CPR Promotional Check-Up - May 19, 2011

I Was Wrong; Facebook CAN Replace Broadcast Radio

Regular readers of my daily tripe(c) (3rd shift hospitality industry employees, agoraphobes, angoraphobes, the indigent and people-who-will-trade-services-for-a-rock) will notice a common undercurrent which is that we've taken an opportunity to connect with your community of listeners and in most cases turned it into vibeless spam.

With the exceptions of what NOU, B96, KHTT, Y94 and 95.7 Jamz have done during recent weather calamities, we pretty much suck at getting the audience engaged in Social Media.

Newcap's Lake-FM is in Slave Lake, Alberta. This is a community that was had a big chunk of it wiped from the map this weekend by huge fires. And the station and transmitter were burned to the ground too.

Before they had to flee, the station helped direct people to emergency routes and also on the changing winds and fire paths. There is no doubt that they helped guide people to safety and consequently saved some lives in the process.

They're using equipment in Edmonton to try and get it back on the air, but in the meantime, the people of the market have turned to the station's Facebook page for information. What a concept. They're off the air and STILL the Radio leader in the market. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_11395467823

Orajel Idol

Thanks to one of the Country guys for helping find a version of Novocain Idol that even corporate would approve. Swab the stunt guys mouth with it until he's an unintelligible, drooling mess...and then have him warble songs that the audience has to ID to win.

Seasonal Workers

One of the VERY first things you should when the beaches and pools open is to go out and put station t-shirts on all the lifeguards and refreshment stand workers. 97 Rock in Buffalo does orange t-shirts with "The Voice Of The Bills" and a station logo. They give them out to highway construction workers, who wear them...and hundreds of thousands of people drive by. Brilliant.