BLOCK ISLAND, RI — Talk radio isn’t just different than music radio. It’s better. Talk radio is never on in the background. And streaming has music radio on its heels, because The Sentence Never Spoken is “Alexa, please play six commercials.”
Yet talkers should avoid taking false comfort that we’re less vulnerable to digital competitors, because people are using social media to talk to each other without us. So joining the conversation there is now table stakes. But defending the towers remains Job One.
By Steve Lapa Lapcom Communications Corp President
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Do you remember this rule from basic sales training? Radio is a frequency medium. Radio is the more efficient way to deliver a message with high repetition to a qualified audience and for measurable results; your message needs to hit your target audience at least_____times.
How many times should a target consumer hear an audio message to generate response?
Pick a reasonable number that will trigger a purchase cycle, before the message becomes an irritant. Can’t find a number? You are not alone. I think the rules have changed faster than you realize.
BOSTON — Just read Julie DeCaro’s new book, Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America, which details what a slime pit the world of sports broadcasting really is.
DeCaro is an attorney turned sports talk radio host who, in her book, decries the piggish nature of virtually all men in the world of sports, from the male broadcasters to the executives who run teams and broadcast outlets, to many of the players, and certainly to the fans.
BLOCK ISLAND, RI — This might be the most common mistake I hear on talk radio:
On-hour newscast ends…
Over-produced, self-amused intro includes the phone number…
If it doesn’t – or even if it does – the host then announces the call-in number (“…if you want to be a part of this extravaganza,” as Sean says).
The host then talks, and talks – in ad-libbed paragraphs — lots of “I” and “me” – about topic du jour, thinking-aloud, until happening-upon a distilled call-in proposition, with that call-in number WAY in the rear-view mirror.
NEW YORK — For seven years I have broadcast my WPHT, Philadelphia and now network show “Sterling on Sunday” from home — specifically from my laundry room.
Perhaps you are just starting to broadcast from your home. If so, these findings might be useful.