“Tighten Up” was the #1 hit for Archie Bell and the Drells in 1968.  The title applies to your station today.  Looking to spring, tighten the formatics and the library through an Internal Marketing plan.  Use your station to sell more listening and audience benefits.  Consider focusing on these programming elements:

Improve the Imaging.

Don’t let your imaging sound stale or become audio wallpaper.  Plan a major update if you haven’t refreshed it since last fall.  Don’t allow your liners to sound mundane or ordinary.  They need fresh creativity and humor.  Depending on your format, mix up the station imaging voice with listener voices, artist voices, song clips, local celebrities voicing copy, and clips from TV shows and movies.

Imaging should exhibit an attitude or Stationality.  Liners must stand out and be fun and entertaining with some humor and perhaps self-deprecating copy.  This will better engage the audience.  Creative liners can make the station sound fun and not so serious.

Strengthen the Promos.

Promo copy must lead with the listener benefit, not generic phrases like “get free tickets.”  The listener will not be engaged when a promo begins with the event’s name, like “(Station) welcomes you to the Reno Rodeo presented by Walmart.”  Instead, start with the word “you” to gain the listener’s engagement and then give the listener benefit.  Example: “You can experience a great weekend of steer riding and roping, live music in a beer tent, and a ribs cookoff.”  “Take three of your friends to see the Brewers play the Cubs on us!”  Create a verbal picture for the audience.

Air a fresh morning show promo hourly after 10 AM.  Have a call to action to listen to the next show, with the exact time of that feature.  Just saying the morning show name or features are not enticing.  Be specific.

Local Identity. 

Strengthen your identity by super-serving the local community and covering events and public service activities.  Have more local Identity in imaging and jock comments.  Besides the weather, traffic, and commercials, have your imaging also feature local identity by naming landmarks, roads, shopping areas, cities, neighborhoods, and major employers.  Use AI to present the weather with local temperatures of several area zip codes.

Capture Listener Endorsements.

These vocalized endorsements are easy to get.  Record them when doing remotes.  Don’t play canned ones from services that say, “It’s my favorite station.”  All people should say the station name and something about why they listen.  Coach listeners to exude emotion. They should be passionate about the music and the station.  Have them give their city of residence or employer to help with the local identity.  Strive for one listener endorsement promo an hour.

Strengthen Listening At-Work.

Promote at-work listening in promos or liners.  Consider fresh and fun ways to promote listening on the job.  Schedule one at-work liner every hour during the workday.

Digital Listening is Essential.

The national average for listening to a commercial station digitally is about 18%, which is higher on many stations that aggressively promote it.  Consider at least one digital liner an hour.  Creatively promote listening on a smart speaker, listening to the stream on the website, and using the app.

The app is like a radio; the stream is why people go to it.  Make it easy.  It should start playing the stream once it is opened.  No second click is needed.  Provide the title and artist “now playing” as the song is being played, just like on your website.  Some stations include the last ten songs played and the times.

As you tighten up the programming for spring, how many times an hour are you localized, other than the weather?  Community updates and local event coverage are essential; see Lund Trends below.  Consider a minimum of two localizations an hour.

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John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming consulting firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats. Did you find this article useful?  You can leave a comment below or email John at John@Lundradio.com.