When I was a kid, I always LOVED the frosting. It was what made
the cake taste so good.
On a related note- today’s music radio stations in the Duluth/
Superior market play approximately 45 minutes of music, when weeding
out commercials, promos, liners, jock breaks, etc. 75% of a
listener’s impression of a radio station is: the music.
So what’s the other 25% there for?
Look at the icing on that piece of cake: how BLAND is a piece of
cake served to you without the f-r-o-s-t-i-n-g!. And it can
dramatically change the flavor and makeup of that piece of cake,
too. ‘Regular’ cake with chocolate frosting is a very different cake
if you put vanilla icing on it….or what about strawberry?
Whoa….suddenly, what isn’t a big part of the cake is making a big
difference in how it tastes.
What happens between the songs is just as important as the song
itself. If I want to hear a bunch of my favorite songs in a row,
I’ll burn a CD from songs downloaded from the Napster-du-jour. At
least with my pirated CD, I know I’m guaranteed to hear songs I
like, rather than risking a radio station playing songs I don’t like
between the ones I do.
People who work in radio today are professionals because they
create magic by developing a personality on a frequency
(stationality). A stationality our target demographic can relate to,
appreciate, and enjoy. IN SHORT: THAT RADIO STATION BECOMES MY
FRIEND…A STATION I CAN COUNT ON TO BE THERE FOR ME. My burned CD
can’t do that. The 75% is the great music….which sounds really,
really good because of what’s going on with the 25%.
So, what do we do to create that magic? What stationality do we
go after?
First, test the music. Seriously. Bad cake with great frosting is
called: bad cake. Next, develop what’s going to happen between the
songs:
POSITIONING: What’s your selling point? Notice that’s singular.
NOBODY else can own this.
IMAGING: Upbeat and fun? Relaxed? Wild? Nostalgic?
MORNINGS: Memorable and compelling, morning hosts represent
stationality in the flesh.
PROMOTIONS: Your prizes must be interesting to the target demo-
community service, too.
AIR TALENT: Like mornings, personalities shining through the
radio develop friendships.
A moist made-from-scratch cake sells well.
A slightly dry Betty Crocker cake with just the right frosting
will sell even better (right?).
Imagine what the just right frosting would do with that moist
cake…..
