Summer isn’t just for refreshing the music library or planning promotions—it’s the ideal season to make your air staff sound better than ever.
Great talent doesn’t improve by accident. They improve because someone coaches them. One of the most important jobs of a Program Director isn’t scheduling music or attending meetings—it’s developing personalities. Aircheck sessions shouldn’t become the first casualty of a busy week. The best programmers make time to motivate, encourage, challenge, and coach their people.
Think of yourself as the station’s head coach. Championship teams don’t skip practice because they’re busy.
When reviewing an aircheck, focus on the fundamentals:
- Brand every break. The station name belongs at the beginning and end of every break whenever possible.
- Brand every feature. News, weather, contests, traffic, promotions, and stopset exits should all reinforce the station’s identity.
- Sell the station. Don’t merely say the calls. Deliver them with energy, confidence, and personality—as if the listener has never heard them before.
- Eliminate verbal weeds. Catch repetitive phrases, filler words, clichés, and bad habits before listeners do.
- Protect the music. Great stations sound effortless because every transition, segue, and music log has been carefully crafted.
- Be local. Listeners don’t need another generic DJ. They want personalities who know their community, share local observations, and connect songs and artists to everyday life.
- Edit ruthlessly. Great breaks are short, focused, and memorable. Leave listeners wanting another break—not another minute.
- Create reasons to stay. Tease upcoming songs, contests, features, and compelling content. TSL doesn’t happen by itself.
- Keep the momentum moving. Every element should flow naturally into the next. Dead air, awkward pauses, and long explanations are tune-out opportunities.
Remember, listeners don’t hear “airchecks.” They hear your station. Every break either strengthens your brand or weakens it. Coaching air talents builds Stationality.
Lund Challenge
This week, schedule one 20-minute aircheck session with each personality. Don’t focus on what went wrong. Start by identifying one thing they do exceptionally well, then choose one habit to improve before your next coaching session. Small improvements, repeated consistently, create great talent.
Lund Lesson: A station rarely becomes better than the coaching it receives. If your DJs sound exactly the same next summer, it’s probably because no one challenged them to sound better this summer.
Pic AI generated using Envato Elements.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming, broadcast consulting, and research firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats.