Who doesn’t love a good self-help book? We all face our own personal issues with how to get through the day-to-day of life. Sometimes picking up a good book, putting on a motivational song, or reading a positive passage from time to time can lift spirits and spark the energy to keep going. When it comes to radio, I love to read how programmers motivate working talent to get through the struggles of the industry.
I came across a posting on my feed the other day which read, “The Motivation Tactics That Actually Work For Radio’s Top PDs.” I thought this would be some exciting stuff—real-time examples of how programmers get in the battle with their talent to win the day and strive for greatness.
What I left the posting with was a shrug of the shoulders and a blank stare. Have radio programmers given up on how to motivate their own talent?
In the posting, there were three submissions from programmers in which they described their best strategies for keeping teams motivated. The online post surmised that fewer meetings and more birthdays would do the trick.
Yes, more birthdays.
More Questions Than Answers
The first submission talked about being supportive—showing your support as a programmer in the talent’s drive to be successful in any way, while providing additional perspective and the occasional guardrails.
Let’s ask a question regarding this submission. Isn’t the job of the programmer to always be supportive of the talent who work under you? When did supporting your employees become a “strategy” instead of “the role of your position”? Of course you’re going to be supportive. It’s the job, it’s the role, and it should be the minimal expectation of the talent to expect that from your program director.
The second submission talked about being collaborative with new idea generation.
I like where this is going already.
The submission talked about always saying yes to make those ideas a reality. It could be on-air, an event, or a promotional idea to drive engagement and audience. Creating an environment that empowers and supports (there’s that word again) the air staff and the freedom to be who they are and to perform.
While collaborating with talent on idea generation is key, always saying yes is not the answer. This isn’t a square peg, square hole type of situation. Not every idea is a great idea. In my experience, most of the talent have ideas that benefit the talent first, station second. The job of the programmer is to think station first, talent second.
To simply “always say yes” is a lie. You can’t, as a programmer, say yes to every idea your talent brings you. The key is finding avenues to not say yes or no, but to work through ideas to where it benefits both talent and station.
The third submission is my personal favorite because I’ve been in the rooms for both the planning and execution of “internal celebrations.”
The programmer explains how always making sure you have contests and events going on with the radio station helps. Letting the on-air talent experiment with content and always reminding them of the impact the station has on their community.
Here’s the line: “Of course, always celebrating birthdays and special events in-house.”
Working in a building for over 20 years, I can’t tell you how many people wish they didn’t have to come into work on their birthday because of the Office Space-like feel a birthday has in-house. Sure, it’s fun to celebrate your teammate, but nothing says celebrate like “Hey, you’re a year older.”
I’d love to know as well how making sure you have on-air contesting motivates your on-air staff. Most on-air contesting is treated like throwaways on-air or pre-recorded bumpers or promos to ramp up excitement for the audience. Plus, if you have contests and events going on all the time, does your talent even have time to experiment with the content? Do you want sponsored or promotional content being experimented with when clients have pre-determined expectations?
Knowing What Talent Want
Call me old-fashioned, but these submissions leave me with more questions than lessons learned. Being supportive isn’t a strategy, and neither is “always” saying yes. Nor is the ability to have contesting and events that don’t come back to the on-air talent.
None of these speak to the true stresses of talent around the country that lead to lack of motivation. Let’s dive into some real-time feedback from on-air talent.
Fred Jacobs’ most recent on-air talent questionnaire survey revealed what really matters to talent.
On-air talent want better work/life balance because the average air talent is wearing three hats already, with a third saying they’re wearing four or more.
Is being supportive of an on-air talent taking on another job role going to motivate them to do great work?
The average number of radio stations that on-air talent is providing content for is three, with 28% providing content for three or more stations currently.
When a talent is being tasked to provide multiple stations with multiple things, is a programmer honestly always “saying yes” to ideas? Is that a strategy?
Forty-two percent of those surveyed say they are now in debt or struggling financially, with 78% worried about layoffs with the station or company they work for. Nearly half of all surveyed have taken on a second (or third) job.
The worst metric of all: 83% of those surveyed feel like they are being taken for granted.
I guess celebrating birthdays isn’t working much anymore.
The simple fact is people are a forgotten metric in how radio operates currently. Programmers are no longer just down the hall; they’re being asked to operate stations not just down the hall but in another state. It’s hard to delegate time for even the average programmer to motivate talent anymore because of the duties and expectations now expected with the role.
There’s a simple way to motivate talent: keep them.
Show how much they are appreciated for their skill of being an entertainer by showing effort to address their stresses. Layoffs are now a norm. They have been, and unfortunately will continue to be.
Be open to allowing more work/life balance. Find avenues to get your sales team in a room with your talent, instead of on client calls for national campaigns that have no touch on your local talent. Anytime you can spring for a free meal for a family instead of your listeners—it works.
Showing empathy brings the human-to-human connection to the forefront. You’ll be surprised how creative and motivated people get with a sense of understanding, instead of another meeting or a cheap cake.
That’s a strategy that works.
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John Mamola is Barrett Media’s sports editor and daily sports columnist. He brings over two decades of experience (Chicago, Tampa/St Petersburg) in the broadcast industry with expertise in brand management, sales, promotions, producing, imaging, hosting, talent coaching, talent development, web development, social media strategy and design, video production, creative writing, partnership building, communication/networking with a long track record of growth and success. He is a five-time recognized top 20 program director in a major market via Barrett Medi’s Top 20 series and has been honored internally multiple times as station/brand of the year (Tampa, FL) and employee of the month (Tampa, FL) by iHeartMedia. Connect with John by email at John@BarrettMedia.com.
