Welcome to the busiest week of the year here at Barrett Sports Media. More people come to our site this week than any other during the year. People in the industry want to find out if they made our top 20 list. Listeners want to find out what the perception of their favorite (or least favorite) shows are nationally. JB and I are fielding dozens, if not hundreds of texts per day and we’re doing it all while also trying to find time to kiss hands and shake babies on radio row at the Super Bowl.
Last year was the first time I was exposed to the behind-the-scenes realities of top 20 week. So, while I did a lot of hand holding and talking people off the ledge last year, this year I am writing a column. As the week goes on and you notice your show or station didn’t perform up to your expectations in the voting, refer back to this column.
Here are (in no particular order) the ten reasons your show didn’t make the top 20.
1. YOUR MARKET DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOU
Ratings do play a large role in what local shows get noticed on a national level, but ratings aren’t how all of our top 20 voters determine who makes their list. Even if you’re stuck on a small signal with limited audience, are you doing enough to get noticed? Are you cultivating your audience through social media and other non-radio platforms?
2. YOU’RE TRYING TO BE SOMEONE YOU’RE NOT
Where do your best takes come from? How often does the voice that comes through the speakers actually come out of your mouth? You’d be surprised by how far some uncreative phonies can get in this industry simply by having the right connections. The shows and hosts that make the BSM Top 20 prove everyday that they can be compelling without having to pretend they are compelling.
3. NO ONE CAN TELL WHAT IT IS YOU DO
What is your show? Is it a string of interviews and listener phone calls? Well then, how would anyone know what it is you bring to the table?
4. YOU’RE NOT CREATIVE
There will always be room for takes and interviews in sports radio, but what else are you doing to make your content stand out? It isn’t just other people in the industry that get bored by formulaic sports radio. Listeners do too. Are you doing enough to break up the monotony of your own voice on your show? Audio, bits, and non-sports topics are all important to establishing an identity and personality that get you noticed.
5. YOU AREN’T ADVOCATING FOR YOURSELF
Any time I do a fill-in gig, I send a segment or two to a select group of friends that are programmers and hosts and ask what it is I can do better or what it is that they liked. I am always shocked by the number of people that I tell that too that think I am insane. Do you know how you make an impression with the types of people that vote for the BSM Top 20? Network! Give them a reason to be curious about what it is you do.
6. YOU DON’T VALUE PREPARATION
If you listened to as many shows across the country as I do in a given week, you would be shocked how many hosts clearly take the approach that “we’ll figure it out on the fly!”. Segments go nowhere, names of local coaches and jocks are mispronounced, worst of all, having to ask a producer why a topic or name is on the rundown. I have heard it all! You can bounce back from a bad segment, but if you find yourself constantly having to bounce back, maybe you just have a bad show.
7. WE CAN TELL YOU DON’T CARE
Maybe you’re burned out on radio in general. Maybe you’re over the market. Whatever the case, it’s clear when I’m listening to someone that doesn’t value their own show. This is a small industry and people talk to each other. If even one PD notices that you don’t care about your show, he has told a dozen others.
8. YOU AREN’T GETTING THE SUPPORT YOU NEED
Just ask anyone at an iHeart station these days. It is hard to convince a company to invest in their products. If you feel yourself struggling because the responsibilities of hosting and producing fall on you, you have to be vocal about that. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say. It will be a long, painful process, but if you want to do a better show and need some kind of support staff to make that happen, you can never shut up about it.
9. YOU’RE RUNNING THE SAME PLAYBOOK YOU WERE TEN YEARS AGO
This business is changing all the time. Hosts and PDs have to change too to stay relevant. You’ve heard that before. Those same people need to be able to change to stay interesting too. If you weren’t good enough to make the top 20 in the past and are still doing things the same way you always have, how do you expect to gain any ground?
10. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
Are you keeping up with what the most respected shows in the country are doing? Can you point to what it is they do well and what might work in your market? Check out all of the top 20s each year and invest some time in the shows that do make the list so that you can identify why they stand out.
Look, there is no definitive formula of what will get your show or station onto a BSM top 20 list. You just have to put your best foot forward every single day, but paying attention to what is happening around you certainly doesn’t hurt.
Reach out and say hello. Make sure people in the industry know your name. Plug in for yourself and know the names and contact info of the people that are having success. You may not want to copy bits or takes, but if you can recognize the qualities and strategies that make those shows and stations succeed and bring them into the studio with you, it can be a valuable tool for improving your product and that improvement being noticed across the industry.
Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.
You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.
