Author name: Tracy Johnson

The station was about to launch a syndicated morning show. The program director called to ask an odd question. He actually asked whether he should promote the show. Should we promote the show? Really? You had to ask? I gave the PD the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he meant to ask how to promote the show […]

The world moves fast, and listeners have high expectations. That alone should be enough to reconsider how a station brand is promoted. Every element is an opportunity to entertain and promote, but most stations keep producing predictable, dated audio. That needs to change. Promos that repeat a positioning statement or yell at listeners with hype

The holidays are approaching and many stations will wrestle with how to program around vacation and PTO days. Maintaining a consistent sound, even when personalities are on vacation, is a key to retaining listeners, but questions arise when primary personalities cannot be live for their normal show. That’s why a well-produced Best Of Show is

Radio shows must do more to stand out than ever before. Just being heard doesn’t resonate. Being good on the air is just table stakes to get into the attention game. Personalities must excite audiences by being memorable enough to be more top of mind and create talk. When segments become part of your audience’s

This will be a familiar message for those who subscribe to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Tzu was an ancient Chinese general and military strategist. His philosophies on fighting wars became a marketing playbook for many brands. One of his principles of war is to apply resources to attack a narrow, defined target. It’s

Politics and elections are particularly sensitive, but that doesn’t mean the topic should be off-limits. Radio shows don’t have to be controversial or polarizing to deal with a topic. The key is defining an entry point or angle so you are both relevant and relatable. Here are some games and features almost every radio station

Talking about politics and elections is tricky, especially in a world where each side is convinced there is only one right choice (and it’s theirs). Some stations have a strict “no politics ever” policy. Then there’s the other extreme: Stations and shows that thrive on controversy and get deeply involved (talk radio). Most shows should

One of the three ingredients for making a hit is familiarity (along with freshness and distribution). A complete discussion of the concept is available here, and embedded benchmarks baked into the fabric of a radio show are a charming, effective way to create familiarity while surprising your audience. Before going into the details, let’s establish an understanding of

There has been much hand-wringing about the potential of AI voices and how that will impact radio stations and audiences. Most have been dismissive because it was obvious that the audio produced by synthetic voices wasn’t ready for prime time. But if you think broadcast-quality audio will never arrive, or if it does, it will

Nielsen is changing the definition of a quarter-hour of radio listening, lowering the threshold for stations in PPM markets from a minimum of five minutes of listening to three. The rating company has been testing and comparing how the changes affect rating reports but has not announced the date it will be reflected in your reports.