When Nature Hits, We Still Have Radio

by Paige Nienaber | May 26, 2014 | Promotions

Radio, as an industry, doesn’t seem to play well with others. Maybe it’s because we’re populated with people who were traditionally chosen last in 6th grade phy ed team activities.

When I was a Promotion Director at a station we were approached by the local Boys/Girls Clubs to have our airstaff play the talent from another station in town in a charitable softball game. My PD was apoplectic: “What if we lose?”

I replied, “Fire everyone and actively recruit broadcast students who can drive the ball to right and turn a double play.”

Think about it; when was the last time you joined with other stations outside of your cluster for, well, anything?

After Katrina every station seemingly did “something”, which, don’t get me wrong, was great. But you had ten or eleven different relief drives all competing for dollars, water and attention. Dan Seeman was a GM at Clear Channel in the Twin Cities and successfully brought every station in town together for a morning show broadcast on top of the Washington Avenue bridge, which metaphorically bridges the Mississippi River.

It was large.

So, you may have seen that regions of Europe have been suffering from weather of Biblical proportions, and you probably don’t know that stations from all of the countries affected by the floods, have come together to aid the millions of people in distress.