Benchmarks can be awesome, and late night television has known it for years. There was Johnny Carson’s future-telling Carnac the Magnificent. Remember David Letterman’s Top 10 List? How about James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke? It’s been made into a prime-time special and has spun off its own Carpool Karaoke: The Series. Jimmy Fallon reads viewer comments … Continue reading What’s Radio’s Crossword Puzzle?
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Back in June, I wrote in this blog about IHOP’s universally maligned and quite misguided “attempt” at rebranding itself to IHOB (“International House of Burgers”). Apparently that turned out to be IHOP trolling us all, but I do wonder if the “Gotcha!” was always in the plans or if it was a result of public … Continue reading Does the Stunt fit the Brand?
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Ask any experienced music radio programmer and he or she will be able to tell you about numerous situations where “something big” was happening in their format that just didn’t feel right to them for their stations. Classic Hits programmers will try to deal with the fact that 20,000 people are going to see Jimmy … Continue reading Sports Radio and the Margaritaville Problem
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I have a small circle of close friends, so it sparked my interest when several of the local ones mentioned a new bar in town called The Atlantic Lounge. Here’s what you need to know about this new watering hole in downtown Raleigh, NC: It’s modeled after a speakeasy You have to have a “key” … Continue reading What’s your Brand’s Social Currency?
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Eliminate to innovate. Sounds like a ridiculous notion, right? The concept of inversion is counter-intuitive to the way our brains work when we think strategically. Inversion is thinking backwards. Rather than thinking about what you need to do, or add, to achieve your goals, you think about what you don’t want to have happen—the worst-case … Continue reading Winning by Thinking Backwards
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“Hey let’s put that song in rotation, it sounds good on the air.” “I think that morning show benchmark is really gaining traction. My wife and her friends love it.” “The station is sounding too old. It’s probably time to start playing some newer music.” Is this is how your radio station conducts research? Radio … Continue reading How Amazon Uses Research for World Domination
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At the tail end of 2018 and in the first part of 2019, there’s been an interesting wave that seems to be, on a medium-ish scale, sweeping over the radio landscape. A significant number of stations in the US and Canada have flipped to a Soft Adult Contemporary (AC) format that started gaining traction in … Continue reading Radio’s New Softer Side
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Somewhere along the line, anticipation died. It may have been when Heinz started selling ketchup in a plastic container, and you no longer had to excavate your prize from a glass bottle with a knife. It may have been when smartphones reached critical mass, and the answer to every single question in the universe … Continue reading Radio and the Death of Anticipation
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The Athletic, the subscription-only sports website, featured an article titled, “Ben Roethlisberger’s radio show has turned into a must-listen because he’s ‘not afraid to say things’.” For anyone in the radio industry, seeing a connection made between “must-listen” and “radio” is like watching the clouds part and hearing the angels sing. What’s so special about … Continue reading Authenticity: Radio’s Secret Weapon
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Radio loves a good countdown. WMCA-FM in New York was counting down the hottest singles all the way back in the 1950s. Casey Kasem took the countdown format coast-to-coast with the debut of American Top 40 in July 1970 (on just seven stations!) Countdowns have stood the test of time, from syndicated programming to the … Continue reading Our Top 5 Blog Posts of 2018
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