Archive for category: Planet Reynolds

The biggest gathering of radio’s truest point-of-differentiation starts this week in San Diego.  Don Anthony is hosting his 36^th Morning Show Bootcamp.  Talent from all over the country, looking to become more valuable to their stations, clusters, and companies, will get together to be inspired by people and panels who’ll give their wisdom away.

So often in radio, we work hard to predict the future and get there before anyone else.  We also work overtime talking about how much radio has changed.  Andrew Curran from DMR Interactive wrote an interesting article that caught my eye about this.

In it, he talks about a question Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was recently asked about what won’t change in consumer behavior over the next ten years. The answers include we’ll still want choice in our product selection, we will still want our stuff tomorrow, and we will still want low prices.

With talent from all over so dedicated to their growth, this got me thinking about what won’t change about radio’s listeners.

Here’s a partial list.  I’m sure you’ll have one or two to add.  In the next ten years, this is what won’t change:

Listeners will still want to be emotionally connected to other human beings.

Only talent can do that.

Listeners will only want to buy (tune into) brands they trust.

Only talent can do that.

Listeners will still want to turn on the radio and have fun.

Only talent can do that.

Fans will look for someone to make sense of a complicated world and bring comfort to that as they start their day.

Only talent can do that.

In a world of negativity, listeners will want to know that a brand radiates goodness in their community.

Only talent can do that.

Listeners will look for an escape from the pressures of their daily life.

Only talent can do that.

People will search for brands that make their communities better.

Only talent can do that.

Clients will want to place their precious marketing money with brands that have built trust with their fans.

Only talent can do that.

Listeners will continue to search for other people just like them.

Only talent can do that.

Listeners will want to be around brands that radiate authenticity and humanity.

Only talent can do that.

Morning Show Bootcamp reminds me that, as much as we wanna figure out what’s next to gain any advantage, there are some constants about our industry that will never change.  And that’s the power of great talent and talent groomed to be great for the health of your radio station and our industry until the end of time.

If you’re a talent reading this, never take for granted what you do and always, always, always stay humble so you keep growing.

The hardest and the easiest shows are the ones where there is a central topic everyone knows about and is being talked about.

What happened to former President Trump at his Pennsylvania rally Saturday night applies.  I believe great, relevant shows are about what’s happening right now.  So, let’s touch on how to handle this charged topic:

Understand that listeners are looking for connection and humanity around their content.  This story is very top-of-mind so share updates of current information.  Work to know what’s new before you take to the air.  Because you are not used for news, finding someone with news credentials to deliver this information in a conversational way, it might be appropriate.

Don’t ask listeners how they feel about this and definitely don’t take phone calls.  Listeners could very easily make this about politics, which is a no-win.  Don’t let them take you there.  Ditto any commentary from you.  You want to be careful listeners don’t misconstrue any of that.

A safe spot to be in is to reflect on the volatility many people are experiencing on social media.  Anyone seeing anything even remotely partisan is repulsed.  That’s not a bad place to be.  Using your power to dial down the temperature is easily rewarded by almost everyone in your audience.

Remember that you control how people feel when they listen to your show.  There’s fear and anger – play into that and you accentuate those emotions.  But if you are the trusted talent and calm people, that builds you and your show more.

Some guests that might make sense:  a child psychologist to talk about how you have this conversation with kids.  Another show I respect is finding a former Secret Service agent to talk about the training they go through for just these situations.

You might only need to prepare a half of a show and rerun (or re-do) those segments later.  Listeners come to us for very little time so don’t feel the pressure to do several hours of original content around the topic.

It’s very important you know your stuff.  Sometimes it’s easy to take what’s read on social media as gospel.  Be prepared and know what you’re sharing is accurate.  Because having a plan will make doing the show much easier.

Humanity is where radio shines.

It’s not an easy job being on-the-air.  Lots of spinning plates and the wearing of many hats.  You can’t win today without having multiple skillsets.  When you factor in the stress that comes with being in today’s version of radio, it falls upon each of us as leaders and managers to get the best out of our content creators – our talent who bring us brand value.

A regular topic of conversation with the high-profile talent I coach, is how we lead each other to success.

Many ask when I start coaching a show if I think we’ll win and when that will happen.  My answer is always the same:  if you believe in your people and believe in the strategy, then be patient, because it’ll happen.

Here is some wisdom on managing the artisans who make great radio by other successful professionals and me.  Many thanks to those noted below for reminding each of us what’s important to get to the win:

Pick your battles.  Trust that you’ve hired a talented team.  They need you focused on the big things.

Patti Marshall, Q102, Cincinnati Program Director, Hubbard OM

Spend time together outside of work, with each other’s families.  You’ll appreciate and respect each other more when you are closer off air.  Listeners can sense that bond.

Steve Reynolds, The Reynolds Group

Let fun win on and off the air.  Let yourself be the butt of the jokes.  If you’re willing to allow for those moments of vulnerability, you will endear yourself to the audience and the team.

Jeff Thomas, Jeff and Jenn, Q102, Cincinnati

Be the show’s biggest fan.  When you are, you can coach the show on what needs to be fixed, because they know you believe in them.

Tony Travatto, Channel 95.5, Detroit Program Director

Own your shit.  Take responsibility for whatever happens, then work through it.  That way, no drama enters the room and throws off the chemistry of the team and show.

Jenn Jordan, Jeff and Jenn, Q102, Cincinnati

Let other people on the show shine.  Shows fail when each person doesn’t let the other cast members have the spotlight.

Mojo, Mojo in the Morning, Channel 95.5, Detroit

Trust is a product of vulnerability over time.  The more time you spend with your people, and the more open you are about your own life with them, they will reciprocate.  That’s the foundation of a relationship built on trust.

Steve Reynolds, The Reynolds Group

Each of us, regardless of our position, is charged with leading others.  Tack this up and, in the race to the goal, re-read it on occasion as a reminder that we get there not just for what we know, but because of the culture we build and how we manage our teams and our people.

Years ago, when he was on in Los Angeles, I had a chance to work with the iconic Rick Dees.  On a market visit and having lunch one day, Rick asked if I wanted to stop by his house.  Rick and I had our weekly chats on Sundays at 4pm and he wanted to show me where he was when we talked about content.

Who’d say no to that?  Not me.

There were many memorable moments touring Rick’s home (you won’t believe what was under the garbage can on the driveway – email me for that story)!  But it’s what happened in the bathroom that I’ll always remember.

As Rick brought me through his upstairs, we cut through a bathroom that connected two bedrooms.  Almost every drawer in that bathroom was partially opened.  I noted this to Rick and that’s when he told me his wife never shuts the drawers completely and it drove him crazy.  That’s when I shared with Rick that that was content.  Radio was changing from bits to being real with lots of storytelling.  And Rick sharing this tidbit about his relationship was quite relatable.

One of radio’s many superpowers is its intimacy.  Our ability to remind the audience that we are just like them.  How do you curate that valuable character-development content?

Every talent I’ve ever worked with thinks their life is boring.  I still ask them to journal through the weekend, keeping track of all they do, even if they don’t think it’s viable content.  Weekends are when we’re doing regular-person stuff, just like listeners.

My toughest day for email is Sunday nights, as every talent I work with shares their weekend journals with our entire content team.  Two things happen when I read them:  I get to know them better as people and can help make them stars because of the stories they tell and content they provide.  I also learn about their life so I can have a better relationship with them personally to build trust because I care about them.

Doing nothing but watching golf in your underwear on Sundays might be boring to you, but it might be fascinating to me.  I can make that relatable content that defines someone with a little bit of curiosity.  On Mondays and throughout the week (including our weekly chats), we all get inquisitive about what we learned from everyone.  And then, regular-person content appears that helps us position them as just like their fans so that connection forms (the initial building block to creating a fan is connection).

A sampling of what I’ve learned from those I work with in the last few weeks:

• A talent is having a deck built on the back of his house and the workers never show up on time and he’s very frustrated.
• A co-host said “I love you” to his new girlfriend for the first time.
• An anchor’s wife made him get together with neighbors and he doesn’t like the husband because he’s always boasting about himself.
• The talent who shopped for a new washer/dryer and was confused by all the choices.

All the above is potential content.  Yes, you can talk about yourself too much.  It backfires when the audience can’t see themselves in the stories you tell about yourself or they aren’t entertaining.  But we must be purposeful in aggregating that content.  The little stuff (sometimes the most connective stuff) is forgotten if you don’t collect all of it for a fair shot at sharing it with listeners to forge that connection.  Weekend journaling helps you do that.

When Rick shared his take on the bathroom drawers and told me it drove him nuts (Dees nuts?), that’s when we had the a-ha moment.  It became content the next day on his show.  Rick’s a superstar to his audience.  Telling that story said, “I’m just like you.”  Connection!

So, I’ll never forget that moment in Rick Dees’s bathroom.  A sentence I never thought I’d type.

Journal your life for content and be epic.  It’s in you if you’re strategic.

Now, what exactly was under that garbage can on the driveway…

I’m not sure when it happened, but I think I know why.

I listen to some personality-driven shows in radio and hear not much more than Carl and Carol talking with one another, the show becoming all about them.  With not much of a sense of how listeners are reacting to (getting bored by) the breaks where they’re just talking about stuff.

The high performers in our industry work extra hard on not just what topics they’ll put into their show, but what to do with them.

Imagine Jimmy Kimmel being introduced to his audience and then doing nothing more than yapping with Guillermo for the entire hour.  Who’d stay tuned for that (or click on the links online)?

Why did all this chatter and lack of matter happen?  We took resources away from our personality shows and said:  please also post online; please also come up with a promotion for a client; please also have a relationship with sales; please also do that remote.  Etcetera.  None of it unreasonable, but then we can’t tack on please also be creative because that bandwidth doesn’t exist.

For the shows and companies I work with, two things I do in our weekly Zooms are keep the show honest to its plot and content strategy.  We also come up with fun/engaging things to do around the topics of the day, things going on in their lives, and things happening locally.

Think of these choices for a typical four-minute content break:

Topic	Carl and Carol in the Morning	An Engaging Pivot
OJ Dies	Conversation between the hosts.	Talking to someone who once met OJ and has a story.
Taylor Swift’s new music	Conversation between the hosts.	A feisty/funny drag queen reviews all 31 tracks.
Taxes Are Due	Conversation between the hosts.	A CPA does a forensics on the credit card statements of a cast member to reveal how much they spent on Uber Eats and Door Dash last year.
Beyonce’s “Jolene”	Conversation between the hosts.	You do a mash-up of 10 artists who’ve recorded the song, asking listeners to name them.
Trump’s Trial	Conversation between the hosts.	A courtroom sketch artist does pictures that you use on socials during his trial and/or you talk to listeners who’ve been on juries to hear what that’s like.

I call the right column above “the pivot”.  Think of it like this around OJ dying (because it was a Hot Topic):

Carl and Carol with Option A:  “So OJ died.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, here’s what we think, blah, blah, blah.”  Spots.

Option B:  “So OJ died.  Blah.  Then the pivot.  Here’s Steve Reynolds from Raleigh who met OJ in Las Vegas at the craps table a few years ago.”  Steve tells his compelling story about OJ.  Then they ask if he got the vibe that OJ was guilty.

Between the two options above, which is more engaging for the audience and never lets them drift or tune away?  Notice in option B there are 90% fewer blahs.  Pivots are treatments of the relatable, relevant content in column one designed to keep listeners engaged so they don’t lose interest.

For my high performers, I know you spend time prepping for these pivots once the show is over.  I can hear it.  If your prep process is lax or non-existent, it’s best you fix that so your show is distinctive and unique.  It should reflect your take by exploring your curiosity on the topics and not just be conversation.  It’s rare those who tell me they do this prep at home are right.  The power of being together to brainstorm these pivots is far greater.  But spending more time on those pivots keeps fans tuned in.

For our managers and companies who believe in your people, we must get back to supporting our talent (aka “our sellable product because they bring the content”) even more with the resources they need to come up with these pivots.  Kimmel has a dozen writers.  We just have us, because the industry’s changed.  But if we expect our personality shows to truly do interesting and epic things with topics, we’ll support them to come up with those ideas (more fun, inquisitive people associated with the prep process) and help get them done.

If we don’t…if all you are is conversation and maybe a phone topic here and there, the audience will stray sooner than any of us think and maybe something/someone else will capture their imagination and build new loyalties to your fans.

If not, it’ll be the Carl and Carol Morning Show –  All We Wanna Do Is Talk.  And that’ll get us nowhere as an industry.