Metheny

WGN/Chicago‘s new mid-morning host, Mike McConnell, was struggling for calls in his first days on the air.  Ever-resourceful WGN PD Kevin Metheny reportedly fixed that problem by arranging for some of his more clever Tribune Media colleagues to call-in and spar with McConnell.  Metheny’s solution receives an arched eyebrow from Chicago media critic Robert Feder in a recent blog post.

But here’s the deal.  Talk shows are supposed to attract and hold an audience by creating entertaining programming.  They are not newscasts or documentaries.  They are amusements, diversions — SHOWS.  Wouldn’t listeners rather hear a funny or insightful call from a “phony” caller than sit through a ramble from a “real” caller?

That said, I offer two important caveats.

1. If a show isn’t generating decent impromptu calls from listeners, it could be a sign of trouble.  A well-done talk show should generate response.

2. Hosts who engage in serious political argument in an effort to change minds should be held to a higher standard.  Faking calls (especially ones that make provocative claims or allegations) in this environment is like flicking matches in the barn where the host’s credibility is stored.

Read Feder’s piece HERE.  It includes Metheny’s very candid memo asking his colleagues to call McConnell’s show.

Is your show or station generating content that gets response from callers — and advertisers?  If not, let’s talk. Randall@talkfrontier.com

If you decide to attend TMC/TSBC, take the time to make a plan.  Ask yourself what you hope to achieve during your time on-site.  Who do you want to meet? What questions do you need answered?  What sessions are must-attend?  Bring plenty of business cards, but leave the demo CDs at home.   Chances are they will end up in a trash can somewhere in the hotel.  Better plan: Keep track of all your connections, and follow up with an email that includes a short demo.

See you in LA.

Boot Camp Wisdom: Money Isn’t Everything

Don Anthony’s Morning Show Boot Camp drew a serious and committed group of radio pros to New Orleans this past weekend.  One highlight was Saturday’s Careers session, featuring a panel of top agents, consultants and a senior radio group exec.  Here’s a sampling of their advice:

Don’t throw in the towel. Yes, times are tough, but that doesn’t mean talent should accept the first offer at renewal time.  Personalities who deliver for their stations are sometimes seeing modest increases.

Money isn’t everything.  A significant raise might be out of the question.  But a strong performer may be able to win more job security, contract guarantees or added resources for the show, such as his own producer, or the money for parody songs or a voice impressionist.

Protect your revenue streams.  A host should fight like the devil to protect her right to make money in other media – TV, Internet, newspapers, books, speeches, VO work, et cetera.

Keep airchecks tight.  One break for jocks, one segment for talk hosts.  Skip the fancy opening production.  Make sure you are the star of the submitted material.  Attach the aircheck as an MP3, not as a link.  Said one panelist: “Remember, Everybody wants to be spoon fed.”  Great tip from consultant Alan Burns: “If you want your demo to be heard, have someone else send it.”

Resumes and cover letters aren’t difference-makers – Unless you misspell the recipient’s name, or otherwise demonstrate carelessness.

Network, network, network.  By the time you see a job posted in the trades, it’s been filled.

Talk radio wants you! With the demise of local talk in many small markets, music radio has become the farm system for talk radio.

Enough Politics. Music personalities who hope to build a lasting career in talk radio should look beyond politics, tap into their unique personalities, and use their ability to create great conversation from topics that come from everyday life and relationships.

Considering getting an agent or manager?  Let’s talk.  770-551-2340

Tim Conway, Jr.

Did you hear KFI/LA‘s Tim Conway Jr. on “The Weekend”?  He’s very good. But even this talented guy with a famous dad had to hustle to get into talk radio. Here’s how the LA Times tells it:

Conway’s new gig is a far cry from “Late Net,” the online talk show he began hosting in 1996 from a storefront studio in Santa Monica, as an early pioneer in Internet programming.

“We told people it was being listened to by 400,000 people worldwide every night,” Conway said — a figure he and his cohorts simply made up. More likely, he admits now, “there were two people listening every night, and their audio dropped out every eight seconds.”

But in those days, when the Internet was still a novelty to many and such claims were hard to verify, a few credulous media outlets came calling to check out the new venture. That attention, and Conway’s ploy to tap radio-station executives as guests on the show, eventually led to an invitation to go on-air at KLSX in 1997.

Talent, technology and smart self-promotion — it’s a potent combination.  If you’ve got the talent, TFM can help with the rest of that equation.

Give it a listen HERE, and see what you think.

Never talk about the one that got away

Radio and TV talker Ed Schultz is carping about how President Obama hasn’t appeared on his show(s).  Big Ed’s most recent outburst came  at the Netroots Nation conference of liberal bloggers, as detailed in a post on Mediaite.com.

This is a huge mistake; one that reveals an all-to-common failure to understand a core principal of successful talk programming: The show will rise or fall on the host’s own ability to entertain, inform and intrigue the audience.  Complaining about a person’s refusal to come on the show, or their failure to call-in at the scheduled time, makes the host look small, weak, ineffectual and petty.  Talking about the guests you CAN’T book is also a waste of the listeners’ time. When a guest fails to show, or bails at the last minute, the host should simply move on with a minimal explanation and perhaps the observation that the would-be guest has missed a great opportunity.

On a related note… any talk personality who depends on guests to drive his/her show is extremely vulnerable.  As one observer recently noted, Larry King‘s fade to oblivion stemmed from his guest-dependency.  Larry himself never provided a reason to tune-in on a regular basis.  Instead, viewers stopped by only on those occasions when Larry was chatting with someone they were interested in hearing from.  Conversely, while Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Sean Hannity’s radio show all devote significant time to interviews, their guests don’t drive the program. Instead those visitors provide grist for host’s mill — be it comedic or political.

Read about the Old Spice campaign here. See the videos here.

Metheny

WGN/Chicago PD Kevin Metheny has lots of interesting stuff to say about PPM.  Slurp from his cup of wisdom in this week’s News Talk Edge, my weekly newsletter.  Subscribe for FREE here:

http://www.radio-info.com/newsletters?page=2

Would the content be uniformly great?  Nope.  But I’m constantly amazed at the quality of the audio programming posted to the web by amateurs.  With some minimal screening and grooming, you’d could easily create a stream of unique material generated by people with a real passion for the work.  You might even turn up a true star.

Think about it.