We’re all still settling in to the New Year, and for our second Programming To Win column of 2012, Pat Welsh looks ahead to get ready and make sure this is a great year. Welsh suggests making realistic goals for both yourself and your radio station, freshening up your on-air presentation and more.
By Pat Welsh
Pat Welsh
A few weeks ago I wrote about trends for 2012 in this space. For this column it’s back to basics with a checklist of things to do to prepare for a successful 2012. Whether you’re formally asked to do a yearly plan for 2012 or not, it’s a good idea to go through an exercise like this to get ready for what comes next. We’re all well aware that there’s a lot that’s out of our control, but we should be ready for those things that are within our power to change and direct. Here’s my list:
Don’t overdo the resolutions – I’m not a fan of New Year’s resolutions. My belief is that many people set themselves up for failure by setting a bunch of goals to change things about themselves…then they fall off the wagon in a couple of weeks. Instead, if you like using the beginning of the year to try to do a re-set on things, keep it simple. Assess your strengths and weaknesses and pick one area that you believe you’re weak in that you would like to improve. Find a few basic things you can do so that you can say you’re better at the end of the year. You don’t have to try to master a bunch of new things; you just want to improve a little, or learn a little more. Then, if you find that you really get into something, or it becomes a big priority from above, you’ll have a head start on it.
Set goals for your own performance – Besides the obvious – station ratings goals – broaden the concept to include things where you can affect positive change on the station. Include ways to help boost revenue, or find out more about what technologies can drive your digital initiatives. These are investments in your own future.
Set goals for the station – Again, you’re probably already working from ratings goals and you may even receive bonuses based on them. Even if ratings goals aren’t part of your compensation, you should set them for yourself. Another critical area is to establish goals for online (including social media) and mobile growth for the station. Many stations and companies are setting goals in these areas. And, if not, you’ll be ahead of the game by working out thresholds to meet for page views, unique users, Facebook Likes, Twitter followers, etc.
Present realistic expectations to your staff – The New Year means new goals and possibly new responsibilities for everyone. Make sure your staff is clear on what you expect of them in terms of ratings; general on-air execution and performance; social media engagement; and other areas. Set some goals for them and meet to discuss these goals. Also have these people repeat back to you what you’ve said. Often, people don’t interpret what you’ve told them the same way you do. Listen to what they say back to you and make sure that the message delivered is the same as the message received.
Freshen your music – Unfortunately, for most radio stations, music research is just not in the cards (or budget) any more. But there are other steps you can take. One simple idea is to set up a platooning system where you move some songs in and out of rotation on an ongoing basis. That helps create some automatic freshening.
To get a more comprehensive freshening, utilize corporate resources from similarly formatted stations. It’s not the same as having local research, but it beats sitting back and doing nothing. Of course, there are also some excellent online monitoring services to help you get other perspectives. One thing I recommend steering away from is using national format lists for freshening. Instead, create a custom list of a number of similar and successful stations rather than including every station in your format. Use this information as a guide to track overall trends, or to get a few ideas for titles that you may not have considered. You can’t use it to change everything about your music, but it’ll give you a few ideas to mix it up.
Freshen your imaging – Someone just mentioned a great line to me, “Write with your pen, not with Pro Tools.” Indeed, great imaging is all about the writing, not the production. But writing great stuff and keeping it fresh doesn’t have to overwhelm you. In fact, if creativity isn’t really your thing, find other people who can help. Steal ideas from other stations. Find people in other departments – as well as among your away-from-work friends – who can help you brainstorm some ideas. Listen to the audience too. They often come up with great comments, and they have the added benefit of being in the language of real people rather than ad agency copy.Some people take creative to mean funny. That’s just one facet of it. Great writing can evoke lots of reactions: pride, poignancy, suspense, satisfaction, even anger. When you search for ideas, look for ways you can create campaigns that feature variations on a theme rather than having to make each piece be a stand-alone masterpiece. Also, keep lists of uncompleted ideas and refer back to them periodically. You’d be surprised how often a half-baked idea one month can become a great one a few months later.
Think like your boss – Here’s one resolution that’s worth making. It means learning to think as if you were the GM, cluster PD or format captain, and considering issues and problems from his/her perspective. This can be good for your long-term career, as well as your short-term mental health. If you can think like your boss, you may anticipate what the priorities will be, and you’ll be better prepared for requests from above.
As I said at the beginning, this isn’t about making New Year’s resolutions. Rather, it’s preparation. In fact, you can think of it as a visualization exercise: what athletes try to do to prepare for success – and how to handle adversity.Pat Welsh, Senior Vice President/Digital Content, Pollack Media Group, can be reached at 310 459-8556, fax: 310-454-5046, or at pat@pollackmedia.com.
