What makes your station unique and desirable?
+ Music Quantity: Non-stop music, 10 in a row, music marathon, a long block or set
+ Music Quality: Variety of genres, different eras, a large library (less repetition), music discovery (playing new songs first)
+ Variety: Different genres, different eras, a large library, “best music variety”
+ Niche: One era, one genre, new music, classic hits (classic country)
+ Morning Show: Fun, entertaining, funny, audience-interactive, essential info to start the day, local show
+ Benchmarks: Memorable content at a fixed time
+ Localizations: Hourly content that is unique to the local area, relating something fun or interesting to see or do
How Are You Doing?
All of these elements should be promoted and delivered each hour. Carefully program and position these events each hour. You don’t want a music quantity imaging liner going into a commercial stopset or a new music imaging liner going into an older song.
Morning Show
Your morning show should be the best in the market, and the highlight of the day. Localism is important. The morning show promos should air hourly after 10 AM. Work on making them entertaining so they capture the fun and show benefits, not a generic list of show features. Clips of highlights from previous shows can be effective, as are listener testimonials. The earlier you get your P1s to listen, the more opportunities you have for listening throughout the day. Promote the benefits of listening to the midday show hourly in the morning, to help move the audience from one daypart to the next.
Be sure to include the “call to action” by tagging the morning show promo with an invite to listen to the next show. Like a retail store displaying its “open” hours, include the hours the morning show is on.
Expand Listening Time
Getting your audience to listen longer and for more daily occasions will dramatically increase your ratings. While adding Cume with outside marketing is vital, increasing core listening cannot be taken for granted. Aggressively ask for continued listening.
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John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming consulting firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats. Did you find this article useful? You can leave a comment below or email John at John@Lundradio.com.