Like it says above my desk.."there ain't no geniuses here"...and that certainly applies to a morning radio show. There's a million theories and a million other ways to do a show. But, after working with morning radio for more years than I care to count, as they say, it seems to me there are some basic elements to doing a morning radio show. So, here's my Top 10 list...I hope you'll add your own view of these basics in comments below...
Ten goals of a morning radio show
1. Relate to as mass of an audience as possible
Two ways are obvious..the weather and TV..these are the most universal
Nothing better than a highly rated TV show last night you can talk about.
2. Relate to the audience locally
Of course, better are the local things that may be happening..like
unusual traffic..city crisis, major events, etc. But, if you know your
target audience well enough, "locally" can be psychological as well.
3. Relate to the audience personally
Do they have health problems, marriage concerns, job worries, money problems?
If you know what they're feeling they'll identify with you more. This, of
course, goes with today's approach of talking about your own situation.
4. Sound informed...Know a little about everything...pop culture, around the
city, music, etc...
5. Be up to date..in today's Internet world, things change quickly and the audience
knows about them..You have to know also..
6. Be generally entertaining..and being the morning show host you know how to
do that...
7. Wow them with something unusual..
Gordon McLendon, one of the father's of modern radio said the primary goal
of a radio station was the "create talk." Of course, it's great if you can
do something to have a lot of people talking about you..but, it's not always
possible to do something outrageous every day...good on the street stuff
still works, however.
8. Inform them of something they didn't know..they dig deep in Google..you dig deeper.
9. Make them think..If you talk about an issue that has two sides..they can
bring themselves to the discussion mentally, if not
10. Make them look at the day with a more positive outlook..make them feel
better about themselves and what's ahead for the day..If you did nothing else
this will make them tune in again tomorrow...
Bob Hamilton
