Local Radio Personalities– Who Needs ‘Em?
Do you know who needs them?
Every single radio station across the entire country, is who needs them. What do they bring to the table? A full course dinner with dessert. In real estate, the word is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION……IN THE WORLD OF RADIO, IT STARTS WITH CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!
Every personality on a radio station has a job to do, and that job is no easy task. They have to create unique content every day to engage their listening audience. That personality is the moderator of a “community”. A community analogous to communities you find online, like blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. It’s people who can relate to that DJ, whether its their programming including views on subjects, poking fun at people, news events, satirical opinions- the list goes on and on. What’s most important is that they add value to the station, and changes the “vanilla” flavor to something that adds “spice” for the listeners. There is such a disparity between “cookie cutter voice tracked programming,” to a personality who can relate to the local community and listeners alike. It is like going from one end of the spectrum to the other. Yes, radio stations CEOs can save money by eliminating the talent on air and replace it with voice tracked programming, but at what price? You save a salary but you deteriorated and cannibalized your audience as a by-product. That same audience you worked so hard to acquire.
So let’s get back to the original question, why do radio stations need them? Their unique content becomes the personality of the station and an integral part of the fabric composing their listening audience. Their loyal followers are the audience that advertisers are attracted to. Local programming, talented DJs, unique original content are just some of the important ingredients that go into the recipe for a successful radio station. Top the cake off with a talented well trained sales department to market this to their agencies and advertisers, as well as a strong digital component; and behold, you have a formula and blueprint for success, and one helluva cake! See what jacobsmedia blog says about promoting local radio. The digital component is where there is a tremendous uptick in potential. It changes the face of terrestrial radio like a facelift and brings radio into the new millennium. The unique generated content on the radios respective web site allows the interaction with the audience but on a new platform. Some stations have a webcam set up in the broadcast booth(link to story), others are streaming, and still others are providing UGC that do not fall under the FCC regulations. Watch an interview online with a guest in its entirety without the timeline given on terrestrial radio. Today the consumer is in charge of what they want to listen to and what they want to watch. If radio stations hit those aforementioned benchmarks, then they have successfully engaged their audience. And that is something they have to earn!
In Boston, radio personalities like Greg Hill(Hillman) on WAAF, Matty Siegel and Billy Costa on KISS 108, Karlson and MacKenzie on WZLX, Michael Griffin and Jay Severin from WTKK, and a host of others, generate that “audience” by virtue of their content and embedding themselves into the local communities of their listeners. They are the glue that holds the radio station’s listenership together. Eliminate them, and their respective radio stations are no better then piped in music. O.K. for some, but not the majority of people that each format represents. And certainly not what is going to capture the x, y and abc….z generations.
Let’s dissect for a moment (not literally WAAF fans, relax) Greg Hill, a.k.a. Hillman, and his audience on WAAF. Greg has been the host of the morning show for over 20 years. Greg researches compelling content everyday in order to engage his audience in discussions ranging from sports and entertainment to politics. Is their anything else left? But that’s exactly the “glue” he uses to attract his audience from business professionals to blue collar small business owners. His audience is predominantly men 25-54, but women too!! His guests have included sports figures such as Kevin Youkilis, Theo Epstein, Cam Neely.
These are relationships Greg Hill has built in this Boston marketplace! Local with unique content! In addition to sport celebrities, Greg has developed relationships in the music and entertainment communities. How is this for unique online content? Greg will setup a video shoot so his audience can engage with his guest online. This is just one way WAAF successfully integrates Hillman, his guest, with his audience. Again unique generated content using VIDEO! When you have a following, a TRIBE, like Hillman has, it enables that celebrity to get involved with local community charities such as the Joshua Frase Foundation, Heart Ball where he presents and MC’s the event, Celebrities for Charities among others. This is why local radio stations need talented personalities.
On another front, let’s look at Matty in the morning with Billy Costa on KISS. Their core audience is women 30-40′s and “soccer moms!” That mother often times grew up with these two guys and still follows them today. One of the things they do extremely well is their contest promotion. They have built ‘appointment listening,’ where there audience tunes in at the same time every day. As an example, gambling with Jon Bon Jovi at Mohegan Sun or winning a $10,000 New Kids on the Block VIP dinner with the band! Their interviews in the morning have included celebrities like Oprah, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and the list goes on!
As far as embedding themselves in the local community, you don’t have to go far. Matty’s involvement with the Parkinson’s Walk and Billy’s involvement with The Herb Chambers Platinum Plate TV Diner Gala raised over $40,000 for Children’s Floating Hospital this past November. Let’s not forget when Matty, Billy Costa teamed up with Herb Chambers , to give Michael DeMello the keys to a Ford Ranger! Mike’s Ford was destroyed after the Red Sox won the World Series by an unruly mob. Herb Chambers came to the KISS studio to surprise Mike with the keys to his new vehicle. How about that for local community involvement? The list for these two guys goes on. These are just some of the things Matty and Billy do to keep their audience active, engaging, and listening.
The brand that each personality represents is NOT what they say they are, it’s what we, the listening audience are saying about them!! That is what makes a successful brand. Whether its a company, a personality, a product, a service, or a radio stations format, programming, and content-we the consumer decide if it is what we want it to be! read “how to create A “BRAND PERSONALITY” for your radio station.
As far as the online component goes, the radio website must have the look and feel of the radio station. Just because you have a strong radio listenership on terrestrial radio, don’t think you can dupe your audience with a sub par web site. The consumer compares your site with all other sites online. Do you have video, stream, easy navigation, contests, etc. Here again is where your radio personality fits in- they can engage the listener with additional unique content via video, audio . How good is that??
Do you think your listening audience would enjoy engaging with your “brand” online? Better yet, do you think your advertiser would embrace your online audience the way they do on your station. These are just some of the reasons why RADIO STATIONS NEED LOCAL RADIO PERSONALITIES!
It’s the NEW DAWN OF RADIO!
Excellent writing ! Right on Neal…Se you soon..
This is totally on point and I agree with everything you said. Unfortunately, Arbitron and its new PPM do not. In market after market, the PPM is demonstrating that music stations are doing better than stations driven by big personalities.
This seems counter-intuitive. Music is parity. Listeners can hear Green Day or U2 (among countless others) on almost every station in the market. It is the personalities and contests and promotions that make these stations unique.
With all of the different ways to consume media, common sense has me convinced that people aren’t necessarily coming to radio for the music. For the life of me I can’t figure out why the PPM disagrees.
Any thoughts?
Great piece! And I agree totally. My take as a former radio guy is this… Radio has a BIG talent problem. Since the advent of voice tracking and centralized programing the industry has failed to develop new talent. Time was you could find young future stars in the smaller markets holding down multiple positions in their stations and longing for their shot at the show. Sounds like minor league baseball a bit huh? There was always a steady stream of talent in the pipeline and the radio waves crackled with the humor and skills of people who really enjoyed their passion! How many times did you find yourself talking about the antics of Charles, Matty (before disco) or Jess Cain? What’s going to happen when the big names in Boston or any town retire? Does the industry dare voice track AM drive??
Great piece! And I agree totally. My take as a former radio guy is this… Radio has a BIG talent problem. Since the advent of voice tracking and centralized programing the industry has failed to develop new talent. Time was you could find young future stars in the smaller markets holding down multiple positions in their stations and longing for their shot at the show. Sounds like minor league baseball a bit huh? There was always a steady stream of talent in the pipeline and the radio waves crackled with the humor and skills of people who really enjoyed their passion! How many times did you find yourself talking about the antics of Charles, Matty (before disco) or Jess Cain? What’s going to happen when the big names in Boston or any town retire? Does the industry dare voice track AM drive??
Perhaps it’s time for radio, agencies and all related, to rethink how we measure success, meaning Arbitron. Over the years, small and medium market stations I’ve worked with have contracted seperate ratings research for their specific markets. It’s something I’ve always promoted my entire career as a manager, based on advice from my very first owner, a very savvy radio man who bought his first radio station in 1945. Without fail, that data always conflicted with Arbitron, sometimes to the station’s benefit, sometimes not, but always a better reflection of our position based on staff experiences in the field, by a wide margin. Agencies are coming to know that Arbiton isn’t the Bible and we know there is precedent to say this because we are aware of low Arbitron rated stations scoring sizable agency buys.
PPM is much like college football’s BCS system. A computer program no one, even it’s creators understand fully, yet all know it’s flawed and trusted far too much.
Neal, great article! Thanks so much for the tip about it. Every effort should be made to get it to every level of the business.
CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT!
Great article, Neal… But I cannot help but wonder, what is the reality of the future of Radio? Also, I would love to get your take on Google pulling the plug on Google Audio… It seems that it could not have come at a worst time… For the first time in many years, an alternative buying channel for people who want to advertise on Radio would have seemed to be highly desirable.
Ralph, thanks for your comments. I am not sure GOOGLE AUDIO would have been in the best interests for radio or its advertisiers. This alternative buying channel had alot of holes in it. There were only 700 radio stations onboard across the country. You couldn’t possibly spend effective dollars in the marketplace with such few stations especially when you couple it with GOOGLE buying up Remnant Inventory the day before from radio stations. The following link is an excellent story on Googles departure from radio- its http://tinyurl.com/brohfm I am in total agreement with their assessment of the Google withdrawal from Radio. In my opinion, you get what you pay for, and remnant inventory is exactly that.
You can enhance the frequency of an exisiting buy, but NOT make it the BUY!!-N
Personalities + Awareness of Community = Topical delights. A winning formula. I grew up on WGN and Wally Phillips. Amazing amounts of good were performed daily, neighborly good. Callers would ask for help for a good guy with skills who was just laid off. Listeners and companies would respond. At CBS in the 80s I saw research that showed the power of media to do powerful good translated into higher ratings. Looking at PBS research I saw the same. Working for one of the guys who “invented” and launched MTV, I learned that focus groups hated the VJs until you cut them out of the video tape. Then they were missed. The human factor is vital. Sometimes, who knows why.
In the 80′s I watched consultants and the effect they had on killing vibrant local radio. A friend who worked at WUMB said every year consultants would come in and say “This folk format is the only one in America. It can’t possibly be working. Change formats ASAP.” Thank god management didn’t listen. A rose in concrete is still a rose. Maybe a true American beauty that should be spread, Johnny Appleseed style, and nurtured. And when satellite radio started, why didn’t they commission studio Bs all across America to produce programming for them? Instead they built gaudy temples and burned through precious resources. And they failed to support a vibrant ecology of radio. They were old-school selfish and it led to the demise of one of them.
Audio is powerful. I listened recently to the Ed Murrow series on the 1960′s. Powerful punchy writing. Great use of sound. Great use of thought and juxtaposition. The impact makes modern news media product seem very formulaic and lame.
I think we can revive local radio and use of local audio (including via cell phone) if we stop looking at traditional uses of the medium and the platforms and start looking for new ways to use audio to build community and get big things done that don’t start with money but could end up generating money. Gobs and gobs. Because when you start with the heart, the wallet opens wide when the outcome is powerful. Audio moves people wonderfully. Next time your kid challenges you, tell him to watch any movie with the audio off — then with his eyes closed and the audio ON. One is far more satisfying and intact. The other is highly sensory but virtually meaningless.
I’m launching a Boston-based network of good people. We’re going to make it easy for good people and good organizations to be aware of each other and to help each other in a variety of fast and easy and high impact ways when they’re so moved. I founded and ran Smash Advertising on Newbury Street for 22 years. Top media clients. Launched the Compact Disc with PolyGram. Launched Digital Cable with Comcast Corporate HQ Marketing. Relaunched TV stations during the affiliation switch craze and turned Detroit 62 into a big winner for awhile. Launched NBC Asia in 12 weeks with a positioning that, unknown to us at the time, would foreshadow the Singapore campaign that was being developed in secret called “New Asia”.
Now, in a time with no money, it’s time to launch ways to make it fast and easy for people and organizations to do powerful good. Just like after 9-11. But every day. I completed a site survey for Bloomberg Television on a Friday. We were planning a station domination campaign where you buy every ad space in a commuter rail hub and get hyper-creative with a medley of messages. My wife and I had lived in NYC but I’d never been in the WTC before. So after shooting mundane reference video of the commuter platforms and the escalator message boards and people shopping throughout the underground WTC concourse, my wife and I went to the top to take in the view and pizza and beer. That was Friday. 9-11 was the following Tuesday. I returned to NYC a couple of weeks later. Took the subway to Brooklyn and walked over the most beautiful bridge back to Manhattan and the huge scar. Halfway across the wall of smell hit me. It was burned everything. On the island, the mood was unreal. Friendly. Small town nice. Midwestern helpful. Genuine caring. Status evaporated. People pitched in heart and soul to help folks they’d never met and would never meet again. My buddy was the first government guy to arrive and pull response together. He said it was surreal. He and I are political opposites and golf buddies. He, like me, was a kid from the streets who fell in love with college radio and music and all the possibilities the songs of the sixties and seventies championed.
Maybe we can get back to little experiments, audio experiments, where people act neighborly without seeing each other. If you have an idea, count me in. Audio moves people like nothing else. Could be the big stimulus the nation needs.
Mark
http://www.linkedin.com/in/onegoodegg
A new website is being built. It’s dedicated people and organizations (all sectors) that want to network but cannot meet. It’s going to make it fast and easy for people acting like real champs and working like an olympic team to pull together and work as one. One nation. For awhile, until America has its mojo back. If you’d like to join, please do! You’ll be pleasantly surprised by who you find there already.
This is a great blog. Thanks for all your hard work and the info you give.
Thank you for your kind words!!