New Year Resolutions For Radio Personalities

by Tracy Johnson

It’s time for New Year Resolutions again. To make lasting adjustments, it’s important to establish specific goals with a timeline. Doing it at the beginning of a year is a natural time to refresh, adapt and make changes that will lead to success.

So here are some ideas for radio shows in the new year.

New Year Resolutions for Personalities

These won’t guarantee a #1 show, but will put you in a position to make this the best year ever. Don’t worry about trying to implement every idea. Pick a couple and make a commitment. It will have a dramatic impact in advancing along the Personality Success Path.

Show Prep

Effective show prep is the single greatest difference maker for radio personalities. Most shows get bogged down in details and show prep becomes a lower priority. They then scan a prep service and plan the show on the fly.

That’s not a recipe for success.

Resolve to create a structure for show prep that allows you to work ahead. Commit to planning at least two days in advance. Adjust as needed in daily planning sessions.

There’s a terrific Weekly Show Prep Planner available for members of my Personality Magnet Show Prep Service.

Getting into a new prep habit makes the prep process more productive and relaxed. It’s also more fun.

And it helps with another New Year Resolutions suggestion:

Increase Daily Cume: Promote Tomorrow

Horizontal teasing is one of the most overlooked methods of promotion. It rarely happens radio shows, but if most of the next show is laid out in advance, it’s easy to promote that content!

Increasing Daily Cume is a reliable key to ratings growth. Getting just one more day of listening can drive share growth.

Promoting tomorrow sounds great, adds anticipation and increases forward momentum. Some shows make this a daily benchmark at the end of a show, with quick hooks for the next day.

And, it is great material for a recorded morning show promo than the tired “If you missed today’s show, here’s what you missed” promo.

Brush up on teasing skills here.

Recycle More Effectively

Now is a good time to dig into ratings software and track performance over the past year (or two). Which quarter hours perform better than the rest? Which are the weakest?

Armed with information, identify the best content, and become famous for it. Perhaps it’s a daily feature. Or an appointment tune-in moment for a contest or game.

Or maybe nothing stands out. This is the time to find the One Thing to make you #1.

Then, figure out how to squeeze more value from it with a recycling strategy. Consider:

• Create an online presence for the most important feature.
• Plan a daily or weekly podcast to expand distribution.
• Post bonus content for on-demand access.
• Schedule the feature more often – replace weaker content.
• Find a twist to freshen the concept with short-term promo campaigns.

Find out more about recycling with my eBook Get the Most From Your Best

Update The Website – Daily

The number of static radio websites is sad. Make a commitment that this is the year the site comes alive with fresh content.

Replace that tired bio of each personality with highlights from this morning’s show (make it shareable) and previews for tomorrow.

Get rid of cut and paste stories from pop culture. Nobody’s coming to a radio website for that. Instead, find unique ways to engage and entertain with content that promotes your brand.

And use video! It’s easy and inexpensive to set up a quality video studio.

Updating a site is like working out: Do it consistently to produce great results. You can’t just update it once a month and expect traffic to grow..

Bonus: Managing the website even increases ratings if you follow the tips in this ratings hack.

Personal Growth

Most successful people never stop learning. One of the best ways to keep up with trends in personality radio is to learn from those who are great at it. Here are several ways to grow in the new year:

• Network with personalities, programmers, and consultants. There’s plenty of free advice available to those who have nurtured an ongoing dialogue.
• Have someone review and critique your work. Personalities are not air checked as much as they should be. Fix that. Find a mentor to work with you or use our Air Check Coaching Service.
• Develop a path for polishing skills with my online video training course. It’s packed with everything a personality needs to advance their career.

Not sure where to start? Subscribe to Insiders Radio Network. It’s the best source for updated, ongoing ideas and training for career growth.

Set Goals & Measure Progress

Some New Year Resolutions are a little more involved. Like this one.

In marketing, advertisers track Return on Investment (ROI). In radio, it’s a little trickier. Ratings are not a good measure of progress.

Here’s a simple plan:

• Save a full show every week. Don’t pick the best show or the worst. Make it random.
• Identify two goals per month.
  • One should be a big picture goal, like learning how to tell better personal stories.
  • The other should be a small goal, such as reducing the use of personal pronouns.
• Each month, listen to a show from a month ago, three months ago, and six months ago. Score progress against the specific goals.
• Once a goal has been achieved, count it as a victory and replace it with a new goal.

Archiving and reviewing content is a great way to chronicle history and celebrate progress!

Get That Gig You Want and Deserve

Finally, make this the year of YOU. Many personalities are on the beach, hoping for a break to get back into the industry they love. Others are stuck in a station, show, or market they want to escape.

And more are settling for working a shift rather than performing a show.

Make this the year you move ahead. Get That Gig!

Here’s how to start:

Update. Start with new materials to market your personality brand, including a fresh, exciting aircheck and resume’. Corey Dylan has already done this. Check out her amazing new resume’ that looks as great as she sounds!

List. My free Radio Talent Pool service is designed for personalities and programmers to market their brand to the industry. Broadcasters use it as a primary, key resource to discover talent.

Get Help. Get personal, private coaching services from TJMG. We’ll help prepare, edit and coach you through the process of getting a gig you. For details, go here. Use the discount coupon code NewYear for a 50% discount.

Conclusion

Radio personalities must constantly evolve. It should be continuous, but the beginning of a year is a great excuse to make new plans and establish goals.

What are your New Year Resolutions?

 

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