John Lund
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Tony Romo burst into the CBS NFL broadcast booth in 2017 and immediately sounded different. He was enthusiastic, spontaneous, and knowledgeable. And, remarkably, he could sometimes tell viewers what was about to happen before it happened.
Enthusiasm isn’t volume. It’s preparation + passion + personality. The best talents make listeners feel good about the music, the station—and spending another quarter-hour with both.
Great radio rarely happens by accident. The best stations sweat the small stuff—because listeners notice the sound of a station even when they can’t explain why they like it. This fall, sharpen these ten formatics.
Good research goes beyond ratings to determine why listeners choose you, why others reject you, what they love, what they’d change, and what could persuade them to listen more. Ratings measure listening. Research helps explain it.
Successful radio stations rarely have a secret formula locked in the PD's desk. They simply execute the fundamentals better, more consistently and more relentlessly than the competition. As you prepare for Fall, listen to your station for these ten trademarks of a winner.
Halloween falls on Saturday, October 31, giving radio stations a perfect excuse to get a little weird. For one weekend, ghosts, witches, monsters, devils, superstition and things that go bump in the night can invade the playlist—and the Music Director can blame Halloween. It's one of those rare occasions when a song that hasn't fit the music strategy for the other 364 days suddenly becomes perfectly logical programming.
At your next programming meeting, put this question at the top of the agenda: “What will sound better or different on our station because we had this meeting?” Before anyone leaves, identify at least three specific improvements, assign an owner and establish a deadline.
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.
Your website is part of the station's product. It should immediately communicate the same brand, attitude, entertainment and local connection listeners hear on the air. As you prepare for Fall, give your website a programming review. Start with these ten principles.
A strong listener database turns anonymous Cume into people you can communicate with, learn from, activate—and bring back to the station. As you prepare for Fall, consider these ten ways to make your database a genuine programming, marketing and sales weapon.
