My blog post, "Less is NOT More . . . It is SIMPLE," drew some comments on LinkedIn's Radio Ink group. Michael Walters at Radio Ink asked me to respond to, "If it was up to me, I would..."
That may have been a very polite way of asking, "OK, if you're so smart, how would you really put your ideas to work in the trenches of broadcasting?" Fair question. Here is how I answered:
If it was up to me, I would WIN THE LOTTO!
But more to the point . . .
- Hire and train more salespeople.
- Hire salespeople to just sell the "digital products" (websites, streams, email, search, etc.) .
- Spend more money on researching what our consumers really want to hear (and see!).
- Be "live & local" 24/7.
- Pay for real talent.
- Promote, promote, and promote some more.
- Use every social marketing technique out there (and a few not yet out there).
- Pay my people well and offer benefits comparable to Google's (including tuition reimbursement).
- Reward risk-taking.
- Throw away the Policies and Procedures manual.
- Have fun at the office (and encourage use of Facebook, Twitter, etc. on company time).
- Have non-station branded web products.
- Have the best local news, public affairs, and community involvement in town.
- Have a radio chip in the iPhone (we can dream, can't we?); Actually, I think that there is a strong homeland security argument for it. How did your cell phone work in the last hurricane? How did the Internet work when MJ died? What if some kook had detonated a nuclear bomb? We need radio on mobile devices.
- Get the kids involved in the business again.
Utopian? Yes (but you did ask). We need to start thinking and doing. Soon.
George
Great article, and adding to the:
ReplyDelete"Spend more money on researching what our consumers really want to hear (and see!)."
- being a radio guy I would add HOW the consumers really want to hear. Over processing to be the loudest has done its share of damage, user fatigue one of the big factors seldom considered.
Great post.Thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteKarim - Officetronics Sale
I'm not sure research is the answer, after all broadcasting has been relying on research for some time now and you can see what we have...bland programing.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see more elements of surprise on the air, out of the ordinary things that make me sit up and say "Oh wow I wasn't expecting that!"
Love 94 at the time a mellow album rock station in Miami once played something on the air that sounded very unusual. Forever Autumn by Justin Hayward and John Lodge of the Moody Blues got some play. Love 94 aired the song complete with Richard Burton's excellent narrative from "War of The Worlds". It was a great night time thing to do and made me take notice. All these years later I have never forgotten it. Radio needs to do more things like this, create special moments for listeners.
Mike Miranda