Spring Is In the Air...

It must be Spring, as the radio conference season is in full swing again!

This week, I’ll be joining the assembled masses of the worldwide radio industry at the RadioDays Europe conference. It’s the 2nd year of this particular conference, and the organisers have done a great job at assembling all some really good speakers and interesting sessions. And with over 400 delegates coming from all over the world, it's bound be be fun too! Don’t worry if you can’t go... I’ll bring you some of the highlights reviewed here. And if you are going... look forward to catching up with you in Copenhagen. Come and say hi or email me if you're in town and fancy a beer and a chat! (And while you’re there, take a listen to client station Radio 100 on 97.2FM!)

And next week, it’s off to Athens for the Marketing Week Radio Conference where I’ll be presenting a session on “Creative Programming For The Facebook Generation”. I’ll be looking at how radio stations should respond creatively to the possibilities that the digital era now brings them as well as the creative innovations that will build audience loyalty. I very much look forward to catching up with some top representatives of the Greek radio industry while I’m there. (Plus the Greek hospitality is always pretty good!)

In the meantime, I'm doing a lot of work at the moment on getting the best out of guests and interviews, particularly on Morning / Breakfast Shows. So here's someone who always gets the best out of their guests...

Radio 'Going Green' in Copenhagen

I’m in Copenhagen right now and it feels like the ‘place to be’ as the world’s leaders, and media, descend for final few days of the COP 15 Climate Conference. It seems every TV and radio reporter possible is here and every second person is carrying some sort of recording equipment.

From a ‘media operator in Denmark’ perspective, it’s great to have such a big event on your doorstep. The creative and ‘fun’ possibilities are massive. (Yesterday, the afternoon host at Radio 100FM talked to the gym instructor at the hotel where Arnold Schwarzenegger is staying to discuss his morning workout routine!!)

But how does a music radio station reflect upon the reason that the conference is taking place and bring the rather massive issue of Climate Change to an audience who tune in mainly for a diet of ‘fun’ and inoffensive pop songs?

At Radio 100FM we felt it was important to present the issues in a palatable and mainstream way. So throughout the duration of the conference, we’ve been running some imaging giving ‘tips for living a greener life’ which are presented by kids... or as they’re referred to on air, “The next generation of Radio 100FM listeners...”.

We also developed a series of short features called “The Green Minute”. These try and explain some of the big issues in a simple, conversational and easy to digest package, which is, you’ve guessed it... 60 seconds long. So things like De-forestation, Carbon Trading and Renewable Energy are all summarised and explained in these features which run in every daypart across the station. Naturally, we’re recycling lots of the content!

Add in some topical ‘Top of Hours’ welcoming the world to Denmark plus some other 'green' sweepers, and pretty soon you’ve tapped into the vibe and have introduced the whole climate change issue to a very mainstream audience, reflecting the significance of the event.

This is backed up with some good online content that is written with the brand in mind (i.e. not too detailed and not too ‘newsy’). And the final touch... change the station logo to a special climate change / green logo for the duration of the conference. (It's normally blue).

I believe all radio stations should try and reflect big events happening in their country / their ‘patch’, regardless of how it fits with their brand. There are many ways to do this and here in Denmark, we’ve just used a few of them.

When you work in an industry that mainly entertains people and plays pop songs, it’s nice to occasionally feel that you’ve done a little bit to introduce some weighty issues of global significance to a section of the public that may have not previously thought about them a great deal. The fact that their favourite music radio station is talking about climate change, may in a tiny way, help to bring the issues to an even wider audience across Denmark.

Now it’s up to the politicians to do their bit!

"God kväll Stockholm!" and "Det er dejligt at være tilbage i København!"

September.... the kids are back at school, the telly gets good again, and there’s a glut of great radio conferences to look forward to. RADIODAYS takes places every year in one of the world's most lovliest areas, Scandinavia, with Denmark, Sweden and Norway all collaborating to bring the best possible international line-up to appear in each country.

I’m pleased to say I’ll be speaking at both ‘Radiodagen’ in Stockholm on 23rd September and the sister conference ‘RADIODAYS’ in Copenhagen on 26th September.

The subject – “Morning Shows – the Secrets To Success” As we all know, Morning Shows are the backbone of music radio stations across the world. Having a great morning show is essential for success in any marketplace. The session will explore what the crucial ingredients are, and whether you can add these together to formulate the recipe for a great morning show.

But I’m not doing it on my own… oh no Sir! I’ll be joined by the wonderful Gareth Roberts. I worked with Gareth when he was the executive producer of The Johnny Vaughan Show on Capital FM.

Gareth started his radio career as a presenter and news reader before moving to Capital FM, London where he became Head of News. He then moved into programming, producing various big shows before becoming PD at 106 Century FM in the East Midlands. He returned to London in 2004 to become the launch editor and then executive producer on The Johnny Vaughan Breakfast Show on Capital FM. Following Chris Tarrant was a very tough job, but after a difficult start the programme went back to what many saw as its rightful place as "London's Number 1!". After five years of early starts Gareth has changed sides and is now Assistant Editor at BBC London 94.9, overseeing the programming and news output on the BBC's station for London, looking after a highly talented and varied schedule of presenters.

He’s a great guy and has a lot of good stuff to say, so I’m delighted we’re going to be working together again (albeit for 2 days only!!) at these forthcoming conferences.

We’ll be sharing our thoughts on areas such as character development, benchmarks, music content and features, comedy writers, zoo formats and stunts, as well as evaluating their importance in the overall recipe. Morning Show hosts, producers and Programme Directors should get plenty of fresh ideas to take away to try at their own radio station and hopefully be closer to finding those elusive ‘Morning Show Secrets to Success”!

If you’re attending the conferences in either Stockholm or Copenhagen, do stop by and say ‘hej’!