Nashville - Expect the Unexpected

 

CMA Awards week is winding down in Nashville and I am reminded once again how amazing it is to work in the country music business. The CMA is dedicated to bringing the poetry and emotion of Country Music to the world.  The awards show certainly accomplishes that goal.  You can always count on a few surprises during CMA Awards week. 

Just last night Tim MGraw entertained a crowd of 200 people in a cozy 3^rd floor bar on Broadway with a full band show for over 90 minutes!   It is clear that he has a renewed enthusiasm for his new music, performing and country radio.  

BMLG Head Scott Borchetta surprised Tim with a plaque for Nielsen BDS’s Most Played Artist of the Decade Award for all genres of music.  He was emotional and humbled.    Then Tim surprised the crowd by welcoming special guest Ne-Yo to the stage.  Ne-Yo shared his thoughts on the power of mixing genres of music and talking about the similarities between R&B, Country & Gospel.   Even the most jaded radio person had to be surprised and impressed by the duets.   Faith stood by the sound board in her Pony Tail and sweatshirt and enjoyed watching her man bring down the house.   It was truly a special evening.

If you are in country radio or a fan of country music, you must experience CMA Music Fest or CMA Awards week.  The common bond that links country music fans, radio and artists is strong.   The CMA declared 2012 “The year of Country Radio”.   Every station, GM and Program Director was given a free membership to the CMA.   If you have not taken advantage of that yet, do it NOW.    Contact Brandi Simms at the CMA for more information.  Renew your membership for 2013.   It is a small price to pay to support an organization that contributes so much to our industry.  

Brandi Simms

615.664.1607 direct
BSimms@CMAworld.com

Community Feeds The Soul

 

Radio has the unique opportunity to be a community for our listeners.  It is human nature to seek out like-minded people with similar core values to surround yourself with; to find a place where you belong.   It is a simple concept on paper but much harder to execute in practice.

Music formats have the benefit of song to bring their fans together.  Talk stations have the power of storytelling and healthy debate.  All stations have the ability to do “good” in your neighborhood.    You can’t accomplish creating a community by being a jukebox without a soul.    It is not enough to play the hits, run a few contests and deliver Hollywood news.   You have to help the community connect on multiple levels to establish a bond that cannot be broken.    

Engaging personalities are the key.   Yes the word engaging is over-used, but it is oh so appropriate.  In the thesaurus under engaging you’ll find:  appealing, charming, likeable, enchanting, disarming, involving, engrossing, participating, absorbing, taking part, securing, retaining, and connecting.   Someone who exudes all of these characteristics is exactly who you need on the air. 

The key is finding talent who are interested in people.  You need personalities who have an innate ability to bring people together and get them talking.   People want to share.  They want to hear stories, give their opinions and have a chance to be heard.   The stations that work hard to include listeners in every break are doing it right.  It creates the perception that everyone listens to and interacts with your station.   It validates their choice, creates a human energy and gives them a sense of belonging to something powerful.

 

But that is not where it ends.  You need to connect everywhere your community is connecting.   Your text club, e-mail database, Facebook page, website and blogs are all important interactive tools that bring the community together.   These tools are no longer a luxury, they are a necessity. 

A true community has a kinship, a cooperative spirit, a neighborhood feel.   It feeds the soul with companionship, music, conversation and fun.   It makes life more interesting, bearable and worth living.  What have you done today to make your radio station a true community for your listeners? 

“The Crowd is So YOUNG!”

Watershed 2012 What A Beatiful Crowd!

Wathershed 2012: What A Beautiful View!

The first annual Watershed Country Festival at the Gorge in George, Washington is history and proves once again that country is a lifegroup and not a demographic.   The most heard comment from the non-country fans at the show was, “The crowd is so young!”  It is shocking how many of them expect the country fans to be old, toothless and living in trailer parks.  The stereotypes may never leave the country format but events like this continue to silence the critiques and bring new fans to the format.

Granted, music festival fans are a somewhat unique breed.  They are hard core country fanatics who appreciate the value of seeing dozens of artists over three days in one of the most beautiful concert venues in the world (The Gorge is a mini version of the Grand Canyon with great acoustics and a breathtaking view).  However, from the parking lot to the post show departure the lifegroup diversity is obvious.

Yes the parking lot was filled with a lot of pickup trucks but also plenty of upscale SUV’s, convertibles and Mini-vans.  The ages of the crowd streaming into the show ranged from the cradle to the grave.   The bulk of the fans were females 20 to 50.   With temperatures reaching 103 each day, the most popular outfit was the bikini with cowboy boots and a stylish cowboy hat, but there were plenty of average people with their shorts, tank tops and baseball caps too.  

These people came to party, enjoy music and soak up the sun.   Several security people commented that while it was one of the biggest festivals they have ever seen at The Gorge (bigger than Dave Mathews, The Hip Hop Summer Jam & Sasquatch), it was for the most part orderly, respectful and without incident.    Artist after artist celebrated the passion of this audience, the youth who knew the words to even the oldest, most traditional songs and the beauty of the venue. 

Five regional Country radio stations were on-site greeting and interacting with the fans and every station fans at their booth.  Young people sported station call letters on hats, shirts, tattoos and stickers.  Just further affirmation that radio reaches 93% of all Americans each week.   If you are in country radio and you have never spent three days in the trenches with the fans, shame on you!  Seek one out; watch and learn.  

Watershed now joins the ranks of dozens of amazing country music festivals:  CMA Music Fest, Country Jam, Country USA, The Hodag Country Music Festival, Stage Coach, Bayou Country Superfest and more.  All serving a country lifegroup that is diverse in age, careers, income levels and lifestyles but all of whom share a similar set of core values; God, Family & Country (the music and the USA) and proud of it! 

That’s Why They Call It Work

We “Radio Rats” are lucky, even the worst day at work can be fun infused.  It’s show biz baby!  Very seldom (if ever) do you wake up and not want to go to work.   But the reality is it is work.  Now more than ever you have to have an excellent work ethic to survive.  Economic woes, consolidation and technological advances have created the perfect storm.   Everyone is over worked and overwhelmed; many are underpaid.  The survivors are the people with a positive mental attitude who roll up their sleeves and just DO IT.

Don’t let the volume paralyze you.  Take the opportunity to create great radio by using the amazing tools we have at our finger tips.    Yes, you have more jobs than ever before, but parts of that job are made easier by slicker production tools, software programs to help you find the answers and powerful engagement tools to bring you closer to your audience.  Embrace those advantages and put them to work for you.

Here are few reminders to help you tackle your daily work load:

1.      Make a list so you can see exactly what needs to be done.

2.      Color code or rank the items by importance.  Some will be Urgent, some important, some “If time permits”.

3.      Always tackle the toughest item first.  Doing the thing you dread the most first will free your mind to finish the other items and your dread will be gone.  In fact many times you’ll think “that wasn’t so bad.”

4.      Check off each item as you get it done.  That visual representation of your accomplishments will actually increase your productivity.

5.     If an item is on the list for more than two days then ask yourself, “Is this really necessary?”  If you determine that it must be done, get it done on day three.

6.     For e-mail and paperwork, it is best to practice the “touch it once” philosophy.  As often as possible you want to deal with it and file it away or delete it. The reality is you will never get back to it no matter how good your intentions. 

Remember what American Inventor Thomas Edison said, "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."   Overalls are pretty damn comfortable to wear and extremely easy to work in.   Strap them on and get to work!!

Welcome To The 140 Character World

If your message isn’t clear in 140 characters, it is TOO LONG!  Brevity is a necessity in the new world order!  Make every word matter.

Role Models & Path Pavers

                       


The passing of Kitty Wells has me contemplating the power one person has to affect change and influence others.   Miss Kitty is one of those pioneer women who paved the way for females in every industry.  She is the original Queen of Country Music.  Her 1952 hit “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” was banned from radio airplay by NBC.  The Grand Ole Opry asked her not to perform it.   In spite of all that, the song climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard country chart.  It was the first No. 1 country song ever recorded by a female artist.  Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and even Taylor Swift can thank Kitty for being the first. 

Barbara Walters fought her way to the top in a TV world where many believed that no one would take a woman seriously reporting hard news.   In 1976 she became the first female co-anchor of network evening news, working with Harry Reasoner on the ABC Evening News.  She went on to win many daytime and primetime Emmy’s, lifetime achievement awards and has a long list of accolades covering many decades.

In October, Erica Farber will be honored by the Library of American Broadcasters as one of their “Giants Of Broadcasting”.   Erica is credited with being the first woman to become general manager of a major-market radio station (RKO’s WOR-FM Boston in 1976) and has had a long and successful career in broadcasting & publishing.  She is the only female on the list of honorees.  

These three accomplished women have inspired generations of females in music, television and radio to strive for the top.   The climb is getting easier but it is still a hike.  Yes, “we’ve come a long way baby” but we are far from there. 

I have been asked in many interviews “Why aren’t there more women in radio programming?”  My answer is always, “most women are too smart!”   They want to have a life.  Radio programming is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week job.   You have to be willing to battle to break the glass ceiling, put up with the good ol’ boys club and have such a great passion for it that you don’t mind what you are giving up to get there.  Now I’m thinking that maybe those women just needed a good mentor to show them the way. 

Take time today to seek out a young woman in our industry who is just starting out.  Be a mentor and help her see the possibilities.   Never underestimate the power you have to help transform another person’s life.   A huge THANK YOU to Kitty, Barbara and Erica for your drive, determination and dedication to paving a path for the rest of us.

Mass Relevance: Illusive but Powerful

No matter what your product or service, if you can achieve “mass relevance” you are bound to be more successful.  It is particularly important for businesses that rely on advertising revenue to survive.  You have to aggregate a mass audience in order to have something to sell.  

Let’s break it down.  Mass: a body of coherent matter and often of considerable size.   Relevant: bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent.  Put those together in reference to content creation and you have topics that appeal to the masses.  In an age when information is plentiful and communication happens in so many new forms, it is even more critical for content creators to look for subjects that are relevant to the masses.   

Roy Williams’s principle about advertising in 2012 can be directly applied to on-air and on-line content creation:   “I hear a voice whispering in the night:  Relevance and credibility, ad writer, are the words you must engrave on your heart if you will write ads that move the needle.  The customer is asking, ‘Does this matter to me?’ They are looking for relevance. And their second question is, ‘Do I believe what they’re telling me?’ They are looking for credibility.   The public is no longer looking for a perfect icon to worship. Most of them are looking for an equally-flawed friend with whom they can connect.”

Increase your mass relevance by watching and listening for the topics that people are talking about.   Here are a few sites that can help: http://www.trendingtopics.org/, http://www.reddit.com/, http://www.buzzfeed.com/,https://twitter.com/WhatsTrending/

Look for topics that are common to all of us:    

Relationships: (couples, families, friends, workplace)
Pop Culture: (entertainment news, celebrities…)
Personal Growth: (self-improvement, fulfillment at home and job, spiritualism, etc.)
Health and Beauty (Dieting, exercising, makeovers, anti-aging, pampering, etc.)
Shopping-Consumerism: (Example: “Bargain of the Week” )
Style: (trends, fashion, cars, home, personal space, etc…)

Keep in mind that the internet is not the only source for great content.   Google estimates that 129,864,880 different books exist in the world, and it claims to have digitized 15 million of them—or about 12 percent.  Just think of all of the information that has not made its way to the internet.  It gives a whole new meaning to the words “think outside the box”.