A Remote Reminder...

Staying in your lane and understanding the chain of command are vital in radio. Not just inside the walls of a station or cluster, but out in public as well. My concerns are specifically in the areas of paid remotes and sponsored entire show on-location broadcasts. The personality, promotions, van driver or sales should never lose a client over a lack of procedures to take care of on location remote issue.

Your Responsibilities...

I am all about increasing the possibilities for things to go off without a hitch. Sales should be the only one handling client problems at a paid remote or sponsored entire show on-location broadcast. One of the things stressed to me at our recent WWRS 2017 Conference was the importance of readdressing procedures and topics sometimes taken for granted. Many personalities and staffers either get lax, are never taught, or don't know how to stay in their lane. Behind closed doors is one thing, but out in full sight of the public is an entirely different ball game.

If You Know Great ... But If You Need A Reminder...

It's simple; you need two plans. Plan A: The sales person should be on site for their client's paid broadcast event. Plan B: If the sales person can't be there for their client, the sales manager should assign a sales person to cover the event from start to finish. Think fast plan: If the sales person leaves prematurely or the client approaches you with a problem, listen with a smile and out of earshot of the client, immediately call the missing salesperson. If that person is not available, call your OM or PD and let them get with the Sales Manager to immediately respond. Above all, stay in your lane and let the proper channels follow up. Do not try and fix the problem; you might make things worse or create a new problem. Worst-case scenario: None of the people you need is answering calls or responding to texts; be nice and don't say anything that might put anyone from the station on the spot.

While I'm On The Subject...

You would think the level of expertise for performing these live on-location duties would increase as a jock advances through the ranks of stations and market size. However, I have found it not to be true. I have talked to many announcers and the "Throw them in the water" approach is too often still applied to this important area. Regardless of the market size, personalities need guidance and reminders on how to do an appearance or remote; paid or non-paid.

Checklist of Things of Do for Appearances and Remotes

• Get to your appearance or remote at least 30 minutes prior to the beginning; this means the time promoted for the hours you are to be on location, not 30 minutes prior to the first call-back. If anything must be set up, for example a tent or a table, and you are by yourself, get there an hour ahead of time.
• Make sure you have all the up-to-the-minute talking points for your call-back reports. If by yourself, double-check to make sure you know what to talk about. Write out three scripts to read from for your call-backs and rotate during the remote.
• Most on-location breaks are recorded, but clients don't always know this. Yes, you are live, but recorded live. Just make sure the client cannot see you when recording. When the actual times for airing your recorded breaks come up, lip sync in front of everyone, but off to the side as if they are live. Live call-ins can lead to huge problems and are generally not done, but are sometimes necessary, so be careful. (Your current PD may have different ideas in this area.)
• The personality or board op in the studio is not your personal production person; have a stopwatch or use the clock function on your smartphone to time things out. If you can't do things in one take, do clean pickups so the studio can edit easily.
• Some of those shopping will approach you and some won't. Go right up to people, smile and let them know why you are there. Depending on the number of people, spend a little time but keep moving and connect with as many people as possible. Meanwhile, keep track of when your call-ins are to occur and the times they air. Do not wait until the last minute, unless your PD says otherwise, call to record at least 15 minutes prior to the actual airing.
• Wear a station jersey or jacket and if your station does not put the names of their jocks on apparel; spend a couple of dollars and get your name stitched on your personal station wear. People will be aware of who you are when they walk up to you. In worst-case scenarios, if your station does not have station apparel, see if programming will provide a laminated card with the station logo and your name that can be pinned to something you will wear.
• If you have prizes to give away, don't just hand them out; either have a drawing box with registrations to hand out (with or without a promotions person) or play simple contests for people to win - such as announcing to folks the person with the following four numbers in the serial number of their one dollar bill will win ... or any sort of easy-to-win sort of thing.
• You are only at your appearance for a brief window of time, two to three hours, so eat before you get there. However, if you must eat while there, do it out of sight. There's nothing cool about stuffing your mouth while talking to fans. And it should go without saying ... do not drink alcohol, even if it is a pre-concert event, from a club, or at a state fair.
• Do not discuss station business in front of fans or in earshot of a client. If the client has a complaint concerning the remote, hopefully a salesperson is on hand. If you are alone, try to call the salesperson, sales manager or PD, and let them talk to this person. Most important, if it's just you, just listen; do not offer a solution to anything out of your control. But when you get back to the station leave a detailed note of what happened or e-mail the sales person.
• No personal cellphone calls during your remote.

Conclusion:

There is no such thing as being too prepared, go make that paid remote money!