What to Do When Your Radio Station Becomes the Story
Sooner or later, every radio station has a bad day. A promotion results in an injury. A personality gets arrested. Someone says something spectacularly stupid on the air. A contest goes sideways. An employee posts something inappropriate. Or a station vehicle suddenly appears on the evening news—and not because you donated it to charity.
Welcome to crisis management.
You can’t always prevent the crisis. But you can prevent a bad incident from becoming a badly managed incident. Every station should have a basic crisis communications plan in place before somebody asks, “Has anyone told the GM yet?”
Here are some guidelines for buying a little Bad Day Insurance.
- Have One Spokesperson.
Designate one person to speak for the station or company and direct all media inquiries to that individual. The GM says one thing, the PD says another, the morning host posts something different on Facebook—and suddenly you’ve created three crises for the price of one. One voice. One message.
- Assemble the Crisis Team Immediately.
Know in advance who gets called: GM, market manager, corporate leadership, programming, communications/PR, HR, legal counsel and anyone directly involved. Establish the facts before establishing the spin.
Your first question should be: What do we actually know? Not: “What did somebody hear from somebody who saw something on Facebook?”
- Get Ahead of the Story.
If the incident is legitimate news and will become public, don’t pretend your own audience won’t hear about it. Determine quickly what can appropriately be acknowledged on your station, website and social channels. Your personalities should know what has happened, what has been publicly stated and how to handle listener questions. Nothing makes an air personality feel quite so secure as discovering the station’s crisis from a caller at 7:12 in the morning.
- Have Talking Points Ready.
Develop a short set of factual, approved messages that become the roadmap for every response. Typically:
What happened?
What do we know?
What don’t we know yet?
What are we doing about it?
When will we provide more information?
Don’t speculate. Don’t embellish. Don’t improvise. This is not the time for your morning host’s legendary ad-lib skills.
- Move Quickly—but Don’t Guess.
Respond promptly to legitimate media inquiries and respect deadlines. But speed does not excuse inaccuracy. It is perfectly reasonable to say: “We’re gathering the facts and will provide additional information as soon as we can.” That’s considerably better than confidently announcing something at 10:05 and retracting it at 10:47.
- Never Say “No Comment.”
“No comment” frequently sounds like, “Yes, it’s terrible, and we’re hoping you won’t discover just how terrible.” If legal or privacy considerations prevent you from discussing something, explain that: “Because this involves a personnel matter, there are details we cannot discuss. Here’s what we can tell you…” Then return to your approved talking points.
- Put Authority Behind the Response.
Serious situations deserve a response from an appropriate level of management. When warranted, the market manager, owner or corporate executive should take responsibility for the station’s response. “The buck stops here” still carries weight. “The intern is looking into it” does not.
- Show What You’re Doing About It.
Listeners don’t merely want to know what happened. They want to know what happens next. If an employee is accused of serious misconduct, appropriate actions might include suspension while facts are reviewed, an internal investigation, employee assistance, additional training or other corrective steps. If a promotion caused an injury, explain what is being done for those affected and what safety procedures are being reviewed.
Action communicates responsibility. But don’t launch a publicity stunt disguised as contrition. People can smell that one from three counties away.
- Remember: Social Media Is Now the Newsroom.
Today’s crisis may break on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, or a local community group before a reporter ever calls. Monitor what’s being said, correct significant factual misinformation when appropriate and make sure station social accounts aren’t continuing with cheerful scheduled posts while a serious situation unfolds.
Nothing says “We’re on top of this” quite like:
10:04 AM: Station employee arrested.
10:07 AM: what’s your favorite taco topping?
Pause the automation.
- Don’t Delete Everything.
Resist the instinct to make uncomfortable posts, comments, or evidence magically disappear. Preserve relevant records and involve management, HR or legal counsel where appropriate. Deleting material during a developing controversy can create another story: “What is the station trying to hide?” Sometimes the Delete button is actually the Make This Worse button.
- Take Care of Your Own People.
Receptionists, salespeople, and air personalities may receive angry calls, emails, and social comments. Give employees clear instructions:
What can I say?
Who gets media calls?
Where do I forward complaints?
What should I do with threatening communications?
Who handles advertiser concerns?
Your employees shouldn’t have to invent crisis policy between songs.
- Call Important Advertisers.
If the incident is serious enough to affect the station’s reputation, don’t let your biggest clients learn everything from television or social media. Management and sales leadership should determine which key advertisers deserve a direct call. A simple message—“Here’s what happened, here’s what we know, and here’s what we’re doing”—can protect a valuable relationship.
- Know When Humor Stops.
Radio people naturally use humor to defuse uncomfortable situations. Be careful. If someone has been hurt, victimized or seriously affected, don’t make the incident the punchline. Empathy beats cleverness. There will be plenty of time to be funny again when you’re no longer leading the 6 PM news.
- Conduct the Postmortem.
After the crisis passes, gather the team and ask: What worked?
What didn’t? Were employees prepared? Did management respond quickly enough? Were our facts accurate? Did our social media response help or hurt? What procedures need to change?
The goal isn’t assigning blame. It’s making sure the next bad day is handled better.
Build the Plan Before You Need It
Create a simple Crisis Communications Checklist and keep it readily available. Include emergency contact information, spokesperson assignments, corporate contacts, legal counsel, social media access, internal notification procedures, advertiser protocols and sample holding statements.
Because the worst time to develop a crisis plan is during the crisis. That’s like reading the fire extinguisher instructions after the curtains catch fire.
The Lund Lesson
You may not control the crisis. You absolutely control how professionally you respond to it. Move quickly. Get the facts. Speak with one voice. Show empathy. Take appropriate action. Keep employees informed. And never let speculation get ahead of information. A well-managed crisis can actually reinforce something valuable about your station: When things go wrong, we do the right thing.
The Lund Challenge
At your next management meeting, ask: “If something serious happened at 7:15 tomorrow morning, would everyone know exactly what to do by 7:20?” Who calls whom? Who speaks publicly?
Who handles social media? Who informs employees? Who contacts advertisers? Who calls legal?
If the answer includes the words “I think…”, you need more Bad Day Insurance.
Pic designed by freepic.diller for Magnfic.com.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming, broadcast consulting, and research firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats.