As programmers, we are absorbed by the daily duties of keeping score of our stations. PPM reports, song scores, song counts, music meetings, promo meetings, and web-hits on station websites encapsulate our days. And with our sleeves rolled and our heads under the hood all day long, it is easy to lose track of the big-picture and get lost in the details. Perhaps it takes a big event in our local markets to reinforce the power of radio and show us that our listeners are truly listening and not just using us for wallpaper.
A big event came to my community on Saturday April 16th when Tornados that came through Raleigh and the surrounding communities. It was this big event that glued my neighbors and me to the radio before, during, and especially after and can serve to remind us how great the radio broadcast media truly is. When things got grim, during those storms, radio came to the rescue in so many ways.
The storm progressed and affected many communities before it got to our area, and although I can’t speak firsthand for those areas, I am certain that radio played as much of a role in those areas. EAS alerts were triggered on the stations throughout the area and as I punched through the dial to hear them on the different station. We knew it was coming. One alert after another came early and certainly gave listeners an edge to prepare for the oncoming storm.
WRAL-FM suspended music programming and began simulcasting their TV weather report giving listeners updates and whereabouts of the storm. Widespread power outages came before the storm which killed the TV and cable. As the winds were picking up, and the rains were dumping down we relied on a portable radio to tell us how close to the danger we were and when to hunker down in the safest spot in the house. It was LOCAL radio that told us up to the minute where the storm was tracking and how close it was coming to our home.
There was tremendous damage in the suburban part of Raleigh where the tornados touched down. The storm did hit our neighborhood and while we were fortunate without receiving damage, many homes by us were destroyed. For us, our battery powered radio stayed with us throughout the night since the electricity did not come back until much later.
In the days that followed radio stations stepped up their programming to become the voice of hope and direction of where to come to the aid of those affected. G-105’s ‘Bob and the Showgram’ stepped up immediately and held an impromptu broadcast on Monday the 18th with the entire broadcast from the Holly Springs community, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm.
Bob’s #1 rated morning show rallied the community to contribute $20,000 and 7,000 pounds of food during the broadcast. Bob Dumas and his “showgram” it is a blend of irreverent humor, calls, and stunts with unexpected touching human moments. On certain days, I have heard Bob tell the most off-color jokes and step across the line (if not right up to it) and then later in the broadcast he will read a letter from a listener about children that will make him cry – yes, shed actual tears. It is compelling radio. Bob has an effect of being so human and so much a part of the community that 4 hours of broadcasting can rally the listeners into a “’relief-frenzy.”
Capitol Broadcasting also spurred the community to contribute $800,000+ to victims through the power of its day-long “radiothon.” Day-long was the broadcast, but the inertia from the broadcast is well above $800,000 and continues to grow. Capitol tied together their TV and radio group with the proceeds benefiting the Red Cross and other organizations into an unforgettable broadcast that pulled the listeners together.
It was interesting to hear the comments from the people that went on the air during these events and how they had heard the broadcast and what was happening on the radio, and they just had to come and be a part of it. Each moment of the broadcasts that I heard were all very immediate and it was the most important thing that I could be hearing at that moment. It was radio content that tied us together through this one unfortunate event.
I am sure that the story of radio’s impact in St. Louis, Tuscaloosa, and the other areas that have been dealing with their own deadly weather is similar to Raleigh.
If there is a summary point from these storms and how to better program our stations, I would say that it is being a “local station” doesn’t necessarily mean being in one place, or eschewing network programming. Local is about tying together the things that matter most to a group of people — a community perhaps, or maybe just those people that like a certain kind of music. We have to be the showcase for the events in their lives. You and I know and live radio each day and we strive for ways to be relevant, topical and matter to our listeners. Our work is really about keeping radio the most effective and immediate media for reaching our communities.
And you don’t need a major storm event for your station to create community programming. Get out there and meet your listeners and learn what matters. Ask them what songs they like, what things they think about every day. Find out what “content” occupies their life on Facebook, TV, in school, on the internet. Evaluate content, songs, personalities, benchmarks, and hope that all of what we do is the best. Build your brand about being those things that matter to them and they will love you for it.