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Aren't You Even Remotely Interested ...
February 5, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Do not discuss station business in front of fans or in earshot of a client. If the client has a complaint, hopefully a salesperson is on hand. If you are alone, try to call the salesperson, sales manager or PD, and let the client talk to this person. Most important, if it's only you at the event, just listen and 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 and copy your boss on it
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There are some issues that must be periodically revisited. This weekend I stumbled onto a radio station remote at the mall. What I saw reminded me that it's okay to repeat some things to air talent because everyone doesn't always hear you. I can see OMs and PDs nodding their approval. I just covered this topic as recently as November.
Saving The Time & Energy ...
Repeating this information reminds me of when I used to issue, on a quarterly basis, a brief cover statement and staple a previous memo with it. I figured since it was the same issue, why bother to write up anything new. In more recent times, I would just restate the problem in the RE: and cut and paste the previous pleas for improvement.
I Couldn't Help But Notice ...
I watched a remote with listeners standing back, unidentifiable station personal/air personalities, and a questionable setup problem with the van speakers. I turned on the station via their app and the call backs sounded fine; the only exception, on one break the manager of the store talked more than he should have, and the air talent did not adjust his talk time to keep the remote break within what I assume was supposed to be 60 seconds. I knew because I put my smartphone stop watch app to work and I also heard the music bed run out.
I will not call out the station or market, but I will provide a gentle reminder of some specific things for promotional appearances and remotes.
Do's and Don'ts
- 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 them 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 OM or PD may have different ideas on the subject.)
- The personality or board op in the studio is not your personal production valet; have a stopwatch or use your smartphone watch app 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 might 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. Stay in communication with the studio and make sure they have your number in case they need to contact you. Unless your OM or PD says otherwise, call and record at least 15 minutes prior to the actual airing of a remote talk break.
- Wear a station jersey or jacket. If your station does not put the names of their air talents on apparel; spend a couple of dollars and get your name stitched on. People will know 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 onto something you will wear.
- When 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. For example, announcing 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 an appearance for a brief period, two to three hours tops, so eat before you get there. However, if you must eat something, do it out of sight. There's nothing cool about stuffing your mouth while talking to fans or garbling words during a talk set. And it should go without saying ... do not drink alcohol, even if it is a pre-concert event.
- Do not discuss station business in front of fans or in earshot of a client. If the client has a complaint, hopefully a salesperson is on hand. If you are alone, try to call the salesperson, sales manager or PD, and let the client talk to this person. Most important, if it's only you at the event, just listen and 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 and copy your boss on it.
- No personal cellphone calls during your remote.
Conclusion ...
Please don't make me cover this subject again for at least six months; this is your first official warning. Sorry, once a PD, always a PD.
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