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The Emotion Of Radio
May 1, 2012
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Can your station pass the "Who Cares?" test?!
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Radio - it's all about hitting emotional hot buttons.............doing stuff that initiates talk and recall
In the past, delivering "good " radio was probably enough. These days you need your audience to remember, you need word of mouth and you need social media applications - it's about sharing
Each and every time we do something we should get one of the following reactions:
- Laughter
- Interest
- "Me too"
- Aspirational ("I wish that were me")
- Horror
- Sadness
The one we don't want is: Who Cares?
Now here's the big question - does everything on your station pass the "Who Cares?" test?!
Go on, try it - certainly with your Morning Show.
I know Program Directors who monitor their breakfast show and score each break based on just these two criteria:
1. The "Who Cares?" test - will the audience give a toss about it>?
2. Pure "entertainment value" or execution.They give both a score out of 10 (10 is great).
To be a good show, the PD wants 8 scores of 7 or above for "entertainment value," and anything that fails the 'who cares test' (tune off) is discussed post show.
This week we have 4 pieces of audio I'd like to share.
Whilst the actual content is very different, they do have commonality:
- They all have great depth.
- They are very visual.
- They are all very foreground - they make you sit up and listen.
- They evoke emotions.
- They demand your attention....and they demand comment.
They all are definitely winners on the "Who Cares" test!
"Pass the Parcel"
That age old kids party game........but it's just not that simple.
There is immense pressure on Dad to get it right.
Every Dad can relate to this.
Thanks to Dixie and Gayle at Real Radio Yorkshire, UK.:"The wheel of getting to know you"
We all want our listeners to get to know our Morning Show talent....
Here's one great way - a daily feature entitled "the wheel of getting to know you" (yes, from The Sound of Music) from Mix 106.5 in Sydney, Australia:
"Hector puts his foot in it"
The power of listeners on the air.
Texting will never deliver this.
Thanks to Hector and Alan Swan., RTE, Ireland:"Sam's pants story"
A fun piece of radio from Sam and Amy at Gem 106 in Nottingham in the UK that really displays the benefits of depth when telling stories. Thanks, Sam:
As shown in each of the examples above, here's some advice to keep in mind with your future content.................
- To cut through, particularly at breakfast time, make sure your show is easy to understand.
- If you are targeting families in particular, "Me Too" moments drive talk and recall.
- Play to listeners' experience. They are not creative.
- Mum's in particular are time poor. Help them out here.
Think of great content as currency. You hand it out to listeners.
They spend it across the workday.....and if you get it right they come back for more tomorrow.
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