Wednesday, July 31, 2019

05 Aug Wednesday, July 31, 2019

This Week in The Lund Letter:  
>   Once music is perfect, get mornings in gear
>   The ratings are out; now what?
>   Meet listeners face to face
>   A newspaper does streaming video… plus other Trends

Lund Programming Clinic: Rules of Great Programming, Part III

The top stations have these “rules” in common.  In recent issues we’ve listed eleven that assure you play the right music.  If these rules are followed, you’re on target.  Market leaders in audience and revenue need to win in several areas, not just music.

The morning show is the cornerstone of virtually all successful radio stations.  TV networks will win the entire evening with a strong “anchor show” as the lead-in to prime time.  In radio, the highest profile talent(s) in the morning garners attention, creates talk about the station, and builds a giant audience.  While music programming is locally generated on America’s top stations, the morning show may be either local or syndicated.

Mornings Rule #1: “How goes the morning, so goes the day.”  The radio station’s cumulative audience comes for the morning show, tunes in for several occasions, and if they like what they hear, they will listen midday and afternoons.  Morning show talents need to be developed and coached to produce terrific performances. Appointment listening occurs when the personalities present regular benchmarks at the same time daily, and all bits are promoted ahead to insure audience recycling.  The morning show is the store front; when it is great, people want to come into the store.  It’s also the cume magnet; in Nielsen diary markets the most listeners are tuning into the morning show – and the goal is entertain them and get them to listen midday and afternoon.

Mornings Rule #2:  Have incredibly interesting content.  Morning show qualities include an incredibly great talent or talents, daily awareness of the “the Big Event,” humor, listener interaction, information, promoting ahead, best tested music (if music is played), and content that makes this the most talked about show in the market and required listening for fans.  The morning show gets noticed and attains word-of-mouth talk that contributes to the station’s marketing efforts.  Above all, in AM drive, the station is totally in sync with the listener.

Mornings Rule #3: News is relatable.  Part of the morning programming is information.  While formal newscasts are disappearing on music FMs, listeners still want to know what’s trending with interesting stories delivered in the language of the audience.  Information is interesting and presented in a way to garner attention and continued listening.  Weather is abbreviated to what listeners need to know today.

Mornings Rule #4: Daily success in getting “there” requires a map.  Great morning shows are a result of preparation.  Talents prep their shows and regularly work with the Program Director in show improvement sessions.  A show is planned ahead of time – not on the fly when a song plays.  Morning show mapping occurs daily even though the show sounds spontaneous.  A written planner helps sort the hours of prep material as the show presents local relatability.  What are the listeners feeling?

Mornings Rule #5: The personality is sensitive.  The morning talent reflects the image of the station and core listener.  In addition to morning personality appearances, the station activities and promotions are promoted in the morning.  The morning show is a mirror that gives the listener a reflection of what’s happening in the local area.  The talents are typically fun, funny, and memorable.  In fact, winning shows are usually the most fun on the dial, and the on-air presentation keeps the “Fun Quotient” at flood stage.

Coming up next week, the Morning Show Rules continue…  Getting attention and asking to be tuned in again!

Lund Report: Spring Ratings

The spring ratings are being released now.  If the news is terrific, have a plan of action:

+   If you talk about the numbers on-air, act gracious and grateful to listeners.
+   Hand-deliver a quick sales piece to clients with whom ratings influence their buying.
+   Send a press release to the local newspaper who may want the ratings story.
+   After you’ve digested the ratings, hold a strategic meeting to outline plans for fall.

And if it’s not so great:

>   If there’s a cume problem, it may mean you need more promotions and marketing.
>   If TSL did not improve, study the music, contesting, and recycling.

Study the options and refresh your sound for fall.  Find solutions to pesky problems and challenges.

Are Your Stations On Track To Grow?

Set a strategy to build a bigger audience in fall.  The Lund Strategic Programming Evaluation provides an in-depth analysis of your stations.   We monitor and review on-air programming, ratings and website content.  We identify strengths and weaknesses of your stations and key competitors and provide a comprehensive music software analysis with improvements based on solid research.

For more info on a station analysis, email John Lund.

Lund Talent Coaching: Presentation Advice from the Pros, Part III

When you ask America’s top radio personalities about how they prepare for their show, you get great ideas that will benefit every talent.  This week’s guest: Bob Rivers, former morning host at KZOK and KJR, Seattle.

1.   Meet every listener. Have your morning show visit listeners three times a week.

2.   Wake up calls   this classic bit still works like a charm.

3.   Create local characters to champion local causes.

4.   Make a “Hot Topic” list every day.

  
Lund’s Top 3:  Formatic Basics
  
Discuss the format fundamentals chosen for your stations with every talent.  Don’t have an available guide?  Utilize these Lund “format flash points” to make sure your station sounds its best:

1.   Use voice inflection as a “personality” vehicle; this adds “pizzazz.” This helps establish more of an on air persona within a fairly structured environment. Vary the pace and pick out key words to give extra emphasis.

2.   Always be positive; avoid sarcasm. Listeners usually react poorly to what they perceive as negativism and put-downs. Be the station and format “cheerleader.”  Be enthusiastic about every aspect of airtime.

3.   Gain tune-in.  Use aggressive marketing, creative contests, morning show stunts, social media and in-person appearances to stimulate listening.

For more Top 3 lists, check out www.lundradio.com.

Amp Up Your Radio Show

Improve the planning, presentation and sound of your show.  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.  The updated Guide provides hundreds of tools and new ideas to make your show better.  This book with help you grow your audience, connect better with listeners, and sound terrific!

Order the Lund Radio Personality Guide here.

Promotion of the Week: Beat The Pump

Weekdays at 7:35am, a designated caller gets to play “Beat The Pump” to win up to X (typically the frequency of the station) gallons of free gasoline. Once the sound of the pump starts to play, a voice is heard announcing different gallon amounts. Once the contestant says “Stop,” he or she is awarded the next amount of gas to be announced.  A fun way to do remotes would be to award gas to those who can stop the pump on a precise amount on the first try.

Do You Need A Great Promotion?

Our Fall Promotions Guide outlines every programming and sales promotion you’ll need for the months ahead.  Over 100 audience-building promotions, contests, sales promotions and show prep ideas will make your stations sizzle through fall … and help the sales staff lock in new dollars.

Order our Fall Promotions Guide now… Order here.

Lund Trend Watch:

Radio the Dominant Audio Channel

According to Ipsos research, broadcast radio is still the dominant audio channel.  85% of consumers hear radio weekly.  Social media reaches 68% and live television 56%.  Radio has twice the daily listening of streaming services.  It reaches 69% of consumers daily where streaming music reaches 34%.  65% of audio listening occurs outside the home and most often in car.  Radio accounts for 65% of in-vehicle audio listening.  Radio is heard in 70% of waking hours and is the most used audio platform all day, in all hours.

Pricy Ads and Debate Audiences

We are all familiar with the way ad prices can surge considerably for high audience events (the Super Bowl) and to a lesser extent during primetime/highly rated television series.  Recent Democratic debate coverage got 15.3 million viewers for the first night and had a record-breaking 18.1 million on the second night (NBCUniversal across NBC, MSNBC and Telemundo).  Now CNN is counting on similar numbers for last night and tonight’s debate coverage.  They are asking $110,000 for a 30-second ad and an advertising commitment of $300,000 before the ads can be purchased.  For comparison, CNN’s primetime shows over the last few months have brought in between $7,000 and $12,000 per 30-second spot, not bad for just 715,000 total Day (M-S) viewers.  CNN viewership is down 26% from 2018.  The ratings still fall far short of the Trump-fueled records for Republican primary debates that were set in 2015. Trump’s first time on the debate stage, in August 2015, had 24 million viewers on Fox News.  The second GOP debate the following month drew 23 million viewers on CNN.

Streaming Video Brought To You By the NYT

Hulu has already hosted 7 episodes of “The Weekly,” a spinoff of the New York Times’ podcast, “The Daily.”  Netflix will begin streaming “Diagnosis,” a new documentary series by NYT.   The series is based on a long-running medical mysteries column written by Dr. Lisa Sanders for The New York Times magazine.  It presents medical cases and asks for the help of readers (and now viewers).  The Times is also trying fiction with scripted drama “Modern Love” on Amazon based on eight of the column’s archived essays.  It just goes to show, there are always new ways to share entertaining content, even if it isn’t only on your primary service.


Planning Your State Broadcast Convention?

John Lund’s positive, fast-moving presentation, “The Science of Growing Your Audience,” includes training and coaching guidelines on the basics of attaining higher ratings and more listeners.  Topics include the “basics” of radio programming, America’s top formats: who listens and why, tactics to get more listeners, talent coaching, and how to make voice tracking sound live and local.  This presentation will be customized and expanded to meet your members’ needs.  EmailJohn Lund for availability and more info.

Next week in the Lund Letter: Expanding cume and TSL with the morning show.

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About Lund Media

For 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.

Call 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.