I’ll be the first to admit I am a sucker for a good headline. That’s why a recent article in Hypebot caught my attention with this zinger — Boring Bands Don’t Get Booked.
The premise of the article by Charlie Recksieck is obvious from the headline. What I didn’t expect was to find a great deal of advice that, with minor adjustments, applies directly to radio stations — especially gold-based formats that don’t have new music to lean on.
Of course, winning listeners starts with playing the right music. But for the sake of this article, let’s assume you are playing a tightly rotated library of the biggest hits at your Classic Rock or Hits station. With that out of the way, let’s look at some suggestions for how bands can be more compelling that also apply to the listener experience on your station.
Let’s start with this declaration from the article: “Most bands don’t fail to take off because they are bad. They fail because nothing about the experience gives audiences a reason to come back.” If you replace bands with radio stations and consider that occasions of listening are what drive ratings in PPM and diary, this is as spot-on for radio as it is for artists.
So, let’s look at some of the areas where bands and radio stations can focus to grow repeating ticket sales and listening occasions.
Relating to the Audience
I absolutely love this quote: “don’t be a singer, be a frontman.” It’s the live music equivalent of “don’t be a DJ, be a talent.” And an important part of that challenge, as the article points out, is to remember that there is more than one way to do it.
For bands, it can be crazy antics, dancing, and climbing up the stage rigging. But relating to the audience can also mean sharing vulnerability, cultivating the ability to tell a great story, or adding depth to a song in any number of other ways.
In radio, many on-air talents think that being challenged to be a host — not a DJ — means being funny. That does work, but it’s not for everybody. Successful hosts can cultivate any number of styles, including vulnerability and storytelling, as ways to get the audience to come back to their show regularly.
The real key to all of this, though, is just to do something. What we know doesn’t work is back-selling and reading liner cards. That is the radio equivalent of being a boring band.
Stagecraft
The author of the article played in a band called The Bigfellas who cooked grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs on stage. While that’s a little — pardon the pun — cheesy, it is unique and hammers home the point that being known for doing something creative with your presentation is a powerful way to build attention and repeat ticket sales.
For Classic Rock, the simplest example is creating features that explore the music in ways that go beyond the standard playlist. Creating a controlled environment where you can play a song that isn’t a normal part of the rotation is akin to cooking a hot dog on stage. It will hopefully get the listener’s attention and make them want to come back to hear what else is happening on your station.
Visual Identity
While this may be more obvious for bands than for radio stations, the article talks extensively about developing a strong visual identity. On stage, that involves the right wardrobe and much more.
For radio stations, it means looking across all your touchpoints online to make sure they are not only consistent but that they convey your brand’s attitude. Look to see if the presentation of your app and website conveys the same sensibility and, more importantly, whether it’s the image you want listeners to see. Take stock of a week or a month’s worth of social posts and consider the visual elements you’ve served up to the audience. Make sure they are not only brand appropriate but also brand enhancing.
Three Questions Worth Answering
Let me leave you with three questions, modified for radio of course, that the article suggests that bands consider:
- Why should listeners come back to your station more than once?
- What makes your station unique?
- Why should the listener care about your station?
If you can’t answer these questions, it’s probably a good time to do some soul-searching. If you do have answers, think about how you can amplify those qualities to propel your station to new heights.
For my part, I’m going to go grab a hot dog that wasn’t cooked by a band.
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Mike Stern is a Classic Rock columnist and Features writer for Barrett Media. He has been with Jacobs Media consulting stations in the Classic Rock, Rock, Alternative and AAA world for more than a decade. Prior to that he programmed stations in Chicago, Detroit, Denver Las Vegas and other markets. He also worked as News/Talk Editor for Radio and Records, wrote about Top 40 Radio for Billboard Magazine and had his own radio talent coaching business called Talent Mechanic.
