Tipping Points

Last week's "...'Ville" about on-air demos – specifically, ones built for a CMA or ACM Broadcast Award entry – sparked a lot of feedback and conversation. I made the point that during my many years of judging Personality Of The Year entries on behalf of the ACM – and, currently, the CMA – I've been concerned about the growing emphasis on production elements – sound bites, audio drops, artist liner, or interview clips – that overshadow real content. By that, I mean something that gives me a feel for who the personalities or teams really are and how their show actually sounds; how they're connecting to listeners and their community; and displaying the full range of human emotions. The overdose of production ends up being five minutes of white noise, drowning out some of the very strong attributes that I know Country radio air talent delivers every day.

I understand when building a five-minute demo, it's hard to capture a year in the life of a radio station – or one daypart. But, all this whiz-bang, up-tempo, audio overload is fatiguing to listen to, and it's not representative of what radio does day-to-day. I know we're capable of something better. That offended some, and I'm sorry, but I stand by my observations. Additionally, I'm not the lone ranger on this, as I found out. I was contacted by several programmers who agreed with me; they were also currently judging CMA Broadcast Award entries and had the same concerns. It sparked an idea: ask some of those judging Award entries right now for constructive, productive feedback on what will impress them – or not – and how they can better represent their brands or themselves. In other words, I asked people who coach air talent all the time to provide some coaching to current or potential Broadcast Award submissions.

One thing to keep in mind here, and this is important: until these other judges reached out to me, I had no idea who else the CMA has invited to be part of the evaluation process. The CMA deserves a lot of credit here for the way they recruit radio programmers and/or those who are familiar with radio programming, and for keeping its judging panel completely confidential to both entrants and other judges. I'm going to maintain that confidentiality here as I share some suggestions. I hope you'll find them helpful; I know I sure did. Also note, these judges included tips beyond just the aircheck. While the demo has the highest point potential, the other components – Bio, Community, and Ratings – are also important and can make up the difference if the aircheck doesn't score all that great. My advice to everyone as they read this: pay close attention to all these judges’ thoughts on how you are positioning community involvement. There's a common theme from several people who didn't talk ahead of time and don't know who the other judges are.

Anonymous Judge #1:

Station Of The Year entries have become sizzle reels – tightly edited imaging with greatest hits moments from talent. But, it doesn't give you the true essence of the station. Are there any service elements? Are you that slick all the time?

Biggest mistakes: not following the rules. I've judged entries that are too long [and] that don't represent the entire day as the guidelines instruct. Those mistakes are fatal.

I hear a lot of celebrity interviews and St. Jude moments on entries. Believe me, everyone has that. What are you doing that is unique to your market? I'd like to hear local people or local events that might not mean anything to me but matters to their community. I can read between the lines and recognize good radio. Every station does a lot in the community. What have YOU created? Either you as a talent or station – BEYOND the walk you just showed up and participated in.

Anonymous Judge #2:

Aircheck – The ones that jump out to me are the ones with outstanding personality content. All the imaging, voice guy, artist drops, and vanilla interviews make you sound like everyone else. You can skip about 75% of it. Include what makes you stand out from the rest of the pack, like funny or engaging conversation with a listener, unexpected on-air moments, something relatable you did with topic or local event – but only your best; no fillers. Terrific story telling. If you have an artist interview clip where you got an answer from an artist no one has ever heard – or a particularly funny moment – sure, include it. Otherwise, judges aren't especially impressed that you spoke to Garth/Blake/Keith/Kenny – or that they cut liners for you – UNLESS they make you stand out. In fairness, I judged an entry this year that had stand-out artist-based imaging, and it was a plus for them.

For station airchecks, I'm listening for all dayparts. This year, I judged an entry that entirely skipped middays on the aircheck, though that talent was mentioned elsewhere in the entry. Points off. Every daypart should be included and be strong. Yes, I listen all the way to the end of every aircheck. Please keep content within the year parameters the CMA gives you. I judge every year. When I hear bits I heard last year, that's going to cost you points. Yes, that happens.

Community – A great station has roots in the community. First, I look for activity. Are you doing things for the community? Then, I look for your organic projects – YOUR homegrown efforts. It's easy to co-sponsor walks/runs/events, and they're important. But, the cream of the crop entrants identify needs and grow events around them. Sometimes, it's in response to local disasters, and sometimes just in response to a community need. These are the absolute best, and I award extra points for them.

On Personality entries, I look to see what the talent has individually championed. Emceeing the station event is great, but I'll award points for being the instigator of a community project that the talent leads and the station gets behind. Show your passions. Quantified results always help you make your case on what you accomplished. "We raised $100,000 for rescue goats" or "The Breakfast Bozos team added 200 new walkers and raised $55,000 in new dollars for the cause."

Ratings – This is tough to judge, because every entry comes from a different competitive situation. First, I look to see if you are the Country Leader. You've got to be [able] to get the top scores, but I expect to see stumbles here and there, and it doesn't take you out of contention with me. But, for "Excellent" scores, you've got to be the leader. Then, how do you stack up against the rest of the market? I like to see consistent top ranks against the whole market, and there's lots of leeway here in the markets where I know Country can struggle to get air.

Bio, Leadership, Etc – My best advice: don't phone it in here. This area can be a point tie-breaker. So, take the time to write well, and make it look good. This year, I judged a couple of personalities who each had strong airchecks. They were tied with me, actually. One had put a lot of effort into the Bio/Leadership part, and the other had done two quick paragraphs that seemed to be cut and pasted from something else. In this situation, the effort turned [out to] be the tie-breaker.

Proofread – Details count. Have a couple of people check your work. Flawless punctuation, spelling, and grammar says you've got your act together. Look like a winner.

Anonymous Judge #3:

I truly look for an outstanding effort in all phases. For the aircheck, does the content engage me? Is it "inside" enough that it displays a local flavor while still engaging any listener (as if I'm someone new listening for the first time)? If there is an artist interview, is it a question I've heard before? And, if it is, did the talent spin it in a way that seems fresh? I think about this being "the best stuff" from all they could have chosen from. Does it come off that way? In the other phases, did they go above and beyond for their community? Did they partner on existing events and just put their name on it, or does it appear from the text and images that they are a significant part of the event and its success? For leadership, how are they advancing Country music and Country radio within their market? Are they taking advantage of the privilege we have to connect artists with their fans on a local level? All of those things make a Station or Personality worthy of recognition.

Additional Feedback

Lots of radio pros chimed in on this, too, and some of them are past winners of CMA or ACM Broadcast Awards. Veteran Major Market morning personality Skip Mahaffey has submitted seven Broadcast Award entries, reaching the finals five times and winning three awards. He's even been hired by other morning shows to coach them through the process.

“Here's the problem,” says Mahaffey. “Jocks are usually responsible for putting together their own CMA entry. Big mistake; immediately, we choose things WE think are funny, entertaining, etc. Like you said in your piece, it's five minutes of ‘look who I know.’ I always felt the demo should be a representation of what the show sounds like on a daily basis, not a ‘greatest hits.’ Whenever considering what to include, I'd always ask ‘Does anyone give a sh*t?’ If it didn't have an obvious ‘yes’ answer, out it went, no matter how funny I thought it was.”

Chuck Edwards, morning co-host on Entercom Country WYCD/Detroit, is a past CMA and ACM Broadcast Award honoree. Commenting on last week's column via Facebook, Edwards said, “As a former Dir./Creative Services, we long believed the slickest produced submission would carry the most weight with the PDs that judged the samples. Not true today. With just five minutes to demonstrate a show's virtues, it’s important to use every second to paint an organic picture that is real and compelling. A listener will never tell you how good the production value is of your show but the content between the bells and whistles. This is what we’ve tried to do with our submission this year and moving forward.”

Former KMLE/Phoenix afternoon personality Stu Evans also has Broadcast Awards sitting on his mantle and shared these thoughts: “Make us feel something. Make me remember. Give me a reason to come back to you each day. HINT: It's not to win $10,000 at 7:20, and it's not the most music with the funniest liners.”

And, this from former WDSY/Pittsburgh and KLAC/Los Angeles personality Stoney Richards: “Country music has always been about emotions. Buttons are easy to push; hearts are harder to move.”

I'll close out with another observation one programmer pointed out, and I remember this to be true during my programming days. As the time to submit a CMA or ACM entry approaches, there is often a last-minute rush to compile material. That means whoever is called upon to build the demo is getting audio from recent weeks, not the entire year. What we started doing, and what my anonymous programmer suggested, is to be diligent about pulling the stuff you think is strong throughout the year and create a CMA or ACM folder. Either you, as the PD, or your Dir./Creative Services, should visit that file on a regular basis – not two weeks before you're building the demo. If the idea to is to demonstrate what you or the radio station sounds like day-to-day, scrambling to pull audio from the past two or three weeks won't accomplish that.

Listen, I know PDs are busier than ever, and stations are woefully understaffed. And, I can hear some of you laughing at me with your outside voice, while your inside voice is asking, “What is this ‘Creative Services’ human you speak of?” I get it! That's probably one of the many hats you wear, too. But, here's my bottom-line feeling – which seemed to be shared by other judges who stepped up and shared thoughts with me: if you want to hoist that awesome-looking, crystal CMA trophy on national TV, that tells the world you're the best freakin' radio station or personality our format has to offer, it's gonna take some thought, some work, and some strategy. You absolutely cannot phone this in, and it shouldn't sound synthetic. I know, and all other judges I talked to know, that you're doing the very best you can with these. On behalf of all my anonymous judge friends, I hope some of what they have shared here is helpful to you.

You're doing great radio every day. I believe that; I hear it. Represent yourself and your station in the way your listeners know it, too. You've got this! Good luck to all those who have entered this year, and I encourage everyone to submit a CMA or ACM entry next time the window opens.