Archive for category: Planet Reynolds

I live in a house addicted to Penzeys Spices.  At last count, we have 193 of them.  A dedicated drawer for spices with the overflow on several shelves in the pantry.  Just when you think you have all of them, four more show up in the mail.

One of the things that draws us to the Penzeys brand is that the owner (or marketing people) send funny emails centered around topical news items in their effort to sell us more spices.  Almost all of them make us laugh.  The most recent, seen here, is titled “’C’” Is For Cat Lady”.  Any spice starting with the letter “c” is on sale.

It’s a simple, but brilliant marketing move that places staid, boring spices into the national conversation.  It cost nothing more than a creative mind to conceive and put together.

How about your radio show?  How do you do there?

Great radio is about whatever is going on right now.  I listen around the dial and hear way too much evergreen radio.  Topics that could work as well next Wednesday as they do today.  Stuff that feels like it’s mostly from a prep service.  And all of it is a C+ to me.

When Leno and Letterman were in reruns, they’d air a show from years prior.  Until they realized two things:  the comedy and conversations on those shows were very dated (and it stood out).  They also got that the typical viewer didn’t watch every program.  So, when in reruns, they started airing shows from a few weeks before.  Because those topics, guests, and comedy pieces were still relevant.

If we air the show you did today in two weeks, would it feel “dated”?  If so, it really, really work today.  Go for that.

Be about right now in your topic choices.  This blog is about right now and that’s the sweet spot.

We have way more cumin in the house than we know what to do with.  If you need any, let me know?

We all have a dreaded disease Big Pharma has yet to bombard our TV with ads.  IBS is Instant Boredom Syndrome.  We get bored quickly with everything.

The most critical part of a content break is its start.  In its first few seconds, listeners are making conscious and unconscious decisions:  is this topic interesting to me?  Do I care about it?  Is it entertaining?  Yes, and they stay for a few.  No and we lose them in some fashion.  Each of us do, too, when consuming content.  Which brings me to Wheel of Fortune.

It’s the most popular game on television whose ratings have not eroded over the years.  This, in part, was due to the affable Pat and Vanna but also because of its design.

It’s highly familiar, which plays in its favor.  It’s mind-candy, too (not very taxing after a long day at work).  But over the years, it’s evolved.  Because we have changed as viewers.

I talked about this in the blog I Learned How to Do Radio From Pat Sajak and Porn.  In it, I note how Wheel re-designed the beginning of the game years ago to hook us more quickly because we all have IBS.  Once the letters start appearing on Vanna’s board, that’s when we’re in as viewers.

Need proof?  Here are two video clips.  The first is an early Wheel when they started the program by showcasing the prizes to win (not the prizes I couldn’t win as a viewer, of course), then an intro of Pat and Vanna, then the worst part, the interview with the contestants.  Watch this and see they don’t make this about us (we want the puzzles, the puzzles!!) until 3:01.  I don’t care about any of this as a viewer.  They’re giving me many reasons to depart.  All of it delays my win, which is guessing the puzzle before the three contestants.  Then watch the newer show after the redesign.  The first letter in the first puzzle appears at :31.

Here’s Wheel of Fortune from yesteryear with a whole lot of This Doesn’t Matter to Me.  IBS is killer.  Take note of when your Instant Boredom Syndrome kicks in.

Now here’s Wheel of Fortune today, with a much faster start and hook for those of us watching.

Some radio shows continue to put listeners through process and promotional stuff at the beginning of breaks, delaying the actual content (whether a story or game or interview or other substantive content), eroding listeners’ interest and inviting them to stop paying attention.

Listeners come for content so let’s engage them there almost immediately, before their IBS kicks in.  In your prep, spend the most amount of time figuring out how to engage the audience the quickest so what you do in your first twenty seconds makes them want to hear the twenty seconds after that.

When airchecking shows, I sometimes play “The 20 Second Game”.  We listen to just the first twenty seconds of a content break and for one purpose.  Is enough done to hold on to the listener for another twenty seconds?  Don’t be version #1 of Wheel above.  Be version #2.  Your fans will renew their interest for more of that content and stick around.

Show these videos to your talent to help them get to it quickly so fans don’t mentally drift.  We are given precious few seconds to grab the audience.  Let’s not disrespect that lest their IBS appear and they move on to another available choice for connection, content, and entertainment.

Some stations launch new shows and get themselves into trouble from Day One.

The show or management believe the show needs to start with a big giveaway and trumpets blowing announcing that a new show is in town, and they immediately set themselves up to fail.

You start a new show like it’s a new restaurant in town – soft launches with no attention allow everyone to get comfortable, develop chemistry, and not highlight there’s a change.  Listeners don’t like change – that disruption in their expectations and routine should be done with lots of handholding to help listeners through the newness.  A managed opening strategy and patience work in your favor short- and long-term to hold on to the audience.

My phone tends to ring in only two scenarios:  there’s a new show about to launch and it must be started strategically.  Or the show is in the latter stages of its life cycle, and it needs to be re-invigorated.  Let’s talk in this Planet Reynolds how to do the former.

Your primary goal upon launch is to endear yourself to the cume already there.  Losing them is expensive to get back.  Here are nine guidelines as part of a strategic plan I share with new teams just starting on the station:

1. Topics (and music) should be familiar because the talent isn’t. Nothing unfamiliar for content. Topics come from:  local (if you are a live and local show), pop (popular) culture, stories from your life that prove you’re just like them, and music/artist-based content.  We all wake up and want to be around what we know.  Because you aren’t familiar, drive that through your topics. If not, the audience will have to put in effort and that rarely works out.
2. Affirm and earn images that you’re fun, genuine, friendly, and authentic in every break. They know if you’re faking it.
3. Character development is very important. Here’s where all your connection points are.  Introduce yourself by being honest and sharing the parts of your life that help you connect.  Letting them get to know you helps form that connection which leads to becoming familiar.  Can the audience relate to the story you’re telling because they’ve had a similar experience?  We like to be around people just like us.  Feed that desire.
4. Be interested in them so they’re interested in you. Lots of phones, lots of storytelling. But land on putting the focus on the audience.  You will never lose being more interested in their story than you hoping they’ll be interested in yours.
5. Avoid the point-of-fatigue that happens in breaks by under-staying the welcome. Shorter breaks lead them to wanting more. Longer breaks test the patience of those there, heightening the chance they’ll bail.  This is worse with breaks that are just chatter and have no destination or payoff.
6. Music is your friend right now. Lots of music holds their hand through the transition. It also folds you into the brand of the radio station.
7. Be careful how you do your strategic content, so listeners don’t think, “They’re trying too hard to impress me.” Ever see someone at a party trying to prove how funny or interesting they are?  Don’t be that guy.
8. Respect the past. What expectations did listeners have of the previous show and what fits given that? Meet those in every break.
9. No promotion of the show just yet (on or off the air) because promoting something heightens expectations by users. This is a soft, quiet launch. Elevate expectations by telling listeners how great/funny you are, and the audience will say, “Not as good as they tell me they are.”  Lower expectations and there’s a much better chance they’ll warm up to you faster.

We often want to call attention to change.  But when we add in the hype machine in a world where consumers are skeptical of all that, we set ourselves at a deficit.

While there are exceptions to the above, the game plan for me on stuff like this is to start quietly so we tee the show up for longer term image building and success.

Early one morning last week, a radio friend texted that he’d just boarded a United flight in Traverse City, MI headed to New York through Chicago.  He boasted that the flight would not be delayed because he was sitting in seat 27C and the Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, was in seat 27E.  I congratulated him on his good fortune.

A half hour later I got another text.  The flight was delayed.  An hour after that, another text that the plane was pushing back.  My friend told me he’d make his connection.  But not so good for Mayor Pete.  He’d miss his flight and needed to find a seat on the next plane to DC.

What does this have to do with radio?  It’s the lesson learned.  How could the Transportation Secretary ever move to fix our air travel issues if he doesn’t live it like we do?  I applaud Buttigieg because he had our experience:  a window seat in coach, a delayed flight, a missed connection, and he was on United Airlines (something everyone should get combat pay for).

If you’re a talent, when was the last time you had the user experience?  When did you last review a break or two of your show to hear what the audience hears?  It would be easy to forget a show after it’s over, but regular reviews (putting ourselves in coach on a delayed flight) we can most easily learn how to be better, so we stay relevant for our fans.

To brand managers – I know you’re incredibly busy, but when was the last time you reviewed audio with your talent, so they grow?  And what exactly are you listening for?

Did we affirm our show’s plot?  Did we reinforce an image of relevancy, humor, or authenticity?  Did we accrue an image that would help us build our brand?  How did we do connecting with the audience?

Athletes do it.  Actors do it.  Those who give speeches do it.  Folks who do Ted Talks do it.

If we don’t do this, we stand a greater chance listeners will choose one of their other dozens of choices if we’re off strategy.  With one push of a button, they have another radio station, they can scroll social media, consume music elsewhere without interruption, listen to a podcast, etc.  So, let’s get better by having their experience and elevating our game.

I know it’s scary and most talent tend to hate it for what it brings up.  I did when I was on-the-air.  But there’s no better way to improve the experience than honing our art by listening to what we offer up as entertainment.

If you’re a talent and your manager is too busy to do this, I will if I’m not competing against you in the market (be in touch here).  We must help each other compete more effectively against all the other choices listeners have.

Our future relevancy is heightened by doing what Mayor Pete did by flying like we regular folks, so he experiences air travel like us.  If he feels our pain, he can fix our pain.

A simple, but epic decision so we can make things better for those who choose us.