Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Lund Letter

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

This Week in The Lund Letter: 
>   4 shows in 4 hours
>   3 ways to boost ratings
>   2 shoes promotion
>  
1 digital trend: smart speakers

Lund Basics: Smart Show Prep

starbucksmorning.jpgVirtually all radio stations depend on a big morning show to set the pace for listening all day.  We coined this expression: “How goes the morning, so goes the day.”  In other words, hook ’em early with great content, and they’re more likely to stick around all day.  But creating morning show content is as tricky as making a Frappuccino. Time restrictions require each word to be weighed. If the material doesn’t hit the core audience’s interests, it’s a sure miss.  If the talent isn’t interested in the content, it will usually fall short.  How do you sculpt the morning show’s content?

Know Your Target

Your chances of scoring a real hit are best with material that targets your audience’s interests.  A Sports or Rock host can talk about chick flick movies, but in a totally different way than an AC talent. Hip-Hop likely escapes the understanding of adults who listen to Country or Classic Rock.  Carefully edit material from national show prep services, and localize these stories for greater relatability. Choose stories that offer the greatest connective tissue with your local listener.

Edit for Morning Radiostopwatch1904.png

Think in seconds to make your point. The science is clear: The first eight seconds out of music will determine whether you continue to hold attention. Otherwise, listeners may tune out or fire up their blow dryer … and you lose.  After a catchy opening line, hit one or two salient facts and close the bit.  Save the longer time spans for those special moments that hit emotional buttons.

Placement for Audience Cycles

Some talents think listeners are with them for their entire show.  This is especially false in the morning where each listening occasion is about ten minutes – twenty minutes if you’re really good. Benchmarks and promotions need multiple mentions.  The morning show has several different tune-ins each day, which supports more frequent and effective teases.  Plan on one big benchmark an hour, and a great bit can be reused again an hour or two later in the show.  Study listener usage and work on the science of planning and executing a great show.

Amp Up Your Radio Show

personguidecov.pngImprove the planning, presentation and sound of your radio show – whether you’re on in the morning or at any time. The Radio Personality Guide has all the tools that radio personalities need to grow and sound better.

This is the #1 best-selling e-book designed for air talents of all formats… and their PDs.  Newly expanded, the Guide provides hundreds of tools and new ideas to make your show better… checklists, benchmarks, hourly planners, and show prep essentials.  This book with help you grow your audience, connect better with listeners, and sound terrific!

Order the Lund Radio Personality Guide here.


Lund’s Top 3:  Becoming (or Staying) Number One!
  
Top3B.jpgLast week we covered the 3 Ms.  Here’s what else is needed to be #1:

1.   Be a Format Perfectionist.  Maintain contemporary formatics in all shifts, including frequent station name mentions, positioning, promoting ahead and playing the right music.

2.   Think Digitally. Your audience is now listening on your app, their smart phone, and to your website stream. Communicate with listeners via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, email database, and text messaging.  Extend your reach with smart speakers and podcasting.

3.   One to One Contact.  Increase market involvement; talents sound personable, real, fun, and relatable. Be promotionally active and sound totally live and local.

Next week – more ways to become (or stay) number one.  Visit www.lundradio.com for more Top 3’s!

Planning Your State Broadcast Convention?

fullconf.jpgJohn Lund’s positive, fast-moving presentation, “The Science of Radio Programming,” includes training and coaching guidelines, and the basics necessary to grow the audience.  The “Dynamics of Radio News” outlines all the ways to increase local news listenership.  Lund workshops are customized and expanded to meet your members’ needs. Email John Lund for info.


Promotion of the Week: Stiletto Stack

firstshoes.pngsecondshoes.jpgWhich pair is right for you?  Female listeners choose from a stack of shoe boxes.  Some contain heels (or gift certificates to a shoe/department store); others hold old sneakers and slippers belonging to a male jock.

Do You Need A Great Promotion?

Our “Spring & Summer Promotions” Guide outlines every programming and sales promotion you’ll need.  Over 100 audience-building promotions, contests, sales promotions and show prep ideas will make your stations sizzle right now and through to summer … and help the sales staff lock in new dollars.

Order now and receive our new “Promotion & Contest Strategies” guide free.   Order here to get both guides.


Lund Trend Watch:


Next-Gen TV Impacts Radio

atsclogo.jpgRadio’s biggest audience is in-car where other media don’t compete.  But this year the TV industry rolls out ATSC 3.0 technology.  Next-Gen TV will be OTT – Over the Top – which means all TV channels over the air… and available to TV receivers, digital and mobile consumer devices (smartphones), and in cars.  Audio in the front seat; video and audio in the back seat.  When it comes to watching broadcast-originated content on digital devices, Millennials in the U.S. spend 71% of their time viewing on smartphones and tablets. Imagine the attraction of a hundred TV channels plus a hundred audio channels!  Next-Gen TV will super charge the TV business and provide a strong competitor for radio, on smartphones and in the car.

Getting On the Smart Speaker Wave

smart-speakers.jpg19% of total listening hours to AM/FM radio streams occurred on smart speakers according to Triton Media in January 2019.  Amazon Alexa and Google Home are the leaders.  This represents an increase of 111% compared to January 2018 when just 9% of streaming took place on voice-activated speakers.  The second half of 2018 represented the biggest spike with smart speaker listening spiking from 11% in July 2018 to 19% in January 2019.

Voice is the New Click

Mobile device listening was steady during the same time frame, representing 44% of online listening to broadcast radio streams in January 2019 compared to 42% a year earlier.  The drop in listening was on “other” platforms consisting of desktops and laptops falling from 49% in January 2018 to 38% in January 2019.  Triton data also includes station streams on audio aggregators like TuneIn and iHeartRadio.

Smart speakers are also increasing listening to radio streams as overall listening to streams of AM/FM radio stations grew.  The decrease in listening hours on desktops, laptops and other devices was more than offset by consumption on smart speakers contributing a 10.5% overall growth in listening hours.

1/5th of Americans

smartaudiologo.pngNPR and Edison Research recently issued data that as of the end of 2018, 21% of U.S. consumers own a voice-activated speaker.  53 million Americans now own at least one Alexa or Google Home device representing a 78% year over year increase.  Over last year alone, there were 14 million consumers who got their first smart speaker device.  Now more than ever, you need to address this movement from listening to radio streams on your website to listening to radio on voice activated smart speakers.

The keys to embracing this accelerating trend are:

+   Establish your audio brand bearing in mind generic names like “Rock 102” or “The Breeze” or “Wild 97” won’t work for you with voice activation.  You need to be branded with a unique name.

+   Promote your audio brand with frequency.  Every hour is a good place to start.  You need to also demonstrate on your website how to access your station on smart speakers, many stations use an instructional video.

+   Initiate an email database of listeners who own smart speakers where you can send them specific emails on morning show benchmarks and contest times when they can listen and participate.

The new Triton data reinforces the significant opportunity for radio to increase listening in the home.  Smart speakers provide a mechanism for driving more in-home radio listening.  Actively promote smart speaker usage on your stations.

Want 70 imaging liners to promote your smart speaker usage, plus links to example website videos?  Our Smart Speaker Stylebook is free with the New Media Strategies guide, which can be found here.


Programmer’s Planner:
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Apr 21: Easter
Apr 22: Earth Day
May 1: Billboard Music Awards on NBC
May 5: Cinco De Mayo
May 12: Mother’s Day
May 27: Memorial Day

Next week in the Lund Letter: The digital advantages for radio programming.


Thanks for reading
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About Lund Media

jclforLL.pngFor over 20 years, the Lund Media Group has provided programming, music consulting, operational guidance, and research to broadcast stations throughout North America and overseas. With specialists in every format, the Lund Goal is to help stations get more listeners and keep them listening longer.

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.