Your Barack Obama “Elevator Speech?”

Imagine this: You’re downtown, in a major hotel.
You step into the elevator at the lobby level. You press 7.
The elevator stops at 2. The doors open.
In step four tall men. Black suits. Crew Cuts. Earpieces.

And behind them, The President of the United States.

He’s moving from a holding area on the 2nd floor, to his speech in the ballroom on the 10th floor. You’re getting out on the 7th floor.

The president smiles and reaches out to shake your hand.

WHAT WOULD YOU ASK…OR TELL…PRESIDENT OBAMA…IF YOU HAD HIS UNDIVIDED ATTENTION FOR THE TIME IT TAKES THE ELEVATOR TO GET FROM FLOOR TWO TO FLOOR SEVEN?

That was the topic, when I recently guest-hosted The Ed Schultz Show., and the phone exploded. Save it for your show, on a slow news day.

Worth conference room pizza…

Remember Public Speaking 101?
“At the end of the speech, what ONE THING do you want ‘em to remember?”
Managers: HAVE this conversation with your staff.
Your whole staff.
Before the Fall book.

Don’t be too busy talking…to listen.

Hosts: How’s your call count? Reason I ask…
Nielsen data: AM/FM radio reaches 91.4% of P12+ Americans (up from 90.2% last year). And get this…
Wireless-phone-only households are heavier radio users than the population in general.
‘Makes sense. Radio and pocket phones are both mobile devices. Use them to invite listeners to contribute…if you’re not too busy pushing “I’m right, you’re wrong, Democrats bad, Republicans good” programming at them.

Indecency: Now what?

What next after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to vacate the FCC’s policy on “fleeting indecency?”

One thing we’re learning from PPM audience measurement is that listeners’ attention is fragile.

Click to watch and listen — and join the discussion — as Talk Radio hosts and station owners discuss potty-mouth, trash talk, and bad grammar.

New data affirms: Radio comes closer to the cash register.

As radio has rightfully touted all along: Most consumers listen just-prior-to shopping, nearly 2/3 according to a recent Council for Research Excellence study. 62% of shoppers heard radio an average of 13 minutes before to walking into a store (vs. 36% seeing TV 42 minutes prior). Your station’s reps my want to show-off the results graph you can download. What you will see is NOT good news for newspaper reps.

If you can talk on the radio…

…talking-on-the-radio is NOT all-you can do.
You’re comfortable doing something that horrifies most people.

Thanks to the Internet, the skill set you bring to work in broadcasting qualifies you do do lots more than just-radio-just-local, as I detailed in my presentation at Talkers magazine’s New Media Seminar.

NOW? The long-awaited FM Talk tsunami?

“Artists deserve to be compensated for their work and rewarded for their contributions to our economy and our culture.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, signaling support for recording industry efforts to make stations pay-to-play music

Click-above to see Big Eddie & HC predict Talk Radio’s future.

Radio people I spoke with at the NAB convention in Las Vegas seem resigned that it’s more a matter of when than if. And I’m hearing from nervous music FM owners and GMs who are newly curious about “what’s still available in our market” in terms of syndicated longform Talk programming and network news assets.
After recent conspicuous CBS O&O format changes put SPORTS-Talk-on-FM en vogue, there’s new buzz about flipping to Talk, and renewed curiosity about apolitical fare like Dave Ramsey, Clark Howard, Dr. Laura, Dr. Joy Browne, and others who have found success by being not-angry, not-self-centered, not-foul-mouthed, and engaging listeners with what I have recommended imaging as “Survival Information for the way things are now.” ™

I am EVEN (grab the arm rest) being asked about acquiring and coaching (ready?) LOCAL talent!

WHY THIS IS HAPPENING: RECORD LABELS ARE SCREWED.
Excuse me, “disintermediated by the Internet,” just like insurance agents, travel agents, bookstores, and other middle-men. Labels guessed wrong on Napster, suing teenagers for downloads, rather than embracing online distribution earlier.

GREAT formula for story-tellers…

…from one of the greats, Bob Dotson/NBC News.
Bookmark www.HollandCooke.com, and check back for more from the NAB and RTDNA conventions here, as I fish-through all my pockets for notes-I’ve-been-taking for 3 days here.

TALK, don’t puke.

Remember that pukey 1960s disc jockey voice that always got George Carlin a laugh? Is that how your station’s imaging sounds?

Nearly two decades ago, that sound was already SO-old that we produced this commercial, for the station I was programming.

We got our highest ratings to-date when that spot ran.

Try this: Just…talk.
Examples?

This may be the best promo I’ve heard in a year, by gifted, talented, Nick Michaels, with whom I’ve collaborated on several projects.

Here’s a promo I wrote for Glenn Beck. Note how I tried to write in his from-the-heart delivery. “Eye contact,” not “announcing.”

This doesn’t just apply to station promos.

Listen to CBS News Radio correspondent Donna Francavilla. NOT doing “news anchor” delivery, she’s in story-telling mode that puts you in-the-middle-of a sound environment.

Ditto for commercials. Is the advertiser is the best spokesperson? You’ll THINK this prominent Las Vegas advertiser is a put-on, but he’s real, and getting big results.

Her story sucks-you-in. Note: Copy includes NO phone number or address, or even a web site. It’s about remembering HER NAME. She’s a person, approachable.

And why confine an advertiser to 60 seconds?
Consider this technique:

Bottom line? Do the-opposite-of THIS: