ONCE YOU’VE ANSWERED THESE, EVERYTHING ELSE IS JUST LOGISTICS
As you and your staff plan ahead for Q1 and Q2 promotions, your calendar may already contain several dates. Some of those promotions will be on-air, others will involve remotes. Whatever – and wherever – they are, of all the questions that will need to be answered there is one that is make-or-break: Does this benefit the station? The answer may not be as obvious as it seems.
First, let’s define benefit.
If you’re strapped for cash and a client offers $10,000 (or even $1,000) for a promotion or remote, I’m sure you’ll say “You bet, it’s good for the station”. Revenue is a powerful driver. Sometimes, though, it can drive you straight into the ditch if bad publicity ensues or it sends listeners stampeding for the exits.
Many radio veterans remember the hysterical 1978 episode of TV’s WKRP In Cincinnati in which actor Gordon Jump, playing the station’s GM Arthur Carlson, is convinced to drop live turkeys from a helicopter as a Thanksgiving promotion. The result: pure carnage.
I can still hear Richard Sanders as News Director Les Nessman doing his best Herb Morrison impression during the climactic remote:
Oh my God, Johnny, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this?
Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just
went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity!
The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not
since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!
That promotion-from-hell led to one of TV’s most memorable lines as an appalled Arthur Carlson said, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”.
Allow me a fast sprint through Weak Pun Land
I had to. I’m sorry.
7 Ways To Determine Whether A Radio Promotion or Remote Is A Real Benefit
But if you can afford to be even a little choosy in the promotions and remotes your PD and salespeople dream up, ask them a few pertinent questions in advance. This isn’t about how the event should be done – that’s logistics – but whether it makes sense in the first place.
Questions such as:
- Does this idea work with our format?
- Does it appeal to our P1 listeners or could it drive them away?
- Is there a good chance it will attract new listeners who will at least sample our stations?
- If you’re in a rated market, can this be done fast-and-tight, the way Arbitron’s PPM likes it (see my Tuesday and Wednesday columns)?
- Will it get us some good promo for the stations as well as for the sponsor?
- Who’s paying for this, anyway, and does that make sense?
- Is it fun?
I’m always amazed at radio station promotions and remotes that just seem to be there to generate a few bucks and nothing else. Radio should always serve up fun content. If we can’t at least do that, listeners might as well head over to the Internet and just load up songs.
Determining whether a promotion and/or remote is truly good for your stations begins with zeroing in on the benefits it provides. This is the first step. If you green light the event, then you can work out the gritty details.
But first make sure that green light isn’t just reflecting the color of money.
