John Lund
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How do you make programming and sales promotions more effective? Put the listener's benefit first. You’ll get the listener’s attention by starting with what is in it for him/her. Learn the difference between features and benefits: features are nice, but benefits sell.
Well-designed contests can excite the cume, boost daily tune-ins, and bring new energy to your station. Use these six proven principles — with a wink or two — to make your promotions more powerful and more fun.
Two weeks before Christmas, Edison Research hosted a webinar unpacking its latest Infinite Dial and Share of Ear findings. If you thought “nothing ever changes in audio,” Edison politely disagrees. Here are the highlights that matter, plus a few that should make you raise an eyebrow.
A new MRI-Simmons survey finds that nearly two-thirds of Americans say radio is either “very trustworthy” or “trustworthy,” ranking it second only to newspapers. There is a mere one percent difference between the two media types.
Radio ratings are driven not just by how long people listen, but by how often they return. With the average listener tuning in for only about ten minutes per occasion, the winning strategy is simple: increase the number of daily listening occasions. When you create more reasons and more appointments to listen, you create more quarter-hours—and that builds stronger ratings.
Consultant John Lund presents 2026 resolutions to help GMs play a role in radio’s growth and prosperity.
Radio listening habits have changed—and news delivery must evolve just as quickly. The classic five-minute news wheel is fading fast, even among the major networks. Today’s winning music stations deliver news in quick, high-impact bursts that fit modern attention spans.
Every manager wants better performance in the New Year. Great, but “want” won’t move the needle. Here’s a no-fluff plan to get you from good to unignorable in 2026. Read it. React. Do it now (yes, right now).
Morning shows that adopt these tactics become stickier, more promotable, and more habit-forming. They feel bigger. They sound more important. And they create more listening occasions, which directly drives ratings. Turn your show from “background noise” into a can’t-miss event—the same way the NFL, MLB, and NBA turn games into national moments.
Your music library may be filled with powerhouse songs your audience loves—but if your tempo settings are flawed, your station can still sound boring. One of the biggest hidden problems in many music logs is “tempo stacking,” slow songs that never schedule, or clumps of ballads or boomers killing your energy in the wrong quarter-hour.
