Author name: Tracy Johnson

Managers and programmers wring their hands over how to structure their radio stations in an endless cat-and-mouse game to manipulate the ratings system. The mechanics of winning credit for a quarter-hour share vary depending on whether ratings are measured by diaries or meters. There are many theories and philosophies, but the key question is how […]

There’s a new competitor in town. They’ve challenged your position and are attacking your brand. Uh oh. Now what? Hopefully, you’ll follow these six ways to win the battle. But even if you execute your strategy flawlessly, things can go wrong. Something unexpected always happens. You can’t win immediately, but there are three ways to quickly lose

The short answer is that if a caller improves a segment, put it on the air. If not, don’t. Done. But it’s not that simple in the real world.

With a nod to Ries and Trout’s 22 Immutable Laws Of Marketing, there are several fundamentals of managing a radio station’s music database. There are many variables for each music system, but several basics are universal. Think of them as the immutable laws of music scheduling. The immutable laws of music scheduling are not comprehensive, but

Most stations should be able to pull off a prank that can be fun on the air and generate talk in the community without losing the license or getting someone suspended.

A headline like Double Your Ratings seems like it will be followed by a comment like, “Get twice as many listeners.” It doesn’t seem possible, or at least it’s unlikely. But this is not a “get rich quick” scheme. Increasing ratings is not as impossible as programmers and air personalities think. Most broadcasters immediately think it would require a massive marketing