The on air campaign for audience and brand traffic

I wonder if Charles Dickens found the opening of A Tale of Two Cities from his discarded lines for A Christmas Carol. Just think back on Holiday Seasons past at your radio station. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Sounds familiar?

Another time, another place. For all the differences we had during the year, the one thing Production/Programming and Sales could agree on was that the holidays were a time for celebration. Several celebrations, in fact. Actually, several celebrations that guaranteed a great deal of alcohol, an elimination of inhibitions, and at the least several juicy scandals… again, that was another time, long ago.

…Then came the morning after. Tiny seemingly senseless copy changes, deadlines missed or ignored, promises of licensed holiday music that I could not possible deliver to the English broadcast, orders for specs that would never be played to potential “holiday only” clients… and it went downhill from there. I really did consider getting a few of them lumps of coal for Christmas, but their sock wasn’t where I wanted to stick it…

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Even with the reminders that Sales and Programming take different roads to the same destination, I love the holiday season. But can we ever forget how important Production (part of Programming Department) is to the entire array of weapons radio has in the fight to create audience that turns into brand traffic for a client during the festive season of Christmas and New Year? Remember production is not only a sales tool but a programming tool as well. The better the production, the longer the listening, and that converts to a greater AQH (audience quarter hour). I’ve never heard of audience tuning off a station because the commercials were really funny and creative or cool. I have never heard a client say, “I won’t buy your station because your production is too creative.” It’s a real battle out there to keep clients’ businesses packed with shoppers and your stations packed with listeners. Think of how many ways your radio station makes money?

Produced 10’s, 15’s, 30’s, or 60’s. Live reads. Infomercial Slabs. Live Client Calls. Fixed Position Spots. Independent sponsorships such as News, Sport, Traffic and Weather. Weekday, weekend or Sunday morning special programming. Show sponsorships. Dependant feature sponsorships. Fixed position “Horizontal Programming”, i.e., The Medical Minute or Commodity Market Watch updates. A Remote Broadcast (live outside broadcast). Live game coverage of cricket. Your station website. Free station weekends where for the purchase of special package, clients get 48 free 30’s from 5pm Friday to 5pm Sunday, and they own the weekend with special positioning statement played every hour, for example, “It’s a Passion Play Weekend with Galaxy Chocolates <brand tag - ‘Pure Chocolate Passion’> playing out with the biggest love songs on K-100 FM”. Maybe your non-music programming segment on the station sells half-hour blocks of interview time to clients for the purchase of special packages or maybe you’ve named your station vehicle including the dealership (The Icchibaan Honda Traffic & Travel Cruiser). Promotions and Contesting. Special morning drive elements.

We can be here all day brainstorming ways to create listenership for radio that converts into brand traffic for clients. Where does production fit into all of this? Aside from the usual creative 30’s or 60’s using emotion, multi-voice, sfx, impressions, mimicry or creative copy, it is the production department that supports the “On Air Campaign” to maintain a healthy image of these value-added revenue opportunities. Programming is a philosophy; so whether you choose an out of station signature voice or use your production team, the job at hand is to make sure the audience knows when these events are happening, where these are happening, and why they need to listen to them. These production pieces are vital to programming. They should be high-tech, cool, informative, and should sell a good image to the market about the event. As all of these station promos rotate for the festive season, the market quickly realizes just how deep you are as a radio station. Promos produce CUME (the CUME statistic measures the number of individual persons who tune into a given radio station in a calendar week). Like a radio spot on television tries to convert viewers into listeners, promos create sample away from the show, to that show. Promos constantly sell and re-sell listeners to listen at all other times throughout the day. If listeners hear the promo they may sample the brand, venue or store. Promos also produce ¼-hour.

Programmers must always fight for their turf in the sales arena. Make sure the sales department never over-promotes a brand or client on the station using promos. Most stations sell all of these events. Each sales package for sure has some amount of promos with the brand, client or event. How many promos do you think the station could run before you become “promo radio,” and lose all the audience? Remember, when stations lose listeners, client lose brand traffic and we get the blame. Now you know what a station should like when the sales department or the COO’s office controlling the sales department programmes a radio station. If done right, stations can sell all of these opportunities if programming regulates and rotates the promos. If done right, stations can package a perception that your station is everywhere, doing everything, with everyone all year long, and not sound over promoted.

When was the last time you drove to another market to listen to a station doing it right? Remember going into a market and being blown away with a station’s production presence in the promos? It’s all about marketing a client and the station. But the station must come first. Overkill means you’re dead too. Letting a client overtake a station means that the client overtakes your programming integrity, your production integrity, and worse, burns out the voices you showcase on a regular basis – station voice or regular comm prod voiceovers. The production “On Air Assault” must be fresh all the time with copy changes, written with different reasons for the audience to listen and with different production applications. Don’t forget the update. “This Saturday” works great if the promo is airing Monday-Thursday. On Friday better say “tomorrow”, and on Saturday it is better to say “today at noon.” If sales disagrees and tried to defend what the client wants, ask them if it’s easy to sell a 6.4 or a 1.9?

Production is programming and effects the numbers greatly. Get with your Programme Controller or General Sales Manager and look over how you are currently using promos in your sales packages and find a way to sell all these money making ideas but keep the integrity in your programming. Budget for the signature voice or make sure the production team has what it takes to ensure Ratings and Revenue in that order, and remember, no client is ever powerful enough or weak enough to sacrifice the entire radio station for.

On a different note, one of the goals I have in writing this column is to give you ideas. Not just ideas for the actual, but ideas to enhance your job experience, to make you more valuable to your Programme Controller or General Manager, and to make your station the only place clients want to do business. I would like to have the exchange4media Radio Channel section surfers to Q it up with this question about your production for the season of Christmas and New Year.

Question: Describe one of the most successful production pieces you’ve been involved with creatively. What was the concept? Where did the idea come from? How successful was it for your station and the client? Why do you think it was so successful? Was there anything special about the production aspect of your creation?
If you have a copy of a creation you would like to share, please free to drop me a line for it to be featured it in the coming weeks on this column.

Next month: Balancing Karma in the Production Room

Send your comments to Mohit S Balani