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KSTAR Conroe

R

radiopropd

Yesterday, Saturday November 22, KSTAR waqs to be at a remote in Magnolia from 1-3pm for an elementary school that was having their annual fall festival. I was at this event, helping out the organizers for the day. To my surprise, KSTAR was late - they didn't get there until 1:35pm - 35 minutes late from what was supposed to be the start time of the remote. I was told that they simply said they were running late. Well, for me as a broadcaster, this is not acceptable - as well as what I consider a lame excuse.

As a broadcaster, especially when it comes to remotes, you not only have to be on time, but early in the event there are problems. Now, if they were late due to a scheduling problem, i.e. other remotes sold on the same day, then there is a problem with scheduling and something that sales management has to look at.

As for them being late, they told the organizers that they would give them their full two hours. While this is all well and good, in my view, it's not acceptable - the event itself ended at 4pm - and they were going to stay until it ended? How does this help drive listeners to attend the event when the last broadcast is happening right before the end of the event?

The organizers of this event didn't realize that it was important to have the remote set up to broadcast from say 11am-1pm and that this would do more for driving people to the event.

The problem, as I see it, are account execs only being concerned with making a sale - not what's in the best interest of the client. Now. while I am throwing stones at KSTAR, I've seen this happen over and over in my career with other broadcast outlets. With this said, you can bet that for next years festival, I'll be more involved with the organizers as they decide who they want broadcasting the event - and by the way, this was a paid remote - not a public service freebie.

As for the talent and the way they handled the event - there isn't mush I can say - I didn't listen much as I was far too busy. However, I did see one of their staff, for the most part, sitting on his backside in the station van with what appeared to be a lip full of chew - that's what I call real professional.

Whatever happened to a remote broadcast being an event - a show, if you will? I've done this for many years, and I have never failed to give the client more than what they bargained for. Years ago, I was working with one of the best in broadcasting in Arkansas - his name was Craig Dale - and the one thing he continually drove home to me was that all remotes were to be events - something outside of the norm - make listeners want to go out and be a part of it - do things at a remote that you don't do anywhere else - make it special, rather than run of the mill.

In closing, it's situations like this that make me embarrassed to be a broadcaster. Unfortunately, the personal commitment from some of those in this business just isn't there anymore...

You can now go back to your regular reading of the boards and I'll get off my soap box.
 
Another example of "you get what you pay for." Normally these "promotion" people are college kids working part-time for $7 per hour and don't really "get it" yet and don't care. I've had this happen to me before. I had a remote on a Saturday from 10 till noon and the promotion team showed up with the van, set ups and prizes at 11:30. Their excuse, they overslept! I made them stay until 2p to put in the two hours promised to the client, but your right, the client ends up getting screwed. If advertisers would speak up and refuse to pay for things like this, things might get fixed. I've wondered for sometime now for instance why car dealers would pay for time when they are placed back to back with their competition. It's time for the sloppy work to stop and hire people that care about their jobs and take pride in what they do.
 
iused2bsomebody said:
I've wondered for sometime now for instance why car dealers would pay for time when they are placed back to back with their competition. It's time for the sloppy work to stop and hire people that care about their jobs and take pride in what they do.
Click to expand...

The two hardest categories for traffic people to schedule right now are cars and furniture. You have about 6-8 different car dealers and 4 furniture stores all buying heavy schedules and most music stations only run two stopsets. About the best you can do with car dealers is not put 2 foreign makes back to back and put one furniture store at the beginning of the set and the other at the close of the set.

Traffic people are the unsung heroes of the radio station. They don't make crap, they have to take crap from everyone, and they're responsible for all the revenue.

So, if you have 5 units in the break and your clients are Joe Meyers, Fred Haas, Mike Calvert, Mattress Mac, and Star Furniture, somebody's going to get stuck next to someone else... especially when you're dealing with buys where they buy every stopset in the daypart (or multiple spots in the break), so you can't swap stopsets. What are you going to do - tell Mac to spend less? In this economy, nobody is going to get their spots or schedule turned down as long as the cash is in hand. (Why else would KHPT take a buy from the All American Girls Escort Service? Talk about wh*ring your station out...)

Bash the promotions kids all you want for showing up late, but buy your traffic manager lunch for trying to make lemonade out of that log. Your stopsets will only be as good as the orders your salespeople write up.
 
I couldn't agree with you more John about the traffic people. They do work their butts off and are in a no win situation. I'm not blaming the stations for placing competition back to back, I'm blaming the buyers for allowing this to happen. If their ok with it fine, but if I were buying time,I would only do it if I was guaranteed that it wouldn't happen. If the station couldn't do that, then I would take my business somewhere else. Maybe the stations could make more money if they offered an exclusive to their clients and not wh*** themselves out by selling 5 car dealers in a set. I understand that times are tough, but what happened to having pride in your product and not allowing it to become a wh***. The same thing is happening to tv. If I see that Dodge spot back to back, I simply change the station. I can only handle repeats so much, then I'm gone. This also happens with radio and therefore lower ratings. When I was programming a top station, the manager came to me and said,"we're sold out and have no more avails but I've got more clients that want on the air." My answer, raise the rates and have them wait their turn. Not adding more stopsets or more spots. The more you make them want you, the more business you will get. That's one reason the Super Bowl spots sell so high. There are only so many available and when their gone, their gone.
 
It's all about making the product worth it - meaning, making the on-air product so good that advertisers want to advertise. Now, I am not only talking about the on-air talent, but all facets - the music, the talent, and overboard production - making it something that is better than good - making it the best...then, advertisers will want to advertise, regardless of when and where it's placed - they'll want to have an ROS if you sell it correctly, and IF the product is worth it.

As for those at the Magnolia remote from this past weekend, they weren't part-timers or interns - they were adults - I gathered they were the sales staff - and based on how they handled this remote, they were less than professional. Again, this goes to the situation of just selling a remote for the sake of selling a remote.
 
radiopropd said:
Again, this goes to the situation of just selling a remote for the sake of selling a remote.
Click to expand...

Show of hands... does anyone think remotes do anything for anyone anymore?

How many times have you sat out at the car dealer taking your talent fee and realizing that the few people walking up aren't your audience at all, but you'd better get a photo with them quick so you can tell the client what a great job the station did?

Does anyone think that the promise of spinning the prize wheel and getting a free hot dog is going to entice someone into getting into the car and driving down to a business because they heard a call-in?

I worked for a guy in the 90's who saw through the charade and decreed "no remotes, ever" on any of his stations. He told the sales department to go back to the drawing board and come up with something better. We did put on some festivals and the like that tied into the station's musical position and let us sell booths to customers - more event marketing than anything else. But we told the car dealers we'd rather just sell them a good schedule than a cheesy remote package - and we ended up getting the buy anyway.
 
There is never a good reason to be late for anything, but professionals find the reasons why circumstances occur. Here's what happened on Saturday for the K-Star remote because I asked them what happened.

Guess what? It wasn't over-booking by greedy sales folks(Sounds like a sales vs.Programming type talking, not a radio pro pd). It wasn't a hung-over driver, either.

The driver locked himself out of the vehicle on his way to the event. He borrowed someone's cell phone to call the guy who coordinates the vehicles. That person called the AE to alert her of the situation. She called another AE who called her husband who is a wrecker driver. The wrecker driver/spouse drove to where the station vehicle was locked and unlocked the vehicle. If you've ever had this happen to you, this process is not completed in 30 minutes. At least we now know why the vehicle was 65 minutes late (35 minutes late, plus the station policy is to be set at the remote site at least 30 minutes prior to going on the air).

The guy dipping was not the on-air host, he was the driver. The reason you didn't meet the radio personality was because she was walking around meeting with listeners. I think that's what she is supposed to be doing at these types of events.

The event paid the station a very small fraction of the cost of a remote (to cover costs like personnel, fuel, liability insurance). The station ran announcements as a public service.

Not everything is what it seems. If we slow down and ask questions, we might be surprised at the answers.
 
GEE, I did not know anyone was concerned about what was going on with little ole KVST 99.7 in Conroe. kvst.com Wait !!! Is that where everyone that use to live south of 1960 moved? as in about 500,000 people somewhere between Humble to Tomball Up to Huntsville. In other words, What is the big deal here. Everyone has a bad day at times and needs to take a dip.At least it was not a drink for being late.
later All.
Dade.
KVST.
 
Obviously, some of you missed the point of this thread - so, I'll try to explain. Whether it was KSTAR or any other radio station, it was the what I would call unprofessional, regardless of the reason(s), and my additional coments were that it seems to be happening more and more in our industry.

To quote greyhog: There is never a good reason to be late for anything, but professionals find the reasons why circumstances occur. Here's what happened on Saturday for the K-Star remote because I asked them what happened.

Guess what? It wasn't over-booking by greedy sales folks(Sounds like a sales vs.Programming type talking, not a radio pro pd). It wasn't a hung-over driver, either.

Well sir, I did find inquire, and again, if you read my post, the reason given was that they were simply late. To me, if I were the client, the reason they were late doesn't matter, and it's not my problem - they were late. Additionally, I never intimated that it was a hung-over driver, although for whatever reason, it did go through your mind. Lastly, it appears that you have issues with sales versus programming based on your comments. For me, I simply stated a reason that was a possiblilty for them being late, as we've all seen this before.

Further, to quote greyhog: The guy dipping was not the on-air host, he was the driver. The reason you didn't meet the radio personality was because she was walking around meeting with listeners. I think that's what she is supposed to be doing at these types of events.

Obviously, you missed my comments on this as well - I said that I was far to busy with the event to pay attention to the on-air talent, so therefore, I had no comment about them.

As far as this being a paid remote - yes, it WAS at a reduced rate - from my undertstanding, it was approximately $600 +/- plus $75 talent fee. While I am certain that this is less than your normal rate, it doesn't matter, as it was still a paid remote, and any client should expect the same level of service.

And as for Dade - do the dipping after the remote and out of sight of the public and client - that is all about perception, and it's simply not professional.

Again, regardless of the station, as I have pointed out, this situation was far less than professional, and in my opinion appears to be happening all over our industry - and that sir, is indeed, sad.

In closing, I'll have no further comments about this - do what you will with the information I've posted.
 
Ok Guys, New rules!! remember No dipping in public, be on time and if you need to smoke run like hell to the bathroom. You saw what the man said. Be a pro in public from now to the end of time for the jocks who are left in the business.
Now that is a real statement for the people who are left.
Have a good holiday all.
Dade
 
RadioProPD........sounds like sour grapes from a former employee.

How long did you work at KVST before getting fired?
 
Well sir, I have never worked at KSTAR, and have never known anyone that did. As for sour grapes, it's simply a matter of professionalism - nothing more, nothing less.
 
Radio Pro PD...........what station(s) do you program?

I'd love to listen.
 
OK Boys and Girls...give radiopropd a break. He/She just reported what he/she saw at the event. OK, they hade problems and got there late. Learn from it and move on.

And, even though they barely got paid for being at an event...they still agreed to deliver a product...and, they failed to deliver 100%. Again, learn from it and move.

It seems that so many on this board always try to make their points by insulting others. That seems a bit shallow to me.

Remeber...had they been at their remote on time...we would not be discussing this right now.

Happy Thanksgiving-
GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!
 
Giddy-Up-Radio said:
OK Boys and Girls...give radiopropd a break. He/She just reported what he/she saw at the event. OK, they hade problems and got there late. Learn from it and move on.

And, even though they barely got paid for being at an event...they still agreed to deliver a product...and, they failed to deliver 100%. Again, learn from it and move.

It seems that so many on this board always try to make their points by insulting others. That seems a bit shallow to me.

Remeber...had they been at their remote on time...we would not be discussing this right now.

Happy Thanksgiving-
GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE!
Click to expand...

Thank you for saying what I've been trying to figure out how to say. It was simply an observation of customer service that fell short of expectations....its something that applies not only to our business, but also to the guy at the drive through who does a less than enthusiastic job with my order... or the lady at the bank who had a bad day and reacted in an unacceptible way to something during a transaction.... The events he described could have happened at any station in any market....

and by the way, I know Radiopropd and he's a good guy...not currently programming a station in this market. He's here because he had to leave his former programming job and move to this area for family health reasons.. so he like many others is currently looking for a fulltime gig....
 
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