You’re probably familiar with Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef with a personality who built his empire on television shows such as Kitchen Nightmares, Hell’s Kitchen, Hotel Hell, and MasterChef US. Ramsay’s direct approach and focused advice could be a quick fix for radio shows and stations. You may think there’s no such thing as a quick fix because your station is complicated, your market unique, and there are so many “cooks” in your radio “kitchen” that it’s hard to get things done. But just like the restaurants Ramsay advises, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of how your station sounds to your audience.
Ramsay’s aggressive personality is his calling card. He’s bold, honest, and openly aggressive, but his advice could be what you need. So, how would he provide a quick fix? Watch Kitchen Nightmares for a clue.
The struggling restaurant owners usually think adding more dishes will broaden the restaurant’s appeal. It’s human nature. You run an Italian restaurant, and customers ask for a hamburger. You start thinking that expanding your menu will broaden your appeal. You’ll attract more customers, and existing guests will return because of the variety. It makes sense, right? But it doesn’t work.
It makes for crappy food and creates inventory headaches. The entire staff has more to worry about, more things can go wrong, and they become overwhelmed. It also prevents the restaurant from becoming known for something. It takes away from establishing their One Thing.
That’s why Ramsay’s first step is almost always to trim the menu, usually from thirty-plus dishes to around ten. By specializing in fewer things, they can excel by focusing on what will make them famous. Think about that. Improving the current menu doesn’t come first. Trimming comes first.
Step One: Start Your Quick Fix
Lots of things get better when reduced. Pruning your roses causes them to grow bigger and brighter. Cutting back fruit trees produces better crops. Directors cut good scenes to make a great movie. Musicians eliminate good tracks to make a great album. Writers remove good pages to make a great book.
Disney has limited real estate, so it eliminates the Worst Ride Out when introducing a new attraction. This allows natural evolution, reinventing the brand while remaining familiar to their fan base.
What if you applied this approach to your brand? What would happen if you reduced what you offered listeners? Offering less is your best approach for a quick fix. Offering fewer things gives you time to execute better and laser-focus on the things that are most important for the brand.
Getting rid of features is difficult because you think everything on your station is good. But good doesn’t win fans any more than average food attracts customers. It has to be great. Only great content attracts and holds listeners.
Get rid of everything on your station that isn’t remarkable. Take an objective look at your brand and eliminate things listeners like but don’t love. Ask yourself:
If my competition were doing this on their station, would I care?
Be honest. It doesn’t belong on your station if it doesn’t worry you to compete against it. Get it off, even though you have nothing to replace it. Everything else will take on a higher profile.
Step Two
The next step is to list everything on the air—every message, promo, feature, contest, game, and programming element. The list will be longer than you think! Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each. Then assign each element to one of three categories:
Keep it, dump it or reinvent it.
For example, start with the weather. Is it mundane, ordinary and delivered without passion? Are you robotic? Does it sound like everyone else? Do you need it? Should you dump it? If not, could you reinvent it with a different presentation? Maybe you should make it less formal and more conversational. Or could you energize it with flavor, personality, and excitement? Or, is it great (not just good) for your brand the way it is? If so, keep it.
Take action on every element. Swap “Let’s think about it” for “Let’s decide on it now.” If you are on the fence, dump it. You can always bring it back if you miss it. But you won’t. And neither will your listeners. Otherwise, the “reinvent” category will be long, and the process will be less effective.
There must be a good reason for everything you keep. If you can’t defend and justify the reasons you love it, it can’t stay in the “keep” category.
Conclusion
As you evaluate your brand, find things you can improve and press them further in search of excellence. This process helps you continue to evolve. Even Ramsay’s restaurants eventually add a new dish. But when they do, they retire an old one, just like Disney.
Trimming your station can be traumatic, but it’s necessary. Once the changes are in place, you’ll marvel at how much cleaner it sounds.
Do you have the radio version of A Kitchen Nightmare? Put on your Gordon Ramsay hat and go to work. Your audience will thank you for it.
Pic by Gordon Ramsay Restaurants/PA.
Tracy Johnson is a talent coach and programming consultant. He’s the President/CEO of Tracy Johnson Media Group. His book Morning Radio has been described as The Bible of Personality Radio and has been used by personalities worldwide.