PC's or Presenters To Blame - Radio

Matt Emulsion · 23-01-2006, 14:57

I do find it so irratating to hear young jocks continuously saying coming up , coming up bla bla. This i'm certain is an old GWR aussie theory.

Well apart from giving the listener "more" reasons to turn off because they can't bear hearing a song they heard just an hour ago it's even more annoying and patronising to say,

"Coming up, WOW! Mike and the mechanics, over my shoulder, when was the last time you heard that?"

Well actually!

Dangerous, when you say that on a station that repeats the same songs everyday. I'm sure many listeners answered the guy on the radio back,
"yesterday"

If it had been Nick Abbot I would have thought this could be great sarcasm, but it wasn't Nick and it was meant to be a genuine comment.

Terrible radio

segue · 23-01-2006, 17:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Emulsion

I do find it so irratating to hear young jocks continuously saying coming up , coming up bla bla. This i'm certain is an old GWR aussie theory.

Well apart from giving the listener "more" reasons to turn off because they can't bear hearing a song they heard just an hour ago it's even more annoying and patronising to say,

"Coming up, WOW! Mike and the mechanics, over my shoulder, when was the last time you heard that?"

Well actually!

Dangerous, when you say that on a station that repeats the same songs everyday. I'm sure many listeners answered the guy on the radio back,
"yesterday"

If it had been Nick Abbot I would have thought this could be great sarcasm, but it wasn't Nick and it was meant to be a genuine comment.

Terrible radio

a fair point but to joe bloggs who maybe listens to 30 minutes of breakfast it might have been a long time since they last heard the song so they probably wouldnt feel the need to get to work and get on DS to moan about it

central scot · 23-01-2006, 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by segue

a fair point but to joe bloggs who maybe listens to 30 minutes of breakfast it might have been a long time since they last heard the song so they probably wouldnt feel the need to get to work and get on DS to moan about it

I agree totally with Segue on this comment.

But its up to the individual radio pc when they hire staff for station staff,not too have jocks on that dont have much too say.
But then again,there are some stations,that the pc dont want them too talk a lot.

So its a bit of a tough query 2 answer.
Really depends on the individual station pc.

AuchWell · 23-01-2006, 18:39

Jocks are always taught to forward promote. It keeps the listener listening for reasons. If not, unless they LOVE the music, they have little else to listen for really... it is healthy practise to promote what is coming up!! Obviously, a bit of variation on how it is said makes it sound more professional...

Johnny The Fox · 23-01-2006, 19:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuchWell

Jocks are always taught to forward promote. It keeps the listener listening for reasons. If not, unless they LOVE the music, they have little else to listen for really... it is healthy practise to promote what is coming up!! ...

Yes....and no. Sure, it works if you promote a couple of things which are coming up in the show, or maybe a couple of the tracks you'll have after the next news or ad break, BUT if a presenter starts their show with a huge list of things which will be played, then the listener knows already whether or not the show is worth listening to, and is more likely to tune out. Not just my opinion, incidentally, but what I was advised by some of the (then) bigwigs in WR and GWR (which does, I admit, date me a little bit)

boywonder · 23-01-2006, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuchWell

Jocks are always taught to forward promote. It keeps the listener listening for reasons. If not, unless they LOVE the music, they have little else to listen for really... it is healthy practise to promote what is coming up!! Obviously, a bit of variation on how it is said makes it sound more professional...

Exactly. You should ALWAYS forward promote. Any PD that tells you NOT to, shouldn't be in that position.

The basics are simple. Always tease whats coming up, but never throw in the song titles. Why? Perhaps in your link you say "coming up we'll play you Robbie's Tripping". There are listeners that love that song and there are listeners that hate that song. The ones that hate it will turn off because they know that the song they hate will be on within a few minutes.

However, if you structure your link like "coming up the artist in which 54% of females recently surveyed would love to be stuck in a lift with" chances are you will keep that listener with you for an extra few minutes as they will be curious as to who it is. This is just basic show prep people.

So, to sum it all up NEVER EVER give out songs titles. Jocks that do that aren't being creative enough. Tease the artist only.

Phillip Swift · 23-01-2006, 19:47

Forward promoting is a basic radio skill and it has been since long before GWR were big. There are posts that have mentioned don't do a list at the start of a show which is correct but the origional poster never said anything about that, nor did he/she say that the link didn't consist of anything else. Doing a throw forward and music sell to me is as important as saying the station name because it gets your hours up. Every presenter is thinking (or they should be) how can I get them to listen for 5 minutes longer? If every listener listens for an extra 5 minutes then your hours will go up, good for the presenter and good for the station.

The way it works is the listener is less likely to tune away if they think their favourite song is comming up or their favourite artist is comming up. If the music is being scheduled in the correct way then its unlikely that you'll hate all 3 songs. Being radio enthusiasts we might hate all 3 songs and still listen but the average punter won't.

In answer to the question I can't see anything to blame the presenter or PC for. The only thing is the " wow when was the last time you heard this". I personally think thats a better way of selling than to just say the 3 artists comming up as long as it isn't over used. If the presenter was doing that all of the time or doing that on high rotation songs then fair enough the PD should pull them up but if its a song that isn't on a high rotation then whats the problem. The tune may have been played on the station the day before but if say you're on the breakfast show and the last time it was played was at 8pm the evening before then most of your audience wouldn't have been listening and it wouldn't have been the same presenter.

Mike West · 23-01-2006, 22:47

I agree, forward promoting or flagging can be important, but "Coming Up" does sound like ones going to be sick!

Station ID · 24-01-2006, 02:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny The Fox

Yes....and no. Sure, it works if you promote a couple of things which are coming up in the show, or maybe a couple of the tracks you'll have after the next news or ad break, BUT if a presenter starts their show with a huge list of things which will be played, then the listener knows already whether or not the show is worth listening to

I don't think anyone is suggesting that listing everything thats on the show is a good idea because as we all know listeners don't turn the radio at the start of a show and turn off at the end, they dip in and out as their lives dictate. I've always believed that you should promo around the 20 minute zone because the average listener listens for around 20 minutes so if you work on that theory then you don't go off on one about something in 2 hours time. There are of course times when you can break that rule eg if you're doing a big hours building comp then you can tease it. It might be 6am but you can say "after 8 i'll give you the next clue...you can win a grand" or whatever. Big station items are worth promoting.

_pF_ · 24-01-2006, 06:46

I listen to mainly speech broadcasts; for my music I prefer high-quality dj-less Internet stations like Digitally Imported.

It is a common occurrence for a presenter to trail something that's "coming up in a few minutes" or "after the news". Of course, it frequently doesn't "come up" at all. I never listen to such presenters again, or respect their integrity. That's rather self-defeating for both the station and the presenter.

23-01-2006, 14:57	#1
Matt Emulsion Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 4	PC's or Presenters To Blame I do find it so irratating to hear young jocks continuously saying coming up , coming up bla bla. This i'm certain is an old GWR aussie theory. Well apart from giving the listener "more" reasons to turn off because they can't bear hearing a song they heard just an hour ago it's even more annoying and patronising to say, "Coming up, WOW! Mike and the mechanics, over my shoulder, when was the last time you heard that?" Well actually! Dangerous, when you say that on a station that repeats the same songs everyday. I'm sure many listeners answered the guy on the radio back, "yesterday" If it had been Nick Abbot I would have thought this could be great sarcasm, but it wasn't Nick and it was meant to be a genuine comment. Terrible radio

24-01-2006, 06:46	#10
_pF_ Banned User Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Fitzrovia Posts: 464	False Promises. I listen to mainly speech broadcasts; for my music I prefer high-quality dj-less Internet stations like Digitally Imported. It is a common occurrence for a presenter to trail something that's "coming up in a few minutes" or "after the news". Of course, it frequently doesn't "come up" at all. I never listen to such presenters again, or respect their integrity. That's rather self-defeating for both the station and the presenter.

23-01-2006, 18:39	#4
AuchWell Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 65	Jocks are always taught to forward promote. It keeps the listener listening for reasons. If not, unless they LOVE the music, they have little else to listen for really... it is healthy practise to promote what is coming up!! Obviously, a bit of variation on how it is said makes it sound more professional...

23-01-2006, 19:47	#7
Phillip Swift Forum Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 2,037	Forward promoting is a basic radio skill and it has been since long before GWR were big. There are posts that have mentioned don't do a list at the start of a show which is correct but the origional poster never said anything about that, nor did he/she say that the link didn't consist of anything else. Doing a throw forward and music sell to me is as important as saying the station name because it gets your hours up. Every presenter is thinking (or they should be) how can I get them to listen for 5 minutes longer? If every listener listens for an extra 5 minutes then your hours will go up, good for the presenter and good for the station. The way it works is the listener is less likely to tune away if they think their favourite song is comming up or their favourite artist is comming up. If the music is being scheduled in the correct way then its unlikely that you'll hate all 3 songs. Being radio enthusiasts we might hate all 3 songs and still listen but the average punter won't. In answer to the question I can't see anything to blame the presenter or PC for. The only thing is the " wow when was the last time you heard this". I personally think thats a better way of selling than to just say the 3 artists comming up as long as it isn't over used. If the presenter was doing that all of the time or doing that on high rotation songs then fair enough the PD should pull them up but if its a song that isn't on a high rotation then whats the problem. The tune may have been played on the station the day before but if say you're on the breakfast show and the last time it was played was at 8pm the evening before then most of your audience wouldn't have been listening and it wouldn't have been the same presenter.

23-01-2006, 22:47	#8
Mike West Banned User Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Limassol, Cyprus. Services: Sky, NovaSat, SpiderNet, CytaNet Posts: 238	I agree, forward promoting or flagging can be important, but "Coming Up" does sound like ones going to be sick!