Have A Fine Broadcast Day!

This weekend the most historical Presidential primary election ever finally concluded with Hillary throwing her full support behind Obama.  This primary has been one of the most educational ever in terms of what we can learn about the audience and the way we reach them.

The expectations are changing.  Our internal research has been showing this coming for years.  People are tired of being screamed at and told they’re idiots by people who don’t have a clue.  Look how  “off” traditional thinking pundits were from the get go about the Obama Clinton race.  They were wrong up to the end and my guess will continue to be.  It did offer some great moments in radio when the guy Rush, Sean, and the others wanted to be the GOP nominee couldn’t get elected—anywhere.   

This is why you need to take a hard look at how you program your station.  Barack Obama is the presumed winner for two reasons – thinking out of the box and understanding how important the gray matter is.

In an article in the New York Times over the weekend, the details of how the Clinton campaign was run explained in glaring terms why she lost AND why she was starting to win at the end.

There were plenty of reasons why she lost but they can be boiled down to two areas, the same two that put Obama over the top – Out of the box thinking and team work.  No, I mean real teamwork not the kind you get from reading a book.  Its the kind that involves trust and a common vision.  The Clinton campaign never had this.  Never.  That trust and common vision is what makes radio stations with hell-hole facilities and no budget beat the crap out of the so-called big dogs.

In a play straight out of the AM radio playbook of the late 70s and early 80s, Hillary’s people felt they were entitled.  No one could put a ding in that big old 50,000 watt AM station better known as Hillary Clinton.  Certainly, no upstart FM station named Obama was going to have impact.  After all, Hillary had been serving the people in her audience the same way since the 1970s.  She had been there for them.  In fact, she knew them so well, she didn’t even have to ask them what they wanted anymore.

Enter the brand new Obama-FM.  The music is Alternative, not heard before.  There are fewer screaming commercials.  There are no edited songs.  The Internet was the new of music.  Obama-FM talked to the audience in their language.  New people started listening to radio that had never listened before.  Sound familiar?

It wasn’t until the end that Hillary-AM realized that by being different, listening to the audience, and talking to them in their language you could win.  By then, like AM radio in 1981, it was too late.  The delay to embrace tomorrow came too late because of the lack of gray matter in the Clinton campaign.

Both campaigns were well run and run by smart people.  Both campaigns had strong fundamentals.  Fundamentals get you in the game but it’s that “feel” inside the station that translates on air and into the top spot. 

There was in-fighting in the Clinton campaign from the start.  Her campaign manager and campaign strategist didn’t like each other.  They were constantly undermining each others efforts.  Add President Clinton into the mix and you have three chefs in the kitchen.  That’s right three.  And all three had a little different way of looking at things.  Hillary didn’t appear to be involved on the backside until the end.  She had a former President and probably the best political mind of the 20^th century, his chief strategist and his chief of staff.  No new ideas.

In the meantime, Obama was rallying 70,000 people in one space, raising more money and doing it on the Internet, talking about something “new and improved.”   Those words still sell.  Oh, AND he’s the man.  He’s in charge.   He’s had to step-in from time to time to make sure his people stay on message.  Overall, he did a pretty good job of that.   You can’t program by committee and win.  Committee’s have a tendency to create camels when they need a horse.  Obama knew it and Hillary didn’t. 

Hillary’s campaign failed to use its resources properly until it was too late.  Finally, Bill figured it out and started working the rural “Bubba” areas.  Hillary started to win.  Hillary finally started calling super delegates herself.  She hadn’t done that until the past few weeks.  It was too late.  You have to ask for the order before you can close.

The lessons are pretty clear to me and they do apply to radio.

You must have a single vision.

You must develop a true team effort.  This means giving them “controlled empowerment.”

You must embrace the Internet as a major part of your strategy and brand.

You must offer a clear benefit to the listener/user.

You must realize, you and your radio station are not entitled to one damned thing, period.

To me, the last is the most important.  You’ll never maximize your potential until you realize you have to compel people to turn you on.  Nobody gets killed for NOT voting for Hillary…or your station.