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| @LesbianCraig |
Written by: Craig Shelton
Date posted: 5-26-2011
SOMEONE NEW TUNES INTO A RADIO STATION AT EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY AND HE THAT IS NOT ADHERENT TO THAT FACT, WILL LIKELY NEVER ENJOY THE FULL POTENTIAL OF GROWTH THEIR SHOW MAY HAVE BEEN AWARDED.
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| Buffalo Bill VanRysdam |
The former Sports Radio 610 (S/R 610) morning show hosts who currently make up the 1560 The Game morning show, in Bill's opinion operated their show in a culture of "exclusivity" that didn't encourage new listeners to stay tuned in when they came upon S/R610 on the AM dial. Bill explained that his criticism of their show was not associated with the show's entertainment value, which was at a premium, but more so directed at the "you're not one of us" mentality the pair exhibited on air in his professional opinion. At the time, even though I was listening intensively to Bill's teachings, I couldn't agree with his assessment of the S/R610 morning show hosts. At the time I wasn't able to really look beyond my own level of personal appreciation for the S/R610 morning show, to fully appreciate Bill's direction.
EXPERIENCE IS THE BEST TEACHER
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| Craig "Lesbo" Shelton |
ESPN 97.5 The Ticket is another good example of a sports talk station that does a fantastic job at remaining inclusive with it's listening base.
Even though Sports Talk 790 appears to have a silent code of non- inclusive hiring practices when it comes to women and minorities, i.e. "the whitest radio station in the history of radio" they do a really notable job of making all listeners feel valued.
I would imagine that if asked him (Bill), KGOW 1560 The Game, is the single biggest violator of the Bill Van Rysdam theory of "inclusive" radio over "exclusive" radio templates.
A great deal of KGOW's branding and station imaging works very well in my personal opinion. Ironically though, it may actually work against the stations overall success as well. I believe the general premise that 1560 The Game appears to operate under regarding branding and imaging as well as some of the entertainment content, promotes too much of a "clickish" atmosphere on air.
Understanding what you hear on radio as opposed to what you "should" be hearing are two totally different dynamics. You have to be able to listen in terms of "who just tuned in"? Bill made a great point to me in that, you have to provide for the possibility that someone is always "just tuning in". Listeners that are a station's "common" listening base is not the concern in this conversation as much as the "unique" or "new" listeners are. A new listener that tunes in either by recommendation or via channel surfing, is not likely to stay tuned in or tune in again, if no identification is made personally with the content and sub-culture displayed on air.
Personally, I don't have any issues with sports talk stations cultivating sub-cultures within their listening base, but it can be a slippery slope if not managed appropriately.
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| You're freakin killing me brother? |
The implementation of childish sports talk radio "gang signs" to identify a station's followers and goof-ball, sidebar comedic bits, can make for good entertainment on your morning or evening drives to work or home. On the flip side though, there's an argument to be made that it may turn off new listeners and even common listeners. Most listeners, especially a new listener tuning in for the first time expecting to hear the content that a station is listed under (i.e., "sports talk") are likely to be unwilling to participate in immature, dopey radio content where the host(s) appear to be content with entertaining themselves and a select minority of their listening base.
COLLUSION IS NO SOLUTION?
The way some talk show hosts go about business almost gives off an air of collusion to keep out any listeners that don't buy into the host(s) and their own little self-serving and shallow ideals.
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| Jim Rome |
In a perfect setting, a station or particular show would love to create a sub-culture of intense, aggressive supporters. The trick is to achieve this without alienating any potential new listeners that tune in that would help to grow a station's overall numbers. The numbers tell us that KGOW has been unsuccessful in achieving any sustained growth in the ratings since they launched four years ago.
Jim Rome the king of "Mob-Radio" has enjoyed sustained success, I believe because Jim is at the forefront of this style of radio, whereas the rest are cheap imitations premise-wise.
THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER!
We have some talented people in this town. The problem is "good ole boy" radio executives have killed a once vibrant market by recycling their own mistakes, and shoving them down the throats of the Houston listening base. Ignorance and professional arrogance has sports talk stations now suffering the consequences of their ridiculous decision making.
Marcus Coleman and I are good to go when ever one of you GMs or PDs, has the balls to make a statement in this market. Until then, continue to enjoy that ass-whooping that CBS-Sports Radio 610 is putting on your collective asses!
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Craig Shelton
HMW
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