THE CHURCH OF WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW!

• BE YOU To attract, maintain and bond with the listeners as communicators, we must strive to talk to the audience in their own language. Listen to how non-radio people talk among themselves or in groups. Nobody sounds like a game show host. Humanism is the key. We have a class of radio people that have come up over the last few years as basic announcers. To take our medium to the level where it can over-compete, we must be human beings talking to human being. The talent that are wrapped around these interjections are usually old school jocks and newcomers. They have never been trained by program director's or bothered to seek a better way to communicate. Word economy is the key, wrapped up in a little phrase called “Restrained Urgency”; it is the art of creating a lot in a little space. Jocks of the 70’s and 80’s were experts at the mechanics of painting a colorful painting in: 08 seconds. By the way, there is still a lot of great radio and air talent working hard. We need to beware of the announcer pabulum and pitfalls to do greater radio!
• BE IN THE NOW means when you are on the air and tracked, you need to feel the “vibe” of the day. For example, you are on the air or tracked on JULY 4th and you don’t mention picnics, being at the lake, fireworks and keep tracking or live generic radio, you’ve missed it. A station with this kind of audience bond can’t afford to do this. Playing George Strait and not mentioning it’s his birthday, not in a Friday mode on the coolest day of the week are all ways you miss the NOW. What is the vibe of the day when you come into the studio or the other studio to track? Liners, titles and artists are not the winning key to our stations.
• THREE THINGS When you come in to go on the air, be in tune with what people are dealing with, on their minds, the vibe of the listener regarding their lives. For example, in December, everyone is thinking about How can they afford they gifts they need to buy, gatherings, family relations and then the New Year and resolutions. On any given day, there are three things going on national, regional and local -Pop culture, the sentiments of listeners on issues, trending and viral stories and good local material. Most of this must be gathered organic and delivered in your own words. Prep sheets are not the best source for this. Our web sites, social media, yours and ours best bet. What are hot buttons on the local social pages?
• AVOID MO Missed Opportunities: This is part of being in the now. Be aware of weird special days, the ones people are posting, National Pie Day etc. Chances to tell folks that Justin Moore will be on Kimmel on Channel 8 (local) tonight when playing Justin Moore. Kelly Peres was talking about Porch Pirates on KINY. This is real cool, people stealing Christmas packages from people’s porches. He tied into local saying no reports of it happening here. I would add you would meet my friends Smith and Wesson trying that in Southeast. Did you talk to someone that said love you guys, put them into your memo function on your phone and give them a shout out. This applies to both live and tracked breaks.
• LOCALIZE IT This is the art of taking a national or pop culture content piece and tying it back to our listeners and market.

Google launches three fun new experimental photography apps

Have you checked out the Juneau Photography FB page with all the professional pics posted all over Juneau and SE. Develop a localism guide: Compliments of Bob Glasco.

·        Every public park in the metro, their location, and what’s available there.

·        All movie theaters, and what’s showing this week.

·        The name of local news anchors, their channels and network affiliations.

·        All elected public officials and their party. Include nicknames if we know them. Office phone numbers and addresses.

·        Public schools, their location, grades taught, principal’s name. Also, school sports team’s names if they have one. (The Panthers, etc.)

·        Schedules for high school football games, and basketball if relevant. Also, be sure to have scores when games are played.

·        New car dealer names, their locations and the brands they carry.

·        Lakes, rivers, beaches, marinas and bridge names and their location. Current conditions.

·        Seasonal sports like hunting. When does season begin and end and where is the best place to go for the sport.

·        Airport name, airlines available, and airport manager’s name. Other airports in the area and their location.

·        Bowling alley names and locations.

·        Golf course names and locations. In addition, whether they’re public or private. Also, seasonal green fees.

·        Nearest gambling facilities.

·        Average temperature and precipitation for each month.

·        Major local charities and their administrator’s name.

·        Hospital names, location, and administrator’s name.

·        Major employers, what they do and their location.

·        Names of any local, “characters” of note, and what makes them noteworthy. 

·        TV channels and network affiliation. Prime time schedule for each day of the week.

·        Major intersections and what’s on all four corners.

·        Major grocery stores and where they are.

·        Resorts and their amenities. Also, seasonal rates.

·        Major malls, their locations and stores.

·        Concert venues, location and seating chart.

·        Sport venues, location and seating chart.

• RELATED Talk to people in real speak at work, on the weekends, what are listeners doing? When you are tracking Sunday morning on Friday afternoon, you need to be in the Sunday mode. Talk to folks about real things that affect their lives.

Midday's we are fighting against Internet pure plays and we can out smart them, out warm them, out emotion them and out laugh them. (I stole this can cant remember who to give credit to)

What’s likely to keep someone with earbuds in one hand to turn on FM that day?

• Maybe it’s that sometimes the station talks about her, the listener, and her coworkers or some employer where her friends work.
• Maybe it’s that the host loves the same songs she does and talks about being happier after hearing them.
• Maybe the host sounds more concerned with how the day is going than about an endless stack of station-sponsored events and promotions.
• Maybe it’s that the host matches the attitude and sense of humor of the listener, so that she, the listener, feels as though she’s spending time with a good friend who’s just choosing the music for the day.
• Maybe it’s that the host adds a small smile, reminding her that the workday will give way to time for family, herself and, yes, other chores.
• Maybe it’s an uncanny ability to have seized on talking about the one thing that’s most interesting that day in only a few words at a time; the big event on TV that night, whether the road construction that made the morning commute a disaster will be cleaned up in time for the ride home, whether the weather will be better (or suddenly worse) on the ride home, the opening of a new store at the big mall, etc.