TRAINING AND COACHING AIR TALENT On a recent visit to one of our client radio stations, I had the opportunity to attend a sales meeting. It’s something I like to work into my agenda during a station visit, if possible. I was impressed by the way the Sales Manager conducted the meeting, the lively discussion that took place and the way all the sales staff made a positive contribution. I asked the Program Director at the same station how much time he spends each week coaching and training the air staff? His response was “I already work 70 hours a week, I simply don’t have time for any more meetings.” Sadly, we find that air talent development and the basic practice of a weekly air-check meeting with all the announcers is more the exception than the rule. Most announcers tell us they are seldom or never air-checked. My theory is that most PD’s have come up through the ranks experiencing this lack of training and often replicate the same poor habits of those for whom they have worked. Some PD’s avoid doing air-checks because they have no idea how to coach and motivate. Its one thing to possess the knowledge, but it’s another thing to be able to pass it along in a way that will result in improvement of the talent. Not having time is not a valid excuse for the PD to neglect this critical part of his job. He has obviously not established proper priorities. To illustrate my point, I challenge you to conduct a comparison to see what systems are in place for both sales and programming at your radio station. I did this recently at a station and here is what I found: The sales manager started the week with an 8am, full-staff sales meeting. The previous week’s activity was recapped and everyone was updated on the month’s revenue against budget. The new sales packages were presented and discussed and time was set aside to review the competition – newspaper, other radio and TV. Important information about changes or things happening at the station or in the market over the coming weeks were mentioned and the meeting was wrapped up with the previous week’s success stories as well as a role playing exercise. During the week there was at least one additional sales-training meeting, which normally happens at 8am on a Wednesday morning. These midweek meetings often include role playing exercises and group discussions. The GSM has pre-arranged times for one-on-one meetings with each of the sales staff so they can discuss specific account problems and strategies. A review of the weekly planner, the call agenda and individual sales goals often form part of these sessions. This Sales Manager makes a point of going along on calls with one or two reps each week and will offer advice and coaching in the field. The goal of these meetings is to build confidence, improve knowledge and skills, and develop team spirit. The PD had one AM Drive meeting, but beyond that, he was too busy to meet with the rest of his team. I’m sure we can all see what’s wrong with this picture. Before we can market a quality product, at least the same amount of effort must go into producing it as marketing it. The Sales Manager in this case is doing what is necessary to efficiently “sell the goods” but he’s not getting the necessary cooperation from the Program Director. He ends up leading his charges into battle with an inferior product. So how does your PD shape up? It is very rare that I find the PD spends anywhere near the amount of time required each week coaching and motivating the talent. Here are some suggestions for what a PD should be doing. AM Drive: Meet with the AM Drive team for 30-60 minutes each day. This meeting is to brainstorm ideas for the next day as well as future shows. The PD needs to be the green light thinker and always comes to the meeting with ideas to assist the most important show on the radio station. Once each week, the PD should hold an extended meeting and review the week’s performance. Pick one hour of one show at random and play some breaks. The PD should listen to the morning show as often as possible and be able to reflect on breaks that really worked and why. Catch the morning show doing something right everyday and make a point of mentioning the good break and what you liked about it. The Other Talent: Schedule a 30-60 minute meeting with each of the other air talent at an agreed time each week. NEVER miss those meetings or be late for them. This may be the only small window of time the air talent gets to be one-on-one with the PD. Do not take phone calls, browse your email or allow interruptions. Meetings should be coaching and training sessions. The PD must listen to the tape ahead of time and have notes ready. Be very specific in what you need the talent to do and together develop strategies for improvement. An experienced PD can always tell a talent what not to do. The problem with the “don’t do that” method of training is that it often de-motivates the talent to the point where they give up and don’t bother to try new things. If at all possible, try to build on the good things and illustrate how those good things are superior to the bits that just didn’t work. Create A Paper Trail: Every air-check meeting should result in a follow-up memo. This is a record of the meeting and should end with the specific items you agreed the talent would work on. When you next meet with the talent ask them how they did. Then listen for improvement during the next air-check meeting and comment on that. The GM should receive a copy of the memo so he knows what the PD is doing to improve the talent. Wise PD’s often create a weekly programming report for the GM which will include the air-check memos. This is a great way to keep the GM informed and avoids surprises. Roll Tape: When you’re in another market capture other good shows to share with your announcers. Recording audio from streaming stations is another way to find good audio to share. That way, your midday jock can hear how middays are handled in another market. They may pick up ideas they can use. They may come back to you and say “hey I’m better than that guy!” I was in New York recently and rolled tape on a big name morning show to share with some of our clients. I was embarrassed how bad this show was, particularly in New York City. The jock was clearly hung over and prepping the show on the go. I have since played that audio to a few stations as an example of how not to do a show! The Open Office Catch Up: It’s important that the PD also make time each week to have an informal chat with each air talent. This helps the PD to get to know the talent better and find out what motivates them. Weekly Announcers Meeting: This is a great opportunity to get everyone caught up on important news around the radio station. Tell them what’s coming up, any changes to programming, the format clock etc. It’s also a good forum to have one of the other department heads sit in and update the announcers on their department. This is also the time to discuss “what’s happening” in the listening area. Talent can discuss and trade prep opportunities. Six Month Review: This should be a formal meeting and ideally involve the General Manager, but be driven by the PD. This is the occasion to review the short, medium and long term goals of the air talent and to set new goals. Too many jocks go year after year doing the same thing and never challenging themselves to improve or upgrade their skills. A PD told me that he had such a meeting with one of his staff recently, where the announcer said one of his goals was to improve his time management and confidence. The GM was at the meeting and offered to arrange a Dale Carnegie Course on trade. The employee left the room elated and walking on cloud #9. He now feels that he is improving his skills and that makes for job satisfaction. Annual Boot Camp: Once a year take the air staff away for a weekend of training and fun. Trade out a resort and bring in some guest speakers. Develop a program to bring the team closer together. Ideally, they will engage in physical activity that requires reliance on each other. Yes this takes planning and time to happen, especially if you have no budget. But if you can sell the benefits of doing this to the GM and you have a good relationship with your GSM you can probably put this together and really impress your team. Conclusion: We’re in an era when most PD’s have more responsibilities than ever before. In a lot of cases, they also pull down an air shift. This means they need to be even better organized and know how to be very efficient with their time. A good PD must know how to delegate tasks to others. But most importantly he or she must develop the skills and practices to train and motivate air staff. PD’s are the people who can make the difference between the songs and that’s fast becoming one of the most important factors in building audience. |