As programmers, we are absorbed by the daily duties of\u00a0keeping 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,\u00a0it is easy to lose track of the big-picture and get lost in the details. Perhaps it takes a big event in our local\u00a0markets to reinforce the power of radio and show us that our listeners are\u00a0truly listening and not just using us for wallpaper.<\/p>\n

A big event came to my community on Saturday April 16^{th\u00a0<\/sup>when Tornados that came through Raleigh and the surrounding communities. It was this big event that glued my neighbors\u00a0and me to the radio before, during, and especially after and can serve to\u00a0remind us how great the radio broadcast media truly is. When things got grim, during those storms, radio\u00a0came to the rescue in so many ways.<\/p>\n}

The storm progressed and affected many communities before it\u00a0got to our area, and although I can\u2019t speak firsthand for those areas, I am\u00a0certain that radio played as much of a role in those areas. EAS alerts were triggered on the stations throughout\u00a0the area and as I punched through the dial to hear them on the different\u00a0station. We knew it was coming. One alert after another came early and\u00a0certainly gave listeners an edge to prepare for the oncoming storm.<\/p>\n

WRAL-FM suspended music programming and began simulcasting\u00a0their TV weather report giving listeners updates and whereabouts of the storm. Widespread power outages came before the\u00a0storm which killed the TV and cable. As the winds were picking up, and the rains were dumping down we relied on a\u00a0portable radio to tell us how close to the danger we were and when to hunker\u00a0down in the safest spot in the house. It\u00a0was LOCAL radio that told us up to the minute where the storm was tracking and\u00a0how close it was coming to our home.<\/p>\n

There was tremendous damage in the suburban part of Raleigh\u00a0where the tornados touched down. The storm did hit our neighborhood and while\u00a0we were fortunate without receiving damage, many homes by us were destroyed. For us, our battery powered radio\u00a0stayed with us throughout the night since the electricity did not come back\u00a0until much later.<\/p>\n

In the days that followed radio stations stepped up their\u00a0programming to become the voice of hope and direction of where to come to the\u00a0aid of those affected. G-105\u2019s \u2018Bob and\u00a0the Showgram\u2019 stepped up immediately and held an impromptu broadcast on Monday\u00a0the 18^{th<\/sup> with the entire broadcast from the Holly Springs community, one of the areas hardest hit by the storm.<\/p>\n}

Bob\u2019s #1 rated morning show rallied the community to contribute $20,000\u00a0and 7,000 pounds of food during the broadcast.\u00a0Bob Dumas and his \u201cshowgram\u201d 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\u00a0line (if not right up to it) and then later\u00a0in the broadcast he will read a letter from a listener about children that will\u00a0make him cry \u2013 yes, shed actual tears. It is compelling radio. Bob has\u00a0an effect of being so human and so much a part of the community that 4 hours of broadcasting can rally the listeners into a \u201c\u2019relief-frenzy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capitol Broadcasting also spurred the community to\u00a0contribute $800,000+ to victims through the power of its day-long\u00a0\u201cradiothon.\u201d Day-long was the broadcast,\u00a0but the inertia from the broadcast is well above $800,000 and continues to grow. Capitol tied together their TV and radio\u00a0group with the proceeds benefiting the Red Cross and other organizations into\u00a0an unforgettable broadcast that pulled the listeners together.<\/p>\n

It was interesting to hear the comments from the people that\u00a0went on the air during these events and how they had heard the broadcast and what\u00a0was happening on the radio, and they just had to come and be a part of it. Each moment of the broadcasts that I heard\u00a0were all very immediate and it was the most important thing that I could be hearing at that moment. It was radio\u00a0content that tied us together through this one unfortunate event.<\/p>\n

I am sure that the story of radio\u2019s impact in St. Louis,\u00a0Tuscaloosa, and the other areas that have been dealing with their own deadly\u00a0weather is similar to Raleigh.<\/p>\n

If there is a summary point from these storms and how to\u00a0better program our stations, I would say that it is being a \u201clocal station\u201d\u00a0doesn\u2019t necessarily mean being in one place, or eschewing network\u00a0programming. Local is about tying together the things that matter most to a group of people — a community\u00a0perhaps, or maybe just those people that like a certain kind of music. We have to be the showcase for the events in\u00a0their lives. You and I know and live radio each day and we strive for ways to be relevant, topical and matter to our\u00a0listeners. Our work is really about keeping radio the\u00a0most effective and immediate media for reaching our communities.<\/p>\n

And you don\u2019t need a major storm event for your station to\u00a0create 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\u00a0what \u201ccontent\u201d occupies their life on Facebook, TV, in school, on the internet. Evaluate content, songs, personalities,\u00a0benchmarks, and hope that all of what we do is the best. Build your brand about being those things\u00a0that matter to them and they will love you for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As programmers, we are absorbed by the daily duties of\u00a0keeping 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,\u00a0it is easy to lose track of the big-picture and get lost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n