Positive Feedback Gives Back

Bob Quick

By Bob Quick, Motor Racing Network

There is a lot of audio content out there. Tens of thousands of radio stations with even more talk show hosts and DJs. What seems like millions of podcasts. Not to mention all the hosted original content on YouTube. Plus, live chats on Clubhouse, Twitter, and Facebook.

For every “great” piece of audio content, there are hundreds of “good” examples. And for every “good” example, there are thousands of “mediocre” examples. Which leads to tens of thousands of “bad” examples.

I remember starting out on the air in the early ‘90s. I was BAD.

I mean really bad. If it wasn’t for a couple of early mentors that took me under their wing, I wouldn’t still be in this business 30+ years later.

They took me from bad to mediocre and from mediocre to good. I don’t think I ever made great, but I did learn the process and helped others to be great.

And that’s the point of this article. If you are in a position to give feedback to a podcaster, on-air host, budding YouTuber, etc., in the words of NIKE…just do it. I know we don’t have the time to critique that we once did holding positions as a program director, operations manager, or brand manager of a radio station these days. But we need to make the time. The relevancy of our industry is at stake.

The shiny new thing in advertising circles is audio. A term that has become a code word for anything that isn’t radio.

You probably can’t control your format. In many cases, you can’t even control the music selection. You have no say in how many commercials will be played each hour. But the one thing you can affect is your jocks’ on-air delivery with some feedback. And they are craving it.

I just read somewhere that most air talent haven’t been airchecked since the pandemic or even before. Why?

Listen, you can still critique distance voice trackers if you have them too. What if you sent them feedback on one or two breaks each day? How long would that take? They would get better quickly.

And if you’re a talen who isn’t getting any feedback from your boss…enlist a veteran to listen to your stuff periodically. They could be in the building or across the country. It’s so easy to share breaks with email and file-sharing services now.

(Here comes he old guy talk…) When I was starting out, a group of us used to send cassette tapes to one another to share ideas and to critique each other. That took real effort, some cash, and a trip to the post office.

You can do it all for free with a click of a mouse.

We can be better. We can hone our craft. We can be relevant. It only takes work.

Bob Quick has performed just about every job in a radio station…on-air, programming, operations, sales, and management. Currently he works with over 500 radio stations as Senior Manager, Radio Partnerships at Motor Racing Network. In his spare time Bob helps air-talent, programmers and owners of small and medium market stations through his business Quick Radio Consulting. Send him an aircheck, he’ll critique it.