Shane Brown on “Street Cred” 89.1FM, Birmingham U.K.

Tim Wall’s earlier NRS entry “Thinking through the new economics of sound broadcasting over the internet” discussed the current need for new programming ideas and fresh radio services for listeners. His posting concluded that radio’s future held “considerable possibilities for public service and community broadcasters.” Following on from this theme and in keeping with Robin Valk’s NRS comments on inspiring stations like New York’s WFUV and Digbeth’s “Rhubarb”, I thought I’d report on an innovative station, just two miles from Birmingham City University’s Radio Dept.

Aston FM 89.1 is an example of community radio at its best ( astonfm.com ). They pay their way with regular commercial breaks promoting local businesses and have managed to wrangle a reasonably powerful transmission signal. Unlike many of their tightly rotated competitors, Aston’s playlist exceeds five thousand tracks – so you get an incredibly varied sound to the station. They also provide a legal home for underground radio by sharing their frequency late at night with local “pirates”.

“Aston FM is Birmingham ’s newest local radio station, broadcasting to the whole of Birmingham from Villa Park, 24 hours a day seven days a week, on 89.1 FM and on the internet. Aston FM is the only radio station to broadcast live, all Aston Villa football matches, both home and away. Aston FM is committed to working with all the different communities in Birmingham and giving the City a radio station it can be proud of. We invite guests in for interviews to talk about what is going on in the City and actively encourage listeners to tell us what is happening in their part of Birmingham. We are also involved in training children from local schools in all aspects of radio and helping them put together their own radio shows to be played on the internet.”

As other stations move towards nationally networked content, Aston FM’s been quick to exploit their local presence. But it’s their attitude to specialist programming that really stands them apart. More specifically, the way they’ve embraced local pirate radio culture.

Just to set the scene a little… Pirate radio is common on the U.K.’s FM dial. Heavy regulations, limited access to frequencies and the increasing affordability of equipment means many young broadcasters are simply setting up their own illegal stations. It should be mentioned that unlicensed broadcasting is a criminal offence in the U.K. with a maximum sentence of two years. Convicted pirates can also expect to have their equipment confiscated and be barred from working on a legal station for five years (a long walk off the metaphorical media plank). However, as Miranda Sawyer wrote in the Observer, 2.11.08, “Ofcom research from 2007 showed that 25 percent of the entire London radio audience tunes into pirates (40 per cent of the black audience).” So they must be doing something right…

“Smart, hi-tech and inclusive, pirate stations are paving the way for the future of radio. The future of radio is the internet: the pirates have moved online in a big way. All the biggest stations have live web feeds. Combine this with mobile phone internet access and you can use your phone to tune into a London Pirate when you’re in, say, Glasgow. Then simply plug your mobile into your car radio and away you go. Pirate stations instantly move from being local to national and even worldwide.”

Sawyer’s article used this shift to online radio as an example of “DAB’s increasingly shrinking relevance” – but that’s another story for another day. Pirate radio’s current popularity and community radio’s continued growth meant the two were inevitably destined to meet.

“Street Cred” was a typical underground station until they found a safe home on Aston’s 89.1 frequency. Regular presenter DJ Hevs started out by playing sets on pirate station KRISS FM 95.3 in Birmingham, broadcasting to Walsall and the surrounding areas. However, he was raided by the authorities and prosecuted, prompting him to write on his myspace page; “I lost my music, lost my hope, and was starting to think, is this really worth it?” Thankfully, Aston FM came to the rescue and he’s now legally “smashing up the airwaves, playing the chunkiest 4 x 4 basslines” every Saturday night, 11pm until 2am.

I talked with Gary James from Aston FM about how pirate and community radio has managed to join forces and co-exist in (relative) harmony…

Can you tell us something about pirate radio in the Midlands?

Pirate radio has been going for a number of years in Birmingham. Usually young people have equipment based in tower blocks in the city, broadcasting illegally and often using someone else’s frequency.

Generally pirate radio broadcasts late at night and into the early hours of the morning. It’s a specific – very heavy black, afro-Caribbean music. Something you wouldn’t usually hear on normal radio… but it’s got a massive, massive audience. In Birmingham it’s something like 16% of the listening audience tuning into pirate radio. Sometime between, say, 10 at night and 6 in the morning.

How did your relationship with pirate radio actually begin?

When Aston FM was put together, the company that owns Aston FM approached Ofcom (Office of Communications) and said “look, there’s this massive audience out there that are crying out for this sort of music. Surely it makes sense to make it in someway legal”. So Ofcom went away and thought about it and came back and said “Ok – try it for 12 months – you get a pirate station in to broadcast legally on Aston FM’s frequency from the hours of 9 o’clock at night ‘til 2 in the morning and we’ll see how it goes…”

Obviously, because it’s a legal radio station, there had to be some form of professionalism. The naughty words had to go… no swearing. There was a limitation on some of the music, because that type of music does have some strong content which can be a bit iffy. But it has an audience and it’s after the watershed and if those people want to listen to it then that’s fine. There’s always the “on/off” button.

So it was agreed… And now Aston FM has a pirate group onboard called “Street Cred” who are well known in the Midlands. They broadcast from 9 at night ‘til 2 in the morning, 7 days a week, on our frequency 89.1 FM. But because they can be heard now online, streaming on the Aston FM website, they get emails and text messages from literally all over the world. It’s a massive audience.

How have things gone so far?

The whole thing works well. They’re (Street Cred) happy because they’re not being raided every five minutes and having their equipment confiscated by the authorities. It gives them a professional environment to work in, they’ve got a good frequency to broadcast on – and on the other side of things – the Police in Birmingham have said they like it because while the kids are listening to “Street Cred” they’re not out fighting, involved in knife crime, gun crime, graffiti – and generally making a nuisance of themselves. They’re off the streets and listening to the music they love. Some of the guys that work at “Street Cred” are in some ways heroes to these local kids. If they want to follow in their footsteps it can only be good. Certainly for Birmingham and as far as Aston FM and Street Cred’s concerned.

So those are the positives… There must be some negatives. Do some regular listeners take offence at their station being “taken over”?

Nobody’s really come across and said “we don’t like that” to be honest. We’ve probably got three separate audiences at Aston FM and this is the beauty of the station. And if you like – what makes it unique.

You’ve got day time listening, which is your normal sort of average soft rock, pop-music, chart etc. and local content – what’s going on in the city and around. Then you’ve got another audience for specialist shows Monday through to Friday for two hours, 7 ‘til 9 pm. From country music to hip-hop, to grunge, to dance – you name it – it’s there. And finally you’ve got this other audience that kicks in after 9, which is the “Street Cred” pirate radio audience.

It very much is three different audiences – and we know that from the emails and texts we get. We hope that somewhere there is a cross over between all audiences. We hope that some of the “Street Cred” pirate audience will listen at some time during the day. In fact, we’ve taken 2 of their guys, Lee and Paul, who were working for Street Cred and they now do our weekend breakfast show. So they’ve moved from being “pirates” if you like, to working on the station, doing legitimate weekend shows on Aston FM. Which is certainly not playing “pirate” music – but more normal, middle of the road, 60’s / 70’s / 80’s tracks.

You’ve talked about some of the issues with swearing. Any other problems to overcome?

Initially, they weren’t used to working in a radio studio. They were used to a portable mini-mixing desk, probably with three or four faders on it, a couple of decks and may be a CD player… like something you might find at home. And they love their music loud. Their speakers are usually taller than the presenters. They’d really bang it out – especially the bass. So, in the beginning we’d have a few problems as they’d come into the studios and turn everything up to the max! And it was blowing the speakers. That had to be controlled. They weren’t used to that, they were more used to have their music blaring out. They’d think they were nightclub DJ’s, whacking faders up and down. So there was a bit of that going on and a couple of things were being broken. But, to be fair, I think it was assumed from the Aston FM management that once they were shown around the studio and how things work – they’d be like normal presenters. But of course, no, they came from a completely different mentality. It was a small problem to start with that’s now been put right. They understand it now…

So what does the future hold?

Originally, Ofcom said to try it for 12 months and see how it goes. If it’s successful then they will do what they need to do re. the license to continue it. So everyone’s happy at the moment. Like anything new – the teething problems had to be sorted out. But it’s now working well and it’s giving the audience that’s out there for pirate radio somewhere they know they can tune in – at the same time every night, 7 nights a week, all year round and hear the music and the presenters they’re used to. Without worrying that their station’s about to raided and taken off the air. So it’s working well… Everybody’s gelling now. Their presenters are actually learning the trade of being a presenter and how things work in a professional radio studio.

I don’t know if you know about WFUV. Based in New York, at Fordham University in the Bronx, ‘FUV is a college station that just happens to kick serious butt in New York City. Why? because they offer an individual voice in a stultifying conservative market. It’s ironic that a town as vibrant and stimulating as New York should produce such formulaic radio, but that is radio market economics these days. WFUV spotted a gap and charged right through. Now, though, there’s another reason to cheer them on, beyond their inventive programming, impressive audience figures and invaluable training and development work.

WFUV have launched a new internet-only service – the alternate side - with a statement of intent that cheers me enormously: ‘New Music. New York. Now.’ This is a public radio service, and the station is supported by the New York State Music Fund. That said, what we now have is a New York-based station that is proud to reflect and champion musical activity in its own community. And because it’s from New York, I’m hearing a slew of fiery attitude-laden inventive new stuff. I’m thrilled. Of course, local radio playing local music is not a novel idea, but in truth, its implementation is tragically rare.

Of course, The Alternate Side is by no means the first such operation on the net. There are hundreds of interesting and alternative radio streams to discover. A sterling local initiative in my neck of the woods is the excellent Rhubarb Radio. But to see something as intelligently assembled and as engaging as The Alternative Side emerge in an area which is a hotbed of creativity, but where mainstream radio has long since abandoned any ideas of localness and adventurousness… just gladdens my heart. I’m excited. Maybe others will be too.

Here’s a little local story. I spent a LARGE chunk of my working life, just under 20 years, working for BRMB, the first commercial station in Birmingham, in the UK. I joined them 35 years ago, pre-launch, as a baby rock jock, and left as Head of Music and Research, having done pretty much everything there was to do in old-style commercial radio.

News came out last month that their current owners, Global, are selling them off, along with three other stations in the West Midlands. This lets Global off the anti-competition hook, so they can carry on in the much more lucrative London market with, er, Capital, LBC, Heart, Choice, Classic FM and several other AM and digital brands. Go figure.

I’m not really concerned with London radio right now. It’s like New York: the lack of diversity and interesting programming is striking, and of course it’s all down to hyper-competition and the perceptions of the executives who make the programming and marketing decisions. But I still have have stupidly fond memories of the old station where I plied much of my trade, back in the last century.

For me, there are two big questions hanging over BRMB (and Mercia, Beacon and Wyvern):

Question one: given that we are now in a recession, and that, in the UK, radio advertising suffers first and worst when they cut the ad budgets, is there still a shiny future for ‘traditional’ local radio when it is cut adrift from a well funded network? Remember that these stations were all launched as full-service stations, and all those old-time features have been ruthlessly stripped away as competition piled in from Networks and the Internet.

Question two: That old-fashioned appeal is fondly remembered by many who listened twenty and thirty years ago. It was that same old-fashioned approach that let me experiment as a Rock DJ, with a degree of freedom inconceivable by today’s standards. I went on to record many of the region’s finest bands, and in so doing built up frankly extraordinary listening figures, again, by today’s standards. But is this kind of approach remotely cost-effective, appealing though it may seem? In short, have we seen the best, and maybe last, of old-school radio?

I do know that it’s possible to do great things really cheaply, and that is encouraging. Modern kit means it now costs less to run a business and far less to cover some of the radio basics – doing the accounts, keeping in touch with staff, building running orders, assembling a library, scheduling advertising, setting up promotions via email and the web, and so on. But that’s only part of the picture.

Are these old businesses worth paying good money for? Is it worth breathing life into them anew, once all emotion has been put aside? You tell me. I’d love to see it done the right way. But I wonder how many people share my opinions.

I will be the first to admit that there is nothing genius in here – for the most part, all these pillars are common sense, but that doesn’t make them any less important! And as stated above, I have changed these pillars many times throughout the years, rotating different ones in and out bur for the most part they have expressed the same things. So with all that being said, here we go…..

1. The Right Music – An obvious one, of course, but it needs to be said that if the music isn’t targeted towards your core listening audience then nothing else on this list will matter.

2. The Best Talent – This is NOT an area to skimp on. There’s a reason why certain talent demands big dollars. Because they’re worth it. The whole “you get what you pay for” thing. Back when Mel Karmazin ran CBS/Infinity radio he responded to those who questioned him about paying Howard Stern, Don Imus and others so much. Mel responded by saying something to the effect of, “you’re looking at it wrong – it’s not about how much I’m paying them, it’s about how much they’re MAKING for me.” Nuff said.

3. Unique, Compelling, Exclusive – The “Holy Trinity” of content creation, ESPECIALLY these days where there are unlimited choices for consumers. Any content that you create for your channel, station or platform should have these three elements – uniqueness, compelling-ness (to coin a word) and exclusivity. Sirius and XM got into a bidding war for content because they each wanted content that was unique, compelling and most of all, exclusive. The ONLY place to get Howard Stern was on Sirius; the ONLY place to get Oprah and Friends on radio was XM, they each competed for exclusive sports rights and so on.

4. Think Strategically, Act Tactically – Every station should have its own strategic plan, which simply put is a document that identifies what the overall plan for the station is. Like I said, simple. At its essence, the plan identifies what the station’s three (or so) key elements are. These three elements are the key positions that the radio station is trying to own. Once those are articulated, EVERYTHING that is done on the station has to support one of those key elements – whether it’s imaging, DJ talk, events, promotions and everything else. Once that’s in place, the tactical plan is created. The tactical plan is the document where all of the station tactics are articulated – each of these tactics should support the strategic plan. Sounds simple, and it is. But it’s surprising how many times it’s not done.

5. Specialty Programming – This is an extension of the point above, as specialty programming is a tactic that is deployed in order to carry out the strategic plan. However, it is a pretty important tactic and therefore gets its own number. It is critical for a few reasons, the first of which is that because whatever it is that is created will (hopefully) be good programming for the radio station. . Secondly, the promotion value of the show can’t be overestimated. The specialty program is something specific for your station to promote across dayparts, on the website, in e-mails to the database or elsewhere. Instead of saying, “hey, listen to our radio station ‘cause it’s great…” if there is a specific specialty show to promote the message becomes, “Listen to ‘Most Wanted with Ben Jones’ every night at 7…” (An actual show on Virgin Radio U.K.). And this becomes even more important when promoting across a platform, say like a satellite radio platform.

6. Promote, Promote, Cross-Promote – This ties in with the item above – Promotion is everything. Across dayparts, across channels (in a multi-channel environment), on the website, in e-mail blasts, in outside advertising, wherever, whenever. Promote specific things – shows, jocks, events, contests, whatever. Just promote it.

7. You Have Left the Box – (Think and Re-Think Everything) – You know that proverbial box you’re always hearing about? Not to be cliché about it, but really, take a look at everything you’re doing with a fresh perspective. Don’t necessarily throw out the rulebook (cause there ARE some really useful ‘rules’ that have been established), but re-evaluate EVERYTHING. Look at everything you do and your reasoning behind doing it with a fresh set of goggles. What do you see now? The landscape has changed drastically over the last few years and is still evolving. Make sure you are adapting.

8. It’s More than the Music – Okay, if you’re a music station the music is obviously super important (see #1). But don’t stop there. If you do you’re dead. What does your station do that is SO compelling that someone would rather listen to that rather than their iPod? Are your jocks compelling? Are they babbling idiots or do they have something to say? Do they relate to your audience?

9. Make it a Production – The importance of great production, or imaging, can’t be overstated. At its best, great imaging can go a looong way to communicating to listeners what your radio station is all about. It can convey the brand essence of your station in a way that is creative, exciting and pleasing to the ear rather than seeming intrusive to your audience. At its worst it is annoying, intrusive and sounds like a commercial. Be on the right side of that divide. Make it cool. Make it in tune with the brand essence. Make it fit with the strategic plan. And make it short – you know, attention spans and all.

10. Events – Another ‘more than the music’ element that is critical to the success of a station is events. Partner with cool existing events. Create your own events – be creative, think BIG, be unique. And make sure the event is a good strategic fit for your station. And then of course, promote it! The promotional value of events can’t be overstated – again, it is something specific to promote – and gives all listeners a sense of the ‘bigness’ of all that’s happening on the station/platform. Even if they’re not interested in that specific event, they’ll take note of it.

11. Artist Involvement – Get the Artists involved – through interviews, performances, endorsements, guest DJ slots, hosting a show or other creative ways. This is another area that people can’t get elsewhere – on their iPods or their customized Internet radio channel. The only place that can deliver the artists directly to the people is your radio station! You have to build the relationships with the artists, managers, record people, roadies, whomever; it is imperative that your station delivers the artists to the listeners.

12. The WOW Factor – This is kind of the catch-all. Even if you do everything technically ‘right’, does your station have that ‘it’? Does it reach out and GRAB the listener and entice them to listen? It better. There’s a great scene in that movie “21” when the main character is interviewing for a scholarship to Harvard Law School. The kid has a 4.0 GPA, has aced the law school exam and is a perfect candidate in every regard. The only problem is, as the dean tells him, is that there are 72 others just like him! So, the dean asks him, what makes him stand out and his application ‘jump off the page’ and rise above the rest? What makes his story so compelling? So the same can be asked for your radio station – what makes your station so damn compelling that listeners will say, “WOW”?

13. Communicate – Sounds silly and cliché and basic, but again, sometimes things are cliché for a reason – because they’re true. Communicate externally and internally. Make sure everyone at the station knows what the plan is and make sure everyone listening knows exactly what you stand for and what you’re all about.

Yes! I couldn’t agree with him more.

At its essence, radio is about the communication between the listener and the person on the other side of the mike. That person plays the music the listener wants to hear and provides information about the songs and the artists that keeps the listener plugged in. Additionally, that person provides a sense of companionship and community for the listener. Radio is the social network with a voice.

So as I sat there thinking a bit about radio and the definition of radio and of how radio is evolving, I began thinking about satellite radio. I listen to a lot of satellite radio here in the U.S. and I must say that there are many things I either hear for myself, or hear about through cross-promotion, that get me excited about listening. Things that give me the sense that the “true mission” of radio is being fulfilled there. I’ve written a few times before – here, here and here – about my fascination with and fondness for these “micro-channels” that both XM and Sirius do. To me, these channels kind of sum up what the benefits of satellite radio are for the listener, providing a snapshot of the best that satellite radio can offer.

The other day while I was driving home I tuned into one of Sirius’ such channels, the all-Springsteen “E Street Radio” channel. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon the beginning of an hour that featured a guest DJ, something that the channel regularly does. However this hour wasn’t featuring just any guest DJ, it was none other than long time member of the E Street Band, pianist Roy Bittan. I sat there in my car captivated as Bittan not only played songs that featured his playing – songs in Springsteen’s catalog as well as those by other artists – but also as he discussed in depth the particulars about each track and why it was so special to him. It was pretty incredible radio – hearing Bittan introducing “Born To Run” as he spoke about his first ever gig with the E Street Band back in 1974; about how the classic piano-outro on “Backstreets” came about; how the sessions for Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” album came to be and his experiences in the making of that classic album; how he came to record with David Bowie and his experiences with recording the “TVC 15″ track; about how the band recorded many of the tracks on “The River” in a live fashion and many others. Now keep in mind that each of the songs he played during the hour I’ve heard a thousand times – but hearing them with the context he provided enabled me to hear each song in a different way. Powerful stuff.

As I was driving along and listening to this incredible hour of radio, I was thinking to myself, “This is exactly why I subscribe to Sirius. I couldn’t hear this type of radio anywhere else.” And yes, it’s just one small example, for I don’t pay $13/month so I can hear Roy Bittan do one hour of radio. The fact of the matter is that the hour of radio I just described above is representative of not only what is happening on the “E Street Radio” channel, but what is happening on many other channels on the Sirius platform not to mention with what’s going on across the XM platform.

NPR calls them “car moments” – radio programming that is so compelling that you sit in your car to keep listening even after you reached your destination. The Roy Bittan guest DJ program provided me with a “car moment” as I sat in my driveway to listen Bittan introduce the last of the songs he was to play for the hour. And truth be told, I would have sat there in the car for another hour if he had kept on going – and that is the true testament to the power of great radio.

That makes Pandora’s new app the third most successful in the iPhoneverse. Pandora can sadly not now be received in the UK because of our obscenely restrictive copyright restrictions, and I truly regret not being able to listen to them any more. They are, for me, the best webstreamers by far. The iPhone hookup got them 180,000 new users in three days. They claim a new user every two seconds. This is BIG stuff.

So what do we take from this? I think we are finally seeing another conjunction of new technology, audience, demographics and circumstance. You need ease of use; you need attractive programming; you need affordability; and you need someone to spot the gap and fill it. This is uncannily similar to events in the 50s when Rock and Roll and Top 40 Radio came together.

This may be a huge step forward. I hope so; Pandora deserve it. I still won’t call it radio, though. In my luddite book, radio still involves someone communicating with you. I’m sure Pandora have an adorable detailed and fantastically well-connected database, the fruit of their very savvy staff. I’d kill to be able to play around with it. But I can’t relate to databases. I still want to hear from real people. But if I was living permanently in the US, Pandora’s app would be enough to make me get an iPhone.

I’ve written about these satellite radio micro-channels before here and here and I hate to sound like a broken record, but I will.

Investing in creative, compelling programming pays off.

Sirius just announced that Coldplay will take over one of their channels (Alt Nation) for ten days beginning Friday, June 13th. The launch of the channel, Coldplay Nation, coincides (shockingly!) with the release of the band’s “Viva La Vida” album which will be during the channel’s 10-day run. As is stated on the Sirius website, Coldplay Nation “celebrates the June 17 release of Coldplay’s new Viva La Vida with Chris Martin and the band’s personal introductions to songs from the new album. You’ll also hear music from throughout their career, artists who influenced the Coldplay sound and current favorites.”

This cuts to the heart of what radio has to do to succeed – create programming that is unique, compelling and exclusive. If listeners are given a compelling reason, they will listen and become fans of a radio station or in the case of the satellite radio providers, subscribe to their service.

Coldplay is one of the biggest bands today with one of the most anticipated new releases on the horizon. If you’re a Coldplay fan, the channel is great news for you because you get to listen to a channel that is running what you consider compelling content. Those who aren’t Coldplay fans may not listen, but they will hear about it (thanks to cross-promotion) and they will get the message. The message being that one of the globe’s biggest artists is doing something big and something exclusive for the service that they subscribe to. Sure, it may not be an artist that they’re particularly interested in, but nonetheless they are once again reminded of the fact that “cool things are always happening here” thus subtly giving them additional justification for subscribing to Sirius – which is critical during this time where every cent of discretionary household spending is analyzed for potential reductions.

With Viva La Vida being their 4th studio album, Coldplay doesn’t have the catalog to support a channel for an extended period of time like Sirius’ other micro-channels, such as Springsteen’s E Street Radio, Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margariville, Elvis Radio, Siriusly Sinatra or The Grateful Dead channel, but that’s hardly the point. With the announcement and imminent launch of Coldplay Nation, Sirius has scored a coup and like George Bush can proudly say “Mission Accomplished,” although without the irony. They’ve sent the message to fans of Coldplay, to non-fans of Coldplay, to subscribers of Sirius and to potential subscribers of Sirius.

This is nothing earth shattering, in fact it’s extraordinarily simple. But then again, most things are. Invest in programming. Be creative in the programming. Offer something compelling and unique and people will respond, even in this day and age of changing consumer habits, declining radio listenership and of serious questions regarding the relevance of radio to people’s lives.

What Park says is not at all dissimilar from the sentiments I posted here a few weeks back. There is a lot of talent to be celebrated. There is even more waiting to be developed, if stations are prepared to take the time to do it. And there is absolutely nothing the BBC can do against a well-constructed Indie station that is rooted in its community, that knows the issues and the talent on its patch.

So, two cheers for Park’s rallying call; he’s not wrong. I’ll make it two and a half if Global starts sourcing its national talent from its local stations, and three if Global frees up (and then supports) its local stations to actually be local again.

After the phone rang I took a look at the caller ID and saw by the number that it was yet another telemarketer. Instead of ignoring it or picking up and then immediately hanging up as I usually do, I decided to answer it up and see what they wanted.

This is where the surprise came in.

The person on the other end of the phone simply said, “Hi Mr. Sabatini this is (name) calling from Verizon Wireless. We just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for being a customer.”

Hmmmm…Okay. The classic setup. Good telemarketing technique – thanking me for my patronage and then coming in for the hard sell. I was ready. Ready to hear the pitch so that I could quickly cut her off by issuing my terse, “no thank you” followed by me hanging up.

I waited for her to continue with her pitch. But there was nothing. I waited for her to continue but the silence became deafening. “Uh, thanks” I mumbled semi-coherently. She thanked me again and then hung up. I stood there a bit dumbfounded. It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting.

So what does this have to do with radio? Everything. Don’t worry, keep reading and I’ll get there.

Sure, that phone call was just another telemarketing technique – but damn was it a good one. They didn’t actually want anything. Well, that is not entirely true, as they obviously want my business. But at that moment they didn’t want me to do anything, sign up for anything or think about spending more money with them for services I probably didn’t need.

It got me thinking about customer service and the value of GREAT customer service. There are companies that are renowned for their customer service but many, many more who are not.

And here’s where the radio part comes in. In the radio business customer service can mean many things, but no matter the definition, I think you could safely say that many radio stations do NOT give great customer service.

In the radio world, great customer service means delivering MORE to the listeners than they expect. It’s being bigger, better, stronger, faster. It’s surprising them (in a good way!). It’s giving them a reason to listen to your station rather than a direct competitor or a non-radio competitor like their iPod. It’s providing them with a difference – a difference that matters to them. A difference that tells them you care about them. That you understand what they want and that your goal is to meet their needs, and then some. They can rely on you.

In the satellite radio world, customer service has more of a traditional meaning as people actually have to pay a monthly subscription fee to listen, therefore they are the classic “customer.” But the bottom line is still the same – customers have to be not only completely satisfied with the product and service that they are receiving, they should be overwhelmed.

The customers (subscribers) should be constantly reminded why they subscribe. They should be reminded by hearing great programming; creative programming; compelling programming. They should be reminded by coming across all of the unique channels. If the satellite radio business, subscribers have to be constantly reminded why the paid option is a better option than their local and free FM stations. The listeners have to be reminded why you’re better than their iPod. When the monthly bill comes in they shouldn’t even have to think about whether they should keep subscribing or not. It should be like the utility bill. They should feel like they can’t live without it. GREAT customer service can do that. In the radio business, GREAT customer service equates to GREAT programming.

I’m Just Sayin’….

I’ve written before about why I think satellite radio is great – here and here. Basically it boils down to the fact that the satellite services can take advantage of the fact that they have the Power of the Platform.

And while that’s all still true, I want to take a brief break from discussing radio “strategery” or any other serious, well thought out concepts or points about what makes radio (especially satellite radio) tick. I just want to talk about the experience of listening to radio as a listener.

Here in the States, we are just coming off the three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. It’s the weekend that officially celebrates the men and women who have given their life in service of our country while also serving as the unofficial kick-off of the summer season. Over this weekend, radio stations traditionally do something “special” and this weekend was no exception as stations trotted out their countdowns and what not. But what made me stand up and take notice was something that one of the Sirius channels did – it reinforced to me why I was a Sirius subscriber and why I thought satellite radio is a powerful medium.

For the record, I’m a Bruce Springsteen fan – a big one. I spend a lot of time listening to Sirius’ “E Street Radio” channel – a channel which, as you may have guessed, plays nothing but Springsteen music. The fact is that even though I have all of his music loaded up on my iPod and can play any Bruce song that I want at any time, I still really like listening to the E Street Radio channel. One of the reasons for this is that I enjoy the serendipity of it all. I like hearing ‘random’ songs – songs that I wouldn’t dial up on my iPod, but for some reason I enjoy hearing when the channel plays it. But another reason I like the channel as much as I do is that they play stuff that I don’t have! Since they’re officially sanctioned by the Springsteen camp, they have access to lots of things that I only wish I had.

So over the Memorial Day weekend, E Street Radio featured nothing but live Springsteen shows. Shows from all different time periods and from all different tours. Shows with the E Street Band, without the E Street Band and solo shows without any band; basically everything a Springsteen fanatic would love. And as great as all the live shows played were there was one that stood out in particular. It was a benefit show recorded just over two weeks ago at a small 1,500 seat theatre in New Jersey. In addition to the intimate nature of the show, what set this show apart was that Bruce and the band did something they have never done before – ever. They played two of their classic albums, Born to Run and Darkness on the Edge of Town in their entirety. The songs were played in the exact same order as they appeared on the original albums. People literally paid thousands of dollars to be at this show and a mere two weeks later we were hearing it on the radio. If you’re a Springsteen nut, hearing this was nothing short of incredible.

From a fan’s perspective the whole weekend was awesome. I didn’t change channels once throughout the whole weekend – and I’m a constant channel-changer. And even though gas prices are through the roof, I did some driving around I didn’t really have to do because I didn’t want to miss anything. That’s powerful. And that’s the power of the platform. The fact that Sirius could do this is due to the fact that they have a Springsteen channel to showcase it on. And the only way you can have a whole channel dedicated to one artist is when you have a platform enabling you to provide this kind of variety.

So that’s it. No serious strategy discussion, insight into programming mechanics or anything else like that. Just observations from a listener who spent the weekend listening to something he really liked and was damn glad about it.

I’m just sayin’.