TERRY YOUNG WDFX DETROIT RADIO 1990

 

http://danoday.com Terry Young, WDFX Detroit radio video aircheck from 1990. From the vaults of VuoloVideo.com.

 

RADIO IMAGING CRITIQUE BY DAN O'DAY

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Bobby Wilde KDWB Minneapolis Radio 1990

http://danoday.com Bobby Wilde at KDWB Radio Minneapolis, video aircheck from 1990. From the vaults of VuoloVideo.com.

STEVE SUPER COOPER WIFE RADIO 1978

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HAS SOCIAL MEDIA KILLED RADIO?

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AD FOR IRISH RADIO STATION: SMART OR DUMB?

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RADIO ADVERTISING LESSON (Quick & Easy)

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SHOTGUN TOM KELLY B-100FM RADIO

 

http://danoday.com A look back at the very first radio video aircheck? From the vaults of VuoloVideo.com.

 

REAL MEN OF GENIUS RADIO COMMERCIALS

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Should Radio Stations Play 24/7 Christmas Music?

http://danoday.com Is it good for a radio station to broadcast Christmas music "24/7" in December? Radio programming guru Dan O'Day explains...

 

SHOULD RADIO STATIONS PLAY 24/7 CHRISTMAS MUSIC?

by Dan O'Day

 

The question I've been asked is, "How do you feel when a radio station abandons its format for 24/7 Christmas programming?"

 

Although this goes against what many people want to hear, it's a bad idea. With the possible exception of a Christian radio station, it damages your station's brand. 

 

Assuming we're talking about a mainstream, secular radio station, you are damaging your brand. People turn to your station expecting to get the same product every singe day -- whatever that product is.

 

If you air 24/7 Christmas music programming for the two weeks surrounding Christmas, you'll receive a flurry of phone calls and emails from people thanking you from the bottoms of their hearts: 

 

"Thank you so much! This is so wonderful. It's such a pleasure. I can't hear this music anywhere else."

 

Those remarks are sincere, but they do not necessarily represent your core audience. Some of those listeners may be among your P1s, but there's no reason to assume most of them are. And perhaps NONE of them is among your P1s. 

 

So you get a flurry of excitement and of goodwill, and maybe some of your advertisers say good things, but for that time period you are driving away your core audience.

 

No matter how you like Christmas music, not everyone wants to hear it a lot. For some people, hearing "Little Drummer Boy" more than once per decade is too much.

 

For fans of your radio station who tune in for a period of time but do not receive the promise your station makes to them, you're hurting your brand.

Directing Voice Actors Jobs

http://danoday.com Voice over actors coached by Christine Coyle of Dick Orkin's Famous Radio Ranch, at Dan O'Day's International Radio Creative & Voiceover Summit.

RADIO ACCOUNT EXECS AND PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

Brian says, "I passed your "Real Men of Genius" video to our radio station sales force this morning. It did not get one response. How do you get the sales folk to start caring more about the product?"

Brian, you don't get the sales force to care more about the product. If they are going to care about the product, that has to come from up on high. It starts with hiring and it continues with training.

But I've talked to so many radio production directors and creative directors who are frustrated because no matter how hard they try, they can't convince the sales staff to do the kind of work they need to do to get the kinds of results they should be getting for their clients.

You can't do it. The sales staff doesn't answer to you. You didn't hire them. You can't fire them. You have no say about their pay, about their bonuses, nothing.

So the best suggestion I can make is the one salesperson on your staff who gets — and I'll bet there is one, the one person who understands that if they take the time to really do the research, to really ask the questions before asking you to create the commercial — focus your energies on that person's clients.

That person goes to the top of your pile. When you've got a stack of work to do, that person is the one whose work you do first and for whom you go the extra mile. You help that person makes more sales and make more money. Together you become this little team.

If you are really lucky, eventually one of the other salespeople notices that when you work with the other guy's accounts, the other guy seems to get better results or notices that you put in more effort or did a better job.

And then, if you're lucky, you'll discover you've made another convert.

How To Advertise Real Estate On The Radio

Hi, this is Dan O'Day again from Radio Copywriting Masters. We have a quick case history today from Phil Bernstein. Phil is an account executive from Clear Channel/Portland. And Phil, you're a salesperson who came to my Copywriting Masters class, and you even paid your own way. Is that right?

Phil Bernstein: That's correct, yes.

Dan: I understand you have at least one case history to share with us that somehow came out of that class. Can you quickly tell us about it?

Phil: Sure. This actually was something that had been a conversation that had happened long before the class actually took place. It was the owner of a real estate company in town who had done some advertising on my stations, had done some advertising on some other stations in town, was usually writing his own copy and I know, from having talked to him, was not thrilled with the results. I told him that I was going down to a three day copywriting seminar in Los Angeles and asked if I could use his company as an example and work on a script. He said that would be fine.

Dan: Did you have any fear that mentioning that to him in advance would somehow undercut your authority as an expert?

Phil: I didn't really think so because I didn't think I really had any authority as an expert at that point. So, this was something I hope would bring me some.

Dan: So, he had been advertising off and on various stations in the market. Who wrote the copy for the spots that he was running?

Phil: He was usually writing his own.

Dan: Oh, really? So, what was he writing?

Phil: It was a variety of things. At the time, he was running on another station with an ad that, in effect, compared selling your home with being out at a picnic in the park -- that when you work with this company, it was just that easy.

Dan: You're kidding.

Phil: No. I'm serious, and I've sold a home. In the best of markets, it's no fun at all.

Dan: But he meant it's like a picnic in Central Park at 2 o'clock in the morning?

Phil: No, not necessarily. I think he meant during the day in Laurelhurst.

Dan: Wow. Buying or selling a house with us is like a picnic in the park.

Phil: Yes. And there's a lot of evidence of the contrary.

Dan: Yeah, a little believability issue. Was he satisfied with the results?

Phil: He had not been happy with the results. He had shared that with me. But he had not been happy with anything else I had brought him, either.

Dan: So, what was it that you came up with? What did you bring back to him?

Phil: Well, he was interested in being involved in our traffic network, which involved 15-second commercials. And the beauty of a 15-second commercial is you have to get to the point in a hurry. Thinking about what somebody would need from a house transaction… You talk about the principle of WHAM: Why and How will it Affect Me? As a home owner, what I want is to be able to just put the house on the market, close on the deal and get back to my life. So the ultimate theme that I came up with in your class was, "List it, sell it and move on."

Dan: What a great core message. What a great way to say it. List it, sell it and move on. You understand that a large percentage of people who hear this are going to steal that line for their clients?

Phil: Well, I guess as long as each time it runs, I get a nickel. That's fine.

Dan: There you go. Everyone's on the honor system. "List it, sell it and move on." And you had to do it in 15 seconds?

Phil: Yes.

Dan: And I seem to recall you saying to me that at one point you were having trouble getting that message down to 15 seconds?

Phil: Yeah, to be able to tell the story in 45 words or less. I was having some trouble with that. One of the things you taught us was that often you can take a look at what you've written and ask yourself whether the commercial would still be as good if you eliminated the first sentence. Sometimes, even the first paragraph. So, I took the beginning and took it out, and it didn't seem to hurt at all. That helped me get down to 15 seconds without damaging the core message.

Dan: I don't know of any lesson I've learned that's been more valuable to me then cutting out the first paragraph if it's a :30 or a :60. I learned that from Dick Orkin. It saves my life just about every time I write copy. So, you looked at what you'd written. You simply deleted the first sentence and then you read it and asked yourself, "Is it any weaker?" Is that pretty accurate?

Phil: Yeah, that's it. And it did not seem to be.

Dan: So if it's not any weaker, you didn't need that first sentence.

Phil: Right.

Dan: So, you've got a 15-second spot that's built on the core message of "List it, sell it and move on."

Phil: Right.

Dan: Took it back to Portland. What happened then?

Phil: I called the client up and I said, "I'm back. I've written a commercial. Would you like to see it?" He said, "Could you come out this afternoon?" He was eager to see it, which was different.

Dan: Why do you suppose he was eager?

Phil: I suppose because I had been to school. This had the stamp of approval of having consulted an outside expert.

Dan: Ah! OK. If nothing else, he was hoping to pick your brain or get some of the knowledge that you had paid for, but he would get it for free?

Phil: Perhaps. Or at least he felt that what I was going to bring him had more credibility because it had come from that kind of an exercise.

Dan: Did you have the spot recorded, or was it just a script?

Phil: Just a script. So, I brought the script down.

Dan: And you handed it to him to read to himself?

Phil: No, I actually read it to him. And after I read it to him, I handed it to him.

Dan: What was his response?

Phil: He said, "This is very different from what I've been doing," and then he said, "I think I'd like to go with this."

Dan: Wow. Were you expecting that kind of immediate commitment?

Phil: No, I was not.

Dan: I know the answer to this. This is a set up. So, I guess you weren't prepared, huh?

Phil: No, I actually was. Dan, I'm a trained professional and I had a proposal in my briefcase.

Dan: So you whipped out the proposal. Can you share with us the dollar amount on that deal?

Phil: The dollar amount that I brought in was three months for about $18,000. The commission was enough to pay for the class including my travel expenses and actually wound up in the black.

Dan: That's not a bad deal.

Phil: No, it wasn't a bad deal at all.

Dan: OK., Phil. I'm going to put you on the spot. You have a few moments to share one key tip. What is the one thing people should take away from this success story that can help them with their advertising?

Phil: I think, probably, the one key to it is you have to, whatever the length of the commercial, whether it's 30 seconds or 60 seconds or even 15, somewhere within there has to be what you call the "WHAM Principle" -- Why and How does it Affect me? Me, the listener. Probably the real takeaway is to have something that is a realistic benefit to the listener, that the listener will get by doing business with the advertiser. You've got to get to it quickly, you've got to explain it simply and you've got to get them to do what you want them to do.

Dan: That's actually one of the good things about a 15 second format, which has lots of limitations. But it forces you to identify your core message, it forces you to identify how it affects the listener, and it forces you to say it really concisely.

Phil: It forces you to get to the point and then shut up. I think that's not a bad thing.

Dan: [laughs] In life, perhaps.

Phil: Yes.

Dan: Final question. I think it's been maybe nine months since this experience, since you went back and signed the initial $18,000 contract. Is he still on the air?

Phil: He is still on the air, and I can tell you that the real estate market around here is not a picnic in the park. So, the fact that he is still with me nine months later, number one, has made this a profitable investment. And number two, tells me that the advertising is working.

Dan: That's great to here. Phil Bernstein, Clear Channel/Portland. Thank you very much for sharing your success story with us.

Phil: All right. Thank you, Dan.

HOW RADIO PROFESSIONALS CAN SAVE TIME AND LIVE LONGER

http://danoday.com Radio broadcasting career tips from radio advertising guru and air talent coach, Dan O'Day.

HOW RADIO PROFESSIONALS CAN SAVE TIME AND LIVE LONGER

Radio broadcasting career tips from radio advertising guru and air talent coach, Dan O'Day.

Will Radio Survive? Candid Interview with Dan O'Day

http://danoday.com Radio talent coach Dan O'Day's blunt assessment of the state of radio broadcasting.

You, Too, Can Write Bad Radio Commercials!

http://danoday.com/bcg Radio advertising guru Dan O'Day's free online engine that allows you to create your own bad radio commercial - instantly!