CPR Promotional Check-Up - Jul 2, 2013

Street School

I go to a lot of radio stations that have the aesthetics and hall vibe of an insurance company. And you can hear that on the air. So it was refreshing to be at CBS in Houston where the new Market Manager walked in on her first day and declared "This doesn't look like a radio station. When someone steps off the elevator, they need to know they're at a radio station. Fix it." So they wrapped the walls in artist graphics. Now, you know you're at a station.

When I did School at Oasis Radio in Ft. Wayne last month, Phil Becker did something cool with the promo kids and tasked them to come up with a shopping list, ie: If you could buy $500 in swag, what would you get. The team will turn in their assignment next week and there's a prize for whoever's idea he uses.

A lot of stations will train the team how to set up and take down but not what to do in the interim while the event is actually happening. When Clear Channel in Minny used to do Street School up at my place, the coordinators would do little Goofus & Gallant exercises to teach the kids how to deal with the kinds of scenarios they're sure to encounter.

We had about 40 people in the performance room at CBS/Houston and Hunter and Maggie did some rollplaying on the stage. The two scenarios were:

How do you respond to a badgering, dhead client (played expertly by Gavin from 610 AM). The answer is always? The client is right. "Whatever you say sir."

How do you deal with a pestering stupid listener (played by me as I channeled a woman named Lori who used to come to all our stuff). Be polite. Always kill them with charm.

Again, if ALL you do is give them manuals to read, than it's your fault when they mess up.

Block Parties

It's entire possible to overthink Summer marketing. Oake On The Water at Cities 97? KILLS. And it's so simple. You go to any of the 100 lake/riverside bars in the Twin Cities and do your Thursday afternoon show. Not a remote; the show. And maybe you have Matt Nathanson come by and play a few songs. When you listen, this station could not possibly be anywhere else. They've nailed "local".

Q-102 in Philly, 102 Jamz in Orlando, Wild in SFO, WPGC in DC and Power in Miami have all gone out and done block parties. It's not rocket science. You pick a street in a zip that you want to troll for meters of diaries and you go out, close off the street and throw a party.

KOOL in Minneapolis is making patios their summer focus. It's so locally specific as to almost be ridiculous.

http://www.kool108.com/event_portal/view/calendar/event.html?event_id=313360