95.7 The Game is sending their morning show (Flight 957) on tour!
The San Francisco radio station has announced plans to send Chad Doing, Joe Fortenbaugh and former NFL fullback Lorenzo Neal on the road for 20 shows over the span of 20 weeks, hence the name “20 In 20”.
The show will broadcast LIVE from a different Bay Area city/town from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. PST starting February 18th and continuing through July 1st. Fans in the local area will have a say in determining locations by sending in suggestions on Twitter via the hashtag #20In20.
For more details visit 95.7 The Game’s website by clicking here.
The Bay Area’s new sound for sports, today announced it’s 2015 coverage of “Super Week” before the big game on February 1st between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. Beginning January 26th through January 30th 2015, 95.7 The GAME will send three of their major shows including Flight 957 with Chad Doing, Joe Fortenbaugh & Lorenzo Neal, The Wheelhouse with Greg Papa and John Lund and The Damon Bruce Show to broadcast live from radio row in Phoenix, Arizona. This marks the fourth consecutive year that 95.7 The GAME provides Bay Area football fans with live comprehensive coverage from the site of the Super Bowl.
“There is no bigger event in sports, and we believe that covering premier events matters greatly to our local sports fans.” said Jason Barrett, Program Director for 95.7 The Game. “Wall to wall coverage and in-depth analysis is what our audience has come to expect from our brand.”
Listeners can expect to hear from a star studded guest list including Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, ESPN’s John Clayton, Chris Mortensen, Trey Wingo and Trent Dilfer. Also appearing will be NFL Hall of Famer Rod Woodson, four-time Super Bowl champion Bill Romanowski and more.
95.7 The GAME is the largest radio market FM Sports Station in California and the flagship radio station for the Oakland Athletics and Oakland Raiders. Effective January 26th, 2015 95.7 The GAME’s live coverage of “Super Week” includes:
6:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. (PST) — Flight 957 with Chad Doing, Joe Fortenbaugh, and Lorenzo Neal
12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. (PST) — The Wheelhouse with John Lund & Greg Papa
When you listen to sports talk radio today you’re likely to find a number of different styles in the personalities you hear on the air. That’s what makes each host unique. What shouldn’t be disputable though is the understanding and importance of giving an opinion!
Search around the country and listen to some different stations and personalities and see if you can pinpoint the following types of hosts.
A) The caller-driven host who puts the power of the show in the audience’s hands.
B) The guest heavy host who fills a 9 segment show with 7-8 guests.
C) The comedic host who offers jokes, bits, parody songs and downplays the importance of a serious topic. They often sound uninformed or uninterested in sports talk.
D) The stats/historian host who crunches numbers, shares old stories and is quick to highlight everyone else’s opinions and use them as a shield to avoid giving their own.
E) The strong opinionated personality who speaks their mind confidently and earns praise from supporters and criticism from detractors.
The beauty of this format is that there are multiple ways to inform and entertain but of the 5 styles listed above, I find myself more drawn to E. The host who has something to say and defends their position with good sound evidence and is willing to engage in a compelling conversation with callers, guests, texts, tweets and colleagues, will always catch my attention first. I don’t have to agree with you, I just need to be moved by your opinion.
I can’t even count how many times I tune into a show somewhere across the country and hear a personality say “we’re going to talk about the Super Bowl” or “let’s chat about these coaching changes” and then spends the majority of a segment reading off the information and waiting for calls without providing their own point of view on the topic. It absolutely drives me nuts.
Of course you’re going to talk about the Super Bowl or coaching changes if they’re a timely story but why does it matter to you? What do you want me to think about? Be specific.
People are usually in a car dealing with non-stop traffic, aggravated from a long day at work and they want a mental distraction to make them laugh, help them learn or get their blood pumping. Your style, presentation and view on the relevant material is what they care about when they put you on. If the subject matter is broad and you don’t define your position, they’re going to lose interest.
Anytime you’re on the air, you’re expected to share your perspective on the news, not break the news. That’s what reporters do and what sports updates, your website and Twitter are for. What you think of the information matters more than the information itself. Your opinion is what grabs people’s attention.
20 years ago people in sports talk focused on the result of a ball game and did the typical box score breakdown segments. Today the world is much different. People care much more about what happens outside the lines than what happens inside the lines. Case in point, there’s been more talk this week about the Patriots deflating footballs than the actual game itself vs. the Colts. Last year at this time, people spent more time discussing Richard Sherman’s post-game interview than they did recapping the Seahawks-49ers game. Need any more proof?
I understand that every personality does prep work and values their credibility so being right and informed is important but rather than worry about being right, the bigger focus should be on making people think and being interesting. That starts with a strong informed opinion and having the courage to stand by it and defend it with smart rationale and great research.
What sometimes worries me about our format’s future is when I hear newer broadcasters coming up the ladder, not focused on delivering opinion and instead worried about how many guests they have booked or how many people have called their show. To this day I have never hired someone who set a record for most calls taken on a show and I’ve never hired a host based on their guest list. I care more about what they do with a guest and caller than how many they can get.
I’m not going to say guests, calls, being funny and having information doesn’t matter because of course they do. They’re all valuable parts of a show but when you step back and look at a 9-12 segment show, there should be more focus put on delivering opinion on the content/stories of the day and telling the audience why you feel the way you do than anything else. The opinion is your main course, the guests, calls, soundbytes and extra bits of entertainment are your sides and appetizers.
During my years as a PD I’ve told a number of hosts that there is no “No Fence Sitting” allowed. I recognize that the only thing we control is our words and if we don’t take positions, defend them strongly and make our audience think, then we’re just background noise and people can find that in many different places. Standing out from the clutter is not easy and it’s even harder if you don’t take strong defined positions on relevant material.
The last thing you should want to be as a personality trying to connect with an audience is the equivalent of elevator music. Our job is to be clear, concise and definitive with where we stand on various issues and confident enough in our own skin to defend them, while also being open minded to hear the other side of the discussion.
Does it matter if the listener disagrees? No. What about if a team, player or front office executive doesn’t like it? Are they paying your check or controlling your brain? No. So stand up for yourself but be smart enough to avoid getting personal and open enough to give them a forum to counter your point of view. Good banter on a topic with multiple viewpoints makes for compelling discussion.
What if your peers think you’re crazy? Just be crazy enough to have a position and good rationale for why you feel how you do and they’ll get over it or come around to your way of thinking. It’s about delivering interesting content and when you are firm with your thoughts and prepared with information to support your position, more people will connect with you than tune you out and after all, that’s the name of the game.
Sometimes personalities lose sight of this and need to be reminded how important it is and to get their attention over the years I’ve been known to dish out a few silly gimmicks that get their attention. In a few instances I’ve pulled out a green pillow and offered it to a few hosts so their asses would be well protected while sitting on the fence. Usually it’s led to a good laugh and a host realizing that they need to be more authoritative and not dance around the subject.
I’ve also given out a few nails and dollar bills to let a person know they nailed an opinion or provided something great and I’ve given out a compass to ask them if they knew where they were going with their stance. While it may be hokey, the point is to make one think of how their position has come across on the air. Most hosts forget that nobody wants them to succeed more than the PD that put them in the studio in the first place but sometimes even the best need a reminder that something wasn’t as sharp or as strong as it could be.
Based on my experience, usually it’s athletes who are just transitioning into the format who take the most time getting comfortable in this arena. Fortunately though, once you tell them they’re quick to adapt because they appreciate and respect coaching and want to make an impression rather than sound too guarded. That said, being comfortable taking strong positions does take some people time and while it may not always feel great, it’s critical to one’s presentation.
If there’s one thing to leave you with, it’s to remember to always have something to say and a good sound reason for why you feel the way you do. Listeners can get information from a myriad of places but those who stand out are the ones who are confident and comfortable enough to give an opinion and make it interesting.
Before you change your glasses or contacts or wipe your eyes to make sure you read the headline right, yes I did mention Taylor Swift on a Sports Radio blog. Before you assume I’ve completely lost my mind, let me explain why she’s relevant in this space today.
One of the real pleasures of creating sports talk radio is connecting with people. When you think about the position we’re in, we’re not really different than those who listen to us. Sure we may have more training, a microphone and broadcast signal that allows our opinions to be heard in our local markets and we may earn a paycheck which classifies us as professionals but at our core, we’re people who love sports, talking about it passionately and entertaining one another.
The reason it works, is because others care enough about the same things we do. Thru the bond of talking about sports, we’re given an opportunity to engage with audiences each day and get them emotionally invested in our content and people.
Similar to sports, music has a lot of appeal as well. One performer who has built an incredible fan base is Taylor Swift. To date she has over 73 million LIKES on Facebook and over 49 million followers on Twitter. That’s over 120 million combined associations to her fans.
So with all of those fans, it must be impossible for Ms. Swift to connect with people aside from when she’s performing on stage right? Guess again! Not only does she get active on social media, she also takes time at some of her shows to take photos with fans.
Today I watched this video and was genuinely moved by it. I encourage you to watch it too. While some of you may not care for Taylor’s music, I think you’ll agree that this is a brilliant way to showcase connecting between Ms. Swift and her fans.
While some will focus on her buying gifts and taking road trips (which by the way was very cool), what I got out of this was that Taylor Swift cares about her fans. Because she invests time and thought into connecting with them, it helps her relate more to her most passionate and loyal supporters and that gives them a reason to continue rooting for and supporting her.
When this type of bond exists between performer and fan base, there’s less concern about the next single being well received or the next arena being sold out. Because Taylor has made her most loyal and passionate fans part of her experience, they will be there to support her thru thick and thin. Click this link and you’ll see even more photo evidence of her connecting.
Now think about this and how it applies to what you do as a sports radio personality or executive. How much time do you spend interacting with your audience? Do they know you beyond your talk show? Have you ever responded to one of their tweets, texts or facebook messages? Are they able to reach out and provide feedback on your radio station beyond an email address on the contact page of your website? How many photos would show up if you google searched yourself and/or station with fans?
Is it taxing to engage sometimes? Yes. Does it get annoying when people take personal shots or reach out simply to complain? Yes. But people are entitled to free speech and having an opinion and sports talk is a very passionate and emotional format. I’d much rather receive a high volume of passionate replies and know what’s pushing the buttons of my audience then have them disappear and have to hire a research firm to find out why.
The way the world thinks and acts today is very different and we’ve got to continue evolving or we risk being left behind. In the past, hosts were seen as untouchables. They’d spend a few hours on-air spewing their thoughts on issues and aside from reaching out thru the on-air phone number, fans could not connect with them or learn anything further about who they were. The world outside of the talk show was very private and irrelevant.
Today, people want access and information more than ever and just hearing an opinion thru a set of speakers isn’t enough. They now want to join the conversation at the bar rather than eavesdrop in the distance. They also want to know who you are and what you’re about when the microphone is off. Being a private personality is a lot less acceptable by the audience today and that just goes to show how the world has changed.
In thinking of this topic, I couldn’t help but think about how different radio has become in this area over the past 20-30 years. Back then there was a stronger sense of community, marketing and investing in forming connections with local people. Over the years though that focus has shifted more towards ratings, ad revenue and metrics to determine what is and isn’t working.
Some of these changes have definitely been for the better. I know I’d much rather deal with this current flawed ratings system than the previous one and I’d much rather invest money in people and partnerships than marketing but I do think our industry as a whole can be much stronger in the way we connect with and view the association with our listeners. It’s not just about the people with meters or inside of focus groups, it’s about anyone and everyone who takes the time to listen and/or interact with your product and people.
Furthermore, executives can’t preach the importance of a strong digital and social media presence and strategy and then not be visible themselves. You can’t encourage or require participation from those inside your building if you’re not leading the charge yourself. You’re either all-in or all-out.
In my opinion, connecting with people and being accessible is as much of a job requirement today as anything else we do. You can’t say you care about your ratings and making a better living and then do little outside of your show to drive people back to the show. We should be thrilled that people care enough to tell us their opinions but smart enough to weed out what matters and what doesn’t.
That said, being accessible doesn’t mean you have to respond to every piece of feedback or change your show or station due to a handful of negative replies. It means the audience can follow you and reach out to you and you will engage when it makes sense to. The audience doesn’t control your brain, your voice or your emotions. You set the tone because that’s what you’re charged with doing but they also deserve to be included in the process.
As I bring this column to a close, the main thing I want you to take away is how vital it is to connect with your audience. Remember, people don’t have to listen to us or interact with us, they choose to do it. It’s our responsibility to find ways to further strengthen our bond with them and it starts with accessibility and engagement.
I understand we’re pulled in many directions as we try to balance life, work, personal passions and numerous other things but if the job matters to you, than invest the time necessary to make it pay off. Judging by Taylor Swift’s 30 million CD sales, 80 million singles downloads and 120 million fans on social media, I’d say connecting with fans has worked out pretty well for her. Maybe it’s time you considered doing the same.
The sports radio format has enjoyed great growth and success over the past few years and remains well positioned for a healthy 2015 but while the future looks bright for the format, change has been the dominant word to describe what’s transpired in 2014. From local to national, everywhere you turn. change has been front and center.
First let’s take a look at the national level. When the year started, Bruce Gilbert was overseeing Clear Channel and Premiere’s Sports brands, Scott Masteller was programming at ESPN Radio Network, Stephen A. Smith was doing local radio for ESPN NY, Rich Eisen was focused solely on his NFL Network duties and CBS featured TBD in the AM and John Feinstein in middays.
As the year ends, Gilbert has since been named SVP of Cumulus and Westwood One Sports, Don Martin took over Gilbert’s spot with Clear Channel and Premiere, Masteller exited ESPN Radio, Stephen A was hired to host for Sirius’ Mad Dog Radio channel, Eisen ventured into national sports talk radio by joining the Fox Sports Radio lineup and CBS added Gregg Giannotti and Brian Jones to mornings and moved Brandon Tierney and Tiki Barber to middays while parting with Feinstein and Dana Jacobsen.
While that’s certainly a lot of change nationally, it’s even heavier on the local end. Look across each major market and you’re bound to find at least 1 sports station’s lineup impacted.
For example, 60 The Fan and 92.9 The Game in Atlanta, WEEI in Boston, The Score in Chicago, ESPN Los Angeles, ESPN New York, WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia, Mighty 1090 and XTRA 1360 in San Diego, 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, 710 ESPN in Seattle and WQAM in Miami all made changes to their lineup this year. Go beyond the top 20 markets and you’ll find even more of it.
Next, let’s take a look at what corporations did in 2014 to become more involved with the format.
First, CBS swapped properties with Beasley Broadcasting, acquiring sports station WQAM in Miami. Beasley landed The Fan in Charlotte and The Fan in Tampa as part of the trade. Also dealt were some smaller AM signals and the once powerful 610AM signal in Philadelphia. Beasley acquired those outlets. Beasley then elected to drop the sports format in Tampa and is launching a new format on January 5th.
Secondly, Entercom acquired 15 stations from Lincoln Financial which put them in control of sports radio stations 104.3 The Ticket in Miami, 790 The Zone in Atlanta and 104.3 The Fan in Denver. Entercom has announced they will divest 104.3 The Fan due to FCC regulations in the Denver market.
Third, Tribune Media came out of the gate looking good with the launch of 87.7 The Game in Chicago but by year’s end, the company pulled the plug on the radio station siting an inability to generate enough advertising revenue and ratings to support the station. The company was further damaged on the PR side for the way its employees found out about the company dropping the format (thru an article on social media).
Fourth, Los Angeles added a fourth sports station with the addition of The Beast 980. Programmed by Owen Murphy, the station offers a mixture of local and national programming as well as the broadcast rights to the Los Angeles Clippers. It’ll be interesting to see how the 4 sports talkers in Los Angeles stack up in 2015.
On a smaller scale, Sirius also made a move to add a new channel with the creation of Bleacher Report radio. While the website itself has become a destination for sports fans the past few years, the radio channel is only a few months old and not familiar to most as of yet.
If you glance over those changes above (and I’m likely forgetting some others) there was a lot of movement during the past 12 months. However, one of the main reasons why this industry continues to thrive is because sports radio operators locally and nationally have not been afraid to take risks and challenge themselves to do better. It may not always be comfortable or popular but if the goal is to improve, sometimes difficult decisions are required.
Nobody knows more about change this year than myself. Over the past year, I changed 3 of my 4 primetime shows (M-F 6a-7p) including something I hadn’t had to do in my previous 17 years in the business, change a morning show 3x in one full calendar year. Was it how we drew it up at the start of the year? No. But sometimes in life and this format, adversity strikes, and when it does you’ve got two choices – A) rise up and make things better or B) put your head down and wallow in self pity.
While it may have been bumpy, uncomfortable and mentally taxing along the way, 2014 produced the best results we’ve had in San Francisco since we launched 95.7 The Game. While most people prefer the same routine and path of least resistance, sometimes you have to roam thru the woods into foreign territory to end up in paradise.
Sports radio as a format has the potential to reach millions of people each day and generate large ad dollars given its ability to provide sponsor inclusion in everything we do. The format is seen mostly in a positive light by advertisers and it’s one of the few formats that people feel they have to experience LIVE. That gives us an edge over other formats which are fighting negative content associations or becoming more than just background noise. To say that opportunity lies ahead on an even larger scale for our format in the new year would be a massive understatement.
On that note, it’s time now to put 2014 in our rear view mirror and look ahead to what lies ahead in 2015. Judging by what I’ve witnessed over the past year in this format, I’d expect more unpredictability and risk taking. I see that as a good thing.
If you’ve listened to stations who perform this brand of sports talk content or if you work in the format itself, you can quickly see the emotional connection that exists between the audience and the radio station’s personalities. That connection from user to content provider is one of the many reasons why I along with many others love being part of this machine. Now that’s something I don’t see changing!
95.7 The Game (KGMZ-FM), The Bay Area’s New Sound for Sports, today announced a new morning show, Flight 957 with Chad Doing, Joe Fortenbaugh and former All-Pro NFL Fullback Lorenzo Neal. The show debuts on Monday, December 8, 2014 from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
“We are changing the sound of Bay Area sports radio with the launch of this exciting new morning show,” said Jason Barrett, Program Director for 95.7 The Game. “Expect Flight 957 with Chad, Joe & Lo to deliver a fresh, irreverent, and energetic spin to sports talk. The new show is the latest example of our commitment to bringing The GAME’s growing audience the best possible listening experience.”
Doing is a sports radio veteran. Most recently, Doing has worked at KXTG in Portland and was previously the host of afternoon drive program Flight 750 with Chad Doing weekdays from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
“I’m thrilled to work with such dynamic personalities like Joe and Lorenzo,” said Doing. “We have already developed a fantastic working relationship that I believe will showcase our passion for sports.”
Joe Fortenbaugh co-founded the website National Football Post.com in 2008 where he has been writing ever since, covering topics ranging from fantasy football to sports betting in Las Vegas. Fortenbaugh has freelanced for USA Today, ESPN.com, SportsIllustrated.com and VegasChatter.com, where he wrote golf course reviews and covered Las Vegas title fights from 2012-2014. Most recently, Fortenbaugh co-hosting the television program “Fantasy Sports Today–Live from Las Vegas” on the Fantasy Sports Network.
“It’s awesome to be part of this new program and deliver a one-of-a-kind experience to our listeners,” said Fortenbaugh. “I can’t wait to stir it up with the guys and the audience.”
Lorenzo Neal was the preeminent fullback in the NFL for 16 seasons. He was a four-time Pro Bowler and played for the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Ravens and Oakland Raiders. He was voted a first team All-Pro twice, a second team All-Pro once, and selected to the NFL’s and Sporting News’ All-Decade team for the 2000’s. He graduated from Fresno State University.
“I’m truly excited to join 95.7 The GAME,” said Neal. “I’m looking forward to delivering that on-the-field, inside the huddle perspective listeners expect from a leading radio station. I’m grateful to be a part of such a strong team and talk Bay Area sports every morning.”
Current morning anchor Chris Townsend moves to evenings where he’ll team up with 95.7 The Game personality Zakariah from 7 to 11 p.m. Townsend will also become the full time voice for Oakland A’s pre- and post-game shows.
95.7 The GAME is the flagship radio station for the Oakland Athletics and Oakland Raiders. Effective December 8, 2014, The GAME’s new lineup will be:
6:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Flight 957 with Chad, Joe, and Lo
10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Haberman & Middlekauff
12:00-3:00 p.m. The Wheelhousewith John Lund & Greg Papa
Longtime ESPN Radio programming executive Scott Masteller has exited the network, where he’s had a nearly 14 year run.
Most recently ESPN Radio’s Senior Director Radio Content, Masteller spent the first five years of his ESPN career in Dallas, where he oversaw the launch of the company’s 103.3 ESPN (KESN) before heading to the network’s Bristol, CT headquarters, where he’s served in several different senior management roles for the past 8+ years.
His lengthy Sports radio programming resume also includes prior stints in Portland, OR, Salt Lake City and Lexington, KY. Masteller told NTS MediaOnline Today that he is leaving ESPN “on very good terms” and added, “It is a great company and I’ve had a great run there. I’m now looking to see what comes next and I’m excited about the opportunities ahead of me.”
95.7 The GAME (KGMZ-FM), the Bay Area’s New Sound for Sports, announced today a new program “The Three Amigos” for 95.7 The GAME’s Saturday programming line-up. The trio will be led by 102.9 KBLX afternoon drive host and Bay Area radio veteran Victor “Big Daddy” Zaragoza and two of the top 10 finalists from the 95.7 The GAME’s sports reality competition Lucky Break program: , Rudy Ortiz and Brandon Santiago. The show debuts on Saturday, November 15th from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
“I’m very excited about this show, it will enable our listeners to hear something unique in the marketplace.” said Jason Barrett, Program Director at 95.7 The GAME. “Victor is a polished Bay Area music radio veteran who fans will enjoy hearing in this format. He has a passion for sports and will bring an imaginative and different perspective to the program. Rudy and Brandon are new voices who I believe the audience will enjoy getting to know. This show will be fun and different from anything else on sports radio in the Bay”.
“Joining the Entercom team two and a half years ago was a blessing for me,” said Zaragoza. “To be able to expand my role within the Entercom radio family and talk Bay Area sports on 95.7 The GAME is an opportunity I am grateful for. I’m excited about sports and thrilled to work with my co-hosts Ortiz and Santiago to bring a Latin flare to sports radio!”
Ortiz, a standup comedian by trade who’s performed at venues including Cobb’s Comedy Club and Tommy T’s Comedy Steakhouse is a San Leandro native and passionate Bay Area sports fan. Santiago, a resident of South San Francisco and graduate of San Francisco State University, joins 95.7 The GAME from his current role as an Outreach Coordinator for youthspeaks.org.
What goes into producing a top rated afternoon show? How has the position changed over the years?
Check out this great video which was produced by Chris Files of 101 ESPN. Fast Lane producer Michelle Smallmon explains what her daily routine is like and what makes the show a smashing success with St. Louis sports fans!
I’m often asked by fellow colleagues in the broadcasting industry for my thoughts on what makes an effective programming clock. I usually offer my feedback and go over strategies that I feel confident in but truth be told, there really is no magical clock that is going to help a station deliver ratings. Are there certain games to play in the ratings game to give your brand an advantage? Absolutely. But let’s not lose sight of what really makes an audience respond, great content from great talent.
Recently I had a discussion with someone who does research about the differences in setting up an hourly clock. When I explained how I have some shows operate with a 4-break per hour system and some manage with a 3-break per hour system, I was asked immediately if I’d consider changing my setup to reflect a 3-breaks per hour system on all shows. I wasn’t asked who the shows were hosted by, when the breaks were happening or how long each break was, instead it was the typical analysis “less commercial breaks means better ratings”.
Too many times I have heard the same exact thing “Nielsen (much like Arbitron) highly recommends to take as few breaks as possible“. I’ve heard this in multiple markets, various sports radio conferences and I do believe that there’s some merit to it however what researchers don’t take into account during these conversations are how it actually works on the programming end. You can play math equations all day long if you want but listeners (even those with meters) don’t listen based on quarter hour measurements and there’s much more to keeping people interested in consuming your product than just eliminating commercials.
I can argue that a show has much better pace, energy and stronger focus on delivering content inside of a 10-minute window than it does when offering up a 20-25 minute segment. Listen around the country to numerous talk shows on various stations who deliver longer segments and find me the program that is consistently fast paced, energetic, content rich and moving from Point A to Point B to Point C inside of a 20-25 minute window. It doesn’t happen often.
Why might you ask? Because when hosts are delivering content for that length of time, most lose focus and ramble. They don’t view their 20-25 minute segment as a combination of four 5-minute segments and they don’t stay aware of timing. Usually phone calls flood the segment or a guest who’s great for 5-6 minutes gets stretched out to 10-15 minutes and it becomes more about filling time than maximizing content time.
I like to look at a 20-25 minute segment as an opportunity to deliver four to five mini-segments. When you approach it that way, you continue moving forward with good momentum. In a perfect world, your host is coming out of the gate with strong opinions on the most popular local topic for anywhere between 5-10 minutes. If it’s well crafted, it’ll be a captivating 10-minute ride. If not, 5-minutes can still be accomplished and if it’s emotionally charged from your host, the audience should respond by wanting to engage in discussion on it.
After the opinion and supporting facts are offered, you have the option to either include a guest who can add further insight and/or opinion on the story or you can utilize the audience to weigh in on the topic too. There’s also the possibility of adding sound, a feature or production to paint the story. Having different ways to make the story sound fresh and interesting is important.
If you deliver 5-10 minutes of opinion, 5-10 minutes of a guest and 5-minutes of audience reaction, you’ve now presented three different ways to keep that one particular topic interesting. That’s how a 20-25 minute segment stays compelling. It takes multiple layers, multiple voices, multiple sounds and multiple twists and turns inside the content to keep it interesting to the audience.
Search the country and find any show that has longer content segments and see if you remember how the segment started and whether or not you could stay mentally excited and engaged in the content for longer than 5 minutes. Remember, Nielsen ratings are about securing 5-minutes of listening inside each quarter hour and if you’re going to offer 20-25 minutes of straight content with no focused destination, people’s attention spans will become smaller and they will tune you out faster.
I bring up this example for a reason. If you take fewer breaks per hour inside of a show, you’re going to end up with at least one real long stretch of content at some point and I find that most shows and hosts don’t own those opportunities as much as those who perform shorter segments. While someone from Nielsen or a research company can suggest breaking as little as possible, they don’t take into account who your talent is, how you strategically match up against your in-market competitor and if your station’s style of content is geared for longer or shorter stretches.
For stations on FM, one of the reasons why radio operators starting moving to the frequency is to attract younger people and build tomorrow’s way of doing sports radio. Do younger people listen for 30 minutes straight to content or do they like faster impressions that they can digest in 5-10 minutes? You know as well as I do, they want it quickly and they’re not staying with you for long periods of time. They are more likely to tune in 5-6 times per show than they are to give you 2 straight quarter hours of listening time.
As it applies to breaks, based on Nielsen’s recommendations, your ratings should go thru the roof if you only break 1x per hour since after all, it’s mostly about eliminating interruptions. As I once told a former host at one of my previous stations, unless your name is Chris Rock, I don’t want to hear you talk for 30-40 minutes straight without a break. Here’s why, most people can’t be highly entertaining consistently for 30-40 minutes straight.
Remember this too, when Chris Rock does a standup show, he’s got his act in place to entertain for 60-minutes. He knows the start, the middle and the end of his routine. But what if he was doing a radio show? Could he do that for 3-4 hours per day? Maybe he could but I think you’d find more holes in the presentation.
On the other hand, give a host 10-12 minutes and ask them to stay crisp, focused and in control of the pace and it absolutely can be done. When a researcher explains to me how 3-breaks per hour is better than 4-breaks, I remind him that my station’s best ratings are during the two shows that deliver 4-breaks, not the ones that do 3-breaks. Does that mean they wouldn’t be successful going with 3-breaks? No. But when people are good at certain styles of execution and the audience is responding to the way it’s laid out, isn’t that what’s supposed to matter?
In the grand scheme of things, some hosts can be great for 5-minutes, some for 10, some for 15 and even a select few for 20-25. You can give them 2 commercial breaks, 3 commercial breaks or 4-5 commercial breaks and some shows will stand out and perform strongly and others won’t. It still comes down to talent, selecting the right content, delivering it in an entertaining way and making sure the momentum keeps going forward and the pace feels fast.
I’m not going to suggest that Nielsen’s ideas of breaking less don’t make sense. They do. In a perfect world we’d take 1-2 breaks and have talent execute amazing content for 20-30 minutes straight every time but the reality is that it’s not as easy as some may think. To be outstanding for that period of time is difficult and I want personalities on the air making sure that every minute they spend talking is leading somewhere, not just filling up air space to avoid an extra break.
The other part not being considered is the business side of the operation. Face it, we’re in the business of selling ad time, content association and branding partnerships. Like it or not, commercials are going to be a part of our system. We can try to limit break times and unit counts all we want but our business requires buy in from advertisers too. You sit there and tell a client who wants to spend six figures on your radio station that you’re not going to sell them a fifteen second commercial because you only want sixty second spots since you’re trying to keep unit counts low.
Here’s the deal, I’ve gained great ratings in my career with shows that have taken breaks 4-5x per hour and I’ve gained the same from shows who have broken 3x per hour. The bottom line, there’s no perfect way to do it and commercials need to be in place to assure that we have a profitable business. All you can do is focus on maximizing your content time while making your interruptions as short as possible. Under both scenarios, the companies I worked for made money.
When I program a 4-break per hour clock I try to keep breaks to 3 minutes or less so our shows have a chance to deliver 11-12 minutes for content inside of a 15-minute window. If I’m going with a 3-breaks per hour system, we’re likely going to run 4-4:30 of ads so we fulfill our business obligations and still give our talent a chance to spend 45-48 minutes per hour delivering content. I believe in delivering a content rich experience and don’t want hours cluttered with a plethora of ads and pointless benchmarks which encourage listeners to leave. Striking a happy balance though is the key.
If quarter hours are :00-:15, :15-:30, :30-:45 and :45-60 and you need 5-minutes of listening spent in those windows, your goal as a PD, Host and Producer is to play the percentages and try to offer as much content time as possible. That doesn’t mean you’ll get ratings credit, it just means you’re giving yourself the best chance to gain credit.
All of this comes down to one thing – content! If the personality is not informative and entertaining and talking about the topics with the broadest appeal to the local audience, then I don’t care if you’ve done 60-minutes straight with no interruptions. People only listen to stations and hosts that mentally distract them or emotionally excite or frustrate them. If the content isn’t great, neither will be your ratings. It doesn’t take a whole lot of research to figure that out.
