24 Oct Wednesday, October 24, 2018
This Week in The Lund Letter:
> The music connection
> The highest-audience daypart
> Podcasting and the latest media trends
Lund Management Memo: Connecting to the Music
Do your talents sound passionate about the songs they play? They should! By connecting to the music with enthusiasm and engaging the audience with interesting facts about the song or artist, the audience becomes interactive. Introducing music establishes momentum, but has become a lost art. Whether the cause is talent brevity or voice-tracking, introducing music rarely exists today. The fix:
Between songs: When transitioning between songs, consider front sells. Sadly, introducing the music is missing on many stations. Often you will merely hear, “here’s (artist)”, or “right now (title) “by” (artist)”. Or, you’ll only hear station name before the music.
Think of your front sell and imaging piece before a song as an opportunity to establish momentum. The importance of “front sell” is “selling”, as well as the concept of instant gratification.
Before the stopset: Another place for music connection is during the commercial break before the first spot plays. Radio icon, Casey Kasem, used interesting tidbits on songs and artists to introduce music. Legendary top 40 stations would use recorded sweepers like “number one then and number one now” going from a library song to the number one current song. In baseball, professional teams use “walk up” songs. In the movie “Major League,” whenever Charlie Sheen walked in from the bullpen to pitch, the Cleveland Indians would play “Wild Thing” by the Troggs.
After the stopset: When going from spots to the first song, use imaging that sells the music quantity coming up (length of sweep), or the music quality (“today’s best music”). When two radio stations are playing the same music, how the music is sold could be the winning difference.
You have a growth strategy in place ……. right?
Is your programming the best it can be? Do you have the best formatics in place whether your format is music or spoken word? Would you like more listeners and more revenue? We are here for you with a cost efficient and timely fix. The Lund Programming Evaluation consists of a review of your stations and competitors and examines everything that impacts audience and revenue – music, talents, presentation, competitors, market holes, assets and opportunities. Our top-to-bottom review includes a success strategy and programming tune-up. Contact John Lund and set up a call to discuss how a timely Program Evaluation of your stations can bring you more listeners and revenue.
Lund Programming Clinic: At-Work is the New Mornings
For years, radio stations have put much of their resources in their morning shows. It makes sense as morning shows are compared to “retail store fronts” representing the daypart which brings listeners “into the store.”
In recent years Nielsen PPM data has revealed the midday and PM Drive dayparts represent the highest listening audience for a variety of reasons with the major one being the use of the smart phone replacing the clock radio as a wake up alarm. Another reason at-work is bigger with the PPM methodology is the delay in removing the PPM device from the docking station until the listener is ready to leave the house.
At work listening is huge – both in PPM and diary markets. Getting more of your listeners to tune in the station at work increases audience…and promoting your at-work listening benefit in imaging should occur constantly.
How to Get More At-Work Listening
Easy. Simply ask listeners to take your station to work, and listen all day at work. We’ve written the creative imaging liners that sell at-work listening, which can be customized for your station. Volume A contains 100+ at-work liners, and right now you can receive Volumes A + B(200+ liners) for a reduced price.
Lund’s Top 3: Your Website is a Marketing Weapon
Make your station website terrific; it’s your marketing portrait. Consider these observations and necessary website improvements:
1. Have an Identity. Make it easy for people to figure out what you do on the home page (which should load quickly). Don’t make them search through several screens to figure out what you play or to find the section they came to the site to see.
2. Listener Benefits. They should be in clear view. Include your positioning phrase, music quantity pledge, morning show name and an example of listening attraction (recent stunt), special features available on the website, etc.
3. Music Info. Give the title and artist of the song currently being played, and those played previously over the last hour. Allow listeners a way to buy songs they hear on the air.
Next week – a new Top 3. Visit www.lundradio.com for more Top 3’s!
Programming great stations is challenging. What are the “basics” common on all successful stations, and what are the trends affecting the future? John Lund’s Indiana Broadcasters workshop includes over a hundred ways to make your stations sound better…and win more listeners.
To attend the Indiana Broadcasters convention and the John Lund seminar in eight days (on November 1), contact Indiana Broadcasters Association Executive Director Dave Arland.
If you are not a broadcaster in Indiana (but one of 10,000+ readers of the Lund Letter), you can contact John to speak at your state or regional convention or corporate meeting. John will customize a topical audio-visual presentation for your members’ needs. Contact John Lund.
Promotion of the Week: Pumpkin Heads
Our favorite Halloween promotion! When it comes to visibility, this promotion and contest can impact a huge number of people. It stimulates a lot of talk within the market and creates free press coverage. Halloween is in just one week, so consider this for next year.
Listeners are given the challenge of wearing an actual pumpkin Jack-o’-lantern over their heads to win a big prize. The promotion should be staged on the busiest traffic intersection where a lot of people drive by. The Pumpkin Head wearing listeners are there on the sidewalk every day waving at those who drive by. The individual who wears the pumpkin the longest wins, but it may take weeks to get down to one winner.
Need a sales promotion?
Boost your billing and help your sales staff lock in new dollars with the Lund Sales Promotion Guide. 200 terrific money-making Sales Promotions with new ways to carve out revenue from new clients. The Guide details proven radio sales promotions geared to a variety of retailers – like auto dealers, furniture stores and malls.
This is the most comprehensive collection of radio sales promotions ever assembled in one guide. Order here.
Are you marketing to General Managers or Program Directors and want to reach the 10,000 readers of the Lund Letter? Email John Lund.
Lund Trend Watch:
Public Radio Listeners Like Podcasts
According to Jacobs Media data analyzed by DEFcom Advisors’ Doug Ferber, public radio listeners started listening to podcasts long before the commercial radio listener… and they still listen more.
+ 35% of public radio loyal listeners use podcasts weekly.
+ 23% of core commercial radio listeners use podcasts weekly.
This is thanks in large part to public radio being involved in podcasting for more than a decade whereas most commercial radio groups and stations started producing podcasts much more recently. Public radio started with offering popular shows in podcast form so listeners could time shift programming.
Public vs. Commercial and Public & Commercial
According to the same study…
+ 76% of public radio listeners are regular social media users.
+ 86% of commercial radio P1s are regular social media users.
All radio stations should make sure their social media presence is well maintained and well promoted on air. Smart speaker owners (20% of them) say they have been listening to radio more since they got the speakers. This is equally true of commercial and public radio listeners.
A Huge Holiday Shopping Season
The top stressor for holiday shoppers is in-store crowds (65%), according to a National Insight study referenced by BizReport. This doesn’t appear to be enough to stop them, however, as 88% of shoppers plan to buy (at least some of their holiday purchases) in-store. More than 75% of men, women, Millennials and Gen Xers plan to buy holiday gifts online this year. Some other interesting findings:
+ 47% of shoppers say they’ll shop before December 1. This is up 10% over last year.
+ 20% of those shopping in November will participate in Black Friday sales.
+ 46% of men plan to complete holiday shopping before December 1.
+ Just over 50% of shoppers say they will spend less than $250 on holiday gifts this year.
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Programmer’s Planner:
October: Fall TV Premieres continue through the month
Oct 31: Halloween
Nov 4: Daylight Saving Time ends
Nov 6: Election Day
Nov 11: 44th People’s Choice Awards air (E!)
Nov 12: Veterans Day observed (actual 11/11)
Nov 14: 52nd Annual CMA Awards air (ABC)
Nov 22: Thanksgiving Day
Nov 23: Black Friday
Dec 3: first day of Chanukah/Hanukkah
Dec 5: last day of the Nielsen fall diary sweep (and the Dec PPM)
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
talk, 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.
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.