CPR Promotional Check-Up - Jul 9, 2012

HEAT!!!!!!

If there was ever starker evidence on why you need access to your websites and social media locally when there are emergencies, all you needed to do was look at a major broadcast company. There were two MILLION people without power in a heatwave in DC and for six days, not a mention.

When there's a tornado or earthquake or any calamity and you're posting stuff about Tom Cruise, someone needs to lose their job.

Cumulus in Colorado Springs dropped everything and is focusing on the wildfires. Without remotes or other obligations, it frees them up to lend the power of radio to people/charities that need it. It's been a massive homerun and a reminder that great local radio is an amazing thing. Oh, and they've already created a relief show.

The storms in DC were a surprise. I was there two Fridays ago. This wasn't expected. The heat? Sure. But not the storms.

You seriously need a disaster plan. Who is in charge of what when things hit a fan. Specifically who goes and lives on Facebook. What DJ's can get out and immediately start doing reports (done exceptionally well by 95.7 Jamz in B-Ham post-Tuscaloosa last year.) You're going to want to collect something so you'll need a truck. Get one locked down in advance. Pepsi and Coke have lots of trucks......................

In addition to all of the info from the Red Cross, on Facebook, get streams going. Help people find lost pets. What stores still have ice?

Traffic

The best bits evolve out of random thoughts. Not an initiative or focus group. One morning, for no apparent reason, Katie Fitter at KOB-FM decided to do Haiku Traffic. Audience loved it.

The Art of Promotions is to stand out. And there are going to be some things that you do that everyone else is doing. So why would you NOT want to differentiate yourself from them. It's free. If you have to deliver traffic, then do it in a way that will stand out. The information is the same. The length is the same. The delivery is different. Read Marshall MacLuhan.

In the mid-90's KQRS used to have their EBS Test read by a seemingly stoned Bill Clinton at a rally. Friends still ask about. That...is the example of Promotions.

Also understand that most of the people at the traffic services are out-of-work DJ's dying for an opportunity to audition, or, at the very least, have some fun. So what else could you do?

• Out Of Work Phone Sex Operator Traffic (about to debut "somewhere")
• Unemployed Shakespearean Actor Traffic
• 6th Grade Gym Teacher Traffic
• Corporate Lawyer Traffic
• Pompous Film Critic Traffic
• Trekkie Traffic
• Anger Management Class Drop Out Traffic
• Outsourced To India Traffic With "John"
• OCD Traffic

Bob Yates used to own afternoons in Minneapolis on 1500 KSTP. When he gave out the studio line number, he did it three times. Once normal, and once "For our friends in Wisconsin" (he nailed the accent) and "for our huge listenership in the crackhouses in St. Paul" (read slowly and mumbled)

Why would you want to do what everyone else does? That's boring.