Tuesday, August 14, 2012

I'm reminded in an age where many are discovering Pandora, satellite and other means of auditory information and entertainment about our true advantage: serving the needs of our LOCAL audience. I'm not suggesting we play ostrich and bury our heads in the sand, but especially those of us primarily programming music should not miss the opportunity we have over these new competitors. Here's an exercise:

Without notifying your programming staff, dedicate two hours of non-stop listening one day.

Listen for:

* ... the amount of local information (not only, news/weather/traffic, but is your station providing the relatable, current, topical references needed by your audience?)

* ... how your station makes any programming element relevant to YOUR audience, not a generic audience. It cold be as simple as a workplace reference in a song intro, or it could be reflecting on a big event that took place in your market over the weekend

* ... outside of scheduled information segments (news/weather/traffic) are they working in the information WHEN YOUR LISTENERS NEED IT outside of those segments? Recently, in my market, a major U.S. interstate was close due to an overturned truck. We didn't wait for the next traffic report to share this. It was every break in that hour.

Don't get beat on the turf you own ... and don't assume you own it. Prove it!