on kxnt las vegas

September 14, 2012
Advice That Never Grows Old
In a media world where so much attention is given to digital initiatives,
social media marketing and other emerging technologies that are impacting
and changing the broadcast industry, this week NTS MediaOnline
Weekly is going ‘old school’ on you, with a list of questions and
suggestions that are designed to help you get back to some basics. Sure,
some of the advice herein
could’ve been written five,
or perhaps even ten years
ago. But as noted, “Good
advice never gets old.” And
maybe you’ll be one of those
radio readers who scans these
tips and says, “No problem,
we’ve got it all covered at our
station.” Then again, perhaps
you might find a suggestion
or two that inspires you to
take some simple steps that just might pay off in better ratings, better
revenues and a better sounding radio station.
•
•
importance if you’re station is in a diary-measured market.
Are the hosts and production elements selling the station’s name with
interest and passion, or are call letters being “thrown away?”
Are hosts aggressively selling ahead? Do they sell what’s coming up
after every break without actually mentioning that a break is about to
happen?
Regular Housekeeping
•Are you regularly reviewing the topics being discussed on your station
to be sure they are hitting your designated target?
• Have you personally called your studio lines lately to review how phone
screeners are handling callers to the station’s talk shows (good screeners
can make or break a talk show)? Do you regularly review your call
screening rules with all phone screeners? Have you ever done a screener
shift yourself to get a sense of the challenge of the job and a feel for the
nature of your station’s callers?
•Are hosts keeping phone calls short and to the point?
• Do you regularly tune back and forth between your station and your
key competitors to see who wins? Is your station almost always the most
interesting in this kind of comparative listening test?
Back to Basics
Commercials and Production
•Do you have a crisis/emergency plan in place complete with designated
duties for all staff members in the event of such an unexpected event?
Do you have hotel and other facilities available for staff in the event
of an emergency that requires staffers to remain available around the
clock?
• Have you reviewed the station’s format basics with all on air talent?
Are the format basics executed properly all the time?
• Are time checks stated regularly in drive times in digital form? This is
particularly important if you are still in a diary-measured ratings
market.
•Are you hearing the name of your station often enough, including in and
out of every break and in and out of all phone calls? Again, of particular
• Is commercial and promo copy fresh, including fresh reads of old copy?
Check how long spots or promos have been running. Do they still cut
through or have they become audio wallpaper? Many salespeople will
often let copy run forever rather than going back to ask a client for fresh
updates for fear that the client will cancel on them.
• Is all commercial and promo copy up-to-date? Nothing sounds worse
than a spot touting a sale that was over last week, or a station promotion
that happened yesterday.
• Do you have a coding system in place for spots to separate voice talent
so that the same voice isn’t being heard on back-to-back spots? It’s also
wise to code spots so that the host’s voice doesn’t run within their own
show unless the spot is an endorsement by that talent.
©2012 NTS MediaOnline™ — All rights reserved. To subscribe visit www.ntsmediaonline.com
ON KXNT
LAS VEGAS
We simply measure our success by yours. LIVE Weekdays 2–5pm/ET | 24/7 Refeeds Available | For Syndication, Call 877.410.3283 | daveramsey.com
*Arbitron Metro PPM May 2012 AQH Share during M-F timeslot
September 14, 2012
Page 2
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported this week that KTMY (MyTalk
107.1)/Minneapolis morning host Ian Punnett is reducing his on-air
hours to deal with a chronic case of tinnitus that he’s been fighting for
the past three years. Punnett’s wife and co-host Margery will now cohost 5:30-7am with Elizabeth Ries, and then with Ian from 7-9am …
KVNS/Brownsville, TX will flip to Sports/Talk on Monday (9/17) as
FOX Sports 1700, featuring FOX Sports Daybreak, The Dan Patrick
Show, The Jim Rome Show, Petros & Money, FOX Sports Tonight and
Dallas Cowboys’ football … KSPN/Los Angeles swaps afternoon hosts
Steve Mason and John Ireland with midday hosts Max Kellerman and
Marcellus Wiley … 12-year Entercom veteran Michael Doyle is upped
to Regional President for the company … Tommy BoDean is upped to
OM for Clear Channel’s six-station Jacksonville, FL cluster … NRG
Media/Omaha Sports/Talkers 1620 The Zone and 1180 The Zone 2 nab
radio rights to University of Nebraska Omaha hockey and basketball
broadcasts for the 2012-2013 season.
KPAM/Portland adds Dial Global syndicated talkers Dennis Miller
(6-9pm) and Clark Howard (10am-noon and 9pm-midnight) … Yahoo!
Sports Radio adds a new 11pm-1am Sunday night NFL wrap-up show,
Shutdown Corner, hosted by Doug Farrar … WKXQ/Quincy, IL adds
Envision Radio Networks’ Bigg Success In A Minute … WXJB-FM/
Homosassa, FL adds Phoenix Broadcasting’s syndicated Captain’s
America Radio Show to the station’s weekend lineup … ESPN Radio/
New York officially ended it’s AM/FM simulcast this week, with the
English language sports network now heard exclusively on FM 98.7,
while ESPN Deportes debuts full-time on AM 1050, giving New York
it’s first-ever full-time Spanish language Sports/Talker … Cumulus
Media Networks adds new affiliates WMAN/Mansfield, OH (The Mark
Levin Show); WSAU/Wausau (America’s Most Wanted); WIXK/New
Richmond, WI (Money Talk with Bob Brinker, The Larry Kudlow Show,
Red Eye Radio and The John Batchelor Show); KLCK/Goldendale,
WA(Geraldo, The Mike Huckabee Show, Red Eye Radio and the John
Batchelor Show): and KVI/Seattle (Red Eye Radio).
KGO/San Francisco is on the hunt for an Assistant News Director.
You’ll need a minimum of five years major market broadcast news
experience working with reporters, writers and editors. Get full
details on the requirements for this position and how to apply HERE
(EOE) … KDAL/Duluth, MN is seeking a part-time news anchor/
reporter. One to two years of prior news experience is preferred,
but will train the right individual who has a passion for news and
covering what’s happening in the community. Email your resume and
audio to Susan Nash HERE… Got a gig open? Looking for your
next challenge? Email details and your contact info HERE and we’ll
post it free of charge as a service to the Talk media industry.
THEY’VE GOT THE “RIGHT” STUFF
General Motors has announced it will use Livio Connect technology
to integrate the TuneIn music Smartphone app with the Chevrolet
Spark’s MyLink Radio dashboards manufactured globally. The Livio
Connect technology allows owners of Chevy Sparks equipped with
the MyLink Radio to enjoy 70,000 stations … Clip Interactive and
Alpha Broadcasting partner to allow listeners to any of Alpha’s six
Portland, OR radio stations to interact in real time using the Clip
Radio app that recognizes the station being listened to and enables
listeners to capture that station’s digital content and save it to their
Smartphone … Get BREAKING NEWS alerts by following us
on TWITTER, or “friend” us on FACEBOOK. Find one-click links to
both HERE.
Salem Radio Network host Bill Bennett hosted dinner for a few
conservative pals while all attended the recently held Democratic
National Convention. Pictured (l-r) are: James Pethokoukis of the
American Enterprise Institute; Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard;
Byron York of FOX News Channel; Steve Hayes from The Weekly
Standard and Bennett.
©2012 NTS MediaOnline™ — All rights reserved. To subscribe visit www.ntsmediaonline.com
September 14, 2012
Page 3
Technical Tune Up
• Is your back-up studio and transmitter power completely checked out
and ready to operate in the event that you lose power or have a major
equipment failure? Not being able to broadcast during an emergency
(or even a simple power company failure) is a credibility killer for your
station!
• Have you personally checked your station’s audio processing settings
to make sure they haven’t been changed since the last time you checked?
Do you even know what the settings are for the sound you want on your
station? It’s a good idea to choose one set of ears (preferably not your
engineer’s) to be the standard for setting up your station’s sound.
• Do A/B tests against all of your competitors to be sure your signal is the
loudest. If it’s not you will likely lose. Remember undistorted but loud
is what you want your engineers to deliver.
Contesting
• Have you personally reviewed all of the rules and on-air execution of
the contest with everyone who is on the air, including fill-in hosts and
weekenders?
• Do you have a file for each contest with written rules, eligibility
requirements, etc., and have all rules been reviewed by your station’s
legal counsel?
• Does the prize match the needs and wants of your target audience, or is
it simply something cooked-up to satisfy a client?
• Do you have follow-up copy and production ready to go upon completion
of the contest to thank listeners, congratulate the winners, and begin
teasing your next giveaway?
• Is every prize winner placed in your station’s data base? Do they receive
a congratulatory letter signed by all the talents on your staff?
Legal Checkpoints
•
•
Check the renewals on all contracts including talent, production
libraries, jingles, syndicated programming, Web security certificates,
etc. Make sure you aren’t leaving a talent or service you want to keep
open to recruitment by a competitor.
Is your public file up to date and complete? Is there a system in place
where everyone involved knows what the requirements are should
anyone request access to the file during regular business hours?
Looking Good On-Site
• Many stations still show up for a “live” broadcast with an old card table,
a cracked vinyl banner that may or may not have an up-to-date station
logo on it, and a few promotion assistants or a poorly dressed host to
staff it. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Consider
going to a local theater company or seek out a convention display expert
and work with them to create a broadcast showplace that is dramatic - one
that looks like your radio station sounds.
• Be sure there is actually something to see at a remote broadcast. A host
just sitting at a table with no monitor, talking into a microphone is b-o r-i-n-g!
• Instead of doing a remote to try to draw a crowd go where the crowd is
already gathered, like office building lobbies, company cafeterias, local
civic events or festivals, etc.
• Be sure everyone who comes to your station’s remote goes home with
at least some sort of trinket with your station logo printed on it. It’s best
to make it an item that is useful - something they will keep in their car,
home, or office.
Our thanks to Sabo Media CEO Walter Sabo who inspired many of
these “evergreen” tips that appeared in a previous NTS MediaOnline
Weekly feature.
Al Peterson
858.486.7559
[email protected]
Brooke Trissel
512.218.8228
[email protected]
©2012 NTS MediaOnline™ — All rights reserved. To subscribe visit www.ntsmediaonline.com