23 May Wednesday, May 23, 2018
| This Week in The Lund Letter: > Morning show “experts” > Covering breaking news > On-air marketing builds TSL > Radio’s reach and other trends Lund Programming Clinic: Mission Possible – A Great Morning Show
The “Panel” Concept This is very successful in TV – like NBC’s Today and Meet the Press, and ABC’s GMA and The View. Paneling has also been used in sports broadcasts with a group of former players and coaches for game analysis. What makes paneling successful is having several angles on a story. It expands the story by adding commentary…a point of view. Cable news often features people from different perspectives for a lively (and cost-efficient) discussion of current events. The panel can be enlightening or infuriating, depending on who is on which side. Radio morning shows can take a lesson from MSNBC or Fox News who use journalists from a variety of newspapers, websites and magazines. Not only do these networks save money on investigative reporting, they give access to journalists who are trained story tellers. Have “Experts” Your morning show should employ the tactics of the Impossible Mission Force and TV cable news and build a team of special guests based upon topicality. Compile a database of experts on relationships, weather, diet, health, and whatever interests your listeners. Also, consider including comedians and bloggers. Judge if they have on-air presence in telling a story in one-to-one fashion. Whoever is on your panel, you want people with a strong point of view. Each day decide what topics are trending and select the people from your database you want to utilize on-air. One method employed by MSNBC is each of their hosts gives props to their panelists and show appreciation for their appearance and opinions. You want the opportunity to have them on the air with you again. By employing these tactics, your morning show can build its Impossible Mission Force and achieve the mission of more listeners and higher ratings.
According to a recent study conducted by Ipsos and Booz Allen Hamilton, 63% of Americans trust radio when it comes to keeping up to date with information regarding a natural disaster. That’s higher than either TV (55%) or social media (51%). Provide listeners with outstanding coverage of the disaster, and put your station on top in image and dependability. We salute the stations that react immediately with news coverage, allow listeners to interact on the air, and explore local plans to prevent a similar event in their home town. Consider creating a “what to do” safety and preparedness booklet for disasters that may not be that unexpected in your region, like a hurricane, tornado, flooding, or earthquake. Hurricane season starts June 1. Also, every station needs a Disaster Plan that details what to do and how to cover a local disaster. Radio news shines in a disaster, as no other local medium can! If the station’s news image is already cemented, a disaster (or breaking story) might double or triple the normal audience. Even music stations become news providers during local tragedies. The station should have a disaster plan for each likely (and even unlikely) scenario. WGMD Operations Manager Walt Palmer reports that the Maryland coast station established a weather-related program clock. During storms they break their format and go live and local. During a winter blizzard they were live for 44 continuous hours providing coverage, and a reassuring voice to the local community. The highlight of their weather clock is “News You Need To Know” that airs every half hour. This segment provides listeners the ability to set an appointment to learn new local information, national news, weather and community announcements. Additionally it provides those who have lost power the ability to save their battery powered radios so they can endure the duration of the event. Listeners have praised the station’s ability to become agile as the need arises. A natural disaster or local emergency can strike at any time. Have a written plan. We’ve written a detailed guide that lists everything you need for your station’s coverage. The Lund Disaster Stylebook is an essential tool for your planning. We Want Your Opinion! Because your opinion and your time is so important to us, if you take our VERY BRIEF survey, we enter you in a drawing. Ten participants will receive our updated and idea jammed 2018 Contest and Promotions Guide — a One Million dollar value which we sell for only $89.00! Please visit our poll to participate. Promotion of the Week: Office Of The Day
For 100 more great contests and sales promotions, see the Lund Contest and Promotion Guide. Lund’s Top 3: On-Air Marketing  Provide one of these benefits at least once an hour to build Time Spent Listening and increase listening occasions:
1. How to listen digitally (website stream, smart phone app, via TuneIn, iHeart, etc.). 2. Present listener interaction via phone, texting, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. And prove you care by referring to FB posts or tweets, or by airing listener phone clips on-air. 3. Generate buy-in via Facebook (“like us”, “friend us”), Instagram, Twitter, and via phone calls. Continued next week in the Lund Letter. Visit www.lundradio.com for more Top 3’s! Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey’s “The Middle” continues its run atop Hot AC. Camila Cabello moves into the Top Five. Backstreet Boys’ “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” had a strong debut week. “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran continues to reign at the top spot in Bright AC. MAX’s “Lights Down Low” is making a play to succeed Ed Sheeran. Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant To Be” made strong moves last week. In Alternative, Lovelytheband’s “Broken” continues at number one. Florence and the Machine’s “Hunger” had another strong week in airplay gains. Both Bastille’s “Quarter Past Midnight” and Arctic Monkeys’ “Four Out Of Five” had major gains last week. Watch Dennis Lloyd’s “Nevermind” as it is getting interest. 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.
+ AM/FM radio reaches 228.5 million (93% of US population) Radio’s reach is #1 and far outstrips any other audio medium.
Today, 5/23 Thurs., 5/24 Fri., 5/25 Sat.-Sun., 5/26-27 Mon., 5/28 Tues., 5/29
About the Lund Media Group: |
With the new Tom Cruise Mission Impossible movie arriving in July, the concept of the Impossible Mission Force comes to mind. A group of talented people with various skills is assembled to fulfill a specific mission. Your morning show can do the very same without employing a huge staff.
Kilauea continues to displace thousands while flowing lava changes the Big Island of Hawaii forever. A high school shooter wreaks havoc on the Santa Fe TX community and the nation. Radio knows the importance of being locally responsive, fast when news breaks, and providing wall-to-wall coverage.
The Lund Letter you receive every Wednesday morning (FREE!) benefits broadcasters with programming and marketing tactics to increase audience and revenue. In addition, we share trends in technology, social media, and consumer research that impacts our industry. The Lund Media team wants to know which information we share has the most value and interest for you. These weekly topics include The Management Memo, the Trend Watch, Programming Clinic, the Promotion of the Week, latest music, Programming Calendar, etc.
Sell restaurants a promotion where each day a different office staff wins $50 lunch credit at that day’s sponsoring restaurant. Have offices email their entries which can be added to your database. Promote in office listening by stipulating that they must call the station within X minutes of hearing their office name announced. Also, sell an office supply company to co sponsor and give away discounts on its products.
Camila Cabello’s “Never Be The Same” continues atop CHR this week. Post Malone’s “Psycho” has made its way into the Top Five. Selena Gomez’s “Back To You” had a strong debut week. Watch Drake’s “Nice For What” as it is making huge gains in airplay. Kane Brown continues to rule Country with “Heaven.” Both Luke Combs’ “One Number Away” and Darius Rucker’s “For The First Time” are challenging Brown for number one. Sam Hunt’s “Downtown’s Dead” had an impressive add week.
Radio reaches more consumers each week than any other medium, confirms a recent Nielsen report. When looking at 18+ consumers in the US:
The news may not be all bad for cable TV providers. Although traditional cable, satellite or telco TV service subscribed households fell by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2018, a report by Kagan (a division of S&P Global Market Intelligence) shows a glimmer of hope: streaming bundles. When streaming services like Sling TV and DirecTV (bundled with Dish Network and DirecTV respectively) are added on, nearly one million households are added back to the subscriber numbers. That’s almost half of those lost. A report by Nielsen also provides some good news for TV: a majority of households still watch at least some traditional TV each week!
Spring diary ratings week #9 begins. Start first week of the June PPM.
Memorial Day Weekend – the unofficial but traditional start of summer – starts today. Visibility should be at an all-time high.
Memorial Day.