Why go “dead” over the weekend?

[Intheairnevada]

It is unfortunate that people with radio shows, brokered, vanity, etc. say “have a nice weekend, see you Monday “. ….if they have any kind of internet, social media presence..they should say “ have a nice weekend..we will be there for you as events warrant …and we will take to social media as necessary…and you can checkout our website for updates and links to our social media..blah blah..if someone is selling something, merchandise, memberships, etc. your might get a few sales…then Monday you say “ hope you had a nice weekend, we did take to social media to give an update on blah blah blah..we are always there for you if you need information..”. We our your 24/7 information source,”
So, whether politics, heating and a/c, nutrition, sports, whatever.. driving folks to your website makes $$ and sense . 24/7

 

[davideduardo]

You have a valid point.

I've never allowed talent I supervised to do the "see you on Monday" thing unless they also promote at the same time a weekend feature.... "I'll be here for you on Monday but stick around for the 90's weekend all day Saturday and Sunday..."

If a station has constant website or social media updates, they should have regular liners... particularly on Fridays... for those. Long ago, some of us did "weekend updates" with liner-style mentions of big games, park events, snowman rolling contests or whatever. I had the opinion that such events merited mention, even if they were sponsored and we did not get any revenue, because listeners would see us as a dependable source.

At one station I was with, we even did quick liner-style mentions of the bands that would be live at clubs and venues, even if we got no promotional dollars (in fact, doing that brought in extra dollars once promoters saw us as a "friend". But cash in advance!)

With staffs at stations getting so thin, who would do this? Maybe pay a stipend to someone to handle weekend information on all the social media sites the station participates in and add stuff to the station website.

 

[Intheairnevada]

Good point, the weekend shows and sponsors get the shaft with the see you Monday mantra..

 

[PTBoardOp93]

So, whether politics, heating and a/c, nutrition, sports, whatever.. driving folks to your website makes $$ and sense . 24/7

Does it? From everything I know, radio station web sites are marginal sources of revenue, with exceptions for those which have lots of new content (for example, those with an all-news format). Otherwise, there is nothing to drive traffic.

Similarly, driving people to Facebook/Instagram/X not only doesn't produce revenue, but is literally driving your audience to the competition. The socials are NOT your friend.

 

[TheBigA]

Similarly, driving people to Facebook/Instagram/X not only doesn't produce revenue, but is literally driving your audience to the competition. The socials are NOT your friend.

I agree with what you said about websites, but not about socials. You can make money on socials if you create engaging content. By that, I mean a half million views of a post equals $100. So you do ten or more good posts a week per site, and you're doing OK. Base your content on the website, but engage via social media.

But you can also do sponsored social media where you own the ad revenue.

 

[TheBigA]

It is unfortunate that people with radio shows, brokered, vanity, etc. say “have a nice weekend, see you Monday “

Unfortunately the brokered folks don't care about anything except their show. So there's nothing you can do there.

Back before the 70s, the concept was about radio shows. DJs hosted shows with set beginnings and ends. They had open and closing themes. See you next time. They didn't promote what came next. That changed in the 70s when the focus became promoting the format. Shows never end, and hosts never say good bye. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.

That's how most PDs think today. That's why DJs are told not to say goodbye. The listener isn't going anywhere. Hopefully. You want to keep them for the next quarter hour at least.

But some radio hosts have egos the size of Montana. For them, their show is all they care about. Imus was one of them. At the end of his show, he had an announcer say "This ends the revenue producing portion of our broadcast day." I always thought that was self-serving. But that's Imus.

Yes, the goal for radio is to keep the listeners occupied with never ending content and clicks to keep them engaged and entertained. If there was a minister of broadcasting, it would be made a law.

 

[davideduardo]

Back before the 70s, the concept was about radio shows. DJs hosted shows with set beginnings and ends. They had open and closing themes. See you next time. They didn't promote what came next. That changed in the 70s when the focus became promoting the format. Shows never end, and hosts never say good bye. Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.

For decades when I was actually programming or supervising programming I had a simple "hand off" when shifts changed:

Jock #1 "It's 10 O'Clock at WQII San Juan and I'm Quique Cruz..."
Jock #2 "... and I'm Rey Moreira with another hour of music and fun on 11-Q"

They could vary the language a bit, but no kidding or joking. The intent was to move forward. For example, if there was a big contest opportunity soon after the shift change "... and another chance to win a thousand dollars on 11-Q" would be the variation.

 

[PTBoardOp93]

I agree with what you said about websites, but not about socials. You can make money on socials if you create engaging content. By that, I mean a half million views of a post equals $100. So you do ten or more good posts a week per site, and you're doing OK. Base your content on the website, but engage via social media.

Well, a few things:
The monetization program at Facebook and Insta is by invitation only, so it's not like WYXY in Champaign, IL can start receiving pennies from heaven. Maybe a large market station like KROQ can, I'm not sure. I've not heard of any radio stations actually in this program, even though it is theoretically possible.

500K views is a ton, even in a large market. KROQ has about 240K fans on Facebook, and Facebook's organic reach (the percentage of your followers who see an individual post) is typically 1% to 3%. So getting 500K views would take closer to 100 posts at KROQ. Getting paid a dollar per post isn't worth it.
500K views isn't a ton when your audience is the whole world, which is how influencers can make a living.

But you can also do sponsored social media where you own the ad revenue.

Stations where I have worked have tried this, with poor results. The problem is that The Algorithm™ will show your followers selected posts from your station page, based on their metrics (recency, likes, shares and comments). So your followers are much more likely to see a post "Here's today's mugshots from the Springfield County sheriff" that generates some buzz, instead of an ad, which doesn't.

 

[TheBigA]

The monetization program at Facebook and Insta is by invitation only,

Correct, but the invite is based on past engagement. So if your radio station is creating engaging content, it will receive an invitation.

500K views is a ton, even in a large market. KROQ has about 240K fans on Facebook, and Facebook's organic reach (the percentage of your followers who see an individual post) is typically 1% to 3%. So getting 500K views would take closer to 100 posts at KROQ.

The views don't have to come from followers. If you use hashmarks, your posts can be seen outside of your followers. It's possible that 99% of the views can come from outside of the followers. Those engagements can lead to new followers, if people feel you're creating content they're interested in.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Does it? From everything I know, radio station web sites are marginal sources of revenue, with exceptions for those which have lots of new content (for example, those with an all-news format). Otherwise, there is nothing to drive traffic.

Similarly, driving people to Facebook/Instagram/X not only doesn't produce revenue, but is literally driving your audience to the competition. The socials are NOT your friend.

You go where your audience is, if you don't.. theyll find someone who is there and won't come back to you. We don't use our website much except for a program schedule, contact page, streaming and merch store. I mean theres alot there...... but the 4 cases i cited are its main purpose and it doesnt change much.

We use our FB page way more. Why? Thats where our audience congregates when it comes to social media. We do sell some sponsorships for some stuff we post there.

(This is for KSKO i speak of, not KLMI)