Dealing with Listener Calls and Communications

[davideduardo]

Here,, sometimes.. often really, i let the computer churn out what its gonna do, but were a special case.. but from time to time, ill see a pattern start to form on any given day, liek tempo or mood.. and try and then keep it moving by picking out songs that match the mood/tempo, and remove ones that dont.

I always added my own "Secret Sauce" to music scheduling. I'd take a rule I did not use and rename it and make it my "station flavor" rule and give rules for it that had a "feel" quality ranging from "old and borderline sound" to "avant garde for my format" to "highly mainstream". I had rules about how many of each could go in a set and hour and which could segue into which others and which flavors had to rest a certain number of plays before another similar song could play.

That rule was not tempo, era, genre, gender based such as most station's rules are. They were qualities that the PD and I created and even had a "example list" to help us consistently catalog songs. This kind of feeling based rule meant implementing a new music test might take a week of trial, test logs and adjustments.

That was first used by me at a salsa station in the Caribbean, then a rock station and then a "Jack"-like format in LA and a dozen other Top 50 size markets. It always added something and each format was dominant. But it took a huge amount of work and a really good PD at each station.

 

[davideduardo]

Plus, I HATE those stupid emu spots with the creepy Doug character. Note to parents, if you see Doug from the Liberty Mutual spots hanging around a school yard or community park, call the authorities.

But I remember the Emu spots, and that is key when you sell insurance: something you pay for and hope never to have to use.

In my case, if watching live TV, I will change channels instantly when I see "Flo" and her white undertaker-like uniform and style that is foreign to my culture.

 

[TheBigA]

Was this by chance Liberty Mutual?

Why yes. Ha! Good catch!

 

[KeithE4]

But I remember the Emu spots, and that is key when you sell insurance: something you pay for and hope never to have to use.

I remember the Emu spots as well. I also do whatever it takes to forget them. There is no way in the world that I'll buy insurance from that outfit.

In my case, if watching live TV, I will change channels instantly when I see "Flo" and her white undertaker-like uniform and style that is foreign to my culture.

Flo is foreign to every culture on this planet. Except for waitresses at Howard Johnsons in the 1960s, that is.

 

[Kelly A]

Why yes. Ha! Good catch!

I can relate. They suck! And it's a shame too. Liberty Mutual used to have excellent customer service and decent rates. Seems they've gone from first to worst. I blame it on 'creepy Doug'.

 

[vchimpanzee]

But I remember the Emu spots, and that is key when you sell insurance: something you pay for and hope never to have to use.

In my case, if watching live TV, I will change channels instantly when I see "Flo" and her white undertaker-like uniform and style that is foreign to my culture.

Undertaker? She looks like a waitress.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I haven't seen a radio station sticker in years. I do have a bunch of coffee mugs from mostly defunct stations I've worked at in my kitchen.

My bright blue "Country Legends 98.3" stickers, which I got at the last full-service gas station I ever did business with, have turned white. The station has been Spanish for years and I've never asked either of the classic country stations I listen to for anything new.

I had a different car for the last sticker I got from a standards station. Since I had a new car I used it to deliver trash, then around the time they improved how they collected recycling, someone bought the car and I just gave in when the didn't offer me much. I let the trash trucks pick up my trash.

 

[JH_Radio]

wow no mentions of social media.
speaking of problems, WBCB online stream has had a horible hum ever since I have no idea when. sounds like 60 cycle ground hum to me.
Its not a problem on the AM or FM translator.
Is there somebody I can contact?
Thanks!

 

[TheBigA]

wow no mentions of social media.

Good point. My view about social media is it depends on who specifically handles it at the station. If it's the IT person or the digital person, they might not be the right contact for something related to the broadcast part of the business. Lot of moving parts.

It gets back to what we said about insurance companies and customer service. It's all about who specifically you speak with. That's what determines the resolution of the problem.

 

[JH_Radio]

No they might not, but this is the way people get ahold of stations these days.
Sometimes its easier and faster t then a phone call.

 

[TheBigA]

No they might not, but this is the way people get ahold of stations these days.
Sometimes its easier and faster t then a phone call.

It may be faster and easier, but does it resolve their issue? It can be like complaining on a message board.

 

[JH_Radio]

Not necessarily.
In which case the entire thing is pointless.

 

[RadioGuy1864]

The only bumper stickers for a radio station in Buffalo NY you see are for "Try God 101.7" the Catholic station, whose average listener age is approaching 80.

 

[CTListener]

The only bumper stickers for a radio staion in Buffalo NY you see are for "Try God 101.7" the Catholic station, whose average lisetner age is approaching 80.

Same thing had happened in Connecticut before I left. A few years earlier, Country 92.5, 96.5 TIC-FM and 99 Rock WPLR stickers could be seen frequently on the highways. Now just about all that remain are "Good News!" stickers advertising the teach-and-preach Protestant snoozer out of Middletown, WIHS.

 

[Miss Tuned]

My bright blue "Country Legends 98.3" stickers, which I got at the last full-service gas station I ever did business with, have turned white. The station has been Spanish for years and I've never asked either of the classic country stations I listen to for anything new.

I had a different car for the last sticker I got from a standards station. Since I had a new car I used it to deliver trash, then around the time they improved how they collected recycling, someone bought the car and I just gave in when the didn't offer me much. I let the trash trucks pick up my trash.

I was sitting here this morning, working, a bit bored of my usual radio station and wondering what else to listen to. I picked up my pen, which had the name of another radio station on it and thought - hey, I'll give it a try. I'm still listening a couple of hours later.

Station swag works!

 

[Kelly A]

I was sitting here this morning, working, a bit bored of my usual radio station and wondering what else to listen to. I picked up my pen, which had the name of another radio station on it and thought - hey, I'll give it a try. I'm still listening a couple of hours later.

Station swag works!

But here you are on a radio-discussion board, which means you're actually interested in radio and marketing of it.

Swag, tchotchke's, whatever you want to call them, aren't inexpensive to purchase in bulk. One needs a way to distribute them too. That means hiring bodies to pass them out at events, or whatever. Additional cost.

I've been involved in a lot of research, including focus groups, and have never seen an example where a listener claimed they discovered the station because of a tchotchke.
Bottom line is: Just because someone takes the handed-out tchotchke, doesn't mean they'll listen to you.

 

[crainbebo]

I haven't seen a radio station sticker in years. I do have a bunch of coffee mugs from mostly defunct stations I've worked at in my kitchen.

Positive Life Radio's (KYPL/KGTS/KPLW) Christmas in July Food Drive was giving away free bumper stickers. Saw bumper stickers given away a few years back at a yard sale sponsored by Townsquare Media in Yakima (i.e., 92.9 the Bull, KATS-94.5, etc.)
I have a coffee mug from KIT-1280 and another from KXLE-95.3, but they are old (pre-2000). Also have a coffee mug from KYVE-TV (PBS) before KCTS took over the whole operation. All three of those were estate sale/yard sale finds second-hand.
I do see KATS stickers on cars around Yakima, and occasionally old KXDD stickers. Not much else.