Actually, it’s tomorrow. But I wanted to give you ample time to prepare. It turns out there are 1,100 such days on the calendar, according to NationalDayCalendar.com, and thousands and thousands of groups and categories that would love to get in on the action.
So National Radio Day is August 20th (shared with National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day), and that should count for something. While there’s National Nurses Day, National Beverage Day, and National Coloring Book Day, there is no day set aside for satellite radio, Internet streaming, or even National Podcast Day. Just radio.
The head of this clever franchise is a guy named Marlo Anderson, and it turns out, he’s actually on the radio. Known as the “Guru of Geek,” Marlo hosts “Tech Ranch” heard on a handful of stations, as well as online. Small world, right?
So fireworks aside, what is the best way to recognize National Radio Day? Their website suggests the following:
To celebrate National Radio Day, listen to your favorite radio station and give a special recognition to your local radio personalities. Use #NationalRadioDay to post on social media.
So I’m sure that’s appreciated by everyone who works in radio, and it’s a nice list of things for radio listeners to do.
But what about people who actually work in radio? What might we do to honor #NationalRadioDay?
1. Dedicate yourself to connecting with the audience
Answer the phones promptly (especially in the studio), acknowledge everyone socially, and look to please those people with birthdays, special requests, and other little gifts that will make their day. Radio, more than digital media, has the ability to recognize an acknowledge – traits that go a long way toward making people feel good.
2. Treat every event like it’s the only one you’ll do all year
This means sending the right person/people who look good and prepped, driving a clean station vehicle, and exuding a look that makes your station approachable and friendly. That personal eye-to-eye contact in the community is another exclusive radio characteristic.
3. Ban the words “contest pig” from your vocabulary
They’re Super P1s, and you just never know when one of them will be carrying a meter or a diary. When listeners pick up a prize at the station, make a big deal out of it, give them the 25¢ tour, and walk them in the studio to say hello to the personality on the air. That’s what making a great impression is all about.
4. Visit every city or town in your metro
Like a smart politician, show up everywhere within a calendar year. Just because. Even if it’s not a Hot Zip.
5. Serve your community
Look for ways to support charities, foundations, and institutions that are doing positive things where you live. You do well by doing good.
6. Honor first responders and other service personnel
Whether it’s the military, law enforcement, or firefighters, they are the people in your city or town who sacrifice the most and deserve the recognition.
7. Have presence in schools
Education (especially music and arts programs) needs help and support. And kids are connected to parents (the people who vote with their diaries and meters).
8. Help your advertisers grow
Don’t just sell spot schedules. Look for ways to use your assets to support local businesses. The more they grow, the more you grow. Not everyone can afford to buy time on your station, but you have websites, streams, and other avails that are probably going unsold. Use them to attract new advertisers who can benefit from your reach, influence, and audience loyalty.
And one last thing. It’s great that radio is one of the 365 days the National Day Calendar group celebrates. But that picture at the top of the blog is dated, tired, and doesn’t do justice to radio.
Marlo tells me that if someone submits a better photo (Hello RAB, NAB, and anyone else), they will consider swapping it out for #NationalRadioDay in 2017.
Hey, it’s a start.
Enjoy #NationalRadioDay and don’t forget to use the hashtag.
Special thanks to Vinson Kattoula!
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Your post and 8 ideas got me thinking. Here’s one I’ve come up with (for within the Radio industry). Make sure you properly engage, support and mentor your youngest & newest staff. The “radio path” was more prominent & distinctive 10, 20 years ago. Today is obviously a whole new media world. Now, 18-30 years olds have myriad options. The ones who choose radio “are gold” – to our growth, evolution & future wins. Especially the digital extension part. Experience + fresh pespectives!
Rob, looks like you came up with #9 – good one! Thanks for contributing.
I have National Radio Day pieces running every hour on WGRR on 8/20. Didn’t tell my staff and they’re stealth (not on the log).
I’m following up with some social posts tomorrow, as much as time allows as my wife is in search of a new, perfect dog companion to our Boston Terrier.
This is a great post and I will share with my staff. I met what is referred to as a “prize pig” today in our elevator. She remembered a conversation we had months ago on the phone and loves my station. She was in to win tickets on our sister station and I thanked her for being a fan.
Keith, great comment! Glad to see you out a plan into action. And good luck with dog #2!
Did all of these in my 25+ years of working radio. Maybe that’s why I was told I was “over qualified” my last four years I was in the biz. I got so sick that I couldn’t get a full time gig and working in three different departments as a “part timer” – working more than 40 hours a week (with no benefits, part time pay), I finally left 10 years ago. The only regret I do have is I should of become a teacher like my parents told me to. A single woman, unmarried and at age 54, I would be close to collecting a pension, social security a few years away and summers off. Instead, I have some awesome stories of my career to tell, but nothing else. No pension and I’ll probably have to work until the day I die to survive. I’m on disability right now and it pays nothing. I honestly don’t know how I am going to survive once I’m over 65, 70 years old. A middle finger salute to radio! BTW, I don’t listen to terrestrial anymore. I’m tired of the 200 to 400 songs in rotation. Thank God for Apple and the iPhone…not to mention SiriusXM.
Francie, thanks for taking the time to comment. I firmly believe that most people who got into radio did so for the reason you cite: for the love of the game. Even though we were young, I think everyone knew radio was a “risky business,” and most did not expect to get rich from this business. That said, it sounds like you have truly suffered thorugh a rough patch. I sympathize with your plight, and hope that your fortunes reverse. Thanks again and good luck.
Thanks Fred.
Funny that this topic comes up today.
The reason I say that is because I didn’t even know it was National Radio Day until I found it in my newsfeed.
And thought of the state of the business as I was just getting out of my car and happened to be listening to two air talents that harken back to a simpler time.
So here are some thoughts from someone who’s toiled in the field for, ohhhh, about 38 years or so!
Radio – bar none – is still the most intimate of mediums.
It’s a friend….or can be.
I’ve seen where it is…first hand!
However you have to break it down into its individual parts.
Here in 2016, music radio – and I specify “music radio” – is, in my opinion, losing touch with those vast numbers of friends out there.
There really are no more “larger than life” music jocks. The ones that I’ve had the pleasure to work with have been around a while – and remember a time when the “jock” was truly an entertainer.
The folks of whom I speak are sort of the “Last of the Mohicans!”
Now they’re buried by 8 minute stop sets – promos – sweepers – non stop music – and “stationality” – not to mention being less entertainer and more “content provider”, now that radio is no longer a one-platform medium, but a multiplatform medium.
Talk radio still has the ability to establish that one-to-one connection with its audience. It can be very compelling, unnerving, soothing…and probably a host of other descriptions that don’t come to mind at the present.
Yet it too has some of the same limitations as music radio. Long stop sets – in some cases little divergence of opinion – and an emphasis on talent becoming content providers for the other platforms.
So what to say to the upcoming generation of broadcasters.
First thing is to recognize that you’re no longer a broadcaster – but part of a media conglomerate.
Be proficient not only in broadcasting – in establishing that “one to one” connection with an audience – but hone your writing skills and video editing – plus whatever else is demanded of you in this very competitive environment.
You will, no doubt eat, sleep, and drink it – but always be aware that there’s no guarantee of longevity.
After all, it’s a business – a very diversified one at that.
Have fun while you can – and you will – but sleep with one eye open!
Ray, this is well done and well written. I will say that in my world, there are still many jocks that very much matter. Times are different than when radio was about the only game in town. I think about music presenters like Pierre Robert, Bob Stroud, Uncle Joe Benson, Iris Harrison, and countless others who make even tight playlists sound engaging. Thanks for going right at this. And P.S., I slept with one eye open back in the ’70s!