It’s very easy for a sports radio Program Director to spend 99% of their time at the radio station. There is always something to work on there: imaging, coaching, schedules, phone calls, emails and meetings. That makes it really easy for a PD to essentially “live” at the radio station. But if you really want to grow as a PD and help boost the growth of the station, you need to get out of the office. Here are some very productive ways to spend your time out of the office.
Monitoring your station and the rest of the market
At the radio station, it is really challenging to monitor your station and especially hard to monitor other stations. With people coming in and out of your office, it is exceptionally hard to ever hear a complete segment and staff tend to lose their mind if you are listening to a different station when they walk into your office.
Have a plan for your day out of the office. First, where are you going to listen? When I worked in Kansas City we had trade with a hotel. It was a great place to get away and monitor radio stations. If your station has trade at a hotel or a business office with privacy or a conference room, these are all great places to get your monitoring done.
Once you know where you are going to be, come up with a listening schedule of what you want to listen to that day. Something like this:
7-730am: Listen to your morning show
730-8am: Listen to other sports station’s morning show
8-830am: Listen to top M25-54 morning show (could be Rock, News/Talk, Country)
830-9am: Listen to top 6+ morning show (could be Hot AC, Top 40, N/T, Country, Rock, Urban)
Continuing that schedule on and consistently taking notes. What things did your station do that you really liked? What things bored you about your station? What is your direct sports competition doing to try to take your listeners? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
You may even learn more by listening to the successful non-sports stations in the market. What are some fun bits they do? How do they incorporate listeners, callers, and social media? What do they do to keep you listening through the commercial breaks? Is there a way they use production and imaging that you could incorporate into your station or shows?
Your staff should not know that you are monitoring. Let them know that you’re out of the office at meetings all day or are taking the day off. You don’t want them changing how they operate because they know you are monitoring their shows. I have always found this a productive and idea-producing exercise.
To pay-off the monitoring, write up a piece about your station’s shows and the other shows you listened to. Share this with your teams in person and discuss it with them. Much better than just passing your notes out. It’s a great way to take what you learned from a full day of monitoring and help your station evolve and improve.
Spend the day with your Play by Play team
Often times a radio station that originates play-by-play feels like two radio stations–a sports talk station and a play-by-play station. Since most play-by-play (minus the Cubs) happens at night and away from the station, the group that works hard to create great broadcasts doesn’t get the same attention as the sports talk hosts and producers.
Just your presence shows the play-by-play team that they are all important to your radio station. Ask questions, too. This will show your genuine interest and curiosity. You are a better PD when you really understand everyone’s job, the challenges they face and the talents they bring to the position.
Meet with Local Teams
A day out of the office is a great way to meet with local teams with no agenda. You meet just to grow the relationship. Do more listening than talking and meet them at their office or a neutral site like a restaurant. Depending on your sports market you could be meeting with professional team communications directors, GMs, Owners, or Marketing Directors. If you are in a big collegiate sports market you would want to meet with the Athletic Director, important coaches and especially the media relations director.
You are there to get honest, off-the-record feedback about your radio station from the teams you cover. It doesn’t mean you will agree with their feedback or change your programming, but it is really important to have those conversations on a regular basis. This way you’re not only calling when you need something from them.
Speak to groups about your radio station
You can never go wrong making connections within your community. Groups are always looking for speakers of note and what better place to talk about your sports radio station. You can find very sports-centric groups like a local Quarterback Club or gathering of a team’s fan club. Additionally, don’t be afraid to branch out and speak to local business groups like the Chamber of Commerce or local trade associations.
If your city is a big union town like Chicago or Pittsburgh, talk to the Teamsters or the local AFL-CIO. It may be smart to speak at these meetings and bring along your local sales manager. This way, the important members meet the programming and sales leaders of your radio station. This can open doors for programming opportunities, sales opportunities, or both!
Conclusion
You really can’t go wrong spending productive time away from the radio station. You can come up with new ideas and tweaks by monitoring your station and other strong stations in the market. Spending the day with your play-by-play team will make them feel special and help you learn the ins and outs of their daily life. Meeting with local teams is a great way to build a relationship that serves you and the radio station no matter how the team is faring or how tough your hosts are on that team. Finally, when you meet with community groups you endear your station to community members and unearth new listeners and sponsors in the process.
So give it a shot. You’ll build your profile outside of the radio station, strengthen your public speaking skills while making new connections. Now go do it!
Matt Fishman is a former columnist for BSM. The current PD of ESPN Cleveland has a lengthy resume in sports radio programming. His career stops include SiriusXM, 670 The Score in Chicago, and 610 Sports in Kansas City. You can follow him on Twitter @FatMishman20 or you can email him at FishmanSolutions@gmail.com.
