Station Health Check-Up:
Preparing for the Spring Book

Part Two: Personalities and Promotions

By Daniel Anstandig

Arbitron’s Spring survey runs this year from March 31 – June 22. Here are some important questions to ask yourself as you poise your station for the most competitive and important book of 2005.

PERSONALITIES

- Have you had an air-staff meeting to discuss your plan and encourage the personalities on your station prior to the Spring sweep? Are they aware of your audience composition and important geographical pockets in your listening area?

- Walk away from the station for a day and listen for an hour or two to each of the talent on your station without interruption­just as a listener would hear your station. What do you hear? Are there inconsistencies in the formatics from shift to shift? Are your personalities truly speaking to the target listener­or a miscalculated projection of the target?

- Are key members of your team under contract? Have you identified the essential members of your staff and taken measures to ensure that they won’t be tempted to “cross the street?”

- Are daily promos being produced for your morning show?

- Is your morning show firing on all cylinders? Are they consistently capturing the “big story” of the day on their show?

- What resources does your team have for showprep? Are they all useful, or are they just precluding other opportunities for budget or barter utilization? Have you considered purchasing a new showprep system or subscribing to magazines read by the target audience?

- Has anyone from the programming or operations team dropped into your morning show’s meetings recently?

PROMOTIONS

- Does your station have a major strategic promotion planned for the survey? Has legal council approved your contest rules? Is everyone involved in the contest up to speed on the execution and on-air formatics surrounding the contest?

- Are there any press-release-worthy events happening at your station? Who is responsible for drafting the releases and making contact with local press? Do you have a flight schedule for your press?

- Have you considered a planned stunt or event to draw attention to your investments in outside marketing and advertising?

- Have you produced station imaging and recorded promos for your strategic promotion?

- Are you planning to invest in external marketing during this survey? Do you have the timing planned out to coincide well with important segments of the survey? Have you tested creative for television, billboard, bus-boards, etc in focus groups? Remember that not testing and adjusting your message for the medium you’re using can be costly.

Daniel Anstandig
VP/Adult Formats
McVay Media