A Friend I’ve Never Met

People who write blogs, are faithful readers of other people’s blogs. Doug Erickson is “a friend I’ve never met,” who is a very respected radio programming consultant and yes, also writes a blog.

This past week, Doug went back to one of my blog articles from 2017 that posed the question: “What Can Radio Do That Other Media Can’t?”

Here’s how Doug answered that question:

• Engage the mind, spark the imagination, unlock old memories and the emotion connected with them.
• Video, if done well, allows us to see what the creator sees. But, it is rarely the same image we would have seen if we would’ve pictured it in our minds first.
• That’s why, when we hear a voice, it rarely fits the actual person speaking because we’ve already imagined what that voice must look like.
• Writing can be incredibly engaging, but it seems fewer and fewer allow themselves the uninterrupted time to allow for character and story development to do their work.
• Only radio has the power to use sound and words alone to literally paint images in the brains of those who listen, and because listening is often done while alone. the engagement is intensely and uniquely personal.
• No two people listening see exactly the same images.
• And while the very best radio talent will help us feel, and feel deeply, each listener’s emotional response is personal because each of us has experienced life just differently enough to make it so.
• Words, carefully chosen; the timbre of each voice delivering those words; pauses to draw listeners closer; ambient sound that can help paint a scene; music, which uniquely communicates the inexpressible…these are your tools.
• This is what makes personal human connection possible and deepens the experience of listening to you.
• How many of your tools do you use?
• How often do you offer something no other medium can?
• How often do you create content that no one else, your listeners can hear today, can?

That’s the goal, isn’t it?

-Doug Erickson, Erickson Media

In Other Words…

Your radio station needs to be RELEVANT to the audience it’s focused on serving.

• It needs to have a heartbeat and be ready to go LIVE on a moment’s notice when warranted.
• It needs to provide a sense of COMMUNITY & COMPANIONSHIP to the listener.
• Define who your audience is and then super-serve them 24/7, 365.

You know what to do.

Now you just need to do it.