As the original social media, Radio has always been about storytelling and not just on the air, but at conferences, in bars and of course, on social media. War stories of amazing promotions, crazy coworkers, epic battles and the artists who we’ve met.
Great, amazing promotions have teases. We’re so desperate to be liked that we tell people everything up front. With weekend contests I’d usually start with little bits of info starting on Wednesday, ie: “All this weekend, KSFM is turning green.”
What the Hell does that mean? Well…you’ll have to listen to find out. Most weekend contests are muggings: we ambush them with EVERYTHING at 5 pm on Friday and by the time they’re all aboard, it’s Sunday afternoon and the weekend is almost over.
“Romance” applies to events too.
Imagine having such a strong morning show that you didn’t feel that you needed to air all of the celebrity interviews that were being shoved down your throat. Comedians. Actors pushing projects. Those kinds of interviews where you wonder, “What am I supposed to do with Judy Tenuta?”
All celebrity interviews sound the same. Acknowledging that is part of a 12 Step process to Radio Recovery. So doing them differently would be to execute the Art of Promotions: to stand out.
There came a time when I decided that I was going to take off the training wheels and see if I could actually do this. I’d been unbelievably fortunate to have spent five years working with and surrounded by some amazingly talented people. Hopefully some of it had rubbed off and there was no way to know unless I took a big flying leap.
I’d watched hundreds, no, thousands of people apply for jobs at WLOL and their tapes and resumes ended up in this giant pile. Piles suck.
I didn’t want to end up in a pile. I wanted just eight seconds of their attention. That’s all. Eight seconds. If I got eight seconds, I was going to be doing better than all of the people in the pile.
Promotions is the Art of Getting People’s Attention.
Remotely broadcasting is going to continue and consequently, maybe we could have some fun with it. Radio has never done a great job with visuals but between creating videos and social media and our sites, we’re getting better. We’re just not there yet.
This post is a reminder that it’s entirely possible that sometimes, even your Legal Dept. at the corporate level is fallible.
Promos are often viewed as spots and that you really need to do more than just run some imaging. You need a ground assault.
For a Millenia we have been giving shirts to people and have pretty much trained the global populace that if they ask, they could get a shirt. And let’s be honest: people will ask stations that they’ve never heard of for a shirt.
Radio Life is about stories. It’s about friends and coworkers and rehashing the highs and lows of our careers. And just about everyone has had their own disaster tale, and when someone tells me that “Nope, never had a contest calamity”, I’ll suggest that maybe they’re not trying hard enough.
Great homerun hitters go up to the plate and they swing. And they usually have the most strikeouts on their team but, when they connect, that stands erupt and they’re mobbed at home plate.
This is not one of those moments. This is the kind of experience that, years later, you still kind of get involuntary full-body shivers.
This is….The KDWB Blimp.
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