Conversing With Listeners: Three Things to Talk Over Now

Tastes, opinions and alternatives are anything but static. So if you haven’t had a conversation with your listeners recently, you should. 

Here are three fertile and actionable talking points for your next listener panel or focus group:

Music Satisfaction.  “Playing the best music” is always a top reason for picking one country station over another.

How is “best” defined by your listeners? If you’re a mainstream station competing for a leadership position in the market, “best” probably includes millennial music. But there are multiple segments within the millennial cluster and the appeal of each varies. What combination is optimal for your station? What music combinations would make you the best second choice (good if that’s your goal, bad if you’re shooting for leadership)?

Your brand. What do listeners say are the tangible and intangible attributes of your station that differentiate you from a competitor? Which of these are significant enough to influence listening behavior? What assets do your competitors own? Overall, how do you stack up in what matters?

Synchronization. Are the things that are getting substantial air time the same things that listeners want us to devote a lot of time to? How is the alignment between your music and talent? What’s your level of relevancy on a daily basis?

“The more you engage with customers the clearer things become and the easier it is to determine what you should be doing” is an oft-quoted line attributed to John Russell, President, Harley Davidson.

If you need a hand getting a dialogue going with your listeners, give a call, text or email.

And if you’d like to leave a comment sharing something that you learned from interacting with your listeners, you’ll be enriching us all.

The Long Life Span of Kind Words and Dismissive Behavior

Last week I got the chance to say thank you in person to Willard Scott for a simple act of kindness and professional courtesy that he did more than 20 years ago.

It was 1987 and I was the new PD at WYNY in New York City. That night at midnight, we’d flipped the then NBC-owned AC station to Country. The following morning on the Today Show, Willard finished up his forecast by unexpectedly congratulating us on the flip and wishing us, as NBC brethren, much success.

It was unnecessary. It appeared genuine. We were thrilled and felt like we’d made a new friend.

The camera then cut to Bryant Gumbel who made a sour face while saying something dismissive about the format.

It was unnecessary. It appeared genuine. We were disappointed and felt talked down to.

This past Groundhog’s Day, Willard graciously listened while I recounted the story and offered my thanks. He even indulged me with a photo op.

After all these years I’ve never forgotten the polar responses from these two broadcasters and how it made my staff feel. If you’ve talked to listeners, you know they too can long remember how a talent has treated them and how that made them feel.

What impression will you and your talent leave today?

It could last for 20 years.

Radio 2010: Listening and Lifestyle Profiles...and Coaching Tool

National ratings data and lifestyle information on the major formats is again available for free in the newly released Radio Today 2010 pdf from Arbitron. Download it free here.

There's lots of good news for country:

• Fall 2009’s combined (PPM and Diary) country share was 13.4% (4.4%/4th in PPM markets and 14.1%/1st in diary markets). That’s the highest share the format has delivered since spring 2002.

• Country radio’s reach is second only to AC.

• The format was number one in every daypart except mornings (#2 behind New/Talk/Information). It was also #1 25-34, 35-44 and 45-54. It was #2 18-24, 55-64 and 65+. 18-24 was the “growth demographic” and has been “up steadily in recent years.”

• 26% of the AQH audience is 18-34 and 42% is 18-44. 18-34s aren’t just cumers; their TSL of 6:30 is just under the 7:00 average 12+ and close to the 7:00 for 25-54 and 7:30 for 35-64.

Non-ratings information on the country audience includes education (half have attended or graduated college), earnings (half live in households earning $50,000 or more), home ownership (70%) and interests (country audiences index high on outdoor activities and slightly above the norm on texting).

For programmers, one of the most useful pieces of data in any Arbitron report is the Audience Composition graph (the Radio 2010 AQH Composition for country is shown). Running graphs for cume and AQH give you a 'big picture' look at both plus the relationship between them.

After checking rankings and PPDV/PPM Weight, Audience Composition is usually the next place I go when breaking out ratings.

My expectations are that the 'comps' will roughly mirror our targeting (usually it does). But when it doesn't, it triggers a series of questions: from 'Is this an aberration?" to an overall evaluation of the relevance and ‘welcoming-ness’ of key station elements.

An Audience Composition graph can also be a talent coaching tool, particularly if you're concerned that a show isn't as aligned with the audience as it should be. Compare a multi-book average of the station's and the show's Audience Composition. If there are undesirable differences, challenge the talent to cite the specific audience appeal for the show overall as well as its specific features and content pieces.

Comparing their perceived targets to the show’s Audience Composition might be what you need to offer congratulations or to shake things up a bit.

Like THIS for Example

Sometimes a good example is the best way to make your point.

That was what Jon Robbins, Operations Manager/Adventure Radio Group/Savannah thought when he used a Mediabase monitor to issue a “What content do you have planned for Monday’s show?” challenge to his morning shows.

Jon told me, “I saw (the WMJI/Cleveland show highlights) on Mediabase and thought WOW, look at all this great ‘compelling’ content that this show covered in ONE morning. I wished that I had listened – this makes me want to listen – so I decided to share with my Morning guys and ask them what do they have planned for Monday? Cause this is what it will take to get to #1 like John Lanigan.”

Here’s the content Jon shared:

* A new study shows that one in 10 residents of New York City have bedbugs.

* Hosts discussed details of the recent news story about three Florida kids, ages 15, 13, and 11, who saved their babysitting money, bought airline tickets and flew Southwest Airlines to Nashville, Tennessee to visit Dollywood, which is actually in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

* A 27 year-old London man parked illegally and found his car “clamped” and was ordered by police to pay the fine and the towing fee, even though the car had not yet been towed. So, knowing they wouldn’t tow the car with a passenger in it, he sat inside the vehicle for the next 30 hours.

* LeBron James was on the cover of “GQ” magazine, and in the interview, spoke about a city rivalry between Akron and Cleveland.

* A couple who went on vacation is suing their realtor for using their house and their possessions while they were gone for “unauthorized sexual escapades,” resulting in stained sheets, furniture, carpets and other surfaces. Century 21 paid $7,000 in repairs, and the agent was fired.

* President Obama was scheduled to come to Columbus on monitor day to encourage voters “not to give in to fear.”

* Hosts discussed the latest round of political commercials, specifically, Ohio state politicians.

* The trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich had ended with the jury deadlocked on 23 counts. He was found guilty on one count of lying to the FBI. Blagojevich was planning to appeal the conviction and the state was planning to retry him on the other 23 counts.

* The West Wing of the White House is currently covered in a white tarp. Hosts wondered what was going on under there.

* President Obama’s approval rating has dropped to 44%, the lowest of his presidency so far.

* A twice-convicted murderer has been turned down for parole again, after letters surfaced that he had written to the family of the people he murdered, detailing how he would kill them too as soon as he was released.

* A listener poll was underway on the station’s web site. Listeners were asked to visit the site and answer this question: “Who would you rather see back in Cleveland first, Art Modell or LeBron James?” Hosts discussed each of the men.

* John read several listener emails, one from a Cleveland listener who moved to San Diego and now listens online. Other emails referenced topics of conversation from earlier in the current Morning Show.

* Hosts discussed several of the newer TV shows, such as “Hot In Cleveland,” and “Rubicon.”

* A bicyclist was seen, wearing nothing but a helmet. Police want to know his identity.

* Laurie read several listener emails regarding the Florida kids who flew to Nashville, with various responses.

* A “Newsweek” article, “The Best Countries in the World,” lists the Top 10 countries in which to live as: #1 Finland, #2 Switzerland, #3 Sweden, #4 Australia, #5 Luxembourg, #6 Norway, #7 Canada, #8 The Netherlands, #9 Japan, and #10 Denmark.

From Audience Killer to Great Radio in Two Steps

The well-intentioned representative from (insert name of local charity here) comes to your studio and wants to tell you in great detail how your listeners can help out or make a donation. Unfortunately, a lot of listeners didn’t hang around for the specifics because they were never motivated to participate in the first place.

An artist is your guest and usually wants to talk about their latest CD, upcoming show, or something else they have going on right now. Listeners, disappointed they didn’t something personal or ‘behind the scenes,’ drift away as you play and the artist talks about his previously unheard song.

Both of these are audience killers.


You can’t blame your local guests; they’re rarely professional communicators. They don’t know what to say to make people respond. You can’t blame the artist; they’re in the moment and often just trying to get through yet another radio interview from another jock that really isn’t prepared beyond a few basics.

But here’s the thing: you can turn each into compelling radio if you 1) control the agenda that 2) finds and focuses on the Emotional Center.

Your agenda for the local guest is to find the Emotional Center in the story and use it to make listeners WANT to participate. Listeners can figure out HOW later. But if you don’t get me to WANT, you surely won’t get me to HOW.

Here’s a real example: a hospice spokesperson appeared on a morning show and spent 3 minutes talking about the responsibilities, requirements and sign-up procedures are for becoming a volunteer but never once gave listeners a reason to WANT to do this.


Audience killer.

But imagine the listener reaction if the interview started with and stuck to an Emotional Center: perhaps how spokesperson witnessed the daughter of a terminal patient put her arm around a hospice volunteer and, with a smile and a tear, told the volunteer how much she’d meant to her dad these last weeks, how much her kindness was appreciated, and how she’d always be a member of their family.


Find and tell a story like this and you’ll have great radio and a line of volunteers.

Similarly, while an artist may want to talk about a single or a new CD or an upcoming show, you have the chance to make if far more of an event for listeners if you create an agenda that includes mystery, a look behind the scenes, or that engages the artist in a way that reveals the artist as a person behind the star - itself an Emotional Center.


That’s the agenda Steve Stewart, WTNR/Grand Rapids’ OM/AM host of Scrubs in the Morning used for his Tuesday morning interview with Toby Keith. They got around to the new music, but not before Toby was talking like the golf playing, football-loving guy next door. You can listen to it including a feature called the “30 Second Meet & Greet” where a listener gets to end the call with 30 seconds to ask or tell the guest whatever they want.

Have an Agenda/Emotional Center interview story to share?

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.

Means To An End?

I’m all for any advance that will improve ratings accuracy and preciseness – starting with sample/panel size – so I’m certainly not dismissing Arbitron’s announcement of its PPM 360 technology out of hand.


Instead, I’ll share this December post from former Arbitron Senior Vice President, Ratings Services, Jay Guyther and hope that this news – and more importantly and also announced today, the news that Arbitron has purchased IMMI’s cellular phone-based technology that captures consumer cross-platform media usage – is all a means to a good end: larger panels at lower cost.

As radio audiences continue to fragment, there will be an increased demand for larger sample sizes. In the U.S., Arbitron’s PPM panels are one-third the size of the previous quarterly diary sample…

"For continued success, development of new generations of meters must be continuous and come much faster. The costs, both the equipment costs and the system operating costs, must be greatly reduced so sample sizes can be substantially larger making electronic measurement more attractive and affordable to more markets.

“The ability to efficiently and inexpensively embed signal identification technology into a consumers existing personal electronic device, while maintaining the necessary research quality, is the only solution to building large cost-effective panels…


I’m hoping that today’s steps are two of many that will be quickly taken to that end.

The Next Torchbearer

I was at the Stadium Wednesday night when Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig’s record for most hits as a Yankee. And I watched Friday night as the Captain became the Yankees’ all time hit leader.

I never saw Gehrig play of course, although his story is well documented and his place in Yankee (and baseball) history secure.

Still, I was rooting for Derek to break the record because Jeter is in the generation of players I’ve seen, heard and rooted for.

Gehrig was my Dad’s (and his Dad’s) superstar.

Each generation wants its own heroes, people who will speak for them.

This is certainly true in music, too.

Who are the artists your current generation of listeners are seeing, hearing and rooting for?

Promotional Opportunism

“Chance favors the prepared mind,” was how Louis Pasteur saw his abilities to invent and innovate. Dr. Richard Hamming, a scientist at Bell Labs told his colleagues, “The prepared mind sooner or later finds something to do and does it.”

How many times have you seen or heard you something that was right before your eyes but you never previously noticed until someone opportunistically embraced and exploited it?

Similarly, some of the best promotions are born of opportunistic circumstances. Just in time for today’s economic realities and courtesy of Trend Central are three ideas for fun-on-the-cheap - one from a corporation, one from a group of friends and one from an individual.

• Dumpster Diving. This has taken on a new meaning in Brooklyn, NY as Macro Sea has converted old dumpsters into urban swimming pools – complete with decks – and set them up in empty lots and backyards for no charge fun. The dumpsters have been cleaned and lined to keep their past history from seeping into the present.

• DIY Art Show. Some Brooklyn-based artists set up a display of their sculptures on a rooftop where their friends could make like the upper crust at an art show only without the expensive formal wear and toasts with 40s instead of Champaign.

• Make your own home Tiki bar. Or maybe ‘tacky’ bar would be more like it. One man’s night out at the bar is another’s stay-at-home good time. His basement bar was constructed from used/discarded wood and bar stools, Christmas lights, an old TV that plays an amateur loop of fish swimming, and various thrift store decorations.

Observation, timing, the ability to shelve existing plans, and recognizing that "random forces often conspire to make things ridiculously easy just as often as they conspire to create hurricanes and earthquakes…” are traits of an opportunist.

What do you see around you that could be the spring board for a talk-generating, opportunistic promotion?

Rules of the Road

I’ve owned a few Chryslers and Dodges in my time so the FastCompany.com slideshow “Chrysler: What It Was, What It Is, and What It Could Have Been” caught my eye.

The slides feature Chryslers new and old, and the accompanying text recounts some company highs and lows.

Scrolling through, several recurring themes jumped out at me.

• Rushing things to market by cutting corners usually results in failure.

• Maintaining the status quo not only forfeits a chance at leadership but
allows competitors to leave you behind.

• Getting things “half right” doesn’t make you “half successful.”

• Create what people want to buy. Developing high-demand products for previously un- or under-served segments of the marketplace pays big dividends. Of course this requires intimacy with the market.

• While “new for the sake of being new” may satisfy some internal company goal, it’s “timely innovation” (the right idea at the right time for a receptive consumer) that brings flush times.

• There’s a success/failure cycle: innovate, maintain the status quo, be outmoded (repeat cycle).

• Innovation is frequently rooted in simplicity.

I’m especially excited about the last bullet.

Are you, like me, encouraged to review all aspects of your product looking for simple innovations?

Where will you start?

Faces of the Fourth

We were first attracted to Milltown, NJ as much by what wasn’t here as what was. And what’s still missing remains one of the appeals.

There wasn’t/isn’t much crime or chains or traffic or industry or high-rises. To date our borough of about 7000 still doesn’t have a Wal-Mart, a movie theater, a McDonald's, or a high school. You can find all these within a few miles of course, but they're not here in Milltown.

What we do have is a barber shop, a hardware store, a taxidermist, and a place to buy an ice cream cone on a summer night. There are streets with sidewalks, several good sized parks and paved path which winds along the lake/river that cuts through the middle of town.

But Milltown is at its Norman Rockwell best on the 4th of July. There’s a fishing derby, a fun run, and a parade featuring Veterans’ groups from Milltown and neighboring towns, local boy and girl scouts troops, antique cars, and what must be every fire truck and emergency vehicle within a 20 mile radius that has a working siren.

Post-parade, the colors are presented at Borough Park and an afternoon of entertainment, kids’ rides and free hot dogs and birch beer continues until the fireworks start at 9:30.

This year, I captured a lot of the day in pictures. Not surprisingly, the most interesting photos were of people.

I took one shot of what might have been a middle-aged woman and her 20-something daughter, laughing hysterically while riding on a spinning carnival ride clearly intended for kids. I imagined one dared the other with some back and forth dialogue like, “Remember how much fun this was when we were kids?" and "I don’t care if someone laughs, they won’t be laughing harder than you and me!”

There’s one of a guy juggling while riding a five foot unicycle and trading barbs with onlookers. What possessed him to want to do this? How do you practice to be good at this? His legs must be tired; there are hills on the parade route! And he’s cracking jokes, too!

I took some shots of the Mummers that marched, wondering how much their elaborate costumes must weigh (and cost) and how hard they must be to care for.

And then there are my two favorite pictures – one of a pair of long-retied firemen, in full dress uniform, sitting in the shade outside the Main Street Firehouse, talking quietly amidst the activities swirling around them. Perhaps they were recalling past moments of bravery or fellow firefighters now long gone.

But my favorite picture was of a Milltown Vet/Legionnaire, returned from marching at the head of the parade, now sitting and taking in the rest of the procession with his kids and what I assume were his grandkids that was my favorite. There was enough in his face and eyes to fill a book – or a several incredible breaks on a show the Monday after the 4th.

I tried to be extra observant yesterday because knew I wanted to blog today about my 4th of July (that's also what I would have done if I was going to be on the air tomorrow). I wanted to have some interesting stories to tell when people ask, as they will, “How was your 4th?”

I wanted to be ready to participate in what is going to be the number one talk about for many. I wanted to be prepared to share some stories to share about my town, its people, and the way we celebrate Independence Day. I wanted to think about how to frame them so that you'll readily recognize YOUR town and YOUR experiences in my stories - you versions of memorable people and their stories because I'm certain that there are a lot of interesting citizens and stories in your town that I too would find interesting and relatable.

Reports are about facts; stories are about feelings. What interesting stories will you have prepared to share with your friends and listeners about your 4th?

Book Packagers. Who Knew?

I’d never heard of a ‘book packager’ until I read Seth Godin’s blog Monday.

What struck me about the packager’s job description and skill requirements was how applicable many are to being a great air talent.

“…find isolated assets and connect them in a way that creates value, at the same time…put in the effort to actually ship the product out of the door.”

“The skills you bring to the table are vision, taste and a knack for seeing what's missing. You also have to be a project manager, a salesperson and the voice of reason, the person who brings the entire thing together and to market without it falling apart.”

If you have an air staff that has or will embrace these skills, I’m thinking you have or have the makings of a strong group of talent.

If you’re intrigued, read the whole blog especially numbers 3, 5 and 8 of Seth’s 9 rules of thumb.

Speaking Like the Prez

Communications coach Steve Adubato analyzed President Obama’s inaugural speech and offered his thoughts/take-aways. I distilled Steve's column to six bullets – many of which are common areas of growth for talent:

• Be focused; have a clear theme
• Be brief; don’t confuse quantity with quality
• Disagreeing is OK but being disagreeable isn’t
• Own your content; speak from your heart rather than someone else’s script
• Challenge the audience to look inward/become emotionally involved in what you’re saying instead of just talking at them
• Speak with confidence; share what you care about in a way that makes me care too


Listen to your airchecks in light of these bullets to see if any of the President’s techniques would improve your communication skills.

This Year We Gifted a Goat

What’s the best gift you’ve ever given? Chances are it was something that the recipient truly valued – perhaps even something that changed their life.

Like maybe a goat.

My wife and I were recently introduced to Heifer International - an organization that purchases animals for impoverished people with the goals of helping the recipients feed themselves, earn a living through livestock, and care for the world.

Their online and their direct mail pieces feature nearly a dozen different animals you can give along with pictures and stories of the life-changing potential of these gifts. The direct mail piece featured a different (and high-powered) celebrity endorsement accompanying each animal while online you could watch celebrities in informative videos.

It was a compelling presentation and we were moved to gift a goat and a flock of chicks.

Yes there are radio parallels here – the power of a positive, heart-touching stories, words that paint pictures, multi-platform strategies, the use of endorsements – but these are for another blog.

Today I just wanted to share our ‘discovery’ with you.

Who knew a goat and some chickens (or a pig, llama, or water buffalo) would wind up on our ‘best gifts ever given’ list?

Merry Christmas!

The Voice of Everyman

By Mike O'Malley

Studs Terkel died last week.

Studs was a National Book Award medalist, activist and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Over his 96 years he was also a stage and radio actor, disc jockey, Chicago and later nationally syndicated radio talk show host and TV star.

Studs’ writing “celebrated the common people he liked to call the ‘non-celebrated’.” His stories were about how ordinary people live, the little aspects of their lives, what divides and unites people, how people feel about their jobs, and “people who give us hope and through them we have hope.”

Speaking about crafting his stories, Terkel likened it to first extracting a small amount of gold dust from tons of ore, then using forms and molds to craft that dust into jewelry.

Personal, connected to the audience, relevant, observant, interesting, encouraging and self-edited. What an inspirational checklist for talent!

I don’t know all I should about Studs Terkel, but I’m going to learn some more. I’m going to read some of his works to see what I can learn about telling wonderfully interesting stories about the lives of everyday people.

Traits of Market Icons

by Mike O'Malley




This weekend I was part of the reunion of New York City country radio broadcasters (starting from my left are the killer former WYNY staff: Bill Rock, Shelli Sonstein, Dan Daniel, Randy Davis and Jim Kerr).

I’m not big on reunions – I’d rather talk about the future than the past – but this one was something special because it was a chance to see again some great talent and friends that I had the privilege of working with for 5 years.

On the commute home I thought about what it takes to be a market icon as so many of the talent at this gathering were:


• Consistently delivering a show that has strong horizontal attraction; that is, that has an audience that tunes in everyday, not just a few times a week or month, but 4-5 times a week because they want to. While the reasons why listeners tune in on a daily basis may be different with each talent, the best have the ability to leverage their strengths to command a daily following.

• The ability to attract new listeners over the years, not just hold on to an aging core, by evolving, staying relevant and fresh, and communicating in ‘today’s’ style

• The art of self-revelation done in a way that draws people to them rather than repelling them by being self-absorbed.

• An outgoing personality that initiates relationships with listeners

• Thoroughly understanding your listeners and how and why they use you and your station

• Being well-versed in things that their listeners care about and being able to communicate that interest in the same way that two friends would

• Being passionate about and a proponent of their format and station - whichever one they were working in at the time

• Being accessible, touchable, and humble, and maintaining a sense of ‘every man’ despite being larger than life at times

• Having a sense of humor about life

• Loving what they do and letting it show


Market icons work hard at their craft on and off the air. Are you up to the challenge? Do you have more observations about icons in your market you’d like to share?

This Is Really A Short Blog Because...

A lot of people have the same attention span as a goldfish - about 9 seconds.

No, really.

This makes me want to think about promos and imaging, talent breaks and newscasts, all content on air and online.

Are they attracting and retaining listeners’ attention? Would they be better and more powerful if they were more concise in the same way that a tablespoon of orange juice concentrate is more powerful than a tablespoon of orange juice because the water is removed?

Lead with your point. Add only what increases the entertainment value, engages me and/or stimulates my interest. Evolve, don’t repeat. Include a lot more feelings and a lot fewer facts. Make me want something first; I can figure out how to get it later. Be relevant. Make me see myself in your content. Surprise me. Be emotional, passionate even. Be a personality in 9 seconds.

Still got your attention?

YOU’RE IN THE COCKPIT

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…“

OK, as much as I love Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” that’s just a bit dramatic even for me.

Still, in one 48 hour period I had the best of times - an exceptional customer experience with Continental Airlines – and the worst of times - a terrible customer experience with American Airlines.

For me this was also a case of brand wisdom and brand foolishness because these experiences will have lasting impact on how I view these companies and how good a customer I will or won’t be in the future.

While on the road, to my complete surprise (and delight), I received a thank you from Continental Airlines for having flown one million miles with them. Inside the expensive looking box they sent was a personalized luggage tag with Continental’s million-miler logo, a new personalized Platinum frequent flyer card with the logo, and a nice letter from Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner.

The gifts were nice and certainly appreciated. But it was the letter meant the most to me. It seemed personal and heartfelt – even to someone like me who occasionally casts a cynical eye on such things. Reading it I felt honored and proud to be such a loyal Continental flyer.

But when I came to the part of the letter that said my perks would be extended to my wife as well, I was floored. Here was a company who really ‘got’ what it’s like to have to fly this much! Heavy flying not only impacts the flyer but extracts a big toll on those left behind. Here was thank you not only to me for flying but to Wanda for her sacrifices too. What insight!

I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better experience with an Airline.

At the other end of the week’s travel continuum was my experience with American Airlines and a cancelled flight.

I understand that cancellations and delays are a part of life and I harbor no hard feelings when these occasionally happen. But how the airline treats me in these instances DOES matter to me.

In this case American put me up in a second-rate (I’m being generous), non-business-travel-friendly motel that smelled of mold and stale cigarettes, didn’t appear to have been updated in decades, had no business facilities, and sat on the side of an Interstate with no opportunity to walk anywhere for dinner.

American gave me a $10 dinner voucher (when was the last time you had dinner for $10 that wasn’t fast food?) and of course it could only be used in the hotel that I already didn’t even want to take my shoes off in.

No one apologized for the inconvenience of the cancellation which, according to the hotel van driver said happened “all the time” and even asked me, “What did they say it was THIS time?”

Had American opted for a modest, business-friendly hotel in a location where one could walk to a restaurant and redeem a $15 food voucher, it would have gone a long way. Instead, I had to shell out for round-drip cab fares to downtown to find a restaurant that was open late, pay for the meal and for an extra day’s parking charge at the airport (all tolled about $75) and – most importantly - lose a half day at home which is so precious to a heavy flyer.

Whether American doesn’t understand what being a heavy flyer in 2008 is like or doesn’t care, I don’t know.

What I DO know is how each of these experiences made me feel. On the one hand I felt Continental tried to do the maximum they could for me. Meanwhile American made me feel that they were trying to do the least they could for me.

American likely doesn’t know that I fly 100,000 miles a year. Nor could American have known that I’m going to have to seek additional carriers this fall as Continental will no longer be serving some of the cities I regularly fly to.

Guess who won’t be first on my list?

In focus groups, listeners tell us similar stories all the time. “The DJs just stood around.” “No one ever came over to talk to me.” I thought they were rude.”

We also hear, “They made me feel important.” “They know my name.” “They just seem to love what they’re doing.” “They treated me like I was their friend.”

Which perception do you think will be more likely to generate listenership?

How do YOU want to be perceived?

You’re in the cockpit.

Brand O

Eight years ago, about the time the Oprah magazine debuted, I wrote about Oprah as a brand and suggested these radio applications:

1. Discover what makes you special to your consumers and deliver that uniqueness on as many platforms as possible.

2. Only engage in those things that reinforce your brand’s positives. Never compromise your product or brand integrity.

3. Be relentlessly in your pursuit and maintenance of consumer trust.


Why reference an eight year old article today?

Because besides still being utterly relevant, our guest on today’s Albright and O’Malley bi-monthly Client Wide Conference call was legendary programmer John Gehron who is the GM of Harpo Radio and programs XM’s Oprah and Friends Radio channel.

John shared with us some tenets that make Oprah and Friends Radio special:


1. Know what your brand represents (for the Oprah brand, it’s “Live your best life.”)

2. Protect your brand. Examine tie-ins for potential damage and for what your brand will get out the relationship.

3. Understand and respect the audience. There’s a difference between women and “Oprah women.”

4. Put the product first. Go the extra mile for the audience; little things are noticed.

5. Understand that you are a product supplier. Find other distribution channels that your listeners use and put your product on them.

6. Encourage synergy.


What to be a great brand? Study Oprah.

Seeking Elmo

Changing tastes, lagging brands, increased competition, evolving consumers, and increasing difficulty in attracting your target’s attention: sounds like this could be a list of challenges facing any number of industries including ours.

In this case though, we’re talking about the toy industry and Mattel and its Fisher-Price line in particular. Today’s Wall Street Journal noted the company had it’s first quarterly loss in more than three years and was hurt not only by the weak economy, but also by factors like a struggling brand (Barbie) and the lack of a hot, new item, like last year’s T. M. X. Elmo.

Innovation of course is one way to keep a brand prosperous. If you attended the A&O pre-CRS Seminar, you know that one of Starbuck’s brand traits is ‘staying fresh through innovation.’

However trying to deliver too much of a good thing can confuse consumers. Mattel’s Magic of the Rainbow” fantasy doll did so many other functions too (a remote control, CD-ROM game, button-activated fluttering wings) that, “‘Girls asked – is this a doll?’” according to Chuck Scothon, Sr. VP of Mattel’s girls division who admits, “We put too much in.”

The challenge for Mattel – and arguably other industries including radio – is to be “fresh and new” without being so overly innovative that consumers are left confused by what the core product actually is.

Brands are a promise of value and experiences. Violating your promise or delivering an ‘average’ consumer experience diminishes the brand’s power. Delivering on your promises and providing an exceptional experience strengthens your brand’s power.

Examine each item in your station’s brand folder and determine how powerful it is, considering relevance, customer experience, stand-out-ability, freshness, and its potential to generate new listeners on its own or via word of mouth.

• Is the listeners’ experience in synch with what they truly want? If not, how do they need to be modified?
• Are your true brand assets attracting your listeners’ attention?
• Is your station on multiple platforms? How is the quality of that cross-platform experience?
• How can you deepen your station’s brand experience?


“Something in the Air” author Marc Fisher, speaking at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics listed ‘reinvesting in creativity’ as one of radio’s top ways to be innovative.

Consider doing just that in the next week. Spend a few hours with your creative staffers reviewing what on your station that can be evolved, updated, spun or reinvented to deliver not only a better brand experience, but one that causes listeners to tell others about.

In the process, you might discover your station’s next Elmo.