• Getting Them to Listen is Not Enough!
• Using Conflict to Create More Compelling Content
• Getting More Out of Brainstorming Sessions
• Conducting More Productive Meetings
• How To Create An Air Coaching Plan for 2004
• Does Your Morning Show Content Make the Grade
• Making time to Praise
• My morning show could be much more compelling
• 10 Steps to more effective radio air check and critique sessions
• Changing Air Personality Performance Behavior
• Improving the Creative Process at your Radio Station
• Air Talent Coaching Tactics that get results
• The Difference Between Speaking and Being Heard.
• The Morning Show as Improv
• American Culture Post 9/11
• Coaching Air Personality Development
• Building Better Time Spent Listening
• How to Increase Audience Passion for Your Radio Station
• Techniques for Managing Air Personalities New to Radio
• Maximizing News On a Music Radio Station

Messages from traditional media sources such as radio, television, newspapers, magazines, outdoor, direct mail and telemarketing, but also from newly emerging sources such as Internet banner, pop up, opt-in and opt-out ads. Even satellite radio includes advertising on some of its channels. It is so difficult to cut through all the media crowd noise today that even some of the most recognized businesses in America are going to almost outrageous extremes to communicate their messages. Last year, one of the United States space shuttles launched with the Pizza Hut logo on the side of the space craft. Now, we all know that there is no Pizza Hut franchise or any other pizza vendor open yet on NASA's space station. But, when there is, Pizza Hut can say that it was there first!

25 years ago, there was not much media for audiences to choose from. In most markets, there were two big AM radio stations that mattered and a struggling FM playing emerging rock album tracks. Our choices for television included the three big networks and, maybe, a UHF station that aired re-runs from the 60's and public domain movies. Today, consumers at home can choose from a wide variety of quality local radio and television programming, plus hundreds of satellite radio and television channels as well as pay-per-view movies. All of this choice has caused American media users to become much better multi-taskers. (Just watch any man with a television remote and you will see exactly what I mean.)

But, the more we learn to multi-task, the shorter our attention spans become. Here is a case in point.

In 1968, the length of the average political sound bite in a newscast was 42.3 seconds. Today, the length of the average political sound bite in a newscast is eight seconds. Think about that for a minute. If we are only willing to listen to someone who can raise our taxes, limit our personal freedom and commit us to war for eight seconds, how can your air personalities ever hope to capture the ear of their listeners without factoring that into their work?

David Ogilvy of the prestigious Madison Avenue advertising firm Ogilvy and Mather says that four out of five people will not read or listen to anything beyond the headline. This is a critical point as it relates to having what you have said on the radio actually be heard, and, more importantly, retained by the listener. The difference between just speaking and being heard is the quality of the set-up or the "headline" you put on each new idea.

In their book "Elements of Copywriting" Gary Blake and Robert Bly, two well respected advertising copy writers, say the number one rule for writing effective headlines is appeal to your audience's self-interest. In radio terms, that translates into including the most compelling listener benefit in the first sentence of everything you say on the air.

For example, here is how the typical radio promo copy for a remote appearance might read: "Join me (talent name) tonight at eight o'clock at O'Brien's Bar and Grill for our big St. Patrick's Day party at the corner of 7th and Maple. I (talent name) will be broadcasting live until midnight and there will be free pizza and reduced price green beer as well as a chance to win a trip for
four to Ireland."

In this example, the most compelling listener benefit, the trip, is not only not included in the headline, but it is buried at the end of the promo. Radio stations that routinely execute promos with the listener benefit buried often complain that they get low turnout to their events. That is because by the time the listener hears the benefit (the why), the details of where and when have already been given. And, most people just will not make the effort to call a radio station to get those details if they miss them. They have too many other things on their mind and they mentally move on.

To look at this another way, consider the concept of social context. In face-to-face social situations, we always establish the context or personal relevance of what we are about to say in the first sentence of our conversations with others.
If we do not, we get all kinds of physical cues that tell us the person we're talking to is either wondering what our point is or is just plain bored. When you are on the radio, you can't see those reactions, but they are there. Much of what is said on radio stations, because it is presented out of context, becomes ambient white noise to listeners.

You can determine the listener context of any idea by asking the question, how does this relate to the listeners' lives?

In the case of the promo example above, the answer to the question of listener context is a chance to win a free trip to Ireland for you and three of your friends. And a fun night out with cool people and free food. When your copy and your talk sets begin with listener context, you are much more likely to strike an emotional chord with your audience. And emotions cause us to act 3,000 times faster than regular thought.

Recall is critical to the success of any radio station. The key to retention and recall is capturing the distracted and fragmented attention of listeners in
the first sentence of any change of idea. Radio air personalities who learn to execute this tactic effectively and consistently can increase their average quarter hour share dramatically over the course of just a book or two.

It sounds simplistic, but most things of true significance are usually simple and obvious.