. And just as many 7 minute breaks that were too short. In creative, winning programming, the length of a break is secondary to effectiveness.

Innovation

The most obvious sign a station is playing not to lose is repeating the same promotions and programming over and over.

Bringing back a successful idea is a good programming strategy, but simply doing the same things over and over results in a boring station. Listeners respond to fresh ideas. But many stations are in a creative rut. They segue from one group contest to the next, each sounding like the last. And each day of programming makes listeners feel they’re listening to a radio version of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

Consistency is good. Predictable is not. Try new things. Experiment. Surprise and delight listeners with new ideas.

Clock Management

Programmers construct elaborate programming clocks, designed to minimize tune out by placing commercials at times dictated by PPM wisdom.

But so is everyone else. So when a listener tunes out to escape commercials, they run into more commercials. And each of those stop sets is endless because PPM analysis proves fewer long stop sets outperforms a balanced clock with fewer commercials.

That’s programming to a rating service. It may work in playing to win The Ratings Game, but it’s slowly making radio less competitive against the real dangers.

Dare to be different. Be less predictable. Try something new.

Strict Talk Policies

Programmers are hung up avoiding negatives. Management issues orders that certain topics are off-limits to avoid listener complaints. The list continues to grow because the public is hypersensitive about anything that doesn’t fit their worldview.

So programmers make rules when they should be coaching talent to creatively manage content that falls within guidelines that support brand values.

Radio has mastered managing details but misses the bigger picture: How does it sound and are we inspiring listeners?

Misapplying Research

Safe programmers focus on removing potential irritants. Research comes in and the management team scrambles to get rid of anything listeners dislike. That would mean there’s no reason to tune out. Remove the off-ramps and the car stays on the freeway, right?

Holding on to existing listeners longer is a good thing. But that’s playing not to lose. It’s not playing to win.

Simply removing negatives can leave a station in the Zone of Mediocrity. There are fewer reasons to tune out, but it also removes reasons to tune in. Many stations have polished the entertainment value from the air.

Obsess About Everything

Hand-wringing and hall-pacing communicates tension and fear. It makes everyone anxious. And that stifles creativity.

Relax and have fun, or at least act like you’re relaxed and having fun. This is the entertainment business and personalities can’t attract larger audiences if they’re worried about another station stealing shares. Or worried about the next round of layoffs.

Conclusion

Winning programmers create can’t-miss entertainment that leaps through the speakers and compels listeners to pay attention. That comes from personalities that attract and lead a passionate fan base.

Programming science is important, of course. But programming not to lose produces disposable stations. Radio is less important each day. We’re losing traction quarter-hour by quarter-hour.

Play to win. Take risks. Don’t be reckless, but be creative, bold and progressive. Try something different. It may not be perfect and may even run off a meter or two (shudder).

But it may save you from your path to extinction.

Music Flow and TSL

Lucky? Here Are 5 Ways to Make Your Luck

How To Build Clocks

Improve Music Research Results

The Real Competition

How Long Talk Breaks Should Be

It’s Time To Rethink Programming Clocks

Do You Polish Entertainment Out Of Your Show?

We are all impatient. We want what we want when we want it. It’s part of contemporary life. And when we have an idea, it goes on the air right away. And naturally, we expect immediate results. We want to catch lightning in bottle. Overnight success is attractive.

Broadcasters make this miscalculation all the time. A new morning show is hired, and the next ratings period is down. They want to know why, and immediately start questioning the strategy.

The next book shows little improvement. Or maybe it’s lower again. Now management questions if this was a mistake, and think about looking for the next overnight success.

Personalities feel the anxiety. They sense when confidence fades.

Personality radio takes time.

The Overnight Success Myth

Whether you’re Elvis Duran, Ryan Seacrest, Howard Stern or Bobby Bones, winning radio shows rarely produce overnight success stories.

Personalities become successful by forming relationships with listeners. It takes time to find a position, develop a “voice” and attract an audience.

Relationships take time, and winning broadcasters understand the process. Audiences fall in love with radio shows in stages. I call the process the Personality Success Path. It doesn’t happen overnight.

Randy Lane shared a research project by Jeffrey Hall, a researcher in communications at Kansas University. Hall conducted a study to measure how long it takes for a friendship to develop from first meeting to besties.

His findings show that:

It takes 94 hours to go from acquaintance to casual friends.

Best friend status takes place at around 219 hours.Serious friendship happens at about 164 hours.

Think about that. Then consider how much time listeners spend with a radio show each day.

They listen for very short periods, usually around 7 minutes per occasion. The average P1 contributes about 6 quarter hours of listening per week to a radio show.

At that rate, it takes 62 weeks for a P1 to become a casual friend. That’s more than a year.

To become a fan (Best Friend), would take 146 weeks. That’s nearly three years.

You Can’t Hurry Love

It’s possible to accelerate the process, but as the song goes, You Can’t Hurry Love.

When starting the Personality Success Path, I encourage talent to focus only on moving from the current stage to the next. The faster one can advance from Stage 1 (Introduction) to Stage 2 (Familiarity), the better. Growing into Stage 3 (Growth) is when real progress begins.

The sad thing is many personalities are stuck in Stage 1 or 2 for years or even decades.

That’s why it’s important to establish specific reasons to listen. The audience is first attracted to things you do. That’s why features are such a powerful tool for building a personality brand.

But they become fans because of who you are. Surrounding features with content that displays character traits through perspective, point of view and personal observations helps listeners connect with you.

Time Is Just One Factor

Yet performing a show and waiting isn’t a recipe for success. Just because a show has been on for years doesn’t mean they’ll advance through the 5 Stages of Growth.

There are many shows that have been on for years and are stuck in Stage 2. Listeners have heard of them, but don’t know anything about them or really care. They haven’t made an impact.

Great management teams are able to identify shows that need time to nurture an audience relationship and those that are doomed to Stage 1 or 2.

Patience with the right show is a virtue. If a show has potential, management’s role is to provide an environment that produces confidence. Help them stay the course through good times and bad (ratings period). Avoid over-reactions in both directions and stay off the emotional roller coaster.

Never Coast

But a frequent result of management exercising patience is ignoring problem areas. While it takes time for talent to develop, just waiting won’t cure problems.

Every show has growing pains and will fail to some degree.

Smart managers identify weaknesses quickly and are proactive to strengthen areas that need it.

Make adjustments, critique the results and study the most effective ideas. Evaluate the impact of tweaks, and build on positive adjustments while taking the next step forward.

This will accelerate the process as the building blocks of the show are forming a solid foundation.

Need help critiquing your show to find a strategy for growth? We can help with our air check coaching services.

Conclusion

Everyone wants overnight success. But it rarely happens.

Many stations start the process of building an amazing personality brand and make it through the first two stages of growth. Some are on the verge of their big breakthrough. Then, at the edge of great success, management loses patience. They pull the plug or change the show at just the wrong time. And the process starts over.

Building a successful personality brand takes courage, persistence and commitment.

If you’re a manager looking for help in knowing whether show has potential and how to get them to the top, let me know. I’d love to help.

If you’re an air talent looking for a breakthrough to find your voice and get on a Personality Success Path, check out my Audience Magnet Course. It has everything you need to succeed.

Just be prepared. Winning radio shows don’t happen as quickly as we would like or think they should. It won’t be an overnight success.

RELATED:

Lucky? No Such Thing. 5 Ways To Make Your Own Luck

Tracy Johnson’s Audience Magnet Video Course

Personality Success Path

The #1 Trait For Successful Talent: Work Ethic

Air Check Coaching Services

Personality Traits Every Radio Performer Needs to Develop

You Won’t Believe How Little Listeners Listen

One of the biggest issues for radio stations or broadcast companies today finding great talent. Everywhere I go, I hear the same thing:

There’s nobody out there. Where are all the personalities?

Yet, there’s more great talent than ever. Many are on the beach looking for an opportunity.

I talk to them every day. They can’t find the next gig.

That’s why we created a new service for radio: The Media Talent Pool.

It’s perfect for air talent, producers and program directors looking for that next gig.

Maybe you’re just graduating from school and looking for a big break or maybe you’re stuck in a station or market and you know you’re ready to move up but you can’t find the right thing. Or maybe you’ve been downsized and become discouraged with the options.

You need to be discovered. Since launching this fall, four radio pros have found their next gig. Every day, broadcasters are finding new prospects they can’t get through blind box ads and job postings.

The Talent Pool Is Free

The talent pool is a free service for the radio industry. It costs nothing to post a listing or be discovered by stations who have openings.

It’s easy to use. Just go to www.MediaTalentPool.com. There’s a link to be listed, and another link for companies looking to find talent.

There’s also a collection of resources to help make a better impression when chasing down a gig, including a terrific Get That Gig webinar on demand. All are free. Click here for the free tools.

Some have asked whether a current employer might see their posting. Of course, there is that risk. The Talent Pool is open to all. However, if you wish to reduce that exposure, just let me know when you send materials and only clients of Tracy Johnson Media Group will see your listing. I can’t guarantee you will remain anonymous, but it will help.

Broadcasters Using the Pool

This collection of radio pros is a service to the radio industry to offer a way for talent to be discovered and for broadcasters to identify and recruit quality personalities, producers and programmers.

It’s easy to sort, scan and find qualified talent in one location.

Here’s a short video that explains how it works.

Let me know how you like the Talent Pool and how it can be better for your purposes.