Welcome to RockTernative Summer Camp — the only camp with no curfew, free earplugs, and kick ass music at the lake each night.
You remember Summer Camp. It’s the perfect metaphor for what most brands should be doing between now and Labor Day.
Parents shipped off kids to camp. A few weeks later, they came home knowing how to make fire, tie knots, and canoe. Additionally, they returned with a lifelong crush on a counselor way too old for them. All in the name of gaining skills and building confidence for next year.
Radio knows what “next year” means. It means “Fall” — about 30 days away. So perhaps RockTernative needs a Summer Camp of its own. It would probably go something like this.
Lesson #1: Making Fire
If you’re stranded on an island, fire keeps you alive. It cooks food, purifies water, signals planes, and keeps wild animals away. However, fire doesn’t just happen. It must be built and managed with care.
In radio, fire equals the product and people.
- Wood = leadership + team
- Spark = on-air talent + music
- Oxygen = strategy
- Care = Camp Counselor PDs stoking the fire
There’s no fire without each element. What kind of fire is your brand running? A towering inferno or a sad pile of twigs?
If leaders aren’t leading with clarity, then the music isn’t right. If talent isn’t perfectly cast and sellers don’t have meaningful avails — the fire isn’t ready. It’ll fizzle by Halloween. So you need to self-reflect and adjust now. You’ve got 30 days.
Lesson #2: Build Shelter
Fire is great, but it won’t protect you from Fall. You need shelter. Not a flimsy promo tent, but a command center where real product and strategy work gets done before the season hits.
The cabin represents home base. It’s a safe structure with specific focus rooms where critical development work happens before Fall.
- Morning Room: new storylines + benchmarks are built
- Social Room: new digital extensions shaped
- Garage: experimentation + strategy collide
- Backyard: community + appearances take form
- Kitchen: programming + revenue cooked into a strategy
A strong cabin where important work can be done is your competitive advantage.
Lesson #3: Survival & Safety
Campers are given a map. Survival requires knowing the terrain. Moreover, you need to know where to hunt, which areas to avoid, and what weapons you’ll need.
At camp, survival and safety equal research. So you’ll know:
- What’s happening across the island
- Where the audience is hiding
- Which competitors are circling
- What tools or weapons you need to stay alive
- Which paths are dangerous
Even simple listener groups or web polls reveal what’s connecting. They show what listeners want more or less of, when they listen most and least, and why they choose or skip your brand.
Wandering blindly into Fall is dangerous. Just ask the kid who came back with poison ivy.
Lesson #4: Skills & Drills
Every camp has skill-building activities. Think archery, knot-tying, and three-legged races that bust ankles.
Even the best brands should put in practical work heading into Fall:
- Audit everything
- Recruit and audition potential new talent
- Binge core artists for lost hits
- Deep dive the audience
- Study competitor movements
Summer Camp is a timely visual. Furthermore, this is legit to-do stuff starting Monday.
Lesson #5: Community
Kids at camp never stay indoors. They’re out meeting, bonding, singing cheesy songs, and developing a new crush every night over roasted marshmallows.
That same energy can make the difference at RockTernative. Especially since seeing external radio marketing is about as common as spotting Bigfoot. Community presence may be the only marketing a brand gets this year — but it’s still how new listeners can discover your brand.
- Park takeovers
- Backyard parties
- Lake days
- Lemonade stands (yes, I said it)
- Club appearances
- Sidewalk sessions
- Tailgates
Get out and start growing your tribe before Fall.
Lesson #6: Cleanup
No one likes camp chores. However, they build discipline — cleaning cabins, clearing trails, fixing gear, and scraping gum off dining hall tables.
Radio needs the same discipline:
- Tighten databases
- Groom categories, audit rotations
- Freshen clocks
- Refresh imaging
- Update street team assets
- Sharpen one sheets
- Clean the studio (yes, for real)
Fall will reward stations that feel new, clean, and alive.
Lesson #7: The Take Home Bag
Summer Camp ends and kids head home. They’ve gained new skills, confidence, and stories. Additionally, some return with a busted ankle.
But when RockTernative Summer Camp ends, brands head into Fall with:
- A blazing fire
- A stronger cabin
- A fresh playbook
- A mapped strategy
- A bigger community
- An alive vibe
Fall is coming fast. Waiting until Labor Day is too late.
Follow the RockTernative Summer Camp curriculum. You’ll avoid poison ivy and be ready to rock.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.
Keith Cunningham is a music industry and Rock/Alternative columnist for Barrett Media and the founder of Black Box Group, a modern-modeled creative & strategic consultancy built for brands that need strategies with teeth. He’s the former Master of Mayhem at 95.5 KLOS-FM in Los Angeles for over a decade, a nationwide consultant, and has been repeatedly voted one of America’s top Program Directors and strategic thinkers. Keith has built his career by taking multi-million-dollar brands from worst to first and leading Marconi & Gracie award winners along the way. A data nerd with a rock-and-roll heart, he is an advisory council member for St. Jude fundraising, a fantasy football champion, and lover of his daughters & dogs. Reach him at keithblackboxgroup@gmail.com or on LinkedIn or X.