Monday Memo: Feature the Moments That Matter
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
Are archived shows – whole hours – your station’s only on-demand offering? It’s an easy checkbox: post the aircheck, call it a podcast.
And why not? In our on-demand culture, why expose this work – and its sponsors – only to those who happened to be listening in real-time? But few listeners will sit through an hour – or three – of linear audio. Most don’t when listening live. They’re busy. The only person who hears the whole show is the host (which is why I cringe when I hear “hour number three”).
Trim the fat, serve the steak
Many more will be interested in highlights, those couple minutes of Pet Pro Dr. Donna Stone’s tips for “Helping Your Critters Keep Their Cool During a Long Hot Summer,” or whatever “money moments” aired.
— Give these excerpts a title, incorporating words someone might include in Search. Add a sharable description. Let MS Copilot or ChatGPT make you a graphic. For this example, make it a cute puppy.
— In addition to the station’s website, these clips should be all over your social media. Think of your whole show as a movie. Hashtag-laden Tweets that include a click-to-listen link are the trailer. Script several versions and post at intervals.
— Get good at this, and your posts will get shared.
–And Dr. Donna can share her moment to her followers.
This is something music station morning shows do better than talk stations, because archiving whole songs is taboo. They’re forced to cull.
Find the time
It’s an investment in reach, relevance, and revenue. Don’t just archive – curate. You can find new ears, using these audio appetizers to offer people who don’t know your show to try the entrée.
Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a media consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke