John Frost “But What Do We Talk About?”

It’s interesting how many times this comes up.  

Not-yet-good radio stations are full of things that aren’t relevant or interesting.  Transforming them from not-yet-good to something better involves two distinct steps.  

The first is sculpting.  

When Michelangelo was asked how created his famous statue of David he said, 

“It was easy. I just took away everything that didn’t look like David.”

The first step involves taking away anything that isn’t relevant.  For air talent dependent upon the tired and trite—National Donut Day,  celebrity birthdays, and trivia Tuesday—that means there may not be a lot of content left.  

That’s when they ask, “But what do we talk about?” 

That’s the process I call painting.   And I have the world’s tastiest idea.   

Go to the grocery store.   

That’s where I found myself on a recent Monday afternoon.  “I picked a really good time to be here, “ I told the checker.  “There’s no wait!”  She replied, “You should have been here Friday.  It was graduation day.  This place was packed.”  

The big game   

                                      A holiday weekend

                                                                                                Girl scout cookies going on sale 

                                                                                                                                                                                4th of July cookouts and fireworks  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Back-to-school  

                                                                                Valentine’s Day and trick or treating

You’ll see show prep literally on display.   Especially on the greeting card aisle, where every card has a story, as does every face looking for a card.   

The grocery business depends upon having the right stuff in the right place at the right time.  In our business we call that show prep.  

Obviously not everything you see at the grocery store belongs on your station, but if you want to know what’s relevant in your community it’s a pretty good place to go shopping.   

John is a partner in Goodratings Strategic Services, and has been a successful major market disc jockey and program director for such companies as CBS, Cap Cities, Westinghouse, Sandusky, Gannett, and Alliance during his 38 year broadcast career.  John joined Goodratings’ partner Alan Mason in 1999. Contact John  at john@goodratings.com