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Program Directors, it’s time to check your frustration level. Let’s take a quick test:
Do you see your Jocks sitting around the radio station holding “ gab fest “ sessions with sales people and office staff?
When you sit down with them every week for an air check session, do you hear delivery of the positioning statement and promo cards, and little else?
Are your jocks always complaining they are “ over worked”; when in reality they are only putting in thirty hours a week?
Are your jocks always complaining they are underpaid?
When you need extra help with a remote or station project are your jocks always “ busy” that weekend?
If you answered yes to any of these questions I have a feeling your blood pressure is probably elevated. It’s amazing as I talk to PD’s on a daily basis, how often the above comes up in the conversation. It would be easy to blame the PD for the situation, and on occasion it is their fault. But I find that in talking with Jocks, they do not understand the profound shift in the radio industry that has occurred and their role in it. They are no longer “ Announcers”, or “ Disc Jockeys”. They are TALENT. That is how they must see themselves to survive, and even thrive. It doesn’t matter what shift your working, you must make yourself a valuable, indispensable member of the radio station. Let’s address the above questions:
Do you see your Jocks sitting around the radio station holding “ gab fest “ sessions with sales people and office staff?
Sure it’s okay to interact with other staff members. But is that all your doing? Has your show been prepared for that day, and the next day? Show preparation is critical, more about that later.
When you sit down with them every week for an air check session do, you hear delivery of the positioning statement and promo cards, and little else?
Wonder why voice tracking is so popular? You just can’t “ mail it in”. Otherwise why have an air staff? The Jack and Bob formats are doing very well with little or no input from jocks.
Are your jocks always complaining they are “ over worked”, when in reality they are only putting in thirty hours a week
This one is easy. Your GM and PD want to see you 40 hours a week at the radio station.
Are your jocks always complaining they are underpaid?
Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. If your just putting in the minimum, odds are you are overpaid!
When you need extra help with a remote or station project are your jocks always “ busy” that weekend?
Radio will always be the type of business that will require you to do something for free. Don’t complain. Help out your PD. In the long run it will pay off at raise time. Or avoid you being voice tracked out of the radio station.
The bottom line is if you’re just coming into the radio station to do your shift, cut a few spots, and go home, you simply have not made yourself valuable enough to the radio station, and to your listeners! Now on to preparing for your future as a “Talent”.
There are many show prep systems. At McVay Media we use one called E/I/A/A/A. Simply put it stands for:
Emotion: What’s going on in the listener’s world during your day part.
Image: What your radio station is known for.
Activity: Station events, contests, remotes.
Area: Discretionary Time Information, or fun stuff for listeners to do in their free time
Artist: Artist news. The cool stuff, not what’s on the back of CD’s!
I like to use a grid system to map out a show. If you stop down twice an hour, and you’re on for five hours, you need ten great bits a day. I recommend as much local content as possible, based on the above model. Sound like you are tied into your community, that you know everything that’s happening. If the content has a national feel to it, look for a way to tie it back to yourself and your community.
There’s a deadly mistake a lot of talent make, and that is length of bits. Length does not make it a good bit. Quite the opposite, it will kill it. A great local relate can be as simple as a one liner:
“ It’s Jim Scott on WXXX in Atlanta where the Mayor’s new budget just cut our taxes! I love this town”!
Simple, sincere, local, warm, and quick. Don’t be afraid to open up your own personal experiences. Listeners can relate to everyday situations we all face. It’s a common thread we have:
“ It was so icy this morning here in North Buffalo that my dog slid across the back deck tying to come into the house”!
How many people experienced the same thing when they let their dog out that morning? Plenty! They can relate to what you’re saying. Begin the process of show prep with your PD today. And PD’s, you need to make time everyday to touch base with all day parts to help them with their show prep. That’s why the word “ Director” is in your title!
I have decided to eliminate the words “ Jock,” and “ Announcer” from my vocabulary and replace them with “ Talent”. I believe one important component of local radio in the future will be the development of great talent. As we move forward with HD radio and provide more options for listener’s talent will have to factor into the equation. Because isn’t music on a hard drive just another version of an Ipod? And a poor one at that, because it’s not the listener picking his or her favorite songs! Talent, it’s time to make yourself indispensable!
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