Chris.FM

Watch Your Language

The following account is true and accurate.  I literally took notes so no one would be able to accuse me of making up or exaggerating my description of the following station's quarter hour...it really was this odd!

Do you measure the effectiveness of the words you use in you station imaging to reinforce your brand?

Driving through Arizona and New Mexico last month I entertained myself scanning the dial to hear the indigenous sounds of Southwest radio.  Here is the transcript of a quarter hour I was "blessed" to hear:

     (Male VO one) Get Down Funky Town kind of radio station.

     (Male VO two) Can we say that?

     (Song) Motley Crue - "If I Die Tomorrow"

     (Song) Jason Mraz - "Curb Side Song"

     (Male VO) The Most dangerous stuff we can get into...

     (Female VO) Nobody can say they didn't ask for it!

     (Song) Bowling for Soup "Almost"

     (Song) Whitney Houston "Run to You"

I'm going to stay focused on the disconnected imaging messages and not let myself become distracted by the obvious schizophrenic music choice of Motley Crue on my example pop station.  There is a very clear implied message of "danger" in the drops and promos used on this pop station.  "Can we say that?", "Don't say we didn't warn you!" give a listener the idea that they are going to hear the unexpected.  The brand message (aka personality) interpreted from the imaging alone implies a station that is cutting edge, surprising, dangerous, aggressive, shocking etc...  The brand message (aka personality) implied in the pop music selections reinforce a station focused on popularity, pop favorites, familiarity, and predictability.  These two messages paint distinctly different visions of a station's personality.  Either the imaging correctly reflects the station's personality and the music needs to change, or vice versa.

What likely happened at this station, and many other stations that I hear this imaging disconnect, was a PD or Imaging Director heard a drop or wrote a line that they thought sounded great free of station context.  It then made it on air without being subjected to the mental filter that determines if the idea successfully acts as reinforcement of the station's personality.  I hear movie drops on stations all the time that have no meaning, tell no story and do nothing to define the station, but they sounded "neat".  Consider the context of your radio station as you are writing.  What personality traits are you trying to reinforce?  Dangerous edgy rock station? Mirror that with aggressive, in your face writing, production and delivery.  Pop music contemporary station?  Mirror that image with larger than life, pop culture referenced, imaging.  Both are over-simplified examples, but they attempt to show the mindset that should be applied to filtering through any imaging message.  Measure the language you use to promote your station and events and make sure that it fits the desired image and personality of your ideal station.   With such a crush on our inventory and such short opportunities to brand our stations before we get back to music we can't afford to waste words.

Be sure that you are efficient with your imaging and that every sweeper and drop helps accomplish the goal of clearly defining your station's personality.

Every element of a radio station should serve to reinforce the station's ideal personality (aka The Brand).  Music, imaging, website, events, appearance on the streets and the DJs.  If each is properly aligned they with restate and amplify each other.   

Print worthy again...

On the heels of last week's R&R article I was offered the opportunity to share my programming perspectives regarding the Alternative format in the weekly Sands Report.  When role call includes Jon Coleman, Steve Masters and Lee Abrams buzz words and catch phrases don't cut it.  Here was my contribution to the discussion:

Q: As you know, Alternative radio has lost WHFS and WPLY in the last few weeks.  I'm writing about the formats "resurrection" and it's renaissance! (yep, the power of positive thinking!)  To that end, can you give me ONE tip that you feel would help revive terrestrial alternative radio?  Is there anything they can do to improve, in your mind?  If so, what?

Me:  Become cultish again!!!
I'm talking about our station's personality around the records.  We each have our own unique circumstances and marketplace opportunities that require us to cater our musical approach individually.  But outside of music, in the moments that define our station's psychographic target, we need to get back our alternative sense of humor!  While to a GM it may be frightening to suggest our role as a cult brand vs. targeting the mainstream, I submit the following examples to show the amazing profitability of investing in cult brands:

    "Napoleon Dynamite" - This little cult film was made for only $400,000 and has grossed of 45 million at the Box Office to date, DVD sales will more than double this figure.

    "Family Guy" - The Fox animated comedy was too "inside" and didn't reach a mass appeal audience so Fox cancelled the show.  2 years later the Family Guy Volume One DVD is released and quickly rose to 4th all time on the TV shows on DVD sales list (Behind Simpson's 1&2 and the first season of Sopranos).  An amazing example of what word of mouth did for a show with only a cult following. Fox quickly renewed the series for 35 more episodes and a full-length movie is slated for release this summer.

Our station's should reinvest in making the alternative fans laugh...yes even at the expense of some folks who "don't get it".  Be bold, dangerous, surprising, but most of all funny!  Lets entertain the alternative culture, those people who see the world a little left of center, folks with an odd sense of humor, the fashionably avant guarde and early tech adopters.  If we win the loyalty of this audience and their endorsement to friends and neighbors our stations will have the same word of mouth success that Napoleon Dynamite, Family Guy, and countless other cult brands have enjoyed.  Focus narrow on the alternative culture and the voyeuristic mainstream will follow.

Check out the entire piece to read thoughts from other leading minds in the format.