War! What is it good for? When it comes to “radio wars” at least, Mike McVay finds a lot more than “absolutely nothing” to fight for in this week’s Programming To Win column. McVay breaks down the metaphors of battle and how they can apply to positioning your radio station for success.
Mike McVay
By Mike McVay
There is no doubt in my mind that the title of this article will be found by some to be inappropriate and insensitive. It is surely politically incorrect, given what we’ve been taught, that business should not be compared to war. We’re told that sports should not be compared to war. Life should not be compared to war. “War” is a bad word these days and those who mention it had better be talking about a real war. However, the attitudes of the most successful Program Directors are those individuals who are “going to war daily.” Notice that I wrote “attitude” versus suggesting that someone is really picking up weapons and waging war.
More than 20 years ago Trout & Ries (marketing wizards Jack Trout and Al Ries) followed up their much-heralded book “Positioning; The Battle for The Mind” with a book titled “Marketing Warfare.” Many of the rules they offered for marketing still apply today and are directly applicable to programming radio products. The primary reason for that is that we are competing for listener loyalty and “use” of our products. We’re fighting for ears.
There is nothing in this article that encourages you to be ruthless. I am not encouraging you to break the law. I am not encouraging you to be unethical. I am encouraging you to focus on your competition and look for their weaknesses and strengths. Strategize on how to attack and beat them, and then “go to war against them.” Today’s programmer, many overseeing more than one radio station, can’t get out of the way of themselves to compete against their enemy and foes. They are so busy executing “tasks” they are not focused on making their product the best it can be and they’re not strategically monitoring and counter attacking the moves made by their competitors. You must know your enemy well to be able to beat them. Those programmers who focus internally and never listen to the competition, and are lucky enough to beat the competition, are simply that … “lucky.” Luck is not a strategy. Luck is not a tactic. Luck is something that happens occasionally and is rarely effective for more than a short period of time.
There are four primary types of warfare. They are:
- Offensive – This is where a competitor owns a hill or territory you want. Their position is where you need to be at in order to accomplish your goals both strategic and tactical. You must overwhelm the competitor when attacking offensively. You have to be prepared for every counter attack they will use against you and you must be prepared for them to utilize defensive warfare. Do not pick a fight with a stronger opponent unless you have superiority of intelligence that you can win quickly. Often an offensive attack requires great financial resources and the stamina and religious-like commitment to remain true to the fight for years. You have to overwhelm your competition in an offensive attack.
- Defensive – a Defensive attack is one where you have been attacked. The first thing one must do is ascertain whether the enemy has launched an attack that is serious enough for you to defend. Do you retaliate with slight might or do retaliate with bone crushing destruction? This is the first question to answer during a defensive attack. You then must determine if you have the ability to force the competitor out of the way and out of the format. Focusing on blocking this defensive attack may cause you to take your eyes off your strategic position and unwittingly abandon the hill you own. Do not counter or defend against an inferior attack. It depletes your resources and makes you lose focus.
- What is your competitor’s strength? In every strength, there is a weakness. Attack that weakness. Cox Media recently launched an attack in Tampa, Florida with Hot 101.5 going against 93.3FLZ. WFLZ is in the position of defending against an offensive attack. Cox has launched an offensive attack. This will be a good CHR war to watch as it will be lessons for all to learn. Cox is focusing on WFLZ’s strength (its heritage) as a weakness. Heritage = Old in the CHR world.
- Flanker – A flanker attack is where you are attempting to slide past a primary competitor by nibbling at what it is they are doing. A well modeled flanker attack is Fresh FM/New York City. WLTW/New York City is seen as the older and more upper demo targeted Adult Contemporary. Fresh FM launched an attack to pull the 35-44 year olds out of the market. WLTW is stuck with the image of being 45 plus. One would think that WLTW, being the heritage station, will not be able to shake its “OLD” image. In the AC world, Heritage = Habitual Listening.
- WLTW has countered the flanker attack of Fresh FM and is working to block it by contemporizing itself and moving into a younger more focused arena. The more quickly 106.7 Lite FM/ New York City can alter its image the more quickly 102.7 Fresh FM will have its attack thwarted. The more quickly Fresh FM can solidify against Lite FM, the more dominant Fresh will be for the future. These two stations are both racing against time. Fresh-FM has to paint WLTW as ancient. They need to box-in WLTW as being for Old People.
- Guerilla – This attack is where you move into a totally different position than that of your primary competitors. The guerilla attack is where you’ve decided you’re going to do a niche format while everyone else battles for the larger shares. The challenge with the guerilla attack is that often niche formats attract niche ratings and that equals niche revenue. A niche formatted radio station may be good if you are in a 5 or 6 station cluster. A stand alone station that ventures into a niche format can only see its ratings erode. One example of that would be WNWV/Cleveland. The radio station was known as 107.3 The Wave. The station abandoned Smooth Jazz (a niche format) to move into a Triple A format (V 107.3) which is also a niche format. Niche formats do better in diary markets than they do where the People Meter exists. Guerrilla tactics are best when they are part of a larger cluster stations. They do not seem to work when left to themselves.
- There will be some who will say WBEB/Philadelphia is a niche format, because it is a standalone radio station that is owned by an individual versus a large company. WBEB is not a niche station, but rather is one of the largest and most aggressive competitor’s we’ve seen in modern day radio. If you want to see a prototypical Offensive and Defensive positioned radio station … spend some time looking at Jerry Lee’s WBEB.
Which type of warrior are you? Are you phoning-it-in and concerned with ticking things off a to-do list or are you the type of warrior who focuses on beating the competition by going to war every day? The PD Warrior is the person I’m going to support and want to have lead my radio stations. It is important to remember that the most cunning warrior plans emotionlessly and attacks emotionally.
Mike McVay is President of McVay Media, McVay Syndication and is a partner in both McVay NEW Media and Listener Driven Radio. You can learn more about McVay Media at www.mcvaymedia.com. Follow Mike on Twitter @mikemcvay or E-mail him at mike@mcvaymedia.com.
