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KOIT/San Francisco And KUFX/San Jose PD Brian Figula: "Media coverage is not a publicity stunt; it’s creative branding that helps keep your station top-of-mind across an increasingly competitive landscape."
May 9, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. Over the years as a professional transient air talent, I came to the opinion that every station had a narcissist self-appointed air staffer with delusions of speaking for everyone. The lesson of not sharing my opinion openly about someone like that was even more important as a manager. However, I also knew I had to get a handle on a "problem child" air personality or I could never lead my staff into a ratings battle. At one station, I stumbled upon a way to isolate an on-air malcontent
- Radio Rally Point was created by DMR/Interactive and All Access to shine a spotlight on the power of AM/FM radio. In this edition, DMR/Interactive Pres. Andrew Curran catches up with Bonneville International’s Brian Figula, PD for KOIT/San Francisco and KUFX/San Jose.
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While many AC stations do their best to avoid controversy, you find ways to use it to your advantage. Specifically, during the 2014 World Series between the Giants and the Royals, KOIT/ San Francisco banned “Royals” by Lorde. More recently, you entered the holiday debate surrounding “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and the #MeToo movement.
In both cases you generated local and national news coverage, while helping make your station and radio overall part of larger conversations. How do these high-profile examples connect with your overall programming strategy and philosophy?Brian: The focus for most ACs is the music, a clear-cut message and strengthening families within the communities that we service. It can many times be harder to “cut through” and stand out on-air with the AC format, so we rely on other outlets (social, website, community, etc.).
The “Royals scenario” in the World Series was never really discussed on the air; it was simply a blog online that then generated increased listening. Same with the “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” debate. We only talked about it one time on the air AFTER the decision had been made to place it back into rotation. Regardless of the format, Brand Managers should always be generating ways to be top-of-mind. A well-researched playlist is not enough.
How important was it to leave the conversation off-air?
Brian: PDs have different strategies and each market has a different competitive landscape. In San Francisco, we didn’t want to take away from the #1 reason people tune into the station, which is the music. Even on our digital platforms, we didn’t really get into it.
However, we didn’t hide from the issue and we wanted to hear from the audience so we fielded a survey. The audience, women included, were clearly opposed to pulling it from the rotation and this Christmas generated the biggest shares in recent memory.
Describe your mindset that creates this media coverage?
Brian: I’m a firm believer in being able to leverage all the ways you can generate top-of-mind awareness for your station, whether it’s on-air, marketing, digital, street team or PR. Media coverage is not a publicity stunt, it’s creative branding that helps keep your station top-of-mind across an increasingly competitive landscape.
Earned media/public relations are a key component of a well-rounded marketing plan, but most stations don’t have a PR person. What’s your approach?
Brian: If you’re a programmer that’s expecting someone else to do it for you, you’re going to be disappointed. In fact, of every 10 stories we pitch, only one takes off, so you’ve got to keep at it.
It’s been said that radio doesn’t suffer from bad publicity, but rather no publicity. Obviously controversy gets coverage. Are there other examples where you seek out media coverage to amplify the many good things happening?
Brian: Like many brands, we do great things in the communities that we serve. Many times when you just “do the right thing,” like assisting a family in need or assisting a community impacted by a disaster, the publicity just happens.
Do you typically seek out permission from corporate or beg for forgiveness after the fact?
Brian: Many times we will give our legal department a heads-up before we take advantage of an opportunity. They’re a great reference and we never want to blindside the team.
Switching gears … with time being a finite resource, what advice do you give talent in regards to how they prioritize spending time creating original digital audio content, doing show prep, responding to social media, connecting off-air with their best listeners, going on client calls, etc?
Brian: The most successful talent do more than pop open the mic and make appearances for sales. The great ones have clients beating down their door for endorsements/appearances, make every on-air break memorable, run for mayor in the communities they serve, spend as much time on show prep as creating great teases and have a digital influence.
Listeners have on-demand access to their personal music collections. As options for audio consumption increase, how do you evolve your programming strategy and super-serve your audience?
Brian: Research. We discover more than music tastes, but also lifestyle tastes. If you don’t have regular access to research, here are a couple things you can do.
- Brainstorm internally with a couple of members of your team; offsite or away from e-mail is best.
- Listen to a lot of radio in and outside of your market.
- Watch other digital and social media, especially dominant lifestyle brands.
Your radio brain is just always on and looking for the next great idea.
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Thanks for reading and working each day to drive radio forward.
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