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Wklu's "stunt?" Please!

R

radioho

How childish does Oasis think his "target audience" is?

On their website, they make a big deal of seeing albro's "adventures" on the air?

"Now, I haven't been to sleep in 36 hours, here's some Tom Petty..."
"Now, I haven't been to sleep in 100 hours, here's some Tom Petty..."
"Now, I haven't been to sleep in days, here's some Tom Petty..."

WHO CARES? It's not like he's on non-stop for the duration! He can play "Freebird" and other lengthly tunes and get plenty of rest/naps between breaks. This is a station that has the djs breaking in for 90 seconds with liners every third song!

And who the heck is Albro? Why not Jay Baker? Libby? even RUSS? Someone we've HEARD of?

What an outdated promotion. THIS is the best Russ and his PD (ha!) could come up with? Some 1950's stunt? This is such a NON-PROMOTION. Why not a "Rock-a-thon?" It would even be better, because at least you'd have people participating?

The KLU website asks you to send matt words of encouragement ("get a real job"); see a photo gallary of pictures Matt takes during the attempt (OF WHAT? RUSS sitting across the table complaining about his intro being 2 seconds too soon?); Have Lunch and visit with Matt while he is out on the street (how does he get from the booth to the street without being OFF THE AIR? And what street? All the people walking down 82nd?); READ about Matt's adventures (that's great radio); keep a running tally of how long matt is on the air (WHAT? Are you trying to reach the 12-year-olds?)

And finally, as to prove it's legitimacy, "Sammy Hagar called in to offer his encouragement (Check the call out here), and he was so excited about Mat's world record attempt, he gave us 2 pairs of front row tickets to his upcoming show. Enter to win the tickets here."

Again, what an insult to intelligence. Like Sammy would care, no HE'S EXCITED!!!!, and Sammy pulled two pairs of tickets out of his wallet, and sent them directly to WKLU. PLEASEEEEEEE!

Just make sure when you drop the TURKEYS out of the helicopter, you make SURE they've been plucked.

There's a reason Italy holds this title - NO other stations in the states would see the value/interest/POINT in this "stunt."

Great job old skool!
 
To answer your question, Albro is one of the most creative and talented people I've ever met. You should hear some of the parodies this guy's worked on. It was an honor to work with him when I was at SCRG in Fort Wayne.

Jonathan
 
jo-nathan said:
To answer your question, Albro is one of the most creative and talented people I've ever met. You should hear some of the parodies this guy's worked on. It was an honor to work with him when I was at SCRG in Fort Wayne.

Jonathan
Click to expand...
I'm sure he is. There are several talented people working under Oasis (and some ???). But when you do some sort of promotion, you usually do it with your RECOGNIZED name talent - not a transplant from another town.

And I realize there are no 'rules' for this sort of thing (because so few recognize it as a worthwhile promotion), but to be officially 'on the air,' do you have to stay AT THE MIC? If you are at the mic, then leave to go down the street for a remote, you are not really still ON THE AIR. Unless you walk with a cell phone in hand while you relocate. If you leave the link to being on air, you cannot be ON AIR, even with a song playing.

Someone with REAL talent would do it from a billboard - much more 'visual' for the TV crews. Seeing some stinky, smelly, wrinkled-clothed guy sitting in a studio doesn't make for good TV. And isn't this for promotion?

Gee, I hope he makes it. The anticipation is killing me!
 
Taking a look at the "exciting" WKLU website, no where does it say this guy is actually going to stay awake the whole time, just that he is going to be "on the air". Maybe he has this whole thing voicetracked - that would make being on the air for 100 hours a LOT easier! :)

They've had a couple billboards up for the past week or so, trumpeting the start of the "New World Record", with a clock counting down. Unfortunately there is no logo, no call letters, nothing to identify - or even hint at - who or what it is promoting. Another waste of money on Russ's part, and although I have no idea who Albro is nor how creative he may have been in Ft. Wayne, I'd love to see his brain turn to mush after about 60 hours of napping during Foghat songs, and hear him go off on a raving lunatic tangent about how much fun it is to work for Russ.
 
Well, they did get some press out of it, which is one of the points of any "publicity stunt," albeit a boring, tired old promotion with nothing of real interest for the listener. Good point made by "Ann Tenna" - if I put up several costly billboards along 465, I sure as hell would've included my call letters. WKLU P1s who had heard the promos for this "world record attempt" may have gotten the billboards, but the casual radio listener has no clue what the board is about. And probably doesn't care either.
 
I thought the billboard was for something like the zoo, state museum or library. I had no idea it had a radio connection until I read it here. Must of missed the media coverage of this.
 
For a guy who supposedly made all his money in the advertising business for 15 years, according old skool's previous posts ...

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,57348.msg413061.html#msg413061

... the new WKLU billboard breaks ALL the basic rules of promotion (who, what, when, WHY SHOULD THEY LISTEN?). I've heard the staff has been pleading for a billboard for three years now, you wait until the ratings start spiraling downward, and finally do it to promote a VERY POORLY orchestrated stunt - likely the best one your PD could come up with.

Seems like an advertising 'guru' could come up with SOMETHING creative. But given the KLU playlist, that may be assuming too much.
 
Tuned in to hear some of this today. Here's what I heard: A couple long songs with imaging between them. Then the guy comes on a really lousy sounding cel-phone and says "I'm in the limo, coming back from lunch. Still trying to set the record" then back into another couple songs. Surely this doesn't count as a "continuous" broadcast, if he can just phone in from wherever, once in a while, while somebody else runs the board.

Also, he'll have to go longer than 135 hours to break the record. A guy at the U of North Carolina went for 175 hours a few weeks ago.
 
I will say as someone who has stuck with WKLU because they play the most music their endless self promotion and bizarre stunts are running a little thin. I enjoy getting more music but these promotions keep getting stranger. This seems to be a really odd concept and is not coming off well. One thing I really liked about 1019 is they kept their talking to a minimum and the music to a max. Now it seems like they are stopping the music every other song for this guy and he isn't really funny or saying anything clever. I don't get it. I don't understand what the point of it is. Is this something special and I am totally missing the point?
 
I tuned in today, but didn't hear anything about the promotion. Any updates? Is he still there?
 
This promotion, as expected, is a complete JOKE. But what else could be expected from the only independent radio station in the city. He certainly does separate himself from corporates - the 'small time' operation is obvious.

I tuned in last night, and heard Jay Baker on the air????? with albro???? WHY are the other jocks working their airshifts if albro is trying to break the 'on air' record? Makes no sense, but nothing at that station does. I can 'almost' see this sort of promotion on a 'disney' type of station targeting little kids, but adults? And you thought this would be of promotional VALUE? Great promo staff you have there Russ.

The time has come to just sell it off, make your millions, and let someone run that station with the resources, HIRING ABILITY to find QUALITY air talent, and a REAL qualified station manager/PD.

Time for Oasis to focus on Fort Wayne, which is small town enough that you can bully the others into thinking you are a serious threat.

I predict WKLU will be sold within six months. Now that it's obvious Oasis' ego won't be stoked by ever decreasing ratings, (and from what I'm hearing from the ADs) ever DECREASING ad sales and agency interest, why go down with the sinking ship?
 
radioguy244 said:
He should sell WKLU to AMP!
Click to expand...

Now. That's funny!

Are they getting any press on this stunt at all. Why do it?

The only reason I know about it is from this radio board. I did see the billboard - but as was mentioned earlier - there was no mention of what record would be broken or who would do it.

dumb.
 
Radio Ho makes a good point. Why is this fella on with other people? Shouldn't the record be his and his alone? As in he is on the radio for every break? Doesn't this make it easy for him to slip out or take a nap if someone is there covering for him? Doesn't sound like this thing was very well thought out or executed. But I'll keep listening as long as they keep playing the most music.
 
ANY other radio station attempting a gimmick like this (not many would consider it, but nonetheless) would have likely AT LEAST tried to set up a radio/studio booth in one of the local malls (or even some 24-hour retail outlet) so that there would be a VISUAL aspect of promoting this for possible local tv news shots. If you're in the mall, like the car giveaways, etc., then you have people walking by, seeing a guy in a booth looking goofy, co-ed interns in t-shirts giving stuff away ... you know ... REAL radio promotion-type stuff.

This was likely cooked up by the local staff while Russ was up north trying to get his spanish station on the air. He probably figured, after all, how bad could they screw this up?
 
Still going on, but not much happening. I'm kind of disappointed in this whole thing. I mean ANY excitement we can drum up for local broadcast radio these days is a good thing for all of us, but this ain't doing it. If you're reading this, here are a couple tips:
1. Give us something other than "Still going for the record." How does it feel? Tell me "Oh, god, my head hurts so much I can barely see. It's painful to stand up! I just want to go home!" Be honest. Make this fun, and let the listener share the experience with you.

2. You've got to stay in the studio and run the board. Sounds like cheating if you keep leaving, doing long music sweeps, and inserting a phoner once in a while. I suspect much of this is phony with the on-air jock inserting a liner once in a while.

3. Know your audience. You're basically working at the oldies station. Your audience is not drunken 18 year olds at a party, so don't TALK to them that way. Your audience is in their 50s. Sound like an adult. Don't get Sammy Hagar on the phone and blow the interview by asking "How can I get my girlfriend to nail me like a rock star"? Totally wrong for this station.
 
If this had been done (and executed better) in:

1957 AMAZING! Huge word of mouth.

1967 Great! Lots of press coverage.

1977 Good. Tv coverage.

1987 Not bad. some interest.

1997 Ok, but not that big.

2007 ??
 
I just watched the video they have on their site. Having watched the video I am even more confused. It is a bunch of people I dont recognize talking to Matt. I guess as a listener I just dont get it. I thought it was a deal where the guy would be in the studio all day every day? Now that I would have to tip my hat to. But in the video hes changing clothes, out on the streets, in a McDonalds. Thats not being continuously on the air. Whos to say he didnt slip a few hours sleep in process? I know some of the the WKLU folks have posted on here in the past. Perhaps one of them can explain the whole premise? Was it just to be silly? Or was their a reason for this?
 
I missed the Promotions Dept. meeting on this stunt, but I assume they AT LEAST have a charity they are raising cash for? Or is this just a self-serving stunt? How about people calling in with pledges for every hour he stays on the air, etc. No, that would mean he'd HAVE to ACTUALLY BE ON THE AIR FOR THE DURATION!

Why would a TV station or paper be interested in this? And isn't the point of a promotion to PROMOTE the station to something other than its current audience? You're hanging out at McDonalds, in the studio, no point in what you are doing, no charity to raise cash for, WHY would anyone care about this?

And I assume the self-proclaimed "King of bumper stickers in Fort Wayne" is giving away some promotional items when they hit the streets?

Tell me this was just some intern's idea that they pulled off without the management's knowledge. Or maybe Russ was just thinking of us here on the Radio-Info board and knew we'd need some new fodder. Thanks for providing us this entertaining thread Russ. Why not pull Old Skool out and chat with us?
 
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