As a baseball fan, I take every opportunity to connect my favorite sport with the radio industry. Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver of the Baltimore Orioles was one of baseball’s great characters. He was once asked about the key to his legendary success. He became famous for this response: “Sometimes it’s the small things. But mostly, baseball is all about good pitching and the three-run homer.”
A three-run homer changes the game. It can overcome a lot of errors. It turns a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 lead. It transforms a team trailing 5-3 into winning 6-5. And a three-run homer energizes the crowd, activates fans, and changes fortunes.
Radio shows need three run homers because they are remembered.
What’s Your Three Run Homer?
Radio shows need to recruit and activate an avid, passionate, and loyal fan base. Fans love home runs, but we can’t just hope they happen. Many shows are masters of the mundane, obsessing over details that may be useful but not transformational. Details are important. Personalities should hit stop sets at the proper time and execute the format, but those details don’t excite the fans.
Discovery Channel’s annual Shark Week is an example. The cable network is in the top 5 every year, and they have done it for 31 years. Hallmark’s Christmas movies are a three-run homer. They start earlier every year and now have extended to a Christmas in July special.
Your three-run homer may be an over-the-top promotion, like WCIC/Peoria’s Been Tipped Over campaign. The station activated the audience to make an impact with waitresses in their community.
The Bert Show takes kids to Disney World each year as part of Bert’s Big Adventure. The promotion changes lives. Jeff and Jer turned a phone call into a multi-year campaign with Becky’s House, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse.
These are big examples. Your “thing” could be focusing a ticket giveaway on a time slot on one day, then promoting the special event as Timberlake Tuesday instead of stretching the giveaways over a week or two.
Or maybe it’s simply finding a One Thing feature and turning it into a must-listen moment.
Conclusion
In baseball, three-run homers overcome mistakes. Walks and errors are quickly forgotten when a slugger steps up and changes the game. If you execute the small things and train the team to look for the big moments, you’ll find a way to hit it out of the park.
As Earl Weaver said:
Sometimes it’s the small things. Sometimes, it’s a three-run homer.
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