4 Truths From a 4 Year Old Part 1

4 Truths From a 4 Year Old 

Part 1
By Ace McKay

 Music 101, the first radio wisdom that may have been shared to you from a program or music director:

Only play the songs your listeners like!

 A very simple thought, but a trivial thought for many PD’s when they have a different agenda or want to knee jerk to a listener’s angry email or call about the same songs being played. After seeing this in play for so many stations, who apply it and those who don’t, I started to notice that a listeners behavior pattern is not taught; it’s embedded into their DNA.

 I use to look to the women around me and their behavior when they listen to the radio until they got sucked into the vortex of listening with me and now they no longer listen like a normal listener. That’s when I started watching my daughter who was 4 years old at the time. Her behavior has confirmed the truth we’ve known for years.

 Now I know none of us are targeting a 4 year old demo, but the simple truth about our listener’s behavior as it pertains to the music we play, starts at an early age.

1)      She Only Want To Hear The Songs “She” Loves & Wants To Hear Them OVER & OVER Again!

Whether we’re listening to Pandora, streaming stations or our iPod, my daughter dictates from the backseat, “Daddy, put on The Wiggles, put on Veggie Tales, put on Barlow Girl, Put on Beatles” (yes she’s very diverse even at 4. She’s named after a Beatle after all.) She’s not asking for albums of these artist but the tunes from them that she likes. If I hear them once, I hear them 100 times a day. She never gets tired of them, much like our listeners. By asking our listeners what they want to hear and actually playing just those songs, we not only find out the songs they are passionate about but they will listen and they’ll tell you when their tired of them. Like a 4 year old, you will hear, “Daddy Change it.”My daughter never gets tired of the songs she likes. Your listeners want the songs they love and when you play a song they don’t, they might not complain like a 4 year old fussing from the backseat but the tune out factor is the same. They’ve disconnected from your station or turned you off all together.

Next Week:  She’ll Only Listen TO “New Music” if it fits the type of Music She Already Likes

Comfortably Numb

 At some point, we all have heard a listener say, "Your station has been a real blessing in my life" or “My kids love listening to you in the morning." These phrases, or the various versions of them, are things we hear daily: on the phone or at station events and remotes. Have you really stopped to think about what those words mean and the true passion that comes from your listeners when they say them? In 2004, I was a part of the start up team for WAYT/88.1 WAY-FM. The station was 10 years in the making. In the 18 months prior to the actual sign-on, there was one delay after the other. The tower issues lingered on so long it made me want to stand on the tower myself with a piece of aluminum foil just to get something going! We were even 20 minutes behind schedule the day of sign-on due to a bad storm the night before. A big tree fell and knocked out power o the transmitter so we literally struggled up to the last minute. While waiting for the transmitter to come back on, it was amazing to put new sweepers, promos and sign-on events together in preparation to tell people about a NEW radio station that could truly make a difference in their lives.

 I’ve had the privilege to be a part of several heritage stations and with each of them loyal listeners came. I never gave any thought to the fact that it had to start with just "one listener." I don't think I truly appreciated the value and power behind thanking someone for listening to a radio station; that is, until I had to help build listeners one. I'm ashamed to admit it but I realized I'd become numb. It's what I’ve come to call the Comfortably Numb Syndrome (CNS). CNS is simply a pattern where your fan base is so loyal you simply take them for granted. Whether you started the station or not, you might think because you have listeners now they will always listen. It's not a cocky altitude. It's easy to be so busy you only hear it and don't relish in learning some-one loves your station for the difference you are making and have made in their lives. There are so many stations on the dial; internet, smart phones and iPods but that person chose your station over all of them. Do you ever stop to realize they are not only listening, but took the time to come out to one of your events or even call or email you their thoughts about why they love your Station?

 Your station has a beginning! How often do you Celebrate it? Not just the staff and the station, but with the LISTENERS! What an honor to have them call YOU their favorite. What would happen to your mindset if you had to start over today? How would it effect what you do at your station? It’s scary! I can't help but be humbled by the thought of no listeners. What would you say on the air? What songs would you play? What events would you do? When a listener calls to say “thank you” for being on the air, how quick are you to turn it back on them and say “thanks for listening?” 

Unleashing Your Right Brain Rock Star

“Put up your rawkfist if you’re feeling it” is a great way to envision the next time your staff gets together for a promo team meeting.  Throw up your fist straight in the air as you lead your team to discover ways you can be more creative in the community by reaching out to your listeners.

The thing separating good stations from great stations is not just the real and relevant content on the air or even the music but the level of creativity that we invest into what comes out of the speakers.  There is a rock star at your station or hopefully more than one that can help drive your creativity into everything you do on the air from events, web site contest and social networking to imaging and promos.

Challenges of any station is never how creative we can be but due to all the hats we wear and what is often a small staff limits the amount of right brain activity because we are smothered in the details of what’s going on day to day. Our left brain takes over while our creative side fights for room in corner just because there is just so much to do.

As you listen to your station this week, how creative are you in all areas of your station? Pay attention to the imaging, the Day Sponsors, Impact Partners, newscast, etc. Whatever areas need more right brain injections, as you listen to your station this week, reflect on how creative it is and how creative it can be. The person who is in charge of these areas is naturally left brained but doesn’t mean you can’t make it better; it just means you have to lean on those more creative than you are. That’s what makes a team a team when we surround ourselves with people who are gifted in areas we are not.

So to get the right brain jumped started, there a couple of things you and your team doing to help you balance your station with where you are and where you wanna go creatively.

1. Right Brain Storming Sessions

The idea behind these sessions is to not iron out details aka left brain each other to death but to cluster ideas you have or bounce things off each other. Whether you are talking about Mother’s Day Promotions a year in advance or Back to School or Christmas, it’s a chance to dream big by asking is if money and time were not an issue, what would/could we do?

Now you can’t let your creative team only be PD’s or Air Talent but balancing it with your staff that has both left brain and right brain super powers. These meetings should be no less than once a quarter so that you can stay in touch with your creative side. It’s obviously not the only time to be creative but if you have ideas before the meetings just hold off on sharing them till then. We can often get ideas and run down the hall with a torch to get them rolling and no one has time to hear them and the fizzle out before they ever had a chance to burn properly.

These sessions will challenge the more left brain people on your team but it keeps you and your team from waiting till 30 days before an event or holiday to do something on the air that ends up being less than stellar because it was created out of stress.  If you can, take these sessions out of the building whenever possible. Then you don’t get stuck being distracted by stuff in the station. Planning ahead seems foreign to most stations because the day-to-day is overwhelming.  Right Brain thoughts beget more Right Brain Thoughts.  The passion you have for your station and ability to tap into that creatively will make your station sound better and draw in the listeners whether they are a P1 or first timer.

(Side note: Once you birth an idea in these sessions then your point of action following that meeting needs to be the execution of whose gonna run with the ball and make sure it gets done. These can be accomplished in your regular promotions/programming meetings.)

2. Appoint a Professor Right Brain

Not that we need more hats to wear but having someone to spearhead the creative sessions and other areas of creativity on the air will help keep you right brain thinking all year. Make it a position on your team if you can but having that one person churning out the creativity in the whole team will make you a better station.

This person is also just not the person who generates the meetings but all areas of copy, content and events.  We can often do a task for something on the air and while it may feel creative to that person, it gets on the air and falls flat because it’s just not what if can be. However, taking it to your “Professor Right Brain” on staff will allow you both/all to make sure that it’s the right messaging necessary to draw in the listener.

(Side Note: Asking for help makes you stronger and creates a creative filter for you the longer you do it. It’s NOT a sign of weakness.)

Creativity is in all of us. We just need something to draw out it and its like working out or eating better, Its hard at first but until we make it a regular habit, does it make us healthier? The brain is a muscle and when we exercise it properly it will make us stronger.

Welcome to Acebooks Consulting & Talent Coaching

Each week you and your station or air talent can see new tips on ways to better your craft on the air and make a difference in your market.

 There is no such thinking as small market vs big market radio or shows, it's only small or big thinking.  Whatever your needs are,

Some of the tools your station can start learning from include: ·          Strategy of Station

·         Goal Setting for Ratings and Promotions/Community Involvement

·         Spark Creative Teams

·         Listener Profile Exercise

 In addition to these consulting tools, your air personalities can get what they need with weekly or monthly coaching that will drastically change the sound of their shows to better impact your listeners but relate and improve.

·         Roles of Morning Show

·         Best use of Day Part Talent

·         Cross Promoting Ideas

·         Weekly Sessions

·         Design Session Schedule

 Workshops and market visits can drastically spark your staff to a “Team Possible” Mentality and can be arranged as often as you believe is needed.

Let us know how we can help you and your station, 260-415-8525