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During the 2007 Canadian Music Week in Toronto, McVay Media President Mike McVay, Parikahl Communications Chris Kennedy, Steve Young from Jones Radio Network and Tracy Johnson of Jack-FM/San Diego, all shared ideas on a panel titled “60 Ideas in 60 Minutes.” The panel was hosted by Byrnes Media President Chris Byrnes.
1. Turn Your Computer Into A Radio – Mike McVay …Reported listening in the BBM is something that we’re all aware of, but how about when the listening is done on the Internet? Use the line “Turn Your Computer Into A Radio” when directing listeners to your on-line stream. Get the credit you deserve.
2. WOM Marketing – Chris Kennedy …Explore what Word-Of-Mouth marketing means on-line for your audience. Attend various WOMMA-sponsored conferences and read their various white papers. Go to WOMMA.org for more.
3. Listener Generated Content – Tracy Johnson …Use Listener Generated Content Creatively. LGC is the all the buzz and your station is in prime position to capitalize on it …but many stations don’t know how. Set up a form on your website and let listeners pick the music. Each hour at top of hour, pick a listener’s “3 favorite songs” and play them back …let them pick the music. Let them introduce their three songs, and at the end of the songs, they invite other listeners to submit their playlists on your site. Benefits: expands your playlist/variety position, involves listeners, gives you an excuse to break format, drives traffic to your website and sends a powerful message that you value your audience’s input.
4. Take Talent Out During Their Daypart – Steve Young …Take your air talent out with you during their daypart and go to places your target audience frequents (like malls, busy public places) so the talent can get a sense of what goes on during their daypart. It helps them relate better to what their listeners are dealing with while they are on the air.
5. Identify Your Target Listener – Mike McVay …Identify your target listener. Create a video profile of which type of individual they are, their life and their activities. Dig deep into demographic and psycho graphic information. Teach your air talent to talk TO this target listener. Relate TO them at all times.
6. Oneline Suggestion Box – Chris Kennedy …Do you have an easy-to-see, easy-to-use online Suggestion Box?
7. Use Music Features To Expand Library – Tracy Johnson …Use music features to expand your library and perception of greater variety. Two-fers (old Classic Rock feature) playing a big hit from one of your core artists followed by an album cut or a song from previous decade that is outside of your normal library offerings puts “breaking format” into a package that is palatable and interesting. Find a list of songs that are remakes, and play the original and remake back to back.
8. The Answer Is Always “C” – Steve Young …Use this as a twisted trivia contest where you give two totally ridiculous answers for A and B and always use C for the correct answer. How long do you think it takes for someone to pick A or B when the contest is called “The Answer Is Always C?” Not as long as you think.
9. Never Miss A Break – Mike McVay …In this digital age, there are numerous ways to ensure every break is recorded for both compliance and programming purposes. The following are a few examples.
a. Digital audio loggers (such as I Media Touch or Telos Profiler) record each ¼ hour, which can then be accessed on the PD’s computer
b. Have engineering set up a microphone skim system so every time the announcer opens the microphone it records that break to an individual file. This makes it really easy to receive a complete shift in a few minutes. Even when you’re away from the station your engineer can give you remote access to these logger files so you can still hear every break no matter where you are.
c. A “Radio Your Way” device from Pogo Products lets the PD record and playback stations (his or the competition’s) digitally. The audio can also be readily downloaded to computer for further playback or storage proposes.
d. Radio Shark from Griffin Technologies is another program to use.
Take advantage of technology lets you program “smarter.”
10. Do Search Engines See Your Site? – Chris Kennedy …How do the Internet search engines perceive and filter your website? Go to SEOmoz.org as we as seokeywordanalysis.com/seotools/default.asp
11. Get Into Text Messaging – Tracy Johnson …Get into text messaging NOW. Text message your morning shows, read them back on the air. Make your text message number just as present as your request line and your e-mail address.
12. Have Talent Critique Themselves – Steve Young …Allow your air talents to critique themselves during air check sessions. It will give you as a PD a sense of what they are thinking and what they see as the priorities to address in their air work.
13. 5 Seconds Of Silence – Mike McVay …Nothing attracts the listener’s attention to the radio more than silence. As crazy as it sounds, but five seconds of silence at the beginning of your radio promos.
14. Listener-Uploaded Viral Videos – Chris Kennedy …Offer a place on your website for listeners to upload/link favorite/recommended viral videos (make sure they get approved by Program Director/Webmaster)
15. Place Stop-Sets at: 03 and: 33 – Tracy Johnson …Depending on your format, place stop-sets at: 03 and: 33. Because more and more listening is taking place in the car, adjust your clocks to reflect listener’s lifestyles. If listening is taking place in the car, listeners are GOING SOMEWHERE. Usually, they’re going to work, or to an appointment, etc. Those appointments take place at: 00 and: 30. If you play our stop-sets at :20 and :50, the last thing they hear before getting out of their car is commercials, and they either punch out, leaving another station programmed on their radio when they return, or they are left with an impression of you playing commercials, Exception: Drive Times (when work lets out at 5pm, you don’t want to be playing commercials when they get into their cars)
16. 99 Bottles Of Beer – Steve Young …This is a great bar promotion. Team up with your local brewery. Have 99 empty bottles of beer at the venue. Allow listeners to choose a bottle. Inside each one is a different prize, with two or three bottles containing major prizes.
17. Have Listeners Position The Station – Mike McVay …Audiences are tired of hype and boastful positioning statements. Use the listener’s own words, in their voice, to position your radio station.
18. iPod Companion Devices – Chris Kennedy …Give away mass quantities of Griffin iFM radio tuner add-on remote devices ($50) or Belkin TuneFM’s for iPods ($55) or other iPod companion devices that include a radio tuner for the iPod. Make sure all your listeners have an FM tuner for the iPod. “Upgrade their iPod.”
19. Announce Names Frequently – Tracy Johnson …Write promo copy and create content based on the key things listeners respond to: 1. Their name. Announce names on the air frequently. Thank them for listening. 2. Threat. Take a cue from television stations who promote “the one thing that could cause your child to being in danger on the internet tonight at 11” 3. Stories. Create stories on the air. Think about Paul Harvey!
20. Meet Every Listener – Steve Young …Have your morning team enlist offices to invite them to visit. Bring along lunch and spend time meeting everybody there. This is a great way to introduce a new morning show to the market.
21. What’s The Benefit – Mike McVay …Answer the question “What’s the benefit” for everything you plan to do. If you’re going to air “No Repeat 9 to 5” …explain WHY that’s a benefit. Use this angle to create benefit-based promos and sweepers.
22. Don’t Make Me Think – Chris Kennedy …Read and practically memorize Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, then make sure those rules are applied for the website design and see what can be applied on-air as well.
23. Target Marketing To Create Sampling – Tracy Johnson …Target your marketing to create SAMPLING of your station, not merely imaging or positioning it. Be sure to include a specific call to action …that is easy for consumers to respond to, and don’t ask for too much. You can’t convert someone who doesn’t listen now to become their favorite station tomorrow. But you can create marketing that ask for a LITTLE sampling …at a specific time…and get them to try you out.
24. Break The Format Day - Steve Young …Enlist on your on-air people to come up with ideas that intelligently “break the format” and then allow them to do it. These could be as simple as an hour of two-fers or block parties. You don’t pre-sell any of this. It comes spontaneously. This provides entertainment for your listeners and breaks up the routine of format radio. It reminds your listeners that if they tune you out they might miss something really cool.
25. Lifestyle-Oriented Promotions – Mike McVay …Develop more lifestyle-oriented promotions for your stations and together nostalgia and those things that are hip. We have several client stations that have created Tuppertini Parties. It’s a Tupperware party that serves martinis. Props to WYYY/Syracuse.
26. Broadcast Through Cell Phones/PDA’s – Chris Kennedy …Your broadcast through cell phone/PDA providers.
27. Own The Music You Play – Tracy Johnson …Have your key personalities OWN the music and take possession of the songs you play. One way to do this is let THEM pick ONE song per day and force them to TELL A STORY about that song. Make it (name’s) song of the day …a benchmark that becomes appointment listening.
28. Recognize Unsung Heroes – Steve Young …There are often support people at your station that go above and beyond the call of duty and get little or not recognition for it. Present them with an “Unsung Hero Award.” This can be some perk that you trade out for. Dinner, hard to get tickets, a weekend trip or any number of perks that say thank you to the backbone of your station that often gets overlooked.
29. Air Two No-Talk Segues Per Hour – Mike McVay …Today we battle the iPod as yesterday we battled the portable CD player. Schedule two No Talk segues per/hour (one per/half hour) to exaggerate the more music position of your station.
30. Your “This Stunt Could Go Wrong” File – Chris Kennedy …Update your “this stunt could go wrong” rules to prevent problems before they happen or before your listeners suffer water intoxication. In addition, consider conducting periodic “risk exercises” with staff to practice possible “what ifs.”
31. Put On A Show At Events/Appearances – Tracy Johnson …How do you look at events and appearances? This is show biz, and every time your station is out should be all about putting on a show. Have your webs site set up on computers so listeners can join your Listener’s Club, submit request and or dedications, and comment on your station. Set up a mobile studio where they put on headphones and give you feed back or just leave message you can play back on the air. Hand out pamphlets about how great your station is and the features they should interact with. Get a theater-style popcorn machine and hand out free popcorn in bags with your call letters.
32. Switch Roles For A Day – Steve Young …During a non-book period let one of your airstaff be the PD and you take over their air shift. Let them aircheck you for a change. This gives members of your staff a better sense of what your job is while you get to show off your on air cops for a day.
33. Use SFX For 5-Second Sweep Promo – Mike McVay …Use contemporary sfx to create a five second promo that runs between two songs …and has the impact of a much longer promo. Example: The AOL “Instant Message” sounder followed by “EZ Rock 97.3 Instant Message…Stew & Colleen Weekday Mornings on 97.3/EZ Rock.”
34. Pretend You Are Launching A Station – Chris Kennedy …If you are at an established station, pretend you are launching a brand new station on a brand new signal. Since you have no baggage or heritage, how would you launch to get maximum community response? What would be your essentials? How would attack competitors? Then ask yourself, are you doing those things now? If so, are you dong them the best you can? What can you improve? If not, what can you do to make those things happen? And what can you do different than now?
35. Up The Number Of Days Listened – Tracy Johnson …Think of enhancing your TSL by increasing the number of DAYS your casual and tertiary listeners interact with the tune in of your station. Steve Casey’s Research found that the majority of your audience listen only 1 or 2 days each. If you can coax them into tune in 3-5 days each, your TSL will sky-rocket and TSL of course is the primary component of share increase.
36. Make A Morning Show Spot And Win – Steve Young …Produce our morning show commercial and win $10,000. KISW in Seattle is doing this for the BJ Shea Show and so far have gotten around 9 very good submissions. With You Tube and My Space being such a big deal these days for people’s self produced videos, this might be a great way to get new, refreshing creative.
37. Work TV Theme Songs Into Promos – Mike McVay … Take advantage of the exorbitant amount of marketing money that nation TV uses to support a program …and work TV theme songs into your promos. Example: The music of Desperate Housewives as a bed for the morning show promo …preceded by an announcer sound alike who sets up the bit.
38. Have Everything Essential On Your Website – Chris Kennedy …Make what you do on-air simple and easy to access/view/read on your website – especially your current and recently-played songs on air. Include lists of Top Requests (include sample listeners). Provide top newsworthy stories and/or water cooler buzz of the day…not a lot of stories, just enough. Also, publish something new minimally every couple of days if not daily …the search engine spyderbots ranks sites that publish more frequently with higher authority, which means higher search ranking.
39. Get Feedback From Listeners – Tracy Johnson …Get feedback from listeners every chance you get. They want to participate and tell you what they think …LET THEM. Set up message boards, blogs on your website. Let them rate songs on your site and in on-line surveys. Put them on the air commenting both good and bad on your station (it makes you real, and gives you credibility).
40. The Wheel Of Meat – Steve Young … Have a Wheel Of Fortune style wheel made to take with you at remotes and sports parties. Give every attendee a ticket when they arrive with they can use of one spin of the wheel. Prizes on the wheel include everything from 5lbs of ground beef, a T-Bone steak to a can of Spam. Also on the wheel are a couple of legit prizes like a trip for 2 to Super Bowl or a weekend spa vacation. If one of the big prizes is won, you replace it on the wheel with another prize.
41. Develop iPod Casts – Mike McVay …Develop a series of iPod casts of the morning show, which are repeats of the days best bits …make them exclusive to your web-site. Invite listeners to download these exclusive bits and share them with friends. This turns your audience into a walking promotion machine as they “pass it on” to their friends and co-workers.
42. Positive Radio Campaigns – Chris Kennedy …Incorporate positive radio campaigns. Radio is the original wireless. Be wireless …and visible. Stay active in the community and on the streets; don’t just stay comfortable and confined in your studios high up in the air. Avoid being digital-centric; focus on being digital-balanced with the real world needs of listeners.
43. Breakfast With Your Morning Show – Tracy Johnson …Raise the hood on your station’s “engine” from time to time to let listeners in and let them see how it works. Invite listeners to breakfast with your morning show. Have the PD on the air answer questions by phone call, e-mail etc., and live on the air. Look at it as the radio equivalent of your station’s “extra material” as you would see on a DVD.
44. Radio Fish Contest – Steve Young …Hold a fishing derby during the summer. Release some fish tagged with the station logo. Anybody catching one of these special radio fish wins a special prize.
45. On-Demand Website Service Elements – Mike McVay …Create clutter-free on-air atmosphere by directing your audience to the station website for service elements “On Demand.” You can post school closings, weather, news headlines and community events. The goal isn’t to remove this information from your airwaves, but to mention the information less frequently and drive the audience to the website for additional information. Or …for the information they want, anytime they want it.
46. Offer Custom Ringtones – Chris Kennedy …Offer custom ringtones using station voice, jingles and/or production.or custom messages from personalities.
47. Use Multiple Voices On The Air – Tracy Johnson …Use multiple voices on the air. Not just your one station voice. TV networks use different voices for different shows to fit different styles and types of shows. You should use various voices for different reads/messages/promotions. Obviously you don’t want to sacrifice your image, brand or consistency, but most station can be more versatile instead of using the same (one) image voice.
48. Mystery Big Play – Steve Young …Good for football or hockey promotions. Have listeners fill out an entry form when they enter. Whenever a special play occurs like a kick-off returned for a touchdown or a player scores a hat trick, draw a listener’s name and award them a grand prize.
49. Say The Phone Number Frequently – Mike McVay …Generate more telephone calls on-air by saying the phone number more frequently. Want more calls in morning drive? Give your phone number inside of every quarter hour.
50. Are You Blogging? Chris Kennedy …Are you blogging? Gives the station personalities a forum to be connected with the community and for listeners to comment and interact. Content can be anything from show bit discussions to appropriate content matching station style to community events, etc.
51. Partner With External Media – Tracy Johnson …Partner with as many external media outlets as you possibly can. Local magazines, newspapers, television station, influential on-line portals are all good. And don’t forget about individual programs that can make great partners (Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition)
52. Global Warming – Steve Young …Each day for a week, your morning show gives out a clue for a warm weather destination. You pick six destinations over six weeks. At the end, you ask listeners to send in their guess as to the six correct destinations. Beginning the Monday of week seven, your morning show begins to draw correct entries and calling name out on the air. The listener called has a finite time in which to call in. If they do, they get to pick which of the 6 destinations they want to go.
53. Touch The Audience – Mike McVay … “Touch” the audience when presenting a topic. Use the words “you” and or “your” and preferably the word “feel” when asking a question. Example: “Would you be willing to give up a little freedom to feel more secure and safe? How would you feel if you were stopped and frisked during your shopping spree at City Centre Mall?”
54. Do A “Best” Local Survey – Chris Kennedy …Newspapers and free weeklies have long done the local “best haircut,” “best local pint,” “best pizza” etc., rarely has radio made it their own in a market. Instead, they simply read the results from the papers instead of conduct in the local vote. Take it way from the papers, incorporate the voting to both on-line as well as voice mail message for listener feedback.
55. Be Your Community Cheerleader – Tracy Johnson …Be your community cheerleader. There’s a major position in each market for the station or personalities. That can be the market champion. Go the extra mile and do the “small” things to link your station to the community. Get local athletes and other celebrities on your air in the way that is compatible with your format.
56. Music Video Contest – Steve Young …Ask listeners to create their own versions of a music video of a song your station plays. Have them post it to You Tube and send you the link. Ask them to include your calls letters somewhere in the video post links to the best ones on your website and have your listeners vote on which one they like best. The winner gets a prize like a total video experience package.
57. Run Promos First In The Stop-Set – Mike McVay …There is no commercial on your airwaves more important than one for the radio station.
58. Do Research Beyond Just Radio – Chris Kennedy …When conducting custom market research (perceptual, music test, focus groups, etc.) make sure they periodically measure multi-media experiences, habits, preference usage and demand/needs beyond just radio to avoid a myopic viewpoint and to better optimize listener’s typical multitasking routines for media and entertainment. Find out where radio is in your target audience’s usage spectrum …so threats and opportunities can be revealed.
59. Ambush Wedding – Tracy Johnson …And, a gratuitous morning show stunt – The Ambush Wedding. Find a woman in your audience who has not been able to get her guy to propose for years…let her tell her story. Then, take her to him live on the air and surprise him she give him the ultimatum: agree to marry me right now or I walk out forever…you have 60 seconds. If he says yes, station provides the wedding…if not, now she needs a date. And the promotion continues.
60. Dead Or Canadian – Steve Young… A fun little morning show contest/bit. Get a contestant who has to decide whether a person you name is dead or Canadian. For instance, Pamela Anderson, Dead or Canadian. Wrong answers can be incredibly funny. You can also put in names that fit both answers like Lorne Greene. Either answer would be right.
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