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April 3, 2020
How is your station best serving your community during the Coronavirus Pandemic to keep them informed and help them cope?
Erik Bradley, B96: Running hourly newscasts from our sister station WBBM-AM, started a hotline for listeners to call in to shout out folks who are doing good in the community, highlighting those on the front lines fighting the virus and helping protect our community, among other things. Java Joel, WAKS: We’ve been pumpin’ our socials (especially IG) with a mix of news/info/data and fun “diversions”. On the air we are saluting the “essential workers”, including health care, food service/delivery, store clerks. We’ve started an Instagram Live series called “Social KISS-tance” – Mini IG Live broadcasts highlighting new artists on the come up. We’ll chat, they’ll perform and we’ll discuss how they’re coping in our new world. Big emphasis on local, now more than ever!
Dom Theodore, Radio Animal Media Strategies: I I’ve been spending a lot of time with PD’s and morning shows on the need to balance information and entertainment during this challenging time. We’ve been re-thinking content through the lens of how our audience is actually using radio right now, and how their lives have changed. Everything from giving away home-delivered family meals to re-branding cash giveaways as more heartfelt “helping to pay people’s bills” instead of the typical hype contesting.
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Jammer, WEZB: We’re doing QuaranTunes. Songs that have been in quarantine for awhile that we are not unlocking. Lots of “Oh Wow!” records.
Bob Patrick, WXLK: We’ve got a teacher hotline set-up so teachers can reach out to their students via audio messages on the air. We’re in the midst of setting up a few Class of 2020 celebrations as well once things get back to normal. We’ve set our our texting system so they can get info straight from the CDC and we’ve been very busy keeping our socials up to date with any new developments. For some musical fun, we’ve been sprinkling in a few “Oh S**t” songs throughout the day. Sassy: Our mayor has shut down pretty much everything so we continue to report the businesses that are still open and we are constantly reminding people where they can order take-out for themselves and people in need. We have people constantly call in and tell us how they are dealing with the situation with kids at home and where the best gas prices are in town and their favorite take-out places. People are just enjoying hearing their community members telling them how they are coping with all of these new challenges out there and sharing experiences.
Josh Wolff, WAEB: We’re doing hourly newscasts with the latest updates. But most of all we’re trying to provide an escape for our listeners and inject some fun and games into their lives. We’re currently doing a two-week Virtual Easter-egg Hunt contest on our website for a chance for listeners to win prizes. Each day the Easter Bunny is on a different air personality’s page. We’re also doing a WTQ (What The Quarantine) photo contest and we’re asking listeners to submit pictures of themselves as they are practicing self-quarantining and social distancing habits. One person at the end of the contest will win prizes. We really are opting for the lighter side as we continue to report all the updates. Chris Michaels, FM100: Now with more people working from home, we are giving away Amazon Echo Dot Devices to help listeners Stay Connected while working from home. We are updating listeners every hour around the clock with COVID-19 updates on the air, and on our website as well. Mase, CD1025: We are actually giving away free advertising to a lot of the smaller, local businesses that are still open. Max Volume, KOZZ: By getting out as much useful information as possible. Every air shift. In my career, there have been many times that you have to transition from “entertainer” to news anchor. |
Buster Satterfield, Q102: We’re doing “Teachers Love Philly” Philly needs its local teaching staff now more than ever! We are encouraging teachers to submit 1 minute videos (lesson plans or words of wisdom) through our website to help motivate parents that have had to become home teachers. Mike “OD” O’Donnell, WKRZ: We’re communicating with people as often as we can via technology platforms. On my FM’s we’re running newsbreaks every hour and focusing on what’s going on locally in the counties around us. We’re importing our News stations pages on all our cluster websites. On our Facebook pages I created an initiative called Helping Hand which uses the power of all of our likes on all of our pages. People are sharing information, or if people want to volunteer to help others in need, and it’s been a great way for people to connect within our communities. On KRZ’s page we received 75,000 likes and FROGGY received over 50,000 to date. Jagger, WKSS: We partner with our ABC affiliate and we give hourly Connecticut Coronavirus reports. So there’s always an updated news report on all of our stations in the cluster. This way our personalities don’t have to overload the senses with news all the time and we can take the listeners back into our world of music and providing an escape from the daily grind of this thing. We still talk about what’s happening on a more positive note and let the hourly reports handle the hardcore stuff. We also have our Community Access building Renee DiNino and she is our PSA Director for all our stations and she’s been doing a great job of providing content for all the stations on the websites and that’s where all our local touches are with local politicians and small business, etc.
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Next Week’s Question Of The Week:
With everyone sequestered at home these days, which celebrities from any of the entertainment, music and/or sports fields would you enjoy as neighbors?
e-Mail your responses to: jodorisio@deanemediasolutions.com or bburke@deanemediasolutions.com