Radio’s Talent Dilemma

There’s a cacophony of voices in the radio industry touting the importance of talent. Excellent that we’ve taken the first step by acknowledging that talent is radio’s ace for surviving and thriving.

Developing talent is where the real work begins. But here’s the rub. Programmers have little time for coaching talent.

One of our medium market client programmers with one of radio’s biggest companies is responsible for multiple stations in two markets. Her time is consumed with interpreting ratings, scheduling music, dealing with marketing/promotion, and other administrative duties.

We have a major market client programmer responsible for two stations in the cluster, all of the duties above, and a four-hour daily air shift.

Another talent development issue is many programmers lack the skill set to effectively coach and manage talent. The Randy Lane Company works with management to sharpen their coaching skills, but we can’t be there every day.

Let’s look at three strategies to prioritize talent development and keep radio a viable medium in the competitive multi-platform landscape.

THE CULTURE

Décor

We’re not in the insurance industry, we’re in the entertainment business! Take a page from Pixar, Google, and Apple’s playbook and make your radio station look and feel like a fun place to work and play.

Layout

Too often we visit stations with no workspace for talent. They end up roving from room to room. Please give talent their own place to create content.

VALUES

• Make talent development a priority: To save a chunk of time, consider outsourcing your music scheduling. At least have programmers spend less time scheduling music and administrative duties in favor of more time with talent. Eliminate unnecessary meetings and keep essential ones on point and brief.
   
• Safety first: Talent will produce more innovative content when they are encouraged to take creative risks and not be reprimanded when they fail. Failure is a learning and growth opportunity for creative breakthroughs.
   
• Recognize and reward exceptional performance. Salespeople are often rewarded for outstanding productivity. Celebrate and incentivize talent for stellar ratings and standout content.
   
• Transparency: Share ratings, research, and what’s going on with the company. In the absence of information, people assume the worst.

MEASUREMENT

We know Nielsen ratings fluctuate wildly. To give your station a clearer perspective on a show’s performance, you need a system of measurement. Set up your own system to score the growth or lack of regarding Content, Execution, and Character Development. We recommend scoring each of these key components on a 1-5 scale.

Contact me at randy@randylane.com or Jeff McHugh at jeff@randylane.com for more information about our talent measurement system.

Photo credit: flickr.com/mdgovpics/