Robby Bridges
by Robby Bridges
Noted financial advisor and media personality Jim Cramer gave an interesting opinion on the state of the radio business recently, saying it was a dead industry as investors are looking for short term fattening of profit margins over the long term growth model of “cash flow” business which long has been radio’s financial allure. While I don’t believe the radio industry is dead, there is no question it continues to evolve as it always has. As in many sectors, radio is seeing its budgets cut and its staffing shrunk to one degree or another in market after market. Again, I would argue the industry is stronger than it gets credit for: radio reaches more than 90% of all Americans weekly; it remains the last impact before purchase medium; and it can be intimate and mobile. So radio remains relevant to the overwhelming majority of Americans. Consumers are using radio differently. There are more available media to receive music and talk, there are portable devices, there are other technologies gobbling up radio’s time spent listening, that’s a fact of the world in 2008. This, coupled with the changes in the face of how radio stations operate in today’s environment make it more important than ever to have a strong brand and station position to cut through the clutter. If a station’s budget allows for only less experienced talent or dictates an automated/voice tracked daypart(s) clear, focused formatics keep a station familiar, consistent and memorable for gained listening occasions.
IMAGING: There is nothing more important than sitting back and listening to a radio station as a programmer and asking: “Is the station clear and concise? Is it an easy to use product? Do its formatics additionally reinforce the identity or stationality of the brand?” Think of all the soft drinks on the market today as opposed to just a few years back. How do each cut through the clutter and brand themselves? Coke has its red can and original formula drink which it reinforces with Americana such as Norman Rockwell’s depiction of Santa around the holidays. Sprite chooses a silver can (clear soda) with a lemon lime logo reinforcing its non cola flavor where as Mountain Dew’s can is bright and youthful often with an ad on its bottles for the latest skateboard.
Radio stations need to do the same. Every time a listener comes to the station its imaging and promos need to reinforce what it does: Its format and its attitude. The positioning should be as pithy and simple as possible, and most importantly consistent. The subtle imaging formatics such as the weather jingle at :20 past every hour or the “Today’s Best NEW Music” sweeper at :45 is benchmark and can be executed under any on air circumstance. I rarely hear stations run feature promos; promote your brand, your talent, your benchmarks/features along with contesting and events and edit the copy down to most necessary and engaging verbage consistent with the brand. Even if there is no personality on the air, or a talent doing a very basic shift, the imaging can achieve the formatics of the station to make it crystal clear to the consumer what the station is about and what they can expect in using it.
THE TALENT: Ken Levine (AKA Beaver Cleaver) has a great line in talking about his alma mater infamous ’70s AM flamethrower 10 Q: “It was an unforgettable radio station playing mostly forgettable music.” Formats go through doldrums and identity crisis; most formatics dictate a fairly high degree of repetition. Of course, gold based formats need to think of new ways to make “Brown Eyed Girl” an event 15 times a week, 52 weeks a year. This is done with big formatics within which hosts operate.
New and young talent first need to master and become comfortable with the basics of formatics and shine within them before they experiment with more creative bits and features. Challenge new talent to self edit in order to operate within the confines of big imaging and branding of station formatics. New talent can be lifted up by excellent execution of consistent, focused formatics, and established talent can shine by inventing new ways to polish them. Afterall, it’s hard to imagine Johnny Carson’s bits without the desk, plants and Technicolor curtains. Concurrently, the hot night jock should fit their bits into the music, station attitude and imaging of the radio station’s formatics or atmosphere. Also, when the high profile talent is not on air and a new jock or perhaps automation takes over, the station remains consistent and familiar to the listener. There should never be a time the stationality is not omnipresent on the air; reinforcing the brand.
Tight ratings battles are often won by the station that identified itself more clearly to the listener, and that is why I love easy to digest formatics! Thinking about the clarity, what the format means and the attitude in which it is presented is the key to formatting the imaging and directing the presentation of the talent. If the station is, for example, doing a ’60s/’70s format it needs to identify clearly what music the consumer can expect. If it’s a mainstream oldies approach a slug line touting “Smokey, Elvis and the Beach Boys play here.”
That musical identity needs to be reinforced with formatics that convey “fun, good times.” If it’s a classic hits identity conversely it’s “from the Allman Bros to ZZ Top and from the Beatles to the Boss.” The formatics reinforce a focus on music as opposed to mood, with perhaps more attitude. Considering the brand, stationality and postion of each station in a market, which is using its formatics to make them clear to the listener from feel and language of talent/imaging to promos and contesting? Chances are in just about every scenario the station best accomplishing this most effectively and consistently is leading the ratings book after book. Whereas, stations that are not achieving branding through appropriate formatics are constantly ebb and flow, or are stuck in the low single digits with a large cume disparity. Tweaking formatics and their execution can be a secret tool in turning the corner for not only the Spring Book but in radio stations remaining vital to the lives of millions of listeners, evading the fate financial analysts speculate.
Robby Bridges hosts afternoon drive and is part of the programming team/AMD at Providence’s market leading Cat Country 98.1 WCTK, arriving in 2003. He is also President of BBOR Productions, developing and marketing syndication, music and producton pieces nationally. Previously Bridges has worked in various capacities at Z100/New York Q102/Philadelphia WODS and Mix 98.5/Boston and elsewhere in New England. Robby can be reached at 401-467-4366 or bridges@bborproductions.com.
