As a radio group, we gnash our collective teeth over the hurdles we face to recruit emerging talent to our brands. Years march on and the brightest among us offer avenues to attract talent to legacy radio.
It’s not that we are waving a white flag. We keep plenty of lines in the waters. This October in New York City, The National Association of Broadcasters will again have open arms to new talent in several facets of broadcast to include:
- How to Attract New Broadcast Engineering Talent: The toughest position to recruit as contemporary minds wired like engineers are coding video games or jockeying microchips and not running XLR cables from a studio board to a microphone.
- Broadcast Content Summit: Free for students and recent grads. At the NAB Show in New York for content creators, programmers, aspiring broadcast professionals.
- Unlocking Your Next Generation Recruiting Potential: Also part of the Broadcast Content Summit about how to recruit younger / newer talent.
Also proudly carrying the contemporary talent recruiting torch is Mentoring Women in Radio (MWR) which supports, develop, and retain on-air and programming females working in radio through:
- One-On-One Mentoring: connecting programming, talent and leaders mentors with other women starting their broadcast journey.
- Workshops & Seminars: developing on-air skills, strategic big-picture thinking, digital platform integration and leadership development.
- Networking: Access to decision-makers and peers who also mentor while opening doors to next opportunities.
Then there’s Sam Alex’s Camp Broadcast, a hands-on workshop developed by radio star Sam Alex for people interested in broadcasting, hosting, podcasting, YouTube and entertainment reporting. Launched during COVID, initially as a virtual camp for high school students, college students, recent graduates or anyone interested in media.
Here is a sampling of what Sam offers during Camp Broadcast:
- Daily Expert Speakers: guest instructors active in broadcast teaching their wheelhouse skill on unique, specific topics.
- Hands-On Practice: bootcampers produce tangible work walking away with a professional demo while learning interview skills (A Sam Alex Master Class) with session with real celebrities.
- Career Tools: campers gain confidence by doing, not just in an academic environment, while having network exposure to high-value industry pros and high-profile pop culture celebrities.
Sam wrote a how-to book: “Get on the Air: An 8-Step Guide to a Career in Broadcasting.” Helping talent develop a roadmap on how to prepare, how to grab quality internships, build reels, websites and network.
We also wrote a profile on Barrett Media about Sam’s journey from terrestrial radio to world-wide syndication. You can read that piece from last May here.
When we DO identify and successfully recruit fresh talent to our properties, on-boarding and hands-on training are sporadic and inconsistent.
We find in Adult Contemporary radio a consistent lack of discipline to the approach to content building and dynamic presentation. This is a subconscious by-product that programmers and consultants often tell talent AC Radio is a ‘utility’ and ‘background’. Far from it if you only know where to invest your time and have an always-learning Growth Mindset.
If you’re a veteran behind the mic or a newer talent looking for a solid foundation to approach content creation, here’s a handful of tips you might hear at The NAB Show, inside a session with Mentoring Women In Radio or Camp Broadcast.
Prep
- You may be (or may NOT be) surprised on how little AC talent preps as what we’ve witnessed is a ‘wing it’ mentality
- In the Army it’s often shared The 5 P’s – Proper Planning Prevent Poor Performance – be prepared every day
- EVERYTHING is prep – carry a journal, sending yourself notes and bookmark Songfacts.com and Refdesk.com as part of your prep process
Develop a 3-D Brand
- The shared human experience is powerful and lets the listener metaphorically ‘see inside your personal underwear drawer’
- Every break, the listener should learn something about you, your brand or your market
- Localize everything with a small story or reference as small stories are part of that human connection and produce big results
Big Payoff
- Have a CLEAR roadmap for every big AND small break
- Map it as ‘here’s my start then my middle and exit’, ending when the energy balloon in the break is about to pop
- Where are you taking the listener with your content and what’s the memorable payoff
Craft Content
- All other performance artists follow a script – even the musical Hamilton and Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show includes scripted lines with room for spontaneity
- Write your content using prompts or a Mind Map, which helps you focus
- ‘Winging It’ will WING (injure) your content
Understand Your Target
- In July we offered this piece on Barrett Media about building and understanding your target audience
- Craft each piece of content with your specific target in mind, starting with the listener and working backwards
- ‘Where is The Target’ in their day and how might you relate to their ‘situationality’
Keep It Light
- Take what YOU do serious but your content and yourself – not so serious
- As an Adult Contemporary brand, listeners glam onto you as an escape musically and informative value
- Self-depreciation is an attribute as laughing at your mistakes will relate to your audience
Trust Your Gut
- If you understand your brand, your target listener and where you live in ‘their world’ your gut is almost always right when it comes to content
- You will have detractors that might come after you via email, phone call or on a social platform on a content piece – thick skin is a must
- Social Media arguments are best settled on-line and one-on-one as nobody wins a ‘digital war’
Be A Salesperson
- Sell your name – station ID – guests – future content
- Sell your set ups – your resets – your teases
- S-L-O-W down when selling locations – numbers – social handles – make them easy to ‘print’
No Interviews
- Only ‘conversations’ with open-ended questions – legendary interviewer Barbra Walters set the standard for at-ease celebrity chats – watch HERE
- DO more LISTENING than TALKING – think 70%-30% percentage of the conversation with the 70% being your subject
- Exit the interview with ONE question – however small – that no one has ever asked your interviewee
Understand Ratings
- Know the difference between share, rating, cume, exposure – all the terms that effect your performance in a Nielson report card
- Know that a speed bump in a weekly – monthly – quarterly is NOT a trend until after several Neilson seasons (no knee-jerk reactions)
- Study and follow Barrett Media’s Ratings Genius Dr. Ed Cohen. No human has more understanding of the numbers you produce in your market
Share what you know and what you may have just learned with your building, cluster or group. Add your own tips that assist you in developing daily lean-forward content.
Green Bay Packers legend Vince Lombardi coined the phrase and Indiana Basketball’s controversial coach Bob Knight made the phrase famous:
“The will to prepare to win is more important than the WILL to win”
When it comes to recruitment and development of emerging talent, it’s an all hands on deck (and on-going) effort.
Kevin Robinson is a passionate award-winning programmer, consultant and coach – with multi-formats success all over the country. He has advised numerous companies including Audacy (formerly Entercom Communications), Beasley Broadcast Group, Westwood One, Midwest Communications, Townsquare Media, Midwest Family Broadcasting Group, EG Media Group, Federated Media, Kensington Media, mediaBrew Communications, Starved Rock Media, and more. He specializes in strategic radio cluster alignment, building lean-forward tactics and talent coaching – legacy and entry-level – personalities.
Known largely as a trusted talent coach, Kevin is the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different brands in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, and he has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi Award-winning talent. He is also in The Zionsville High School Hall of Fame as part of the 2008 inaugural class. Kevin is an Indiana native – living near Zionsville with his wife of 39 years, Monica and can be reached at kevin@robinsonmedia.fm.
