Steve’s Pet Peeves Volume Two
What’s it like to listen to 7-8 hours of morning radio each day? Well, you’ll need to sit with me each morning to find out. Each show gets one hour of listening so I can get a sense of what they’re up to.
The goal for any show and any talent is to conquer content and create connection. One of the most satisfying aspects of coaching is when I hear talent do that effortlessly.
Many of these shows are mine, some aren’t. That’s where this list comes in. There are certain small things shows do that, at the end of the day, have a minimal impact on their perceptions and ratings. But enough to catch my ear and become a pet peeve. I released volume one which you can find here.
It’s time for a fresh ten we’ll call volume two:
- Reading texts and Facebook posts instead of curating listener phone calls. I know that’s how many listeners interact with shows now, but we still must craft breaks that sparkle with more than chatter. Hearing other listeners voices do that.
- Teasing what prizes you have to win. There’s very limited appeal to that tease. Promoting your content will impact 100% of your audience. They come for content. Not to win something.
- Changing something about your show because you got a few complaints online. Those four people might be wrong.
- The phrase “everyone loves it”. Unless you’ve surveyed 100% of your fans, that could be wrong, too. Not to discount that those people do love “it” but that doesn’t mean everyone does. Everyone is not five people. Another vote for being strategic.
- Things like tweaking your processing or getting new jingles or sweepers and believing they will change the perceptions of your show and the ratings will go up. Not that you shouldn’t update your presentation, but doing it doesn’t have the impact some think it does.
- Shows that think they should move their benchmarks around so lots of people hear them. That’s a solid mistake to make. You can’t groom an appointment at a certain time and then take that bowl of ice cream away from those who make that feature part of their daily routine.
- Use of first-person words (I, me, mine). I have this to give out; I’m going to do this next; Call me now. It should be: We have this to give out. Call us now. We’re going to do this next. Your story or opinion is first person. All else is collective. Don’t send the signal to your teammates that it’s your show. What we do is ours.
- Shows that air guests (callers or interviews) and then dominate the conversation. Once the guest or caller comes on, they should be the center-of-the-universe.
- Talent who rarely say the name of the show or station on the back side of the break. You just did a great content. Remind the audience who did it, so you get the credit!
- Shows that forget there are tons of people checking them out for the first time every morning. Do resets so they feel a part of the family as a first-time listener. I recently listened to a show for the first time that had two guys as the co-hosts. Their names are very similar. I left a few hours later not knowing who was who. Not good. The anchors on Eyewitness News in your market have been there for decades. They still reset their newscast coming out of commercials. You’d be shocked at the number of tenured shows that forget this.
I know you’ll be excited to hear I have enough for future collections. Have one? Let me know here.