Ask any program director in any format their advice for choosing great content, and it is a safe bet you will hear these three words: Play the hits.
The message is pretty clear. Give the people what they want. Make them comfortable with what we are doing here. That is how you turn listeners into fans.
For DJs and personalities on music stations, playing the hits can be tiresome. Take it from someone that spent 18 years in rock radio. There is no variety to the hits. If the playlist says to play “Seven Nation Army,” brother, you’re playing “Seven Nation Army”.
Are there better songs than “Seven Nation Army”? Sure. Are there better White Stripes’ songs than “Seven Nation Army”? Absolutely. But the masses know and love “Seven Nation Army,” so that is what you’re gonna play.
Hits in sports radio are topics. The Monday after the first full weekend of NFL action comes with an expectation that you are going to be talking about the biggest stories from the game with the most local relevance. There is no mandate on what you are going to say. Playing the hits on music radio is tiring because it is always the same song. Playing the hits on sports talk radio should be a fun challenge that forces you to go deep and find new, interesting angles to explore the biggest story of the day.
Q Myers programs Lotus’s sports stations in Las Vegas. He also came from a music format. He was a little bit more enthusiastic about playing the hits than I was in my music days. That has helped guide how he talks to talent about why we keep going back to the top stories of the day.
“Especially to me with my music background, I know it’s all about the hits,” Q told me. “What is the hot topic? What is important in my market and how many ways can you talk about it to keep it fresh? I look at is an ‘A’ record. How can I play this ‘A’ record but still make it sound hot and fresh? How creative can I get to allow my audience to embrace it like it’s brand new?”
“I want the host to hit the big topics every 40 minutes. We are competing with too many audio sources that I don’t want the talent ever more than 40 minutes from a hit,” Gregg Henson, program director of 910 The Fan in Richmond told me. “We are moving more and more to preparing a one-hour show and repeating it every hour. Nobody is listening for three or four hours. The presentation should vary per hour but the content shouldn’t.”
For Gregg, those big topics will always lean towards the Washington Football Team and Virginia’s college football and basketball teams. News and speculation about those teams are the lifeblood of Richmond sports fans.
Steven Spector disagrees. He programs 610 Sports in Kansas City and told me that he hopes his hosts can recognize times there may not be a hit to play.
“A Monday after the Chiefs comeback to beat the Browns requires playing the hits but it doesn’t mean that every NFL Monday is the same,” he told me in an email. “On the days when there is not a 1a story, then you need to make people laugh. Entertain them. And if you keep the pace moving, you’ll get to the stories and opinions people want to hear.”
There are all kinds of exercises for taking those hit topics and mining them for content. Sports radio’s go-to is Bruce Gilbert’s topic tree, but there are other options. Have you ever seen Steve Reynolds’ wheel of content? Are you a list maker? Maybe you follow a pattern that forces you to change things up. You give your thoughts the first time the topic comes up, then you go to a guest, then you take phone calls.
No right or wrong answers exist. This is purely about preference.
Spector says he doesn’t care which tool his hosts and producers use. What is more important is that they know they are expected to recognize when a “1a story” exists and get the most mileage they can out of it.
“I think if you set a general philosophy for the radio station when it comes to content, then it’s known before the day starts and before show prep starts. Then it’s about daily/weekly check-ins with your guys to make sure they’re following the philosophy. Generally speaking, I believe the talent & producers know when there are ‘those days’ where you don’t stray from 1a.”
Myers thinks about the hits in a number of different ways. Sure, he wants his team talking about the Raiders today. He wants them talking about the Raiders a lot, but he told me that a story doesn’t have to happen in Las Vegas in order for it to be a hit with a Las Vegas audience.
“That’s a question I always want my team to be thinking. If something happened like a legendary player or coach dies for example, do we have someone locally who played for or with or against them that can add a unique perspective? I always try to bring our national stories and give them a local feel, so it means more to our audience.”
The hits matter. As a host or producer, it is understandable that talking about the same thing for an entire show or an entire week can be boring. That is why it is on you to make sure you aren’t stuck on a single angle or detail of a story.
Is that on the host and the producer? Ultimately yes, but just like Spector, Gregg Henson believes that motivation comes from the top. A staff will only place as much value in playing the hits as a programmer does. That is why he wants to see the show prep being done and how it shakes out.
“As a PD, the best way to ensure that a host is hitting the A topics is to the set expectation in advance and make sure the show sheet matches the mission,” he says.
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.
