Across the country, news and talk radio stations go through a format transformation every weekend. Even the highest rated, and most respected news and talk giants become different stations on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, it is on the weekends that program directors reluctantly pitch the stations keys to the advertisers. As a result, business owners in local markets take on the role of talk show host. Even in the best managed stations, where program directors work diligently to maintain format integrity, the station sound morphs into a cross between the QVC Shopping Channel and the hog auction at the state fair. As one major market program director told me several years ago, “At first we tried to train all the client hosts before they went on the air, but eventually it just got too big to manage. The sales department has taken over the station on the weekends.”
McQ Media – Coaching Financial Talk Show Hosts
Although I can understand any program director’s frustration with the quality of weekend programming and air talent, I believe the ‘weekend warriors’ of radio talk show hosts can shine on the air, when properly trained and coached. Paid programming doesn’t have to sound bad. At McQ Media, we specialize in coaching financial planners who have a desire to be effective radio communicators. Put another way, we help ‘non-radio people’ sound good on-the-air!
Here are some areas of challenge that we help our clients work through. The result is great sounding radio that gets the phone ringing and keeps the station program director happy.
Trying to Do a “Live” Program: Some financial planners try to do their programs live each week. We don’t recommend this route. In addition to the potential compliance issues that can result from saying the wrong thing or even worse, having a live phone call go badly, it’s just not that much of an enhancement to be live. You can sound ‘live’ but still be prerecorded with properly program design. I regularly hear from listeners to our programs that believe we are live in studio.
Overselling: Too often, planners on radio make the mistake of pitching way too aggressively. We encourage our clients to think about engaging the listener first and selling second. Give the listeners compelling and interesting content and you’ll ‘earn the right’ to sell what you do. Beyond that, placing your call to action and selling messages strategically within your broadcast (at best times in program clock) is critical to maximizing your listening levels and response.
Badly Designed Program Clock: The program clock is the design of the segments of your program. And, it doesn’t necessarily have to follow the guidance of the radio station. In fact, many financial programs I hear are missing opportunities because of bad clock management. With the right clock design, you can take your program to a new level of effectiveness and avoid sounding like an infomercial.
McQ Media’s Pete Thomson: “Financial Talk Show Hosts Can Shine On-the-Air”
Lack of Preparation: I generally hear two extremes with regard to preparation; either no prep that results in a host going ‘off in the weeds’, or the opposite, which is a total scripting of a program. In reality, somewhere in the middle of this spectrum works best. We show our clients how to achieve a sweet spot of planning a program (and even scripting some of the content) balanced with strategic ad lib time. Weekly prep for a financial talk program doesn’t have to distract you from your primary business focus, but it does need to be considered.
Lack of Systems: We teach our clients to create systems that result in maximizing their time invested into the program. As a client builds content and program history, our systems make it possible to reuse content without creating a rerun sound.
Lack of Training: On-air skills can be learned. And while it’s true that people’s natural skills are a factor, I’ve never met a motivated person who couldn’t be coached into competence as an on-air host. But, as in learning any new skill set, training. coaching and re-evaluation are critical to success.
If you want to take your radio program to the next level, contact us and let’s talk about your specific situation. With proper planning and execution, your weekend program can be compelling and a highly profitable resource for building new business.
CEO
Editor’s Note: Pete Thomson is a veteran of the radio and television industry. He worked as a radio on-air personality and programmer for the first 15 years of his career. He’s also worked as a media salesman, sales manager and general manager. As CEO of McQ Media, Thomson now works with clients to create effective advertising and marketing campaigns, including long-form radio programming.
