Has The Excitement Gone Out Of Your Station?

By Mic Live & C.D. Case, Secret Consultants

Have you ever experienced that feeling you get when you start a relationship? It feels like you have butterflies in the pit of your stomach, right? It's new. It's intriguing. It's interesting. It's risky. It's exciting!

You hope to never lose that feeling from your relationship. You hope to never lose that initial wave of excitement that engulfed your body, mind and soul, because you know the very minute that the relationship begins to feel comfortable and predictable, it's only a matter of time before the cracks start appearing and you begin to drift apart. When the excitement goes from a relationship, you can hear the ticking clock begin to count down the days, hours and minutes remaining before it all comes to a rather sudden end. And all that time and effort at the beginning are wasted.

Your radio station is in a relationship with your listeners. Or to be more accurate, your listener has a relationship with your radio station. You've done the hard work of winning them over; they've chosen to be with you over everyone else. Now it's your job to spend every minute of every day keeping this relationship healthy and strong, preventing cracks from appearing. You've got to keep that initial feeling: You've got to keep your radio station exciting for your listener.

Here are some tell-tell signs that your station has lost its excitement:

* Your morning show doesn't deliver content that taps into emotions (it doesn't make you laugh or cry), there's no passion in the delivery and the content is basic and obvious.

* Your imaging doesn't creatively sell the station's benefit and it isn't refreshed regularly.

* You're running the same old promotions. There's not a new idea in sight.

* Your personalities have nothing interesting or engaging to say; they're just going through the motions and "getting by."

* Your street team thinks that turning up and handing out car stickers is enough; they streat-teamers don't understand first impressions count.

* Your events consist of personalities on stage introducing artists who no-one has really heard of. There's no onstage performance.

* You walk around your station and there's no vibe from the staff. You can't remember the last time a member of the staff knocked on your door and uttered the phrase, "Hey, I have an idea that you might like."

* Your staff is listening to another morning show.

* You are hearing your competitor's station playing in more places like shops and cabs.

* No one is talking about your station!

When you stop making the effort and trying new things, then you're taking the listeners for granted and the relationship they have with you is on the rocks. Marriage counsellors talk about putting the "spice" back into relationships to keep them exciting. And that's exactly what your station needs to do!

Don't worry about the competition ... worry about the listener. Get to know your target listeners as well as you know your lover. Do whatever it takes to stay close to them. You need to know what they like, what they need and what they want. The closer you are to your listeners, the easier it is to build them an exciting station.

You need a morning show that has interesting relationships between on-air characters. You need a morning show that is "total topicality" -- local and today. A morning show that presents content in away that is uniquely theirs. A morning show that makes emotional connections (laughs, warmth, anger etc.) A morning show that embarks on dramatic arcs that will last beyond that morning's show. A morning show that makes people in the market talk about what they heard when they get to the school gates or work (and drives your competition crazy). Put simply: You need the best morning show in the market.

Run creative promotions that will get your station noticed. Rip up the rulebook and ditch the promotions that you have been running over and over ... try something new. You want promotions that tap into the listener's imagination. Create theatre. Create a storyline. Approach promotions as if they are a Hollywood movie - set the scene, build tension and anticipation, create interesting dialogue, throw in a twist and have a happy ending. Keep your station exciting by always having something on the air.

Keep your music programming creative. Get the music foundations right (and consistent!), but be imaginative with the execution. Create special theme weekends. Reinforce your station's core artists with exclusive previews and premieres. Host intimate concerts with core artists.

Plan stunt-based activity into your annual planner. Look for topical opportunities. Look for local opportunities. Look for obvious opportunities, e.g. toy drives. The secret to stunts is consequence. Ensure all your stunts have a consequence for the audience.

Get involved in the community. You need to be seen, to be everywhere. If your audience cares about it, you need to find an engaging way to get involved and show you care about it, too. Champion local causes. Enhance events rather than just "turn up." Don't be afraid to reflect issues in your community. You need to be on the streets and in the community doing something to make your market better.

Ensure you have the best talent. You need real talent who have something to say and who are interesting. If they rely on liner cards and have no life outside of the station, they won't cut it. Constantly recruit. You need to have the most interesting and engaging personalities for your market.

Build a station Product Team. Meet with your product team daily to identify opportunities that will make your station sound more exciting. Stay on top of the big TV shows, concerts and news stories. Brainstorm what your station can do with these events to sound more exciting to your listeners.

Your station has to understand how to unlock the powers of emotion. Radio is the most intimate media there is, yet it so often feels more sterile than a hospital. You need to showcase a range of human emotions. You need a contrast. Encourage your personalities and listeners to share their authentic emotions on the air. It shouldn't be just about making people laugh.

Surprise the listener. Predictability is boring. You need to do things that the listener isn't expecting. You need to constantly find ways to freshen the sound of your station, by doing something the listener wasn't expecting you to do.

There are many ways to put the "spice" back into your radio station and keep it exciting. It takes time and effort (more than you can imagine) every day to make it happen. But if you commit to making it work, your relationship with the listener will be unbreakable.

Never forget what happens when a relationship loses its excitement. You start to notice other exciting people, and become drawn to them. It's not long before you're starting a new relationship. Don't let this happen to your radio station.

Work at your relationship - keep it exciting!