10 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR SHOW Chris Byrnes – ByrnesMedia The 90/10 Rule: Announcers who put the effort into finding bits about the market in which they work, or find ways to localize a national story, are the ones who form a better connection with their audience. Anyone can talk about Paris Hilton, or the guy on death row in Texas who is looking for jokes, but this all becomes noise that your listeners are unlikely to be interested in hearing. Instead, your goal should be to ensure 90% of your breaks focus on local content and only use the generic show prep material once you’ve covered all the local angles. Have a listen around the dial and see what percentage of breaks you hear that are local and relate to the audience.
Sell Your Call Letters With Pride: Your station name is one of the four ways a radio station gets credit in the BBM or Arbitron diary measurement system. The others are your positioning statement, your frequency and your Industry Canada or FCC call letters. Sadly, so many announcers blow right by the call letters because they have delivered them so many times. I was on an international flight recently and when the hostess came to offer me a meal she said, “Beef Chicken Fish?” I paused and she repeated her question “Do you want the Beef or Chicken Fish?” I went for the beef as chicken fish sounded very unappetising. I assumed there were actually three choices on this flight. One was beef, the second was chicken and the third was fish. But this hostess had asked the same question to 100 other passengers before me and without meaning to, she was running all the words together. Often announcers fall into this same trap. However, when you hear an announcer truly selling a station’s call letters with pride it really stands out. Tune into your station and see how proud each announcer is. The clearer and more memorable your station name is delivered, the more likely your station is to be written down in the next survey.
There’s Gold In Them There Phones: Good communicators know how to mine the phones for those calls that are gems. Sadly, a lot of listeners have given up calling a radio station because no one answers the contest lines anymore. If you’re in the control room, then give the phone number and record every call and edit and run only the best sentences. Have some relevant questions you can ask anyone who calls to help a bit later in that show or a future show. All this helps to make your show sound more interactive and live. If the phones don’t ring then start by giving the phone number and don’t assume everyone knows it. Also create imaging that can run on the back of any calls “If you want to reach the Bill and Mary morning show call 777-7777.” All this reinforces that it’s okay to call. In time, your listeners will understand that good calls lead to more good calls. When listeners hear other people on the phone they tend to stop and listen as it sounds different from the normal programming.
Observational Show Prep: Talking about unusual or interesting things you encounter as you drive or walk around your market is a powerful way to sound more local and connected to the community. If you notice a bongo player collecting money outside the local Tim Horton’s, stop and talk to the guy and find out his story. Chances are, hundreds of other people have walked past this man and wondered who he is and what his story is. When you see a new building going up, find out what business is going in there. Chances are one of the motivated sales staff in the radio station will already know. Make a point of talking to people you encounter at the checkout or at the coffee shop and take a note of their name. Dropping a name on the air is another way to sound more local especially if there is an interesting and positive story to tell. I was sitting by the waterfront having lunch recently and got chatting to the waitress about the weather. She told me the easy way to establish if it would be a hot or cold day was to look at the smoke stacks on the hill. “If the smoke is going straight up or out to sea it will be a hot day. But if the smoke is blowing inland then it’s likely to be a cool day.” Relating that story on the air in that market would result in lots of people looking at those smoke stacks possibly for years to come. Chances are, every time they do so they will think of your radio station.
Get Excited About This Giveaway: We all know that only a small percentage of listeners will ever be motivated to phone a radio station to win a prize or take part in a contest. Sadly, a lot of announcers don’t understand that this is a great way to showcase their personality, interact with the audience and create a passive listening opportunity. While most will never call a station, for a variety of reasons, a higher percentage will play along and passively take part in the fun. This requires a passive participation element to the contest as opposed to “Caller five wins the tickets.” How many times have you answered most of the questions on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” or the new game show “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” Yet you have probably never thought about calling the 800 number or filling out an application to be on the show. I was in a taxi recently and asked the driver what radio station he listened to. He was happy to tell me about his radio station and said some very positive things about it. He ended by saying that he had won two pizza vouchers from the station in the previous week. It turned out it was the first prize he had ever won from a radio station and he sounded genuinely excited as he talked about how he had paid for dinner that evening. So make the effort and put on a show every time you run a contest. This is show business after all.
Throw Away With Weather: I am convinced the people at the weather office have to take a course on ambiguous statements before they can graduate as a meteorologist. How many times have you heard the weather delivered as follows: “A mix of sun and cloud with a chance of rain.” Their writing tends to be formal and filled with words such as predominating and precipitation. You’re better to read the forecast to yourself a few times, work out what they are really trying to say and then put the weather in your own words as if you were telling a friend what kind of day it will be. In short, if your presentation is generally casual and “real”, then keep that same style when delivering the service elements such as the weather.
Less Is Always Best: I recently heard an announcer in a busy morning drive show deliver the 10 most famous movie lines of all time. He stumbled his way through this bit, and it was obvious he had not pre-read or even rewritten it. He mentioned a number of times that he either didn’t care for or didn’t know some of the movies and almost 3 minutes later he finally got to number one. His poor character impersonations and the lack of production values only made the bit drag even further. If that was not enough, this announcer then went on to deliver the 10 famous lines that were never actually said (Beam Me Up Scottie), which were also delivered with the same lack of professionalism. The bit was painful and I doubt many people were still with him at the end. Now this is a rather extreme example, but the key to a good bit is ending it right and knowing when to move on. Scott Shannon said it best - “Always leave them wanting more.” In this busy, time starved world, this tip is even more relevant.
Be Your Format’s Biggest Fan: Chances are the major part of any hour on your radio station is music. If the announcer has been at your station for a few years, and you’re still a stable format, chances are he or she will have played most of the songs many times over. It’s therefore easy for them to become rather jaded about the music and the format in general. This often results in the announcer mindlessly back announcing the previous set of songs and then saying hang on for [insert artist name] next. This sends the message that the announcer does not care for the music and could not be bothered putting some thought into the break. But when you hear an announcer delivering relevant trivia about a song they have just played then giving a solid reason for the audience to keep listening, this sends the message that they really care about the music, the format and the radio station. You get paid for making the music the star of your show even if you don’t care for it. This is show business and it’s your responsibility to put the effort into preparing and delivering the break. If you’re live in the control room, take the time to fine tune your break. If you’re voice tracking, don’t keep hitting that next button. Instead, take a minute to think about and plan the break. Done right, the average listener will have no idea that you’re not delivering it live.
Never Waste A Break: Every day you’re on the air you probably have five opportunities each hour to showcase your personality. This means you need to walk into the control room with twenty-five breaks planned out if you do a five hour show. In reality, some of the breaks will be formatted or content that is already in the room. This does not mean, however, that you just read the liner card exactly as written. Chances are your Program Director will appreciate you rewording the liner and making that break sound interesting and compelling. The other open breaks are all opportunities for you to sound local and connected to your community. 25 breaks are not that many to prepare each day. So develop a show prep template and invest the time before you walk into the booth. Then when you’re on the air, focus all your energy into the next break. In short, never waste a break as someone might be hearing you and your radio station for the very first time.
Get Outside Your Comfort Zone: I often ask two questions of the air talent I meet with: “What have you done in the past 6 months to upgrade your professional skills?” and, “What have you done outside of work to become a more interesting person?” The most common response I get is that they are working all hours at the radio station during the week and will be on remote or making a personal appearance in the weekend so they don’t have time. Recently, I was impressed to hear someone respond that they had just finished acting in a play at the local community theatre. They told me that they had met some really interesting people, and have become more confident and more expressive.
Conclusion: The above are just a few ways to improve your show each and every day. Of course there are lots of others but we keep those exclusive for our client stations. By the way, chances are your boss will be deep into the budgeting process about now. So if you’ve always wanted some additional help, this is the month to pitch him or her for money to attend a programming conference, or get some outside objective consulting help. It might be a way to take care of suggestion number 10 on this list! |