“It Doesn’t Fit Our Brand”…Wrong!

Please don’t kid yourself that “it doesn’t fit our brand”.

The horror of the George Floyd killing, the peaceful protests and the hijacking of the narrative by destruction and looting needs to be playing a big part of our radio stations, specifically our morning and other high-profile daypart shows. Our audiences need us to be there.

Our radio brands have always been built on relationships. It’s hard to find even the smallest market where these events haven’t touched on a local level. We must be confident enough of ourselves to evolve to our listeners’ current wants, needs and desires of us for information, interchange and inspiration. When we signed up for radio, we became community leaders. Now is our time to lead.

On our morning and other high-profile daypart shows, our responsibility starts with team members talking about their feelings, views and beliefs of the events and the evolving situation. Dave Ryan of Minneapolis’ KDWB said his team members shared their thoughts then opened the phones for their listeners’ thoughts for the rest of the morning. Dave and his team let their show go where the listeners took it. Great advice. Here’s a list of possible things for your team to do…

1. Each member shares and expresses their honest feelings on the events.


2. Take calls from listeners allowing them the opportunity to express their feelings on air. Ask for different viewpoints.


3. Play lots of audio of events on the air, the more local, the better. Get reaction to them


4. Get your Mayor on the phone for an interview.


5. Interview the Governor


6. Interview your Senators


7. Get your local TV and newspaper reporters covering the story on the phone


8. Interview the head of the local NAACP.


9. Interview the Police Chief.


10. Interview any local movement leaders that have been organizing events.


11. Interview a host from your Talk station clustermate.


12. Start a GoFundMe page to pay for expenses of those locally impacted by these events.


13. Interview a professor at your local or state university on police/minority relations.


14. Interview a local psychologist to help us process our feelings on all of this.


15. Rest your normal benchmarks. War of the Roses, Second Date Update don’t feel right.


16. Can’t fake it. Be prepared with facts, figures and HISTORY.

Please don’t kid yourself that it doesn’t fit your brand. This is a community event and discussion that can’t be ignored. Being part of the fabric of our cities, we must live in step with what the community is talking about. The good and the bad. Let’s make sure we aren’t cheating our listeners in giving them less of what they need and expect from us and our special community relationship with them. That’s our brand.