Tommy Kramer Tip #31 – The Person Who Just Tuned In

Here’s a little reminder of something a lot of air talents forget: At this moment, as you start this break, you’re not only talking to one of your P-1 listeners; you’re also speaking to the person who just tuned in…maybe for the first time.

If you think this way, you’ll be more welcoming, and always be inviting in more cume. More cume means a better chance for a diary or PPM device to go to one of your listeners.

This doesn’t just apply to what the jocks do or say. It’s important for a PD to embrace this, too, and design things accordingly. For example, the other day I heard a local station do a “Complete the lyric” contest—where the idea was to pick up where the song clip the jock played left off, and sing the next line.

I’m sure that on the drawing board, this looked great. But to me, it’s just one more station ‘preaching to the choir’—talking exclusively to the listeners they already have. If I’m new to the format, I don’t KNOW the lyrics to the songs you play yet. Since the most important factor in any contest is for me (as a listener) to believe that I have a real chance to win, this is a swing and a miss. I give up, tune out, and you miss an opportunity. (However, you do get to give yet another prize away to one of the 30 people who win every contest you ever run.)

If what you do is more open-ended, you’ll get more listeners to pay attention. Aim at the target listener, but don’t exclude anyone. McDonald’s targets women with kids, but that doesn’t mean men can’t eat there.