As a kid, I listened to lots of radio - AM, FM and SW - as satellite and cable TV weren't a thing in Malaysia yet. As a kid, I sang along to Buggles and their one-hit-wonder song - Video Killed The Radio Star. Nostradamus they were not, and thank goodness they didn't understand a thing about radio audiences and the consumption of radio. I won't bore you with research done by academics and broadcast faculties, I'll just straight up tell you what I know. After all, I have spent my teens to my forties now consumed in all things radio. Creating, presenting, managing - breathing, eating, smoking, sleeping - radio.
1) People Love To Feel Good
Radio can do that, when you're swearing like there's no tomorrow, stuck in the one of those godawful traffic jams of Jakarta, Bangkok or KL. Netflix, cannot. Well it can for the kiddos in the back seat but YOU, the erstwhile family UBER driver, you're at the mercy of whatever bottleneck that's squeezing you in between that 18-wheeler truck and a disdainful retiree on a mozzy-bike. See, once upon a time, up until the early '90s, it was THE VOICE you heard on radio that would give you the warm fuzzy feels, that soothing baritone or dulcet tones that melted away your boss's evil face from your mind, and you felt, YEAH, this dude/sexy woman is my BEST FRIEND. I am tuning in to him/her again tomorrow! But the quality of the voice alone wasn't enough to keep listeners coming back.
To have a healthy CUME (cumulative weekly audience) that advertisers salivated over, you HAD to know your stuff, man. If you didn't know when The Beatles came out with Sgt. Peppers, or what year Woodstock was, or which Grammy was the first for James Ingram, you were worth nothing. Musical trivia was a beloved and much-prized knowledge to possess, and in those days, jocks had to invest in plenty of music-based journals like Kerangg!!, MelodyMaker, Interview, and if your listeners were into New Wave, you'd better have a stack of Smash Hits and Number One mags handy in the studio. Radio jocks had to invest in actual BOOKS - Rock N' Roll encyclopaedia and biographies, which were fact-checked thrice over by publishers. No one on air messed up by reading a manipulated or unvalidated Wikipedia entry to pass off as a factoid for a song or artist. So here's the thing. Today in 2019, more jocks are directed to just read liners and keep their talksets brief, basically ensuring that their creative individuality is left squished in that vacuum filling up the space between two soundproofing glass panels. I mean, geez, Alexa could do THAT.
2) A station is always bigger than its personalities
Any well-trained station manager will parrot that to any radio jock or personality challenging the obligatory 5% annual increment in their contract. "We made you a household name, we can also make sure you stop being one", I recall one nasty character saying to his underling one day. When you're young and naive, you buy into that bullying because you don't want to lose your job. When you're older and perhaps a little more cynical, you can walk out and you take your listeners with you. But to get to THAT position, one where you can command respect from your station manager (albeit, sometimes grudgingly) and a whole lot of support from your sponsors, you have to BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE. If a station won't invest in your talents just yet, don't wait for them to notice you. Grab the opportunity, get yourself the training and the knowledge you need. Once you're armed with knowledge on how your audience grows, what they like/dislike, and who else they listen to apart from you, no station manager in the world can force you to be paid less than what you're worth.
3) Build relationships with your sponsors
Radio DJs can move from station to station. Their loyal listeners can follow them wherever they go. I've seen stations drop by a hundred thousand listeners in a shift because a popular DJ switched stations. But just as listeners follow DJs, so will bad reputations. That's right. Sponsors and advertisers are like elephants - they NEVER forget. They especially never forget DJs that have disrespected, mocked or belittled their products or brands on air (and now, off air - on social media).
Here I will share with you two true stories. I was a station manager for an English station when a DJ from an affiliate station rankled a petrol brand because he went on air and ranted about their poor service standards. Granted, he never named the actual petrol brand, but he described the location of the petrol station he was referring to, and enough listeners deciphered that he meant Petrol Brand A. In less than an hour of that talkset going on air, our sales team got calls from the agency handling that brand, with threats that they would pull out of the traffic report sponsorship if the talkset was repeated in any of the "breakfast rewinds" (a breakfast rewind is when the highlights from the breakfast show would be repeated throughout the day, so you may chortle in your car after 10am).
Story number two. A luxury brand wanted to work with a station I was overseeing for the launch of one of their designers. It was a series of on air and off air activities that would culminate with a launch party at a swanky location. Fab! I love it when luxury brands don't look down their noses at radio stations (normally, it's the glossy fashion mags that get those advertising dollars). I was chuffed, until the station GM came in and told me there was a caveat - two of the station announcers had been blacklisted by the group, hence, banned from said event and location. I was then informed that these two, who had emceed at one the group's past posh parties and created a lot of unwanted drama.
Let's just say one of the DJs got upset over the microphone and sound system, the other had very terse words with the sound guy, and before you knew it, there was a fist fight in full view of all guests. So yeah, that sort of thing makes it hard for agencies and advertisers to forget who you are. So make nice with your sponsors. Unless of course they're harassing you and being inappropriate. You should report the company reps to your higher ups, or if need be, their higher ups. Dignity before Dollars. Always.
4) Compliance, compliance, compliance!
During an eight-year period of my radio management life, I was also nicknamed Queen of Compliance. I was nothing if not diligent about protecting our broadcast licences (we had several). A shutdown or suspension meant lost advertising dollars, a fine meant it went permanently on our record and would be reviewed during licence-renewal time. A very simple yet horrifying incident (for any station manager or GM) happened in the early 2000s that resulted in millions of Malaysians being told that the King of our country, who was gravely ill, had passed on. This was, in fact, untrue. His Majesty was very much alive, the night DJ had messed up.
That's the thing with mistakes though. No matter how small or serious, one must always learn from them. In this case, it was discovered that a series of human errors led to this terrible chain of events, resulting in the station making front page news in several national dailies. This breach of compliance also resulted in angering many of our countrymen, resulting in me and my team having to go around the country to repair the damage in trust, something we had nicknamed our apology tour. Back to compliance - we the management then created a series of protocols that had to be followed to ensure that this sort of thing never happened again.
Later, an entire Code of Conduct and Compliance was co-authored by yours truly as more mistakes and breaches were identified. In the end, though, a book is just a book if not read and understood. There is wisdom in compliance, and many things have been put in place to avoid offending, insulting, mocking and defaming sections of society or individuals, and to ensure continued respect, inclusion and diversity as demanded in the guidelines of a country's broadcast policies. Stay out of trouble, Be compliant. It'll determine the longevity of your career on air. Trust me on this.
5) Always Respect Your Audience.
Here's a mistake noobs make when they first start on air. Your listeners are your fans. Nope. Your listeners are individuals who have their own minds, opinions and boundaries of what is decent, funny, or just downright rude. To dismiss their feedback is to stunt your on air years or growth. You exist because of your listeners, not the other way around. Bore them and they will switch stations. Disrespect them and they will call you out on Twitter. Cherish them and they will remember you for life. Don't believe me? Go ask your mum or dad who their favourite DJs are and why. Pay attention to what they say. And. THAT, as Brian McKnight says, takes you back to ONE...
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