MORNING SHOWS MAKE COUNTRY RADIO

Thanks to Ken Anderson from The Wolf in San Francisco for a great blog to start the week. We have had more interest wanting morning show sharing than any other attribute. Have you ever read Tracy Johnson's book MORNING RADIO and MORNING RADIO 2? Best books that have ever been written on the concept of a winning morning show and the tangibles that need to be applied to the science of mornings. It's is art and science. Let me share some of the highlights of the book that I have turned into a ten commandments of sorts for application to Country morning shows.

The goal right off should be a morning show that sets the tone for the day, outperforms the station and helps propel the brand to the user. Local, topical and audience interaction based are three main ingredients that need to happen every time they communicate with the audience. The show needs to have a goal, template, blueprint and road map to success based on the following major attributes of morning radio:

· Leadership

· Clear roles with contrasting view points

· Not just topical, but doing interesting things with the topics

· Making people talk about them

· One large benchmark

· Radio theater

· Reflecting the listeners world

· Never “above” the audience

· Displays of emotion and empathy

· Playful, affectionate, kidding

· Longevity with continued commitment

Quite often, Country morning shows are really only announcers or morning “egos” that offer nothing but happy talk and goofy banter to each other and constantly talk above the listener’s heads. The morning show needs to intertwine the station together as a whole, offering seamless, non-offensive, fun and memorable programming quarter hour after quarter hour. Just like the entire station, the morning show will attract P-2 or cume from other stations, building on the pyramid of domination, by being more than a Country music station.

Winning attributes of morning shows: They are not fake, they are likable, they are well balanced, they are credible, they are entertaining, they are interesting, they are visible, they are humble and they have a purpose!

http://www.burnsradio.com/book.htm