I’d like to think that you won’t believe this story.  Sadly, you probably will.

I recently called the PD of a major market Talk station owned by a large group.  I called him because his email was not on the station’s website.

The call went like this:

ME: Joe PD, please.

RECEPTIONIST: I’m sorry, he’s not available.

ME: That’s fine.  Could you give me his email address?

RECEPTIONIST: I’m sorry.  I’m not allowed to give that out.

ME: chuckle.

RECEPTIONIST: I’m sorry.  All I can do is put you in his voice mail.

ME: Really?!

RECEPTIONIST: Would you like his voice mail?

ME:  Yeah, I guess.

I don’t understand this policy on ANY level.  It’s terrible customer relations and it doesn’t save the PD any time or heartburn.  Someone who leaves a voice mail had much higher expectations of a reply than one who sends an email.  That’s why they pick up the phone.  What’s more, this policy puts the station at risk of missing programming and sales opportunities, as I outlined in this July post.

A few years ago there was a fad for changing the PD title to things like “Listener Advocate” or “Brand Manager.”  No surprise that trend was short-lived.  Hard to be a “Listener Advocate” when you refuse to talk to your listeners.

PS — I left a message for Joe PD, but he never did call or email me.

Have you given your audience an opportunity to express their emotions in the wake of SEAL Team Six’s house call on Osama bin Laden?  Sure, the phones are still lighting up, but people want to do more than talk; they want to act. We saw that in Sunday night’s spontaneous gatherings from Washington, DC to San Francisco.

Promotion guru Paige Nienaber told Radio-Info’s Tom Taylor that bin Laden’s death is on par with 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and President Obama’s election.  Nienaber is wisely counseling radio stations to make the most of this event’s “historic magnitude” both on and off-air.   How?  According to Nienaber, “It’s all about the troops.”

Nienaber is right.  For all our whining about “invasive” airport security, the typical American has been largely unaffected by the War on Terror.  Our volunteer military and their families, on the other hand, have borne a horrendous burden both physically and psychologically.  So, why not use this occasion to celebrate these American heroes by partnering with a non-profit that supports them?

Two excellent candidates:

The Fisher House Foundation, which builds and operates Ronald McDonald House-type facilities for the families of wounded warriors who are recovering at military and VA hospitals. (Full disclosure: Fisher House is a client of my Sound Strategies company.)

Operation Homefront, a group that provides emergency assistance to military families, especially while mom or dad is deployed.  It’s a national organization with chapters in many states.

There are many other worthy military charities that you might consider.  But, as recently discussed on these pages, be sure to check out any potential partner before you agree to support the organization.  You can get background info on hundreds of charities at CharityNavigator.Org.

It's your news -- sell it!

From my 4/14 News Talk Edge newsletter.  Subscribe for free HERE.

If personality is the lifeblood of talk radio, compelling topics are the format’s oxygen.  So why do stations typically refuse to talk about one topic that is sure to resonant with listeners – stories about the station itself?

The most recent example of this phenomenon comes from WTKK/Boston, where afternoon personality Jay Severin’s termination drew the attention of every media outlet in town, except WTKK, which sent out a press release and left it at that.  I don’t mean to single out WTKK – this is the typical talk station response in such situations.  Managers generally refuse to allow on-air coverage of host firings, suspensions, the loss of play-by-play rights, anything that’s perceived as a negative for the station. (I once worked for a GM who forbade the internal communication of news about air staff changes, let alone issuance of a press release or on-air mention of the departure.)

Refusing to embrace “bad news” about the station is a missed opportunity on several levels.  First, it can be great content.  The listener is invested in the fate of a host, as they presumably spent time listening to him and either loved or hated him.  What’s more, not reporting such news strains the listener-station bond, especially in an age when people are looking for more transparency from the organizations they deal with.

Of course, a station’s coverage of some negative internal stories does need to be managed for legal and programming reasons.  But why not let your own news department break the story of a host’s termination/resignation/retirement. Or word that the station couldn’t reach terms to continue carrying the local pro team? Or that a host has been suspended for this or that?  Do the story on your air THEN send out the press release.  Howard Stern has used that strategy to great benefit his entire career.  When there is news about Howard, you will typically hear it from Howard first.

So why don’t radio stations take control of their own stories?  WTOP/Washington News Director Jim Farley has a good answer.

“PD’s are the guys and gals who get the listener complaints,” says Farley.  “Listeners call and/or e-mail when they are unhappy.  And listeners tend to hate any changes.  They particularly dislike losing anything they are familiar with such as a personality.  A PD gets in defensive mode and feels like he or she does not want to spread the ‘bad news’ any further than possible.

“I faced this recently when we brought traffic in-house. That move prompted several hundred e-mails from unhappy listeners missing the morning traffic reporter who had become quite a familiar character.  I answered each one personally, and included a link to the story in a local newspaper and a link to the story we did about the change on WTOP.com.”

“Of the scores of listeners who responded, most were quite happy with the straight forward explanation.  Some wrote the usual ‘I will never listen to your radio station again’ comments, but our ratings are UP since the change.  A person who takes the time to write an e-mail is so engaged with your station that ‘I will never listen to your radio station again’ really means ‘My favorite radio station disappointed me.’”

So, we did a web story on the change but, in retrospect, we should have done something on-air, too. Live and learn.”

Smart guy that Jim Farley.