The 50 Minute Oil Change - 50 Ideas for Your Morning Show

Thanks to all who attended the standing room only panel Tommy Kramer and I presented Friday, 7/16/10 at Conclave 35. And a very special thanks to all the great morning show talent who so generously gave of their time and creativity and created a video for us to share (you're credited in the list below). Your efforts were appreciated by us all!


In creating the panel, Tommy and I wanted to share not only just great turnkey bits, but techniques and philosophies that could make you think differently about your show.

It’s no surprise that we couldn’t fit everything into our 50 minutes, but you can download the complete list at http://albrightandomalley.com/.

Here are a dozen to whet your appetite. And, in the spirit of sharing, it would be great if you could leave an ideas too!

1. Developing an Alter Ego enables you to expand the boundaries of what you can do on your show (Kevin Matthews/WLAV)

2. Keep a diary and share it with other players on the show, using it as a jumping off point for content ideas. For bonus points, have artists who visit your studio make up a song based on your journal/diary entries (Wally , WAY-FM Nashville—using his 6th grade journal.)

3. I am T-Pain iPhone AutoTune App: hilarious for you or listeners to “sing” a song about virtually anything.

4. Your own family traditions can be the inspiration for large promotions (Tim Leary/WCTK)

5. Take the show outside the studio for the betterment of the community/world (Cliff Dumas/KSON and Bob Rivers/KZOK)

6. What’s a guy thinking (male talent gives absurd rationale for dumb things guys do)

7. Just before the break, hold a 5-second huddle to remind yourselves of you point, your close, and how you’re evolving the break

8. Brainstorm with others in the building; you’ll get different subjects and different perspectives on the same subject

9. Morning show team members: listen to each other for potential material (J and Julian/WBBM)

10. Study the art of storytelling and learn to be good at it; this is a life as well as a career benefit.

11. The new rule for evaluating phone calls: “too good not to air” vs. “good enough to air.”

12. Courage is essential if you’re going to go from “OK” to “great.”

Don't forget to download all 50 here and, if you'd can, leave one of your own ideas.
 
Have a great show!

The 50 Minute Oil Change

Thanks to all who attended the standing room only panel Tommy Kramer and I presented Friday, 7/16/10 at The Conclave. And a very special thanks to all who created a video for us to share (credits in parentheses). Your efforts were appreciated by us all!

In creating the panel, Tommy and I wanted to share not only some great bits, but techniques and philosophies that could make you think differently about your show.

It’s no surprise that we couldn’t get to everything in our 50 minutes but you can download the complete list at http://albrightandomalley.com/.

Here are a dozen to whet your appetite.

1. Developing an Alter Ego enables you to expand the boundaries of what you can do on your show (Kevin Matthews/WLAV)

2. Keep a diary and share it with other players on the show and use it as a jumping off point for content ideas. For bonus points, have artists who visit your studio make up a song based on your journal/diary entries (Wally , WAY-FM Nashville—using his 6th grade journal.)

3. I am T-Pain iPhone AutoTune App: hilarious for you or listeners to “sing” a song about virtually anything.

4. Your own family traditions can be the inspiration for large promotions (Tim Leary/WCTK)

5. Take the show outside the studio for the betterment of the community/world (Cliff Dumas/KSON and Bob Rivers/KZOK)

6. What’s a guy thinking: male talent gives absurd rationale to defend dumb things guys do

7. Just before the break, hold a 5-second huddle to remind yourselves of you point, your close, and how you’re evolving the break

8. Brainstorm with others in the building; you’ll get different subjects plus different perspectives on the same subject

9. Morning show team members: listen to each other for potential material (J and Julian/WBBM)

10. Study the art of storytelling and learn to be good at it; this is a life as well as a career benefit.

11. The new rule for evaluating phone calls: “too good not to air” vs. “good enough to air.”

12. Courage is essential if you’re going to grow from “OK” to “great.”

Have an idea, technique, bit or philosophy you'd like to share? Post a comment.

'Clave Rave

I've blogged previously about the great learning experience that is the Country Radio Seminar (CRS). But the Conclave too gets terrific marks for its learning conference - this year dubbed “i35 – Freeway to Your Future” - which concluded yesterday.

I was there as both a presenter of a morning show development panel with terrific talent coach Tommy Kramer (download notes from our session Tuesday afternoon at http://albrightandomalley.com/) and also as an attendee – mostly the social media and Internet-related panels.

I answered Art Vuolo’s question on the value of the Conclave by saying it’s about sharing what you know with others while being exposed to new ideas and experiences in return.

In that spirit, here are some ideas I shared and some others I'm passing along:

• The number one enemy of any show is irrelevant content.

• “Curation” is a big opportunity. People like someone – including a friend – to tell them what’s important, relevant and valuable.

• Follow people who follow you on Twitter; reciprocation makes people feel more engaged with you. Thanking people for following you makes you visible to that person’s followers as well.

• The new success formula for advertisers is “empower, demonstrate and involve/engage;” these replace the old formula of “inform, persuade, and remind.”

• Podcasts = action. 71% of a podcast’s listeners will visit a website, 62% will consider a new product or service, and 60% will gather more about info about product.

• Yes, DO think of digital platforms as more than just new avenues of product distribution. And DO think about new ways to delight users with platform-specific content. And DO be aggressive in creating apps that people actually want. But first, fix your stream!

Thanks, Conclave for inviting me to present a panel this year – and to leave with some new ideas to share with others.

Anything YOU’D like to share?

Six Attributes of Premium Brands: How Many Does Your Station Have?

I really like Starbucks' coffee.

I seek it out (fortunately that's not usually difficult) and willingly pay more for it.
To me it's a unique coffee experience (especially the rich, earthy, smoky, intense and satisfying French Roast) that's well worth the reasonably higher price.

I like to share my Starbucks experiences with other Starbucks fans and in turn hear what they enjoy.

Even outside of the coffee, I like Starbucks as a company – their history, initiatives, new products and promotions.

Uniqueness, customer loyalty, higher price point, distribution, promotions and back story: these six attributes that make Starbucks a Premium Brand for me are in fact characteristics shared by most Premium Brands.

How many of these Premium Brand attributes does your station have?

Uniqueness – From packaging to process, Premium Brands have clear elements of differentiation. They also introduce unique new variations of their basic products. Remembering that nuance is lost on most listeners, what most clearly and positively sets you apart from competitors? How are you promoting/exploiting it? What new, unique features or listener-experiences have you launched recently?

Customer Loyalty and Evangelism – Premium Brand customers demonstrate their brand loyalty by sharing their stories about your brand and hearing similar stories from fellow Premium Brand customers. “Pull marketing,” word of mouth, and public endorsements/consumption are part of the core marketing strategy. Are you making it easy for listeners to spread the word about you and interact with you and others about what you’re going?

Higher Pricing – customers expect to pay a realistically higher price, but consumers of Premium Brands still need to feel that they are getting value and receiving a premium experience. The higher the commercial load, the stronger the entertainment value must be. But price is not limited to just commercials; consider costs like the monetary investment or extra steps necessary to listen to your product on other platforms. Is the end experience worth the cost?

Distribution: Speaking of platforms, Premium Brands are widely available. Is your station missing any distribution channels?

Promotion: Many Premium Brands support or dominate niche events (like Red Bull’s involvement in extreme or dangerous sports). Others engage in particularly creative promotions (like Mattel’s Barbie dressed in designer clothes and walking the runway during New York City’s Fashion Week). Starbucks is involved in multiple community and global initiatives. Are there promotional or philanthropic opportunities in your market that you could own that would enhance your station’s brand image among your target listeners?

Back story: To tell a brand’s true back story, some have produced “promotumentaries” for the brand’s website or TV (Patron tequila has done a great job with its back story). A Microsoft study found that “...helping consumers build up their knowledge about a product is what turns casual interest into a premium sale”. What’s your station’s story? Why did it come about? What was your original strategic mission? Is there a powerful story you can tell?

Going Once...

Just for fun, I went on e-Bay to see what $399 would buy (for a limited time, $399 is the cost of registering for CRS 2011). I found some cool things but none appeard helpful in furthering a radio career.

A pair of binoculars (90x80 Professional) – techy, yes, but they won’t help you see the future of our industry.

A GPS device for golfers – it might help you find your lost ball, but it won’t help you find new listeners.

A pair of Bruno Magli Raging Venetian black loafers (10 D, pre-owned) – I suppose looking like a "raging Venetian" could help you appear successful, but these probably won't do too much to help you actually BE successful.

A pair of Chanel classic patent gold logo pumps (ladies size 11.5 – new with defects). Really? $400 for defective shoes?

$399 worth of services from a resume writer – which you won’t need because of all the impressive ideas you’ll bring back to your station.

A La Perla Black Label Litterae Bra/Thong 36B/M (no, really, they're for sale for $399).

You can check e-Bay too, but my suspicion is that the $399 you spend registering for CRS, March 2-4, 2011, will be money well spent on your career. Register here. Don't worry, you won't be outbid.

Spending time with your fellow broadcasters, sharing ideas, and creating solutions to problems sounds like a far better way to blow your own horn than buying that $399 used saxophone.