Summer Umbrellas

The evolution of a summer umbrella, a moniker for the stations’ activities during the Summer, pretty much began and ended with “The (Dial Position) Days Of Summer” in 1981. 99% of stations that have used it, didn’t use it so that it had any meaning. It was just a slogan.

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Why should you have a Summer umbrella? To tie everything together. It’s a great way of owning a position. Like numbering your trip giveaways. It brands them for you. Do you need an umbrella? No. Of course not. But if you have something that you intend to focus your efforts on this Summer, then having something that gives continuity to it is great. We’re just not doing a zillion concerts haphazardly. It’s all part of (whatever).

 

BTW: I’ve always been a fan of freshening up the garments and designs. Back in the day, we used Club WLOL as our Summer logo. Like “Club Med” or another resort. Sporty little logo with, I believe, a parrot on it. Here are some, but not nearly all, the possibilities for umbrellas.

 

 

 

• I came up with The Summer Of 10,000 Tickets for KDWB in 2000 because they had a gajillion concerts coming to town and Minnesota is the Land Of 10,000 Lakes. And since then 10,000 stations have done it. You don’t need 10,000 lakes. It sounds large.
• What do people call the period between May and September? “Summer Vacation”. So some of the stations have used that, ie: “Hot 93.5’s Summer Vacation”.
• Jamz in Albany did “Free Music Live” when they had a TON of concert tickets, and it was the FML Summer.
• 95.7 Jamz did The Summer Of 1000 Parties in Birmingham. Clubs, shows, barbecues….everything they did on the streets was a party.
• Doing stickers? This going to be your focus? “The Summer Of The Big Stick” was used by KLUC in Las Vegas and sounded great. Also done by ZFX in Fayetteville.
• What do your listeners refer to the period between June 1 and September 1 as? “Summer vacation” or “Summer break”. “(Station’s) Summer Vacation” sounds like a movie. And that’s not a bad thing. Attaching vehicle artwpprk
• The Topless Summer is, like The Summer Of 10,000 Tickets, inching towards becoming a cliché. But if you have a convertible and if it hasn’t been done in your market, then have at it, like AMP in LA last summer.
• One of the US stations is going to do “Red, Wet & Blue” and all their contesting and street level stuff will be focused on beaches and waterparks and giving away swimsuits and jetskis.
• “Beat The Heat” as done by The Boxx in Houston, was geared at helping the audience escape Hiroshima-like temps at waterparks and movie theaters and beaches.
• KDWB did The Big Damn Summer. Everything they did? Was big.
• I also like “BFS” as a moniker. Hot in Houston, in ‘10, did “HFS”: Hot Flippin’ Summer
• WOW Country in Boise did “SPF 104.3” in ’09. Summer Prize Fun with “the owners’ daughter’s Jamaican boyfriend Dready D” as the voice for everything.
• “The All Access Summer”. A station to remain nameless is going to give one winner a pair of tickets to every show for the summer. He/she/it will be their entertainment reporter and will shoot pics, blog and basically cover the music scene all Summer. Also a good umbrella if you have a ton of tickets and have done the 10,000 ticket bit already.
• Take your dial position and multiply it by 24. The 2548 Hours Of Summer?
•  Much like imaging the summer as a club, what about a camp? Camp Kiss 95.1? Your jocks are counselors and we have a very busy day of recreation planned for you.
• Gas? At least two stations are making that the focus. The Totally Pumped Summer?
• What if you did “(Stations) Summer Intervention”. Because without the intervention of the station and your friends and family, it would be just another summer sitting inside eating Cheetos and playing Wii.
• “Twitter Away The Summer” That could be an umbrella if you think about it. Because the Summer is about finding stuff to do. Every day is a mini-vacation. Every weekend is Spring Break. What’s the next level up from…ugh…a Calendar Of Events? A constant stream of info, from the station, and the listeners, about what’s happening in the community. Beach conditions. Block parties. Free events. Etc.

 

Did I miss any? Oh yeah. But at least this will get you started thinking in alternative directions from the (Dial Position) Days Of Summer. BTW: I arrived in Charlotte at Kiss 102 in mid-July 1989 and inherited The 102 Days Of Summer. The competition was doing The 108 Days Of Summer. We both sounded like idiots and at least once a day, some smartass listener would say they liked WBT-FM more because they got six more days of Summer from them.