Christmas Plans and New Year's Resolutions

What do people like to do most over the holidays? For nearly 2/3rds of adults it’s spending time with family and friends – that’s according to a Harris poll of 2,455 adults cited by Media Life Magazine. Next: going to holiday dinners and parties (9%), finding and giving presents (6%), and watching TV specials and hearing holiday songs on the radio (4%).

When it comes to New Year’s Resolutions, losing weight continues to be number one, although myGoals.com reports the percent of people set on shedding pounds (27%) is down from 31% last year. Other goals include personal growth and interest (15%), personal finance (15%), career (12%) and education and training (9%).

Consider these stats as you create last minute Christmas and New Year’s imaging and promotions.

Remembering (or not) Your Best Christmas Gifts

Reporting that 41% of people can’t remember the best gift they received last Christmas, a company called Excitations.com has set out to change that by selling gifts that won’t easily be forgotten. The company’s ‘experiential gifts’ – gifts that require active participation by the recipient – include balloon and helicopter rides, rafting and skydiving, high performance driving adventures, dinner with an NFL player, gourmet cooking, tea tasting and more.

That got me thinking about some of my own most memorable gifts – those given to me by others and those I’ve given myself. The first ones that came to my mind were ones where I was an active participant rather than a passive recipient. I recalled both my experience and the way that experience made me feel.

It’s not too much of a stretch to think that listeners’ positive experiences with us could improve their recall, too.

That would be a memorable gift to for everyone.

Doing Good and Getting Noticed

“Save the World” is one of the Six Tenants of Values Based Programming I penned a few years back when taking a long range look at what factors will drive future station success. Of course saving “the world” can be literal as in big corporation's Green Plans, or more local as in your listeners’ immediate environment.

I recently learned about CHASHAMA – a New York City arts organization that supports artists of all types by converting vacant properties into galleries, studios, window performance sites, etc. http://brandnoise.typepad.com/

Right now I’ll bet there are malls or strip malls with an empty store or two, or maybe even an unused kiosk. Wouldn’t you and the mall be heroes if you arranged a holiday photo or kids’ art display celebrating the joys of the season in your town, or even something more ambitious like kids’ school plays or local community theatre efforts to be featured in a window performance?

Making even a small corner of the world a better place and getting noticed for doing so is a big win-win.

Karl Rove, Radio Consultant

Former senior advisor and deputy chief of staff for President Bush Karl Rove lists five actions he feels Republicans must take if they are to beat Hillary Clinton in November.

Read the bullet points and see if you don’t agree that Karl’s recommendations are also relevant for our stations and circumstances.

1. Plan now to introduce yourself again right after winning the nomination. Rove cautions candidates not to assume everyone knows them or what they’ve done, and he encourages them to create a “narrative that explains your life and commitments.”
2. Stay authentic in terms of what you believe
   Highlight core convictions that help people understand who you are as a candidate, and that set up a natural contrast with Clinton “both on style and substance.” Authenticity is imperative.
3. Tackle issues families care about and Republicans too often shy away from.
   Understand voter concerns and be bold yet credible in how you will approach and address these issues.
4. Go after people who aren’t traditional Republicans
   Ask for everyone’s vote. Be seen as trying hard.
5. Be strong on Iraq
   Recast difficult questions about Iraq so that they encompass a broader picture of future leadership.
   

Authenticity, clearly conveying what you’re about and why you are different and special, understanding would-be constituents’ needs and wants and satisfying them, being accessible, visible and involved, and being perceived as a leader – these also sound like qualities of a successful radio station.

How Does Your Station Smell

Scientists (and retailers) know that smells, sounds -- even the color of the walls – make a difference when a customer is ready to buy.

Clothing stores for example that incorporate appropriately fun music, a pleasing physical environment and racks that are frequently replenished with the latest fashions sell more apparel at higher prices. Some might consider this nefarious but retailers say it’s just a way to provide consumers with an environment that makes them want to spend more time (and money) in their stores.

Consider the type of overall “in-store experience” your environment (music, staging, execution, talent and other basics) and merchandise racks (content of all types) are creating. If your station was a store, would your environment encourage or discourage shopping?

Retail Reports a "Dearth of Talent"

Today’s Wall Street Journal (August 1, 2007) featured an article claiming the “retail industry is suffering a dearth of talent.” http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118592195034983941.html

“Often, what retailing experts are talking about when they talk about lack of
talent is a growing – some would say excessive - reliance on management skills.
As in industries ranging from Hollywood to Silicon Valley to Wall Street,
tension has always existed…between creative types – merchants – and bean
counters: managers. In recent years, managers have gained the upper hand as
Wal-Mart-driven efficiencies…have pushed an ever-growing percentage of American retail space into warehouses touting little more than low price."

Similar “dearth of talent” laments certainly aren’t uncommon in our industry either.

As PDs spend more time in the “management” mode, it’s increasingly important that we help them set aside creative time so they can make full use the right side of their brains as well as their left.

Because the roles of programmers require both analytic and creative skills, let’s hire accordingly. And, having done so, let’s insure that our “whole brain” thinkers build into their schedules time to think creatively, time to translate those thought into actions so that magic can happen on the air, time to coach and cultivate personalities who enhance the magic, and time to create a station that listeners and advertisers put on their “must hear/must have” lists.

In the parlance of the WSJ, let’s help our programmers be both the creative “merchant” as well as the managerial “bean counter.”

“...it’s worth remembering…that Sam Walton was an exquisite merchant. He staged donkey rides at newly opened stores.”

Mmmm...talk-abouts

Gotta give it to Ben and Jerry’s. They’ve turned one talk-about into two, and in so doing, made themselves the center of attention.

Ben and Jerry’s will introduce a special donut flavored ice cream in honor of the Simpson’s movie that premieres this month. But don’t look for it in your store. The company says it’s only going to be out for one day and will only be available in one town (Springfield, VT).

As a talk-about, this is brilliant. And apparently the effort and expense in capturing the moment – and reaping the resulting publicity – are worth it to the company.

How much easier it is for us to capture the moment! We don’t have to mobilize a workforce to re-tool a factory in order to produce our consumable product. We just have to imagine it and talk about it.

When we talk about what others are talking about in a unique, creative, fun, interesting and interactive way, we create a sense of community where we’re talked about, too.

Of course the Simpson’s movie won’t be everyone’s biggest talk-about (although donuts and ice cream in the summer have a pretty universal appeal).

Besides, the real value of talk-abouts may be less about being “in the moment” and more about creating, on a daily basis, opportunities for listeners to feel connected to us and to each other.

Opportunistic talent find solid talk-abouts every day – from big ones like the release of the final Harry Potter book to little ones like a hometown hero, road construction, unusual weather, or the first day of school.

Want more people talking about you? Add a pint of Carpe Diem to your show (as well as to your imaging and contesting) on a daily basis. Pass out spoons to listeners and let them dig in.

Mmmm…good radio.

The Value of Speed

The turning point in last night’s All Star Game wasn’t a Barry Bonds blast (although his early drive to the warning track was a delicious tease). It was when Ichiro Suzuki’s legs shifted into over-drive resulting in the first-ever, All Star Game’s inside-the-park home run.

Speed – if not the factor – was certainly a factor in extending the AL’s unbeaten streak to 11 games and making Ichiro the game’s MVP.

Speed – or the lack thereof - can be a major factor in programming, too. It’s not just about beating a competitor to the punch; it’s about acting and reacting quickly to opportunities – especially the fleeting ones.

What’s hot today that you can capitalize on?

Harry Potter, Radio Programmer

As the Harry Potter saga prepares to conclude after 10 years, let’s consider a few things Harry learned at Hogwarts that could apply to how we program our stations (yelling “Expelliarmus” at competitor’s tower doesn’t count).

• Wonderful, magical things lurk just beneath the ordinary, but you must take an active role to bring them to light. Magic happens because you were prepared to make it happen. Have a deliberate plan to make magic happen regularly on your station.
• It’s not only your abilities, but what you choose to do with them that are the true measures of your character. Have a bias toward action. Until something happens, it’s only good intentions.
• People with whom you’ve built strong relationships will be there for you, often just when you them the most. Nurture relationships with listeners, co-workers, and friends.
• Doing the right thing can often mean doing the hardest thing. Leadership isn’t for the feint of heart. Be prepared to make tough decisions for the overall good.
• Practice ‘Legilimency.’ Past experiences can give perspective and insight to current circumstances. Take a moment to apply what you already know to better understand/interpret new challenges.
• The seeking and sharing of knowledge go hand in hand. Learn from or be an Albus Dumbledore.
  

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

What are the names of some of the people who’ve waited on you at McDonalds? Or the cashiers at the supermarket where you shop? Or the person who reads your water meter?

We see it all the time, but it’s still mildly shocking (and discouraging) to see the blank expressions on the faces of people in focus groups when we ask the radio version of the same question – “tell me the names of some of the DJs you listen to.”

In a recall universe, such memory paralysis is never a good thing.

Here are five ideas to help talent be more memorable:

1. Make content “unique-to-you” by approaching topics in a way other than the “first right answer” which is what most talent in the market will come up with. All penguins look pretty much the same.
   
2. Let listeners see more of the “real” you. It’s near impossible to remember what you don’t know or understand, nor will you make accurate recollections of things that are fuzzy in your mind. Same for things you don’t care about. Make me care about you as a person and I’ll be more likely to remember you as a talent I’ve listened to.
   
3. Similarly, use personal appearances and one-on-one opportunities (even on the phone) to deliberately engage listeners you meet on as personal a level as they will allow. The power of one-on-one is a double-edged sword; you’re going to be perceived as aloof or engaging. You pick.
   
4. Create benchmarks that are in line with listeners’ values, expectations, station image and you personally. If I’m listening to the station for something I like and the talent heightens that experience, I’m more likely to recall that talent – and in a positive way.
   
5. Become a more interesting talker. Replace “geek talk” (minutiae, execution, rules, etc) with phrasing that paints mental pictures, creates associations, or tackles topics in a fresh, surprising way. Imagine how you’d tell a friend about a great meal or funny experience you had, or about a most interesting person you recently met. You’ll cut through the wasteland of “DJ talk,” clichés and hype.

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Periodically reviewing your assets and how they’re being managed is good financial AND programming advice.

Listeners are often “top-line information” evaluators, being aware of only a limited number of things about your station and basing their listening decisions on these and little else. Hopefully what they know about you minimally includes your biggest plus points, those valuable station components that you nurture and leverage.

Here are six common assets you’ll want to manage to insure sure listeners know (and love) these top-line things about your station:


Talent – they’re friends who have a bond with listeners, real people they’d like to have a beer or a cup of coffee with, to talk over some of their commonalities, and let others know they’re on a “personal” relationship level. The morning show is strong, but all shows are always interesting because they’re always well-prepared. Listeners are given compelling reasons to tune in tomorrow because the content is always pre-promoted and occasionally episodic.

Music – the quality leader in your format, well-married to the targets’ tastes, consistent yet with good variety as defined by the target, and competitive in quantity.

Stationality – from creative, “fun to listen to” execution, to an imaging style all your own, to on-air talent camaraderie across all dayparts, there’s an “X” factor that is obvious when you turn the station on.

Listener Involvement – from letting the audience co-create content with you to allowing them to voice their opinions. This is very on-trend.

Quality Benchmarks – regularly scheduled, highly desired features which create tune-in and recall. For some stations this will also include services.

Station Footprint – this is the essence of your station: larger than life, a fun, compelling, “must-hear everyday,” high-touch, highly visible, community-immersed companion, always prepared.

"Resolving" to be a Better Programmer

Seven years ago I wrote "25 New Year’s Resolutions for PDs and OMs." It generated a lot of positive feedback and many said they referred to it throughout the year.

Each December since then, I’ve made it a tradition to add five new resolutions to the original list. This year's additions bring the total to 55.

Here are 5 of my favorites (you can get 5 more at www.albrightandomalley.com). Try some that you think will have the biggest, most positive impact on your station and on your personal and professional life.

Have a wonderful and safe New Years, and a personally and professionally rewarding 2007! And sometime during the upcoming year, I'd love to hear how the resolutions you selected worked out.


1. Resolve not to manage by crisis. Create and adhere to a personal, daily schedule that insures each day's most important tasks -- the ones that will truly move the station forward -- will be completed.

2. Resolve to be "immediate." Maintain a mindset of, "How can I get this on the air right now?"

3. Be a “Hijacker.” Find ways to put yourself in the middle of what everyone is talking about in order to steal the limelight.

4. Spend more time in the “design process.” Too often, in the excitement of “doing,” insufficient time is spent in the “blueprint” phase. This can lead to too many instances of “this would have been bigger if we” or “we should planned for,” etc.

5. Everyday, make a conscious decision to enjoy your job, to have fun at work and to create a positive environment for those around you. The attitude you choose each day will be reflected back to you from your co-workers. If you would really rather do something other than radio, you should do it. But if you're going to continue in our industry, don't live in the past, dwell on what you don’t have, or get dragged into the depressing lair and unproductive lamentations of malcontents. If you do, you'll be unable to see the opportunities that lie ahead. Even worse, you'll miss the magic, joys and triumphs that happen around you everyday.

Now Arriving On Platform Three

Businesses that communicate well across multiple platforms are more likely to generate sales than businesses that don’t communicate as well.

That’s true of course for radio, too.

For businesses, platforms can include web sites, brick and mortar presence, ease of purchasing, physical and virtual catalogues, delivery, customer service and more. A sub-standard performance in any of these platforms can result in a lost sale.

Think about your own shopping experiences. How many times did a business lose your business because they disappointed you in just one of these areas?

Now think about all the platforms where listeners and prospects can encounter your stations. How is your performance in each?

Turkeys and Timetables

It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg question. Do the media drive consumers’ timetables when it comes to the holidays, or are consumers’ personal timetables simply reflected by the early holiday ads, sales and mass media content we see each year?

More importantly, what does this mean for the show you’re going to do tomorrow?

The holiday-themed marketing blitz has been going on for weeks. At our house it started with the grocery store’s “free Thanksgiving turkey” promise about a month ago, and was quickly followed by pre-Thanksgiving sales pitches, announcements about on-line specials that wouldn’t be available in stores, recommendations to shop before Thanksgiving and avoid the crowds, and the offering of services related to entertaining (or coping with) a houseful of relatives.

Of course it’s not just holiday marketing, it’s holiday content too.

Scanning the covers of the magazines at Barnes and Noble can make you feel like you’re judging some weird, roast turkey beauty contest.

Network nightly news programs feature stories about this year’s “must have” items, retail projections, feel-good holiday segments, and the obligatory piece about the increased cost of flying replete with last year’s footage of frustrated crowds at airports recounting their drumstick destination dilemmas.

Turn on your computer and more often than not you’ll find some sort of Thanksgiving content, from recipes to table settings to the history of the holiday.

Meanwhile on cable, the Food Network is behaving like the Weather Channel during a hurricane.

The point is, holiday content is everywhere and if it’s not already on your show, you’re behind your audience.

Big events, like holidays, are on listeners’ minds early. You’ll be the smartest talent in the market when your “content timetable” matches your listeners’ personal timetable.

Sometimes It's The Little Things

Sometimes it’s the little things that make the big difference. Ask the Detroit Tigers – a great team undone in large part by their failure to execute the basics when it mattered most.

While stand-out performances from big stars can be important, winning also requires executing the routine plays, the fundamentals, the mundane tasks that you don’t think about a lot because they’re taken for granted, they're not top of mind, or maybe just because they're not very sexy.

Radio’s highlight reel likely includes the spectacular contest, the coveted interview, the wild stunt, the knock-it-out-of-the-park bit. But winning takes more than a nightly web gem.

Here are some of radio’s “pitcher-to-third-base plays,” the basics, the stuff of champions.

...Having specific ratings goals, a well-thought out and highly detailed plan for achieving them, and a faithful adherence to that plan.

...Frequent and creative ways of identifying your station, and imaginative and distinctive imaging that helps listeners understand the difference between you and your competitors.

...A thorough awareness of your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses, and a plan for rebuffing the former and exploiting the latter.

...Music scheduling software monitoring and discipline in coding and adding music, and making sure what you want on the air is actually getting on the air.

...Promotions that sparkle in design, imaging and execution, that create talk, and make competitors’ efforts sound boring and insignificant.

...A strategy for the streets including where you are going, why you are going, and how you’ll surprise and delight the listeners you encounter.

...A website that’s always up to the minute, that anyone in the building can update on the fly, that has elements that drive traffic, and a frequent listener program that really IS worthwhile for a listener to be a part of as well as a valuable tool for marketing the station.

...A staff where everyone is on the same page and understands the target and the goals and all the station’s movable parts; where the talent is “game-ready” everyday and never mails it in, and where everyone on the team is made to feel valuable.

...An overall product that exceeds listeners’ expectations, that they feel ownership in, that makes them feel glad they spent time with you, and that leaves them looking forward to coming back repeatedly.

The Tigers will have to wait until next year to perfect the basics. You get to do that today.

Coaching Talent: Lessons From A Kindergarten Teacher

Karen Ginty knows a lot about coaching talent. She doesn’t know that, but it’s true.

Karen is a Kindergarten teacher in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey and she’s just been named the state’s 2006 Teacher of the Year.

Here are six of her guiding principles:

1 - Be a nurturer
2 - Provide a safe environment
3 - Address all the needs of all the students on a daily basis
4 - Roll with the punches
5 - Make it fun
6 - Teach respect and caring

“You’re not here for the money,” she says. “When you love something, that’s the perk…”

If Karen ever decided to work with talent, I bet she’d be awesome.

The Surprising "Real" Reason to Rehearse

We’ve all heard it. In fact we’ve all heard it too many times: a great idea that just doesn’t come off on the air as powerfully as it should have.

Sometimes a bit drags on far too long, lacking focus or a strong close, getting off track and struggling to right itself.

Sometimes it doesn’t go on nearly long enough. Ideas don’t get fleshed out, developed or exploited. The obvious is substituted for the extraordinary.

Sometimes on multi-person shows, some of the players don’t seem to understand their roles and either struggle to contribute or miss opportunities when it’s their moment to shine.

The result is too often the push of a button and the search for something more interesting and entertaining.

The bad news this happens a lot. The good new is this doesn’t have to happen to you.

You only need to do two things: learn how to rehearse properly and then rehearse faithfully.

Unfortunately merely mentioning the “R” word to many jocks causes eyeballs to roll and excuses flow. “I like to go with the moment.” “There’s no time to rehearse.” And my all time favorite, “I like to go for the reaction in the room and rehearsing would ruin this.”
(Oh, yeah. The reaction of one or two other people in the room is more important than the reaction of the 10,000 people listening right now on their radios.)

Actually I’m convinced that the resistance to rehearsal stems from a misunderstanding of the real reason to rehearse: to thoroughly stimulate your creativity, to enhance and enlarge an idea, and to grow your skills and the skills of those around you.

Rehearsing your content has nothing to do with memorizing lines and everything to do with discovering them. A great rehearsal is the opposite of “restriction;” a great rehearsal is about expansion and experimentation. A great rehearsal is about empowering talent to fully exploit his or her skills so that a raw idea can be transformed into an extraordinary piece of entertainment.

Now that you know the real reason to rehearse, wouldn’t you like to try it? Here’s a rehearsal routine you can start using today:


1. Summarize the bit in no more than two sentences including opening, body, conflict, and resolution.
2. Have a “discovery” time with your partner(s). As you share your concept with them, they share back with you how they can best be a participant, incorporating their characters into the concept and expanding on the original idea. Apply the same technique if you’re a solo performer, thinking about how the various aspects of your personality can be leveraged to fully develop the original idea.
3. Edit and block. Expand the strongest points and eliminate what doesn’t add to the entertainment.
4. Do a final talk-through of how this is going to play.


And, while it’s not exactly a rehearsal, listening back to and deconstructing a bit after it has aired will help you see what worked best/added to the bit (so you can do this more) and what didn’t work/detracted from the bit (so you can eliminate or improve).

Rehearsing will improve the execution and performance end of your show of course and that is important.

But the real reason to rehearse is about something much bigger. The real reason to rehearse is to experiment with new ideas, to transform the “average” into the “inspired,” to create stand-out content, and to expand your skills and the skills of the people you work with beyond where they are now – perhaps even beyond where in your wildest dreams you thought they could go.

Are you thinking about rehearsing in a new light? Are you inspired to give it a try?

Let me know how it goes.

Radio, The Box Office and Algebra

Which best describes your last visit to a movie theater: “Good bang for my buck” or “Disappointing?” “Worth every penny” or “overpriced and under-delivered?”

These reactions, according to the just released study “The Modern Movie Experience” conducted jointly by Nielsen Analytics and the Movie Advisory Board, could be paraphrases of the evaluative criteria would-be movie-goers use when deciding whether to part with their money and time to go or not go to a movie theater.

Even more than alternative platforms, the report determined the top reasons for declining movie theater attendances related to a disconnect between the would-be movie-goer’s perceived quality of the entertainment and how much they pay for a ticket both in terms of their money and time (more at http://www.rbr.com/epaper/pages/june06/06-116_hollywood1.html).

To me, frustrated movie-goers’ disappointment in quality coupled with high costs sounded an awful lot like some of the reasons we’ve heard from people who are spending less time with radio.

Several years ago for fun I invented five math formulae to illustrate the relationship between programming and listening. One formula was: EV>CL – “The Entertainment Value must always exceed the Cost of Listening.”

The greater the positive distance EV is from CL, the greater the potential for listenership, satisfaction, and ratings. Conversely, a minimal or even a negative distance has the potential to significantly reduce listening and open doors to declining ratings.

Some components of high EV radio include strong talent with compelling content, great imaging, the best music (if you play music), services, Values Based Programming, passion, and other elements that “surprise and delight” listeners.

Radio’s CL is increased by clutter, over-commercialization, poor production, imaging that is repetitive or that promotes non-important “attributes,” violating listener expectations, irrelevance, hype, and rarely straying from “the same old thing.”

And just like at the box office, your station’s real and perceived EV or CL has the potential to grow or shrink your audience. A daily EV that greatly exceeds the CL can make your station a “must listen” and your “ticket price” a great value.

You can download a PDF of the Five Formulae at http://radioconsult.com/articles/ao_fiveformulae.pdf. And for more articles, click www.albrightandomalley.com.

Sales Idea from the New York Yankees

Squeezing more cash out of a sold-out inventory is the anticipated outcome of the YES Network’s decision to sell a single, 90-second spot in each of its televised Yankee baseball games. This 90 is priced at a premium for being the only unit in the break and for having some “booth chatter” – presumably something resembling a billboard.

It won't be for everyone, but could a 90 second spot have potential for your station?

A single 90 could be offered daily in one or two non-peak hours (select hours between 10pm-4am and early on Sunday mornings for example) as an incentive to purchase an otherwise undersold daypart. Or a 90 may be useful for a station in the cluster that is having difficulty creating a unique selling proposition for itself. Or a 90 could be used for sponsorship of a long feature – like an hour of a countdown or a half-hour public affairs program.

Be sure to set production guidelines, such as forbidding 60/30 or 30/30/30 piggy-backs. And limit the number you sell to keep their value high; the Yankees are offering only one per day.

Staples' Formatics

Subtraction has led to a big addition at Staples. Last year, profits jumped 18% (Business 2.0, June 2006) at the office supply store, even though there’s a lot less to buy there these days.

Customer research led Staples to simplify their in-store shopping experience. Gone are some 800 non-core items like Britney Spears backpacks. In their place are larger signs pointing to highly desired items, more sales associates trained to direct shoppers to the correct aisles, and an in-stock guarantee on the company’s number one sought-after item – printer cartridges.

“That Was Easy” is now Staples’ campaign to describe their (pardon the phrase) “less is more” shopping experience.

Consider how the Staples strategy could make a positive difference in your programming. Remove items that make listening more difficult than it should be. Be sure you have ample “point-to” promos that highlight your key features and elements and direct listeners to them. And be sure everyone on the team – on air and off – understands the audience’s core expectations and is well-trained in how to deliver listener satisfaction.

A little subtraction could result in some additional ratings.