HOW DEEP ARE YOUR FOOTPRINTS?

The multi billion dollar industry of television broadcasting may not be the medium that pays our salaries however, how it affects radio listeners is extremely relevant. Could reality television help you deepen the “footprints” needed to secure radio’s place in our lives? The most successful entertainment endeavors offer an escape for the consumer and in the best scenarios connects with them in a way which moves them! Former AMFM President/CEO, Jimmy de Castro impressed upon many programmers, “Build relationships that listeners remember – make deep footprints in the sand”.

Consider the face of television over the last five or six years. From “Survivor” or “Wife Swap” to “American or Pop Idol”, “Dancing with the Stars” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”, people are spending hours lost in programming where they can live their lives either in someone else’s reality, or in another person’s dreams. TV viewers are measuring their own successes or failures using these types of weekly shows as a barometer. What is it about reality programming that people love so much they are committed to rearranging their lives for viewing, or at the very least, set a season pass on TiVo? We all complain there never seem to be enough minutes in a day to “get it all done”, yet we make the time for television, believing somehow our lives “might” be better by doing so. Reality TV has restored the “good feelings” to time spent viewing because now many families are watching together! The association with “the idiot box” our parents tried to keep us from now has the most educated business man watching with his son to see if he, indeed, is “Smarter Than a Fifth Grader”. Mother’s are watching “The Nanny” to see that someone else shares her feelings and hoping to find insight for her unruly children. Television is making the connection and doing so with strong numbers … is it possible for radio to do the same?

Too often, we see an effort to make as many footprints as possible but quickly find that the first wave comes through and washes them away. Single attempts will not make lasting, indelible footprints! Very little of radio programming is so compelling that listeners want to record it. In our industry, we should begin to measure success on how “our” product impacts the listener on a daily basis. Successful morning shows have used character development and bonding methods for quite some time but what type of content can you provide that will transcend just the morning show? What would make your listener feel the same kind of connection to “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” or desire appointment listening in the same way they view “American Idol”? Engaging your target audience with content that’s based on their own input and then delivering it in a way that matters to them is key!

Music will always be the magnet that draws listeners in… but the songs alone will never be enough to build your strong brand. A listener knows her favorite music station will continue to play her favorite songs every few hours. So, it’s that space between the music where you must create the footprints which music can not. Why as children did we all want to write our names, or put our hand prints in freshly poured cement? We wanted everyone to know that “we were there” and it would be seen “forever”! Everyday, imagine your station as that freshly poured cement in the minds of your listeners and seize every opportunity to put your name in it. It’s an impossible task once it sets – so don’t wait. Develop and create relationships that bond to listeners, constantly. Note how satellite radio has attempted to connect and take advantage of what television has created with channels such as “Oprah & Friends”. Your content should be so compelling that your listener does not want to get out of her car in fear she would miss what was next. When dropping my fourteen year old son off at school last week, he instructed me to keep listening to our local morning show because he “needed” to know the answer to the question they had asked. “The answer?” was the first thing he asked for when I picked him up that afternoon.

How are you connecting with your listeners to determine what is important to them? Your website is an enormous, no cost opportunity to transpose radio’s form of communication from unilateral to bilateral. Remove the clutter and make your website about “courting” your listener. The smartest thing to do when you’re dating is to show the other person you are deeply interested in them. The best way to do that is to listen. If you ask questions that keep them talking about themselves … two things happen. One, you gain a wealth of information and two, you’ve made them feel special; but the advantage is really to you - the one who listened. “Knowledge is power” so use all tools at your disposal, including a well managed website, to help you make “deeper footprints”!

In focus groups, we consistently hear respondents say, “I want a station that talks less” but when you probe deeper, it isn’t really “less talk” they desire… its less “unimportant” talk. Albert Einstein explained it this way, “When I spend 60 seconds with a beautiful woman time goes extremely fast. Yet if I hold my hands on a hot stove for just a few seconds, it drags on forever - that’s relativity!” A listener will stay with you between the music if what you have to say relates to them otherwise, the words turn to endless chatter and “seconds” feel like “forever” before the next song.

re•al•i•ty The totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence

The reality for radio is that a “connection” is imperative! Look “outside the box” to gain knowledge and use every resource available to “own” an actual relationship that exists within your listener’s daily life. Give assurance that the music and everything else is all about them while identifying compelling content that makes a listener want a song to be over just to hear what’s next! Become her metaphoric “home page” – you exist for her – you are the essence of all that moves her soul and makes her smile. Begin to change the world around her by making her realities better and the belief that her dreams can come true. With a relationship like that - who would ever leave you?