Winning an audience requires outperforming the competition on every
level. And it starts with mornings, the talents who have the intuition and discipline to keep the station smart, fun, and moving forward. Great stations have a morning momentum. Each program possesses its own distinct trademark and sound, with features that play into the listener’s imagination.
+ What About News? What’s happening today locally? Tune in and you know. Often, a radio station’s character – it’s true Stationality – as well as success are shaped by the morning show and a talent who satisfy the audience’s need to know.
This is the age of fast food (“I want it now!”) and 400 channel cable or satellite TV. Morning shows quench the audience’s thirst for Instant Information that’s interesting and relatable – that mirrors the life group.
From pop culture and the latest trends to local info with substance, apply the same litmus test to the news as one does to music. Is this news useful, interesting, and will it affect our listeners’ lives? These same questions pertain to the morning show. Is it entertaining and fun? Does it create talk and stimulate more listening? Does it reflect a mirror image of the core audience?
+ True Talent. The morning personality is a superb performer. The show has all the necessary characteristics to build and maintain an audience. The expression, “as goes the morning, so goes the day”, has genuine merit. Mornings sizzle, are fun and fascinating, compelling and informative, and sound terrific! What do we hear as programmers? All elements are packaged in perfect harmony, presented well, and set the stage for the rest of the day. Mornings are the launching pad, and the value of the radio station is spread to all dayparts and listeners.
+ Payoffs give the listener something of value. We are creatures of self-satisfaction. We want to be rewarded, and listeners are so inclined. Jokes, parody songs, and phone calls can be payoffs, but these are often base hits rather than home runs. The grand slams often come with items that hit a personal connection with the audience — from kid and pet stories to a new diet that achieves miraculous results. Payoffs almost always bind listeners with air talents using either heartstrings or purse strings.
+ Portability describes the material we give listeners that they re-use or repeat throughout the day, either quoting you or adapting it as their own. The more listeners “use” the morning show and what it provides, the more loyal and regular they become in their listening habits. Provide a great joke or story that arms them for conversations at work. Giving the listener something they can “carry-out” and use later in the day improves the chances of that person returning the next morning. TSL expands when you win the Listener Usage war and get more “times at bat” – more listening occasions per week.
Beyond morning show benchmarks, the personality is a big local attraction. The show is so user-friendly and fun that everyone wants to listen to it daily. What a concept!
Today’s successful air talent must become an “emotion personality” by creating a connection with the listeners. This is the crucial bond that differentiates a compelling radio station from an “automated” sounding one.
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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.