This App Just Works

Trying to find an app for listening to stations’ live audio feeds has been frustrating for me – until now.

I’ve tried and rejected a number of programs.

Then I came across an app for the iPhone and iPad called "Pocket Tunes”.

$5.00 was the most recent price I saw.

I’m running it on my iPad. So far, it handles every single station I’ve thrown it. That means it is supporting a large number of audio formats, including Windows media.

Nothing too fancy. It just works. Highly recommended.

AMT Hook Titles: Mix Them Up

I’m running into more and more programmers who are not working very hard on the presentation order of the songs in their AMT.

Some simple rules:

Songs should be randomized.

When you think of songs to test there is a natural bias toward better songs at the beginning. You run out of good songs as you select more songs to test. Eliminate this problem by shuffling the songs.

Two songs by the same artist should not come up near each other. Manually adjust the song order as needed to separate them by 5 or most songs.

Do not play the songs in alphabetical order by title. Some listeners will notice and focus on that. You want them focused on something else.

One more note, only slightly off topic. Find 3 songs to use as examples at the very beginning of the AMT, when you are explaining how it works. Those particular songs should be strong, so the people feel comfortable that, yes, this is their kind of music. Don’t count these opinions.

You can include these songs again later in the AMT, for a more accurate measurement.

Last minute addition: Don’t put the songs in any other discoverable order. For example, oldest songs to newest. No patterns at all.

The decision isn’t always made now

This is an irritating problem with the PPM methodology. Specifically, it means that we can’t learn very much by looking at the minute by minute information.

Many decisions about the relationship with the station are made later. They are based on accumulated experience. They are affected by trust or the lack of it.

How many things are an acquired taste? Wildly popular! But with success that is achieved only after a difficult period which must be overcome by the passage of time. More people discover that the “story” holds up as interesting, once they know a little more.

Is it possible to build a morning show without a period of discomfort on the part of existing listeners, only balanced by the passage of enough time for others to discover the compelling stories told? And isn’t it true that stations used to work much harder to hasten that, with huge marketing efforts to help increase the comfort level of listeners with a new morning show?

Often, the action being recorded isn’t a “decision” at all. It is audio exposure, yes, but did somebody really choose to listen?

When the the listener leaves the station, was it based on the programming? Or did somebody else need to talk to them, so they shut the radio off? Did they arrive at their destination?

Remember – we don’t know.

Basics: Updates to Promos

Today I’m in Phoenix, Arizona. A station is giving away tickets to the hottest sporting event in town. Hard to get tickets. A nice coup.

The tickets are being given away today, Wednesday, April 14.

The promo runs. Today. Wednesday.

But the promo doesn’t say “..win tickets all day today!”

No, the promo says “..win tickets Wednesday!”

Crap.

When you make a promo, there must be at least the following versions:

1. The one you run more than a week ahead, if any. That one will use the exact date.

2. The one you run earlier in the week. That one will say “BEGINNING THIS Friday (or whatever day), or THIS WEEKEND”.

3. The one you run the day before the giveaway begins. That one will say “TOMORROW”.

4. A different one for each day of the promotion. For the first day, it will either say “ALL DAY TODAY” or “TODAY” if it is a one day promotion, or “TODAY THROUGH -----“ for a multi-day promotion.

5. As soon as possible after you have your first winner, you need to record a version with audio of excited winners, and promote a sense of excitement and urgency. If it takes more than an three hours to get it on air, you are one sorry excuse for a programmer.

6 As you near the end of the promotion, you must use phrases like “LAST DAY” to further the sense of urgency.

7. After the promotion/giveaway ends, you must immediately run a promo to run that reminds listeners of what you just did (include the best audio of winners), tease with the promise that more is on the way, and invite them to continue listening. Invite them to join your station listener database so that they receive early email notification of whatever is next from the fun and games department.