I stopped by a KCFX 101 The Fox “Fox Rocks Happy Hour” here in Kansas City recently and walked into a packed room of listeners. The setup was big. The personalities were out working the crowd, and there wasn’t much room left at the bar.
A quick disclaimer: I ran that brand for two years during the pandemic. So it was nice to see old friends, particularly in a bar that happens to be my neighborhood bar. I couldn’t resist the urge to stop by and say hi, and it was nice to catch up with everybody.
There was a table and a raffle box, the two things every radio remote seems to come with. But that’s not where the attention was. People were talking to each other. They were talking to the talent. It felt communal, like a room full of people who already had something in common before they walked in the door.
To be clear, this was a paid event. There was a client and a production to match. And it worked.
It also reminded me of something. There was a time when people followed their favorite station to bars and restaurants. They came to see the talent in person. Then they started recognizing each other. The same faces showed up month after month, and the station became the thing that connected them.
That’s bigger than a promotion. That’s a social world built around a radio station. Listeners weren’t just tuning in. They belonged to something, and they had friends there.
The Question Worth Asking
So here’s what I kept thinking about on the drive home: Does a station need an invoice before it decides to be part of the community?
An event the size of that happy hour deserves a sponsor. That kind of production costs money, and somebody should pay for it. But what about the smaller appearances? The ones that don’t need a stage, a banner or a sound system? Do those need a buyer before a station will show up? Too often, the answer inside the building has quietly become yes.
Let’s be fair to the sales department. Paid remotes matter. The car dealership and the cell phone store help pay the bills. Whether stations should keep doing those is a question for another column someday.
The real issue is whether the appearance calendar has room for anything else. Is there space for the places listeners already love, even when nobody has bought the station’s presence there?
Smaller, and More Often
The smaller version doesn’t look like a remote at all. A personality mentions on the air that they’ll be at their favorite bar after the show. A morning host invites listeners to grab coffee on a Friday. There’s no truck, no inflatable and no formal broadcast. It’s a real invitation and some time to talk.
That’s how a voice on the radio becomes a person. The listener who shows up once gets a handshake and a real conversation. The next time, they bring a friend. It’s also the kind of thing listeners remember and tell their friends about.
So who chooses the places? Let the talent do it. They already know where they spend their time, and they usually know where their listeners gather. Give them a modest budget to buy a round or cover the coffee.
I know. A budget for the talent is probably highly unlikely. But let’s ponder that for a second. We’re talking about a round of drinks or a few coffees, a small line item compared with what it costs to put the station somewhere. What would a station get back if its talent could make that kind of invitation every week?
Promote it on the air and on social. Then get out of the way.
Their job when they get there is to get to know people. It isn’t to tell listeners how great the station is. Showing up and spending time with them gives listeners a chance to decide that for themselves. And when they decide it on their own, it sticks.
The Good Ones Show Up
That crowded Fox happy hour was proof of what’s still possible. A big paid appearance can bring a station’s audience together in one place and make everyone feel like they belong to something.
But it doesn’t have to happen only when there’s a check attached. Stations can create smaller versions of that night more often, on their own terms. Some already do. Others could start by asking their talent one simple question: Where should we go?
Radio has always been at its best when it’s part of people’s lives, not just part of their commute.
The good ones show up.
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