A Challenge For College Radio

[dave388]

funny you say that to. cause i read somewhere today clear channel was going to dump quite a few stations in low markets. and keep the top XX markets. i would like to see alot more station owners tho, it would produce alot of Competition unlike we do have now.
you bring up the tracked topic (mainly at night) yea listenership may go down at night but, it would still be a great training time for "new" guys. (at least if they screw up only us 3rd shifters will hear it lol) but still it would be verry good experiance for some.

 

[KFodor]

On your CC comments:

It's already known they will be selling (and have sold) some of their smaller properties. How much remains to be seen. The sale of the company is, apparently, going to a private equity firm...and these types of companies tend to be not radio people at the more generous side and "pump and dump" operators on the other. That's why I say we'll have to see what happens there...

I agree with your feelings on late night radio. But, here's where you have to put on your business hat and look at cost vs. return. Most late night overnight jocks in markets as large as the Top 30 back in the days when live radio still happened averaged around $15-$18 thousand in salary. In most cases, the daypart didn't bill that much in revenue annually...so I can, at least, appreciate the reason ownerships bought into voicetracking for really late nights...It, at least, made the revenue "break even" or almost so, on the books...

Sad, I know. But, that's what happens when you "program" to your listeners, but must "run" for Wall Street...

 

[DJRobbioRobbio]

So often here I read the "commercial radio stinks" rant. As a radio programmer, I laugh at some of these
comments...you know, the ones that say we need to get rid of all the commercials, throw out all the rules, toss in obscenities in order to "be real" and play 20,000 song titles.

But, I'm also adult enough to see that our business is losing (and has lost) some younger listeners. So, here's my challenge to you:

If you could design the programming on a full-signaled FM station in a medium to large market, to target listening from, say, age 15 to 30, what would you do that radio currently does not?

Here's my only stipulations:

There has to be some control of the playlist. I'm not saying it has to be 300 songs, only that it can't be
infinite.

What would be a comfortable commercial load? ("Zero" is not an acceptable answer. In order to pay you, the station would have to make money.) And, what type of approach for commercial production would be more comfortable for you?

To reach this audience, should radio consider looking at download charts rather than the current day chart system? (I think "yes" on this point, but I want to know what you think.) Or, is there some other thing we should be looking at? (It does stand to reason that for this type of station you would want to have people in the clubs, on the street doing the same things you're doing.)

DJ presentation? Or no jocks at all? And, yes...this is a hypothetical "real" radio station. All FCC rules have to be followed. (We don't make the rules in radio...but, we have to live with them.)

What would get you excited about our business again?

Here's a radio person who's interested in your thoughts.

I know at our station here in Daytona Beach (WIKD-LP) we run essentially what could be considered a "free format" station, with programming blocks to accommodate different genres, and to give a bit of structure to our programming format.

They key I've found, is to play a little bit of everything. For example, if you're a Top-40's/ CHR formatted station, play your usual dose of new "hit" music, but at the same time, throw in some older songs into regular rotation, especially during the busy morning drive, or afternoon drive hours. Not just the times when people are relegated to their desks, or in bed tuning in to nightly programming.

Just my two cents....

-Robb

 

[radiogeek07]

Wow. This is the first time I can say I've been excited about radio in a while.
I actually had the distinct pleasure of running WUDR, the new UD radio station. We didn't have quite the amount of power, but I still learned a lot.
If I could put a dream radio station together, it would go something like this.
Topical morning show, a little edgy, but not to the point where we have people getting fined.
The candid phone thing is so 1980's and 90's. It had its run.
I would have probably 8 minutes of commercials, but also have mentions of products in DJ chatter. Ryan Seacrest is trying to make a living off of doing this very same thing.
8 songs or so an hour would be good. I would have news updates as well as traffic.
Mid days would feature an all-request lunch.
would also probably do something where at the end of each shift you have the most requested song played.
Afternoons would feature mostly music in say the 3-4:30 range and may be a DJ could have a topic he/she brings up and have listeners phone in their opinions, etc. You could sprinkle listener phone calls throughout the drive time 4:30-6 PM limit them to 30 seconds of audio even playing underneith the beginning of a song so they don't necessarily interfeer with your rotation.
Keep nights open for interaction with younger listeners. Voice Track overnights however may be on big nights have your evening jock stay on a litttle later.
Back when I was in high school, NSYNC had their "No Strings Attached tour." I distinctly remember most CHRs actually having a DJ on air as soon as that concert was over and had listeners call in with their experience at the show. Radio can give you something an IPod can't. Interaction.
Lastly, the website is key. So many things besides streaming can be done with it. Put a webcam in the studio, let your DJs have an instant message name they can be reached at. You can even do that on cell phones now.
Sell ads on the website in order to generate new revenue.
ADJ mentions something about the business on air, they direct listeners to the station website for more about the company.

Besides the obvious about being in clubs, etc. Do a canvasing of college campuses at the beginning of the year. Remember, there are probably many students who aren't from that town there, so this is a chance to introduce them to the station. Lead them to a bigger promotion some place later. Hire interns from the local colleges/universities. They are your best advocates. I think between the ages of 18-22 is where you lose people.
See if may be you can work out a contract where you have a spot on the universities cable channel system. They pipe in your audio while they show up-coming campus events, etc.
I kid you not. We probably had more people listening to us on Channel 3 than we did listening to us on the actual radio. It works.
While it's obvious I'm thinking of a CHR, I think the promotion and execution is as if not more important than the music. Remember. Music can be heard on IPods, etc.
Here's a problem I notice among current radio station set-ups.
DJs are DJs, and marketers are marketers. There's kind of a rivalry among them. They rarely seem to want to work together. Neither know what the other does.
One thing that separates me from others is I have experience on both sides of it.
I majored in broadcasting, and minored in marketing, so I can appreciate what both camps have to present.
So, those are my thoughts. I'm sure I didn't answer all the questions, but that's all I got.