According to my Survey Monkey questionnaire sent to those who have already registered for my upcoming conference, repurposing 7pm to 5am is now tied for number one in terms of their interests.
Think about the farce of Nielsen PPM.
Their drive-by technology has all but relegated 7pm to just before morning drive useless, a low-income burden to radio stations.
And if you’re not in a ratings intensive situation, chances are your station is acting like it is by wasting valuable real estate that can be sold.
There are ways to turn 7pm and beyond into a revenue machine and I’m not talking about running paid programming. That never really does much.
I’m aiming bigger and if you are as well, think about this.
I know of a successful attempt to take just a handful of evening hours and virtually turn it into another radio station with the ability to bill at high rates. I’m going to share this when we meet in Philly but for now, look under the hood.
In fact, the repurposed “down time” gave birth to a radio station that was bigger than the original format.
But there are other steps along the way.
Here’s a second idea you may like.
What if I told you that while 86 million 18-34 year old Millennials are bingeing on Netflix during these hours, you could offer them this alternative for bingeing that would empower your station’s reach and breed loyalty among a demographic radio has not been attracting.
Binge-worthy listening.
Should these hours be an extension of your current programming or is that no longer a necessity?
Wait, wait, wait – this is going to cost more money, right?
No, not unless you have an urge to spend it. There are several uses for this “down time” that will be accretive from day one.
Advertisers will expect bonus spots from it – and don’t you even think about offering them bonus spots to get them to buy daytime hours because this period charges a premium!
Perhaps you can see why there is so much interest in this topic.
Sometimes the solution to radio’s revenue problems are right in front of our eyes and this is one that we’ll have fun talking about and I’ll bet you won’t be able to stop thinking about it when we’re done.
Repurposing 7pm to 5am.
Here are 9 other critical issues on deck for the April 6th meeting:
- Change the way we talk to audiences. Radio dates itself every time the mic is open, but audiences want authenticity, no hype and at least three other things that most radio stations do not have. Training to teach on-air people to sound the way the audience sounds. How to get away from: “this station is not for me” to a new affinity. Sweepers, positioners – how are they testing with Millennials?
- Making money from digital. Enough, already. What most stations are doing is not generating very significant digital revenue. Here’s what they are missing that can work for you.
- Getting Millennials to listen. After we change the way we talk to 18-34 year old audiences, what is so compelling that they will have to listen. How about three things that have never been done that I think you will agree will make radio a destination again even in the digital age.
- Reinvigorating the morning show. See where I’m going with all this so far. We can’t blow up everything but there are changes we can make like the way we talk to audiences, the things we do to make radio relevant to them, improving digital and this one – redesigning outdated morning shows that 18-34’s are not relating to. Then generate 50-60% of your total station’s revenue from the more relevant morning show alone.
- Outpacing radio’s declining revenue trend. Every financial analyst is calling for a negative year -- off anywhere from 1% to over 5%. And yes, price gouging by major consolidators is helping radio’s race to the bottom. Let’s cut to the chase. What can be done to outperform this negative trend? Fighting rate cuts, over-bonusing, short-term flights, unwillingness to pay a premium plus adding revenue from subscriptions (don’t knock it), product placement and digital so foreign to radio you will likely be the first in your market doing it.
- A Millennial Station Makeover – leave with a long list of things you can do to make the rest of your station sound cool to critical 18-34 while also meeting with the approval of your older audiences.
- What to do about podcasting, which doesn’t monetize well but intrigues Gen X and baby boomer audiences.
- Standing up to a rigged ratings system. Harker Research and Sean Hannity will share research that shows the type of listening talk and music stations are losing with PPM ratings and how to fight back and reclaim the listening you’ve earned.
- Eliminating listener’s biggest objections. At least start with this and tear down some barriers to increased listening.
A day of information and inspiration where we work together. This is an interactive format so you can participate to the fullest extent.
This event will not be available by stream or video – only live and in person.
I can’t wait to bring our collective enthusiasm together using this blueprint to make a real difference in doing great radio.
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