Re-Runs are No Fun

As I sat down to watch my usual slate of Thursday night television, I realized that The Office and 30 Rock were both re-runs. Well, doesn’t that just ruin your Thursday night? This might be the same way people feel when they open up your Podcast section on your website and find that it is only a collection of rehashed bits from your morning show.

It’s fine to offer bits from your morning show ON DEMAND, but that shouldn’t be where it ends. Fans of your station’s brand are looking for more, so give it to them.

Most likely the people that are visiting the podcast section of your site, already heard your morning show and if they didn’t, they can get the podcast, but if they did…what else is there for them? Nothing?

I am here to change all that. I encouarage you to produce one of the podcast’s below. Just one. I know you have a short staff and you already have a lot on your plate, but try it.

Here’s the format:

Intro “sweeper” – I hestitate to use radio terms, because this should sound nothing like the radio we’re all used to. Should be very conversational and should promote the show and the station.

5-10 Minutes of content – Open and close should always be encouraging people to subscribe to the show

Close “sweeper” – very conversational promoting the show and the station

Now what to do for content? There are millions of things you can do, I will talk about three.

1.) ANYTHING you’re interested in. I mean it. Are you an avid cyclist? Do you like politics? Are you a crazed sports fan? This podcast will work if you speak about things you’re interested in. You’re not going to have the program director breathing down your neck, because online there is “infinite” space for all points of view.

2.) Daily Sports/Music cast – depending on format, sports might work best, but either way this should be an extension of what you are doing on the air – NOT a copy cat. You should take time to go more in depth on a story and even solicit opinions.

3.) I Like This Song – I wouldn’t call it that, but come up with something clever and feature the three or four songs you’re thinking about adding that week. Don’t give your audience some radio schpeel like, “we’re thinking about adding these this week.” Approach it like you were telling your friends about new music you just found. People will flock back for more.

Don’t make your audience sit through another re-run again. Start the process of building an incredible library of content and your audience will come back for more, over and over and over again. You can create this…it will take an additional half hour out of your day and I think that can be spared for the future of radio!!

Short Staff…No Problem

The long awaited arrival of the second installment of this series. With Short Staff…No Problem, I am attempting to solve the age old excuse, “I want to work on my website, but I have such a small staff I really can’t.” I don’t want to downplay the problem of having a small staff, but rather highlight ways to get around having a small staff.

Today, I want to focus on content creation for the site.

Remember the good old days, when there were live jocks in studio for all dayparts? Remember when those jocks would take phone calls and solicit participation from their audience? Why does that have to change? Three ways now to solicit input from your audience without a love jock in any daypart.

1.) Take a topical story that’s in the news in your market (Rod Blago’s controversy in Chicago comes to mind) and run a sweeper that says something to the effect of, “XYZ station wants to try Blago. Is he innocent or guilty? You decide at XYZ.com” Run that sweeper for a week and report the results in voicetracks throughout the weekend and post the results on your website. Very quick, very easy.

2.) Even more hands off…Jump off of The Office on NBC. Every Thursday and Friday ask your listeners to submit their nightmare office stories. Encourage them to submit them anonymously or if they’re really brave to include their name. Then have your voicetracked jocks read them on the air during the day on Thursday and Friday. A simple email link will do.

3.) Requests: Encourage e-quests and ACTUALLY PLAY THEM!! This is a very easy way to get listeners involved. Make sure to read their names and where they are from…same as you would if you were taking their calls.

Add a weekend twist and encourage them to send in where they are partying on Friday and Saturday night’s and give them a shout out “during” their parties.

These are three very simple ways to include listener interaction in an age of very few live bodies in the building. These are very light lifting ideas that will help you keep the interaction at a maximum and the workload to a minimum.