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Small Market Radio Morning Show Prep Tips

b-turner said:
I strictly do sales but I have years behind the microphone and in programming. I secured the giveaways mentioned.
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And every small town radio station would be blessed to have a creative seller like you.

AMRadioGuy said:
Any suggestions to increase visibility?
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A lot is based on your budget.
But the key is to think like someone new to your town. How would they learn about your ratio station? Where would they see your station logo or hear the station audio? Do you give away stickers or pencils or T-shirts? Is your studio in a place that has traffic, and if so is it highly visible? Do you have advertisements on the HS football field or sponsor a Little League team?
Do you post content on your social media apps that someone might share?
 
AMRadioGuy said:
Wow - how do you get prizes for a daily contest? That's impressive, @b-turner.
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I've seen smaller stations get advertisers to provide prizes that must be picked up at their place of business. Advertiser gets traffic, station gets prizes.
AMRadioGuy said:
Already doing birthdays & anniversaries, but haven't had a lot of traction there. I get a few calls each week but it's not a reliable daily thing... yet. I discuss celebrity birthdays, too.
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Add in recognition of local residents who win awards, promotions, recognitions. If the local hospital releases that data, births. Very strong can be recognizing local students who win awards or athletic competitions.
 
AMRadioGuy said:
There is some Barbara ("Stoney End") and Como ("It's Impossible") in rotation, but those run alongside the big hits of that era (and those were big hits in their own right, too). It's full service but the format isn't a sleepy one.
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Remember, most of the people who liked Como and Barbra when their songs were currents were at the older end of the demos then... and are likely not with us today.

What you don't play will not hurt you if the songs you do play are still ones that people in your target audience wants to hear.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
And every small town radio station would be blessed to have a creative seller like you.


A lot is based on your budget.
But the key is to think like someone new to your town. How would they learn about your ratio station? Where would they see your station logo or hear the station audio? Do you give away stickers or pencils or T-shirts? Is your studio in a place that has traffic, and if so is it highly visible? Do you have advertisements on the HS football field or sponsor a Little League team?
Do you post content on your social media apps that someone might share?
Click to expand...
All good thinking... thank you! Definitely getting some good ideas from the discussion here.
 
davideduardo said:
I've seen smaller stations get advertisers to provide prizes that must be picked up at their place of business. Advertiser gets traffic, station gets prizes.

Add in recognition of local residents who win awards, promotions, recognitions. If the local hospital releases that data, births. Very strong can be recognizing local students who win awards or athletic competitions.
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Ahh, that's a great point, David. If customers have to pick their prize up at the place of business it gets people in the door... who might not otherwise stop & shop there... and might buy something, or return in the future.

What a cool idea w/ births! I'll have to look into how available that data is.

Our sports report is pretty comprehensive, so we usually already have a lot of high school sports and often credit particular names ("So and so hit the game-winning home-run," etc.).
 
b-turner said:
The station gives them exposure for the store providing the cake at no cost to us. I turned around and sold the giveaway. Example: The Hometown Insurance Birthday Club winner today receives a free birthday cake from big chain grocery. We 'brand' the giveaway to a paying account. I have a waiting list if the sponsor drops. Last time that happened was during Covid.

We have no issue getting giveaways in exchange for on air mentions. For Mothers Day I have a $150 giveaway from a jewelry store, a dozen roses, dinner for two, two movie passes plus anything from the snack bar and a $75 gift certificate at a boutique. Station cost $0.
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'Nother question for you: When you have those prizes... How do you go about giving them away? For example, that Mothers Day giveaway - how are you running that? Any suggestions for effective giveaways?
 
I'd look into a morning drive feature with a short coach's report from area schools. One station I worked had 10 of them, each 2.5-3 minutes. In fact we sold it with just sponsor mentions going in and out at a cheap rate targeting non-traditional advertisers and businesses too small to afford a regular schedule. We could easily get 10 at $50 a month back in 1993. Today, maybe $100. Takes no spot inventory and no copy to write.
 
KilowattKat said:
Don't forget the obituaries, school lunch menu (read sarcastically poking fun at the horrendous food served), and maybe a half hour taking calls from listeners regarding a local topic, or " what's on your mind today?". 😁

And please, please, help out your local animal shelter, with lost and found and a shelter pet of the day.
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Over the years traveling for business to some very out of the way places, I listened to hundreds of small/local AM stations. I was surprised how many of them did the "school lunch" shtick, although at least a few played it straight. One station actually included the school lunch menu at the of conclusion of local news.
 
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Calhoun said:
Over the years traveling for business to some very out of the way places, I listened to hundreds of small/local AM stations. I was surprised how many of them did the "school lunch" shtick, although at least a few played it straight. One station actually included the school lunch menu at the of conclusion of local news.
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As a kid in grade school, I remember the part of the day everyone look forward to most was the lunch period. We had the paper lunch menu for the week posted on the refrigerator. What was on the menu that day was the deciding factor whether to bring my punch lunch card, or bring my own from home in my "Six Million Dollar Man" lunch box. In the grand scheme of things it may not seem important, unless your a parent with a grade schooler, than it's mandatory to know. I do recall "Fish stick Friday" being popular along with those tater tots.
 
I use FB alot. business, organization, city pages, social/chat/community groups. i get a ton of community event info from there... i get leads/ideas.. i do news for all 4 stations, middays on our country station and afternoons on the AC station.... ive found several things on FB that have led to stories in newscasts/on the website.. wether its posts from businesses or city departments... or the community discussing stuff in a social group (like we have a vote/election next week for renewal of a city 6th penny tax... ive done stories on it and had guests in to talk on air because of it)
 
Many of our givaways are random drawings from Facbook 'likes'. Some are call in to win. At Christmas we giveaway, I think $500 ot $1,000 from the bank putting up the cash, listeners mail us a Christmas Card to enter for a random drawing.

We do a Secret Santa where those in need can write a letter explaining why they need financial help. They must be available to take our call and talk with us on air a certain day and time, then come by to pick up cash. Here's the link.
www.kxii.com

Texoma radio station hands out $60,000 in Secret Santa cash giveaway

A Gainesville radio station gave away $60,000 in Secret Santa cash to sixty deserving recipients in need of a little help for the holidays, all donated by listeners to spread Christmas joy.
www.kxii.com www.kxii.com
 
b-turner said:
I'd look into a morning drive feature with a short coach's report from area schools. One station I worked had 10 of them, each 2.5-3 minutes. In fact we sold it with just sponsor mentions going in and out at a cheap rate targeting non-traditional advertisers and businesses too small to afford a regular schedule. We could easily get 10 at $50 a month back in 1993. Today, maybe $100. Takes no spot inventory and no copy to write.
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Huh, that's a neat idea! Is that something the coaches would put together & send in?
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
I use FB alot. business, organization, city pages, social/chat/community groups. i get a ton of community event info from there... i get leads/ideas.. i do news for all 4 stations, middays on our country station and afternoons on the AC station.... ive found several things on FB that have led to stories in newscasts/on the website.. wether its posts from businesses or city departments... or the community discussing stuff in a social group (like we have a vote/election next week for renewal of a city 6th penny tax... ive done stories on it and had guests in to talk on air because of it)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestions! Much appreciated. You do your communities quite a service
 
b-turner said:
Many of our givaways are random drawings from Facbook 'likes'. Some are call in to win. At Christmas we giveaway, I think $500 ot $1,000 from the bank putting up the cash, listeners mail us a Christmas Card to enter for a random drawing.

We do a Secret Santa where those in need can write a letter explaining why they need financial help. They must be available to take our call and talk with us on air a certain day and time, then come by to pick up cash. Here's the link.
www.kxii.com

Texoma radio station hands out $60,000 in Secret Santa cash giveaway

A Gainesville radio station gave away $60,000 in Secret Santa cash to sixty deserving recipients in need of a little help for the holidays, all donated by listeners to spread Christmas joy.
www.kxii.com www.kxii.com
Click to expand...
Ahh, okay! I was wondering, especially with everything being voicetracked. Wow, that's a lot of $$ to give away. Really cool, b-turner!
 
AMRadioGuy said:
Thanks for the suggestions! Much appreciated. You do your communities quite a service
Click to expand...

It's a good starting point.. you cant judge the needs/wants/what people understand for every segment of your audience so social media is a great way to gauge some of this.. and people will often post before they tell a radio station of up[coming events
 
Coaches would call in and be recorded or they would send us the file of the program ready to insert in the log. We had a kill time where we would call them to remind them. Logistics were always simple and evaluated to take the least time and effort on our part.
 


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