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PROGRAMMING FOR THE HOLIDA YS
make an impact this year

blue revolution

FINDING TA L E N T
find the next star for your lineup 6 o f t h e b e s t

WA TO HARNESS YS THE POWER OF F A C E B O O K

+ YOU JUST RELAX
our holiday programming will do the work for you

bluerevolution
Issue 36 November 2011
In this issue: Programming Your Station at Christmas l Harnessing the Power of Facebook l the Right Talent Hiring The Best Holiday Programming Resources

Hi again,
Welcome to the latest edition of the Radio e-Zine from Blue Revolution. One of the questions I get asked a lot is what do you get out of the Radio e-Zine and why do you give it away for free? so I figured it would be an idea to explain here. Firstly, The Radio e-Zine allows us to reach out to people who are passionate about making good radio. As you can see, we dont fill it full of adverts, instead we focus on pure content to try and help your station in a couple of ways

Blue Revolution is a leading supplier of programming content, music services and production tools to radio stations worldwide. Our range of weekly shows include the award-winning Totally 80s, Totally 90s, The Weekend Vibe, The Donny Osmond Show, Wolfman Jack and many more. Our network of client stations trust us to deliver programmes proven to build audiences and raise revenue. Find out more by visiting us online at

a) to get more listeners and b) to make more money Each month we ask some of the worlds top radio consultants and strategists to contribute their thoughts and ideas, and Im incredibly grateful to them for doing so. Another benefit is that it allows Blue Revolution to let you know what were up to. Whether its a our range of Christmas Shows or news of our new prep service ThePrepSheet.com. Now of course, the Radio e-Zine costs us time and money to produce, but I hope you agree that its a worthwhile investment. With the news in the last few weeks that the UK radio industrys only dedicated weekly magazine, The Radio Magazine, has suspended publication, I hope that you find the Radio e-Zine a valuable resource and that you enjoy reading it when it reaches your inbox. In this issue: Page Page Page Page 3 5 6 7 Programming Your Station At Christmas PD Tips: What To Look For When Hiring Talent Why Is Our Christmas Programming Ideal For You? 6 Of The Best Ways Of Harnessing The Power Of Facebook

Thanks again for signing up for the Radio e-Zine. See you next month!

See you next month,

Paul Hollins

paul@bluerevolution.com

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Programming Your Station at Christmas

Steve Warren is a radio veteran from Austin Texas. He is co-creator and developer of the popular and highlyregarded scheduling software Music 1, as well as being a seasoned broadcaster and consultant. His 264-page book 'The Programming Operations Manual' is called The Radio Bible by many people in the industry. It's sold over 2000 copies since it was first published in 1984. Copies are available from Steve's website www.gomusic1.com

Christmas music can be a high impact formatting feature. IF you do it correctly. IF you are unique and your mix doesn't sound like anybody elses. For 'new music' -focused stations, the tired old, traditionals should not be played. Everybody else can have those. A few tear-jerkers (like the Willie Nelson or Roy Orbison versions of Pretty Paper) may be okay, but the best Christmas mix should be Upbeat and Happy. It is the happiest of seasons, after all. If you stress the happy Christmas songs, listeners will respond positively. Realize many of the standards are no longer relevant. Bing Crosby's White Christmas is often cited as the best selling single record of all time and it remains one of the great classics. However, it sounds weird next to almost anything we find on the Current music charts. You can certainly play the song itself, but there are always fine newer versions by Contemporary stars. Those are the cuts that should be played. Play Christmas music competitively. Be selective. Judge Christmas songs in much the same way as you judge new Currents. Don't play a song simply because it has the word Christmas or Santa in the title. If you don't feel really good about the song, don't let it get on the air. Programming a good Christmas rotation is a snap. It's better to play a few good ones in high rotation than to dilute the quality of your playlist with second-rate music. You can program a good seasonal sound with as few as a dozen records. I prefer using between 30 and 40 and a fairly tight rotation. The best strategy is to heavy-up on the happy songs early in the season. The more melancholy and religious-oriented songs should come to a peak at about 40% of the rotation group on the last few days of the season. If you're not using music scheduling software to schedule the seasonal music, set up your Christmas rotation in one of two ways: 1) Number the songs and use a Schedule Grid to pre-schedule the rotation. 2) Make a Rolodex card for each cut. Then, have the jocks pull from the first two or three cards in the stack and place to the rear after they've played the song. If the songs aren't on your automation, hard-drive system, keep the Christmas discs in a box in the control room in numerical order for easy access by the jocks. Recommended Schedule December 1st until about December 7th:: One cut an hour. December 7th until the 15th: Two cuts per hour December 16th until 22nd: Three per hour December 23rd and 24th: Four cuts per hour You may want to keep a light rotation going a few days after Christmas to accompany all those people who'll be hitting the after-Christmas sales. They'll still be in the spirit. And, some programmers continue to program Christmas music lightly until New Years. If you do that, I recommend using only the five or six cuts that were the most requested during the holidays, and only one per hour. This is a somewhat greater

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programming your station for Christmas

continued
amount of Christmas content than most PDs are accustomed to programming. However, if you are playing only the best, hit-oriented product, you'll find the mix to be a positive one. It lends an air of festiveness to your sound that is quite beneficial. Listeners appreciate it. Christmas Memory Sound Bites Here's an idea for Christmas Cheer. Have the request line recorder running. Ask callers what's your best Christmas memory. (Get their okay to air it.) Or, you could solicit memories with on-air announcements. Splice the best into 10-to-15 second bites. Produce a simple intro with tinkling bells in the background. The intro copy should be something like this: K-Fox103, with Tulsa's Christmas memories....(sound bite) After the sound bite, segue into a Christmas song. This is simple to do and sounds very neat on the air. It has excellent local appeal. You can save the best of these things and use them year after year, they never wear out. Listener Christmas Sings Another entertaining feature is to record listeners singing familiar Christmas songs acapella. You can solicit callers for this on the air, or just ask random callers to sing a few liines for you. Record and edit the sound bites down to the best 10-20 seconds. Add some production elements, perhaps. Ten to fifteen good 'sings' is all you need. You can rotate them through the season. Schedule the 'sings' as the last element in a stop-set. Make a cold segue from the listener sing into a Christmas song.

Hang the DJ? is making an impact

Hang The DJ? is a reference guide that gives radio presenters and DJs an overview of the laws of defamation and contempt. It describes what presenters and DJs can safely say on the radio and what they can read out from newspapers and social media websites like Twitter and Facebook without getting into legal trouble.

Praise for Hang The DJ

Totally relevant for those working on-air, with real-life examples. Stuart Clarkson, Editor, RadioToday.co.uk

Quick Tip
Programme Directors & Station Managers: Use this book as a way of training your presentation team about the laws of libel & contempt.

A 'must-read' for anybody in broadcasting who cares about getting it right. Paul Easton, Radio Programming Consultant, pauleaston.com Use what you learn [from Hang The DJ?] for the rest of your life. Quite simply, I would get it. John Myers, Chief Executive of The Radio Academy, myersmedia.co.uk

Visit www.radiobookshop.com for all the information and links to purchase your copy now.

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P D

tips

Which timeslot are you looking to fill? Will you hire someone from a competitor/different market? Will they already have on-air experience or not?

While the final decision is always going to be a subjective, there are a few things worth considering.

Confidence
You want a presenter who will be able to connect with your audience confidently. So keep an eye out for a confident communicator who doesnt come across as condescending or cocky.

The Ability To Focus

Its a trait that every presenter/announcer will need to display if they are to perform to the very best ability on-air.

An Engaging Conversational Style

A great voice isnt enough these days, you need someone who can engage your audience and keep them listening. Perhaps set them a quick test by asking them to tell you a story about a ballpoint pen, and to make it sound interesting.

The X Factor
No, this has nothing to do with Simon Cowell. :) But you need someone who has that extra spark, a dynamic persona, the X Factor! If the person you have in mind has all of those abilities, chances are theyll make a great broadcaster. Snap them up! Got an idea for a great PD Tip? Email pdtips@bluerevolution.comand it could feature in a future edition.

facebook.com/bluerevolution

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! !

PD Tip #5. What to Look for When Hiring Talent

A strong line-up of talent is something every station needs, but what do you look for when hiring a new presenter? The decision will always be based on a number of factors:

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holiday programming to destress your life

Why should YOUR station carry Blue Revolution programming?

Reason 5. Take the stress out of Christmas this year with Holiday Programming from Blue Revolution.
3 Reasons Why You Should Carry Our Shows This Year: Happy Listeners. They give your listeners a real reason to tune-in over the Festive Season Additional Revenue. They give your Sales Team additional sponsorship opportunities to sell to clients. A Stress-Free Christmas For You. They give you time to relax. Simply download and integrate into your Playout System. Job done. Make your life easier this Christmas with affordable Holiday Programming from Blue Revolution

Find out more at www.bluerevolution.com/festive

t tally
christmas edition christmas edition

The All Time

CHRISTMAS DAY

Greatest Movie Songs

100

New Years Years

VIBE
with Pat Sharp

The New Years

The Festive Collection from Showbiz Central

Give your station IDs extra SPARKLE this Christmastime by getting the artists to wish your listeners Happy Holidays. 50 individual dry workparts that you can use in your imaging . Available to download now at www.bluerevolution.com/artistdrops The Festive Collection includes greetings from todays artists: Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera As well as some of yesterdays biggest festive names: Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett

Order now at www.bluerevolution.com Use coupon code: festive20 and save 20% before 30th November 201 1.

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ways to harness the power of FaceBook

Paul Hollins is the CEO of Blue Revolution. He is an award-winning presenter and producer. His on-air broadcasting career includes many of UKs most well-known stations including Key 103, BRMB, Capital FM and Londons Heart 106.2. In 1999 he became the first British presenter to fly to Los Angeles to host the internationally syndicated World Chart Show for Radio Express Inc. Since setting up Blue Revolution in 1999, Paul has helped grow the company into one of Europes largest providers of audio content for radio.

6 of the best:

We all know that Facebook is a great way of communicating with friends. We can upload our photos, post status updates, ask questions and so on. But can Facebook really be used by radio stations as an effective way of connecting and interacting directly with listeners? Make Radio A Two-Way Conversation For years radio has been a one-way medium. Since the birth of the wireless, weve been asking listeners to make all the effort when contacting us. Wed ask listeners to write in, call in or text in. Those days are gone! Todays world is all about communication, and therefore we have to reach out to our audience instead of expecting them to come to us. We should be hanging out where theyre hanging out, so we can interact with them without them having to make too much effort to contact us. Hanging Out Online Facebook is a place where people hang out to interact with their friends, so why not tap into it? Here are the latest stats about Facebook, which may amaze you: More than 800 million active users More than 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day Average user has 130 friends More than 70 languages available on the site More than 75% of users are outside of the United States Over 300,000 users helped translate the site through the translations application More than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile device. CONTINUE READING THE FREE RADIO E-ZINE BY SIGNING UP RIGHT

AWAY AT

Making An Emotional Connection Facebook is a great way for your station to get out there and connect with your listeners. In fact it even allows you to build a relationship with them on a much greater scale than ever before. You will be much more visible in their lives, which has the added benefit of encouraging them to tune-in more often. We all enjoy interacting with our friends, so by utilising some of the following ideas, it will allow you to become friends with your listeners and, hopefully, an important part of their lives. People have always looked to their friends for advice, guidance and recommendations. This level of influence could help you connect with your listeners on a whole new level, and thats a key thing for radio to adopt if our industry is to thrive in the age of social media.

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