Things are going pretty well with me. You? Actually, I’m not particularly interested in how you’re doing but thought I’d be polite. You see, I’m feeling my proverbial oats a little bit. A lot of things we’ve been trying to map out with our radio show over the last year are starting to come off the map and move into reality.
We’ve been doing more remotes, throwing a dart at a map, and going to that town to do a whole show. Plus, we finally found a TV partner that seems to “get it” and not only work with us but also let us do things our way.
It’s been fun, validating, and informative.
That information, by the way, is not all good.
From all the interactions over the last month or so, I’ve received a lot of direct feedback. Much of it is the usual: Love the show, hate the show, why did you have GUY A on but not GUY B etc…
I like hearing the good and the bad, truly, but one thing was mentioned to me several times, and it has alarm bells ringing in my head.
“Too many commercials”.
“I was in the car for 10 minutes and heard you for 30 seconds”.
“Too many ads; I changed the channel”.
“I like you guys, but if I hear one more erectile dysfunction ad, I might go hard right off a bridge”.
Don’t worry, he meant it as a metaphor. I think.
After the third or fourth similar mention, I started paying more attention to talk time and the ads.
Conclusion: There is no doubt talk time is tighter than it was even three years ago.
A lot of ads in your radio show can mean a lot of things. It can mean the show is doing well, and a lot of people want to advertise with you. It can also mean that ad rates are lower, and they need to sell more ads to make the same amount of money.
The latter is troubling.
I thought about this quite a bit, and when I went to that sales meeting I talked about last week, I came in with an idea. It’s not a new one, and I think a lot of markets may do this for some segments; but for some reason, we don’t.
And we need to.
Find whole-hour sponsors. Make a bunch of mentions, even a minute read here or there. Whatever they need.
Heck, I could even settle for 30-minute sponsorships, but one full hour would be ideal.
I may be naïve, but if you could cut out a chunk of radio commercials, and I get my talk time back, everyone’s a winner.
I’d be so into the sponsor that my pleas for you to patronize the business would be passionate, authentic, and convincing. I promise!
“I LOVE RotoRooter – not just because they sponsor this hour but also because they unclogged my drain in 20 minutes!”
The ED stuff would be rough, but you know what? If it allows the radio show to breathe and thrive — flow, if you will — even that might be worth it.
If you do this in your market, I want to know about it. If you don’t do it and also are worried about diminished talk time, stay tuned!
The truth is that it’s not about ego. If people tune into your show because they like it – or like you and your team — I promise you they don’t like it enough to sit through four minutes of spots for 30 seconds of you, right into 4 minutes of spots, right into news, weather, and traffic.
That’s just brutal, especially if you are only in the car for 20 minutes or so. It would just feel like wasted time, and I am afraid some people already feel that way.
It might make your radio job easier, but it also makes it way less secure.
Brian Shactman is a weekly columnist for Barrett News Radio. In addition to writing for BNM, Brian can be heard weekday mornings in Hartford, CT on 1080 WTIC hosting the popular morning program ‘Brian & Company’. During his career, Brian has worked for ESPN, CNBC, MSNBC, and local TV channels in Connecticut and Massachusetts. You can find him on Twitter @bshactman.
