Congratulations! You have just been appointed Market Manager for a cluster of radio stations. What do you need to know about the product from your individual program directors and sales manager?
Cluster Strategy
To achieve your revenue goals, what demos does your cluster need to own to maximize revenue? Winning Persons 25-54 is typically a top priority that can be achieved by combining the audience of several stations.
For example, a cluster may have an Active Rock station focusing on Men 18-40 and a Classic Rock station focusing on Men 35-64; if they have four stations the cluster, their Top 40 is focusing on women 18-40 and the AC on women 25-64. This cluster is positioned to dominate the Persons 25-54 age cell with four products targeted to four different demos.
The Competitive Landscape
Are your stations playing offense or defense? If you have the leading CHR, you play defense. If your competitor is the leader, you play offense. Identify your strengths. If one is your morning show, put them under contract; if your strength is music quantity, stay true to your inventory limits. If your competitor leads, identify their weaknesses and attack them where they cannot play defense. Consider a flanker strategy where you specialize on a niche. A Rhythmic Top 40 is a flanker to Top 40; Classic Country is a flanker to Country.
SWOT
Perform a S.W.O.T. exercise with your staff. Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each of your stations and do the same for your competitors. Spending a day outside of the radio station listening to your stations and brainstorming is well worth the time.
Music
Ask your PDs about the music on each station. If you are after cume, your library should be small and play only the listeners top songs. If you are after time spent listening, a larger playlist with slower rotations is a strategy. Find out the categories of music, the eras they represent and the rotations of each category. Identity the core artists and how often they are exposed each day. Do programmers review music scheduling software analysis tools on a regular basis? Does your programming staff know the station policy regarding music additions and dealing with record labels? How are music decisions made? How often is the library reviewed and updated?
Air Talents
Who are the key air talents? What are their off-air duties (music scheduling, production, promotion, social media, voice-tracking other stations, personal appearances, etc.)? How do they do show prep and what resources are used? How often do they have coaching meetings? Do they understand payola/plugola and the station/FCC policy regarding content? Do they understand station policy regarding personal appearances and social media postings? How often do PDs provide aircheck coaching sessions?
The Coverage Area
Does the demographics of the population within the station’s coverage area fit the target of the radio station? For example, if you program an urban station to a rural audience, it’s the wrong format for the coverage area. Another example would be programming Top 40 when the population is older.
Commercial Inventory
How many stopsets per hour compared to the head-on competition? How many commercials per hour? Is it based on units or minutes? Is there an opportunity to be less cluttered than competitors?
Promotions
Does the station depend on big giveaways during every rating period? Does the station do revenue-generating events several times a year? What have been successful promotions in the past?
Benchmarks
What are the long-standing benchmarks in the morning or other dayparts? An example would be an AC station changing the format to play All Christmas music end of the year, the morning show doing “Impossible Trivia” every morning, or a Classic Rock station doing Triple Shot Weekends.
Internal Marketing
What’s the promotional inventory, including live mentions and recorded promos? When you listen, are the following promoted hourly: the website, streaming, the app, listening on a smart speaker, the morning show, and at-work listening? Are station attributes like music quantity and music quality imaged frequently? Who writes and voices the imaging liners for each station, and when were they last updated?
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John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming, broadcast consulting, and research firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats. You can leave a comment below or email him at John@Lundradio.com.