For this week’s Programming To Win, Robby Bridges looks back to his childhood and his favorite radio station growing up: PRO-FM in Rhode Island. Bridges spoke to some of the men behind the station to see what lessons we can learn today from their work.
Robby Bridges
By Robby Bridges
I was having lunch awhile back with my friend Kelly Myers (who, by the way, is one of the best CHR jocks on the planet and midday star at Kiss in Charlotte, NC) and we got on the topic of why we got into radio. We, like so very many in radio, never had childhood dreams of being doctors, firemen, athletes…we could only truly ever imagine ourselves on the air as radio personalities. We both talked about playing DJ in our rooms and recording ourselves doing mock shows and about how hearing exciting stations/jocks as grade schoolers made an impression in forming what we do today as radio professionals. Then I recalled that while I’d always been a music nerd, my earliest memory of wanting to be a “disc-jockey” was when I was about 8 years old and went to a now defunct old time amusement park on Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay, Rocky Point, to see a show. On the midway before the concert, I remember being in awe of The Giant PRO-FM Boom Box; picture a boom box the size of tractor trailer where the cassette deck opened as a stage for the air talent “PRO-FM’s Tan Man and Todd-Zilla” and the huge PRO-FM logo over head. I was blown away by this and it made a lasting impression on me, not only as a larger than life marketing/promotional idea but the thrill of the crowd reacting to it. As I told Kelly this, she laughed a bit and I said “ha, sorry I get carried away talking about how that station helped shaped my idea of great radio, I LOVED it!” “I can tell, I’ve never seen someone’s eyes sparkle talking about something like yours just did there!” she said.
I bring all this up because I believe it is paramount we as an industry work hard to create memorable and thrilling promotions, events, on air benchmarks and contesting that excites young kids exposed to it the way it did me as we combat the vast universe of new media to drive passion for radio content. How do we do it? Perhaps it’s as simple as reaching back into our minds to remember what got each of us pumped listening to our hometown station as young kids. Let me share with you further some ideas that still have an impact on what I do today from listening to PRO-FM as a kid and perhaps that will help spark memories for all of us.
The man who launched PRO-FM in the summer of 1974 is now one of the nation’s premiere consultants having laid the foundation for success that the station has had since, Gary Berkowitz. Here’s what he said when I asked him what PRO magic ought to be apart of every station “What made PRO-FM special? I could write a book about it but it was a combination of a lot of things. Most of all it was special thanks to the young group of guys who loved radio and wanted to make PRO-FM the best sounding radio station in the world! We had no budget, not the greatest studios and virtually no resources. What we had was a pretty good signal and the will to build a winning radio station. I will always remember my GM, Warren Potash looking at me and saying “Go Get Em” and get em we did. I always wanted PRO-FM to sound major market. We always had the best Pams, TM and finally Jam jingles. We had reverb when nobody else did thanks to our great chief engineer Eddie Policastri. Our talent made it sizzle. Since we had no promotion budget, we had to be creative and make things happen. It was that attitude that created some greats like Cash Call, The Principal of the Year Elections, The PRO-FM Pumpkin Store with free pumpkins on Halloween, The 12 Days of Christmas (with all prizes from Warren Jewelers), Santa Patrol on Christmas Eve, T-Shirt and Rock Night with AC-DC. It was the right time, the right place and the right group of people that made Musicradio PRO-FM the most special place I’ve ever had the chance to work!” Thanks Gary! Here’s what I think we take away from that statement:
· Put together a staff of hungry talent (and don’t be afraid to look for young/fresh talent and mold to the station’s needs); make sure each one brings a unique and needed asset to the team
· Create an atmosphere in the building striving for excellence and passion for the product (sometimes this is lost when we are all wearing 9 hats in today’s marketplace)
· Memorable benchmarks and promotions; barter, trade, co-op if need be! Social networking and on demand content is paramount, but radio does what no new media can; it must be a strong local presence. If something is happening in town, be there; holidays come around, be apart of them with the audience; a hot concert is coming, align with it. Budgets are tight and were in back in the day too, creativity and networking with resources in the building and the marketplace can deliver surprising results.
Don’t underestimate how important a trademark audio chain can be, especially for downloadable and streaming content.
There are some nuts and bolt fundamentals to building a heritage brand as Gary did; once a station is successful, how do you grow it? I asked the man who was OM at PRO in the 1980s, Tom Cuddy (who went on to ABC Radio Networks and then many years as VP of Programming for ABC’s WPLJ New York) He told me he thought: ”
Back in the 80s the secret sauce which contributed to PRO-FM’s success in my estimation was:
1. The music was truly mass appeal. PRO-FM wasn’t a Top 40 that leaned in any one direction.
2. The jocks were given the freedom to showcase their personalities.
3. We tried to give away prizes they could only win by listening. . .like a glove autographed by Michael Jackson.
· Finesse that log and be sure of the music focus of the station; even if you’re the only game in town in your format, you’re up against a deluge of media and “there always should be a better song” on your station
· Listeners love content and they love air personalities WHEN they provide appealing, relatable breaks…listeners respond to benchmarks and timetables being set by personalities…ask talent to speak to the audience this way and you’ll rarely see a PPM dip during a talk break
Cash is great, cars are cool…but they are almost passe; further, whose got budget at a local level outside perhaps of the top 5 markets to pull those kind of contests off? But providing listeners with format specific “experiences they can’t buy” will create a deeper emotional bond and a bigger payoff in listening occasions, especially among heavy users aka P1s.
As we look toward the fall book, all good bullet points to check off as we assess where our stations are positioned. Think back to the amazing contest, promotion, on air feature, liner copy you remember from the station YOU grew up with. No doubt it created that sort of passion in you PRO did for me and for thousands of other kids who enjoyed it but aren’t in radio…they made up the massive cume (and in many cases still do!) I’d just end by adding in time I spent as the evening jock at PRO, it was one of those rare stations that was special; you knew as a talent you were lucky to be there and what went over the air was going to matter because the market appreciated and respected what the station meant…if nothing else comes from this trip down memory lane its that terrestrial commercial radio as a medium can do a better job of making itself relevant and driving passion for the audience.
Robby Bridges is host of the Ride Home Show on WEBE-FM Bridgeport, CT. He is also President of BBOR Productions, developing and marketing syndication, music and production pieces nationally. Previously Bridges has worked in various capacities at WCTK/Providence, Z100/New York, Q102/Philadelphia, WODS and Mix 98.5/Boston and elsewhere in New England. Robby can be reached at 203-333-9108 or bridges@bborproductions.com
