Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Lund Letter

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

This Week in The Lund Letter:  
>   Making contests fun
>   The most important part of the story
>   Talent development
>   And the latest media trends

Lund Programming Clinic: Free Tickets!

watchinggame18.JPGAir talents give away free “stuff” every day.  It’s common practice in radio.   Most of the time, they are “value added” prizes from advertisers, which may have little value to the overall audience.  The percentage of listeners who want to win prizes is below 5%, though entertainment tickets are possibly higher among ratings respondents.  Winning a prize is less important than playing the game.

Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and The Price Is Right TV game shows are very successful.   The Game Show Network has a litany of long term running game shows like Family Feud and the Newlywed Game.  While the TV audience doesn’t have a chance to win anything, people watch for the entertainment value and the opportunity to “play along.”  Family Feud increased their popularity when they enlisted Steve Harvey with his comedic ability as host.  Coupling Steve with edgy topics grew the Family Feud audience to the point where winning the car and Twenty Thousand Dollars took a lower emphasis in the production of the show.

Many radio stations use a “Prize Wheel” when they have a booth or tent at major public events.  The prize wheel is stocked with “value added” prizes of nominal value yet the line and crowd surrounding the prize wheel is often large.   People want their chance at spinning the prize wheel…the opportunity to play.  The crowd surrounding the prize wheel wants to know the outcome of each spin.  Just like watching a TV game show.

Games that represent an entertainment factor are especially valuable to morning shows.  You waste a break if you merely take the 10th caller since it has no entertainment value.  The Lund Contest Guide contains numerous games and fun contests.  But you don’t have to provide a prize as we learned from the power of the prize wheel and long-running TV shows like Jeopardy.  The viewer plays along with the contestants by seeing if they can answer the trivia question.

Air talents who promote the entertainment or “play along” aspect of an on-air game will attract more listeners (and get higher ratings) than those who merely promote they are giving away a prize.

Marketing builds audience, but it doesn’t have to be costly.  The Lund No-Cost Marketing Guide provides over 200 ways to build audience for no cost.  Want to grab a bigger share of remote dollars?  Want to generate revenue while marketing for more listeners?   Put these tactics to use at your station…and provide a big bang for no bucks.  Get our No Cost Marketing Guide.

Lund Storytelling 101: Have A Point

gettothepoint18.pngOne of the great movie lines that apply to radio personalities comes from the comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy. At a particularly dark moment and after John Candy’s character tells a story, Steve Martin launches into a diatribe at which he concludes:

“And, you know, when you’re telling these little stories, here’s a good idea.  Have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!”

Good advice for every time one cracks the mic!

Greetings, Iowa Broadcasters!

iowa18.pngWhat are the most important radio trends in 2018, and how will your stations benefit?   What part of the digital universe do you occupy?  What formats do Millennials prefer … they spend as much time with radio as their parents.  How will ATSC 3.0 revolutionize listening? John Lund’s seminar on Radio Trends will be featured June 21 at the Iowa Broadcasters Association summer convention.  In the afternoon, John takes the Iowa radio programmers to grad school – radio basics, branding, talent coaching, and tactics for improved audience engagement.   John looks forward to meeting with you (again!!) in Des Moines and providing you two new and timely radio seminars.

All Broadcasters:  If you would like to have John provide a timely and topical broadcast presentation or workshop for your state broadcast convention or corporate meeting, please contact John Lund.


Promotion of the Week: Secret Sound

secretsoundforLL.jpgThis is an awesome promotion that works for all formats and stations in all markets.  Every listener is challenged to guess the strange sound, and they listen hourly for clues and wrong guesses.   The game gets people playing along, even though they don’t necessarily call in.  The promotion creates talk and builds time spent listening.

Examples of sounds:

+   Baseball being thrown into a ball glove
+   A basketball being dropped into a trash can full of foam peanuts
+   The slicing of a pear
+   Two batteries being dropped into a flashlight

The Secret Sound is, quite simply, a “name that noise” contest!  In fact, some stations call it that on-air.  This contest is great!  It’s easy for listeners to understand, and it’s fun to play.

For 100 more great contests and sales promotions, see the Lund Contest and Promotion Guide.


Lund’s Top 3:  Traits of Winning Air Personalities 

Top3B.jpgThe “Glue” Between The Songs Can Be Your Winning Edge

Air personalities come in all shapes, sizes, and types.  And that’s a good thing.  No one would enjoy hearing the exact same cookie-cutter talent on the air of every station.  But there are some traits all the best personalities share.

1.   Self Confidence.  The best personalities know their profession and do it well.

2.   Purpose.  They love entertaining every day and have a lot of personal interaction with the community.

3.   Focus and Awareness.  Show prep is 24/7, they’re aware of everything going on around them, and often think in their daily lives, “Could this be used on air?”

What do you need?  The Lund team is experienced in all market sizes with an outstanding track record.  Contact John Lund or call 650-692-7777.

Continued next week in the Lund Letter.  Visit www.lundradio.com for more Top 3’s!

Are you marketing to General Managers or Program Directors and want to reach the 9,400+ readers of the Lund Letter? Email John Lund.


This Week’s Music:

dierksbentley18.jpgPost Malone takes over the top spot in CHR with his hit “Psycho.”  Dierks Bentley’s “Woman, Amen” moves to number one in Country. Hot AC, Bright AC and Alternative are all still lead by last week’s chart toppers – “The Middle” by Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey, Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” and Lovelytheband’s “Broken” respectively.  Lund clients receive weekly music research information on current music plus regular updates on the best-testing recurrent and gold titles.

Would you like a best-researched music library list for your format?  Email John Lund.


Lund Trend Watch:


Local TV Revenue Up

BIAKelseyLogo.pngAccording to BIA, local TV revenue is on track to reach $27.7 billion this year.  That’s up from 26.2 billion in 2017.  Included in that estimate is $18.2 billion in over-the-air ad revenue (up 5.8% from last year), $1.1 billion in digital revenue (up 6.3%) and retransmission consent agreements that bring in $8.44 billion.  Forecasted political ad spending in this election year also adds to the totals.  When it comes to political ads, TV gets the lion’s share.

Facebook Rules Another Roost

Facebook2016.jpgWhen using social media to boost ratings, Facebook may be a good bet.  According to a NuVoodoo study, 90% of those aged 18-44 who are “likely to participate in Nielsen’s PPM panels” use Facebook on a daily basis.  Half of the “likelies” 18+ visit Facebook four times a day!  When asked to name news sources used every day, social media (and Facebook in particular) was the most common answer.  With the recent news that Facebook has ordered news shows from ABC News, CNN, Fox News, Univision and others, that perception will only increase.  Likely ratings participants are into all forms of media at a much higher level.  Facebook (and most other social media platforms) allow geo-targeting, giving the ability to target hot zips.

Pathway to Sounding Better

pathway18.jpgMaximize your programming with a top-to-bottom review.  The Lund Strategic Programming Evaluation finds the strengths and weaknesses of your stations – music, promotions, talents, and programming strategy, and details specific ways to improve the programming.  This includes a detailed analysis of your music.  Contact John Lund for info on how this study will benefit your stations.  


Programmer’s Planner:
Here is a list of actions this week for the proactive program director:

Today, 6/13
Website Wednesday.  Follow every link on your site to make sure none of them are broken (including ads).
Review the night show.

Thurs., 6/14
Last week of the spring Nielsen diary sweep begins today.  Final week of the June PPM.
flagday18.jpgFlag Day.  Give some out at remotes.
Promote Father’s Day weekend promotion.
TV Premiere – Marlon begins its second season on NBC.

Fri., 6/15
Facebook Friday.  How many listeners have “Liked” your station?  Institute liners to increase this count. incredibles2a18.jpegTV Premiere – 12 Monkeys is back on Syfy for its final season.
Streaming Premieres – Netflix has several, including new seasons of Queer Eye and The Ranch and new rom-com movie Set It Up.  Amazon begins the second season of Goliath.
Movie Premieres – Incredibles 2 and Tag.

Sat.-Sun., 6/16-17
This weekend, listen to the station randomly both days.  Does it sound live and compelling?
Sunday is Father’s Day.  Take dedications for Dad.
TV Premieres – On Sunday, Showtime has the start of season four of The Affair.  Season three of Shades of Blue begins on NBC.

Mon., 6/18
How is your summer promotion sounding?  Is it fun and exciting?
TV Special – The 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards are hosted by actress Tiffany Haddish.
TV Premiere – ABC has new reality dating series The Proposal.

Tues., 6/19
Twitter Tuesday.  Interact with listeners.  Use those 280 characters to share how exciting your station is to listen to!
Independence Day is two weeks from tomorrow.  What’s your Big Event?.

 


Thanks for reading
The Lund Letter
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About the Lund Media Group:

For over 20 years, the Lund Media Group has provided programming, music consulting, operational guidance, and research to commercial and public broadcaststations throughout North America and overseas. Whether you program all sports, all tjclforLL.pngalk, or all music, the Lund Goal is to help stations get more listeners and keep them listening longer. The Lund Consultants are a multi-format custom programming and management consultancy. 

C
all John Lund for more information about how the Lund Media Group can help your stations achieve more listeners, higher ratings, and more revenue.
Phone: 650-692-7777.
Email john@lundradio.com