Positive Direction

    • 21 posts
    April 21, 2015 1:24 PM PDT

    Hello all, 

    I work for a small market 50,000 watt classic rock radio station. I am the music/program director, sales executive for everything (including sports), traffic manager, host a morning show from 6-10 am, and broadcast football and basketball. I am having a difficult time keeping everything organized, and staying above water. DO you have any tricks or ideas for a person who is keeping the radio station running as smooth as possible? We do have on air night guy, but he has a full time job outside of DJing. Any help on how not to get burnt out from this opportunity and career? This is also a radio station that has been up and down with employees the past 5 years before I came 1.5 years ago, and a little lower on the totem pole for customers compared to the 100,000 watt Country Stations. 

    PLEASE HELP!

    Thank you,

    Austin G.

    • 32 posts
    April 24, 2015 6:01 AM PDT

    Hi Austin, our system influencefm.com was designed for precisely this. Our software simply never let's anything slip through the cracks. Keep you & your staff perfectly organized and at the same time allow you to sleep at night. It's less than your cell phone bill and that price includes unlimited users. Much of the system was developed by radio sales veteran Chris Rolando. Chris teaches the radio sales school you see to the right of this post.

    It includes:

    1. CRM

    2. Yield Management System

    3. Digital Production Order System

    4. Presentation Builder 

    5. 50,000 Pieces of Radio Copy

    We also integrate with many of the leading traffic systems. 

    • 5 posts
    April 24, 2015 11:10 AM PDT

    Hi Austin , with you doing everything you need some outside help.To solve on air duties,you might want to give "voice tracking " a shot, there is a company (very affordable) that can do this for you and still have your station sound "local". They will provide you samples before you sign on.

    contact:

    Michael Raffety
    Operations Manager
    Skid Trax - Radio Voice Tracking Service
    (877) 549-8658

    • 455 posts
    April 24, 2015 12:17 PM PDT

    You need some help. There is no way you can keep this up w/out several plates eventually hitting the ground and you will burn out. What are you really good at? What do you enjoy doing most? If, for example, someone to do sales full-time who was just as good as you at it your billing would increase substantially.

    • 121 posts
    April 26, 2015 8:47 AM PDT

    I agree with Jack.  You are in a tough position doing the jobs of at least 3 people.  I visited the station website and noticed you have an owner/general manager.  Does he do sales?  He probably should be bringing in at least 50% of the revenue needed, depending on what else he is doing.

    Sales itself should be a full time job.  There must be additonal people besides yourself that can do that.  I read your previous post/question about feeling like you were begging for money in sales, which is not comfortable at all.

    There must be others who are willing to hit the streets and give you help with sales, even if you and your owner need to pay above the usual 15% commission.  Up to 40% commission to a sales person who is bringing in money is better that not having the sales.

    Grace Broadcast Sales has some revenue opportunities listed on the tab above that can give you something to sell too.

    One other thought on Time Management is to cut your live morning show down to 3 hours and go to voice tracking at 9am.  With the software available you most likely can be voice tracked locally most of the day.  However I suggest if you are in the station at all during the day, do a live break every once in awhile with current time/temp so listeners will think you are live all the time.

    Good luck and keep your chin up! 

    • 993 posts
    April 27, 2015 6:19 PM PDT

    Scott - thanks for your plug for GBS; much appreciated.  If I might expand on your endorsement for Austin's sake...

    Austin, I echo what the others here say about one person not having the time or stamina to "do it all," as much as one might like to think he can.

    One of the ways that many stations make profitable use of our revenue opportunities (we call them "Sales Boosters") is by selling them over the phone.

    The efficiency of staying in one place to make dedicated sales calls (vs. driving all over town) should not be overlooked. How many more decision-makers can you reach in 2-3 hours of telephone calling, compared to going from store to store?

    Furthermore, we're supposed to be good at audio communication, right?  If you can engage a listener via your microphone, you can just as effectively engage an advertiser via the telephone.

    And it's not just efficient for you; it's also more efficient for the prospect - and more respectful of their time. Over the years I've learned that many business owners prefer being able to listen to a demo, hear about your package choices, and give you an answer during a two-minute telephone conversation, over giving up 20-30 minutes of their time for a face-to-face presentation to achieve the same result. 

    Some stations hire part-time telephone sales people, giving them titles such as "Special Events Coordinator" or what-have-you, to do nothing but make telemarketing calls for a few hours a day.  It's an easy way to bring in a steady stream of profitable sales, and might well put additional prospects on your radar for "regular" advertising, as your dedicated telephone salesperson will talk to a lot more people in a week than you will.

    Feel free to message me or give me a call if you'd like to visit about any of this at greater length.

    • 21 posts
    April 29, 2015 11:32 AM PDT

    Thank you to everyone who replied, this helps me tremendously! Thank you!

    Austin

    • 32 posts
    February 9, 2016 9:08 AM PST

    We now have over 200,000 pieces of copy.