Radio Sales Café

The remote question. What is your station’s attitude about remotes? How does your station handle remotes. . .especially in ref to policy.

Understandably, airing remotes can be chancy. Often times remotes do not draw a crowd (a mall remote at Christmas is a no brainer) and there are programmers who adamantly feel remotes chase away listeners, unless it is an event.

Hard to turn a remote at the local mattress store into an event. You can bring out the Wheel of Fortune or some other thingamajig, but it gets old quick. Even if a crowd shows up, what about the listeners the remote chases away?

Some stations air two remote breaks per hour, some three (the third break usually a :30). But I have heard four breaks (all :60) . . . and there are those stations that set up shop at the advertisers’ location. Most remotes seem to go for three hours. What about at your station?

What about compensation for the air talent? There was a time when jocks detested remotes (Intrusion on their weekend time), not so much anymore.

Some stations air the breaks live, others record it and then play it back a few minutes later. The biggest benefit of recorded breaks is that they do not tend to run over, whereas live breaks can go way over the time limit (unless your iron-fisted PD lays down the gauntlet). Some stations allow clients to be interviewed on the air, others will not.

Would you run two or more different remotes during the same hour? I heard a station do three remote breaks in the same set. . . three jocks, all at a different nightclubs, the break actually sounded good. . . the effect was that there was a lot going on in the city. I wonder if it would work for other types of advertisers.

What kind of a premium do you charge for remotes? Would you ever toss in a free remote to get a sale? Are your remotes mostly on weekends, or do you pitch weekdays too? Does the sales person always have to be at the remote (for the whole thing). Whatever you can think of to add to this would be great to read. Thanks.

I hesitate to generalize because of all the variables that come into play, that affect how well a live broadcast serves the client.

For instance, a popular DJ might attract a crowd, but even if the station and advertiser are fortunate enough to have an on-air personality with that kind of star power, are customers coming in to see him (or more likely to score lunch, a free t-shirt, some movie passes), or are they there to do business with the advertiser?

What's funny, and at the same time kind of sad, is when you see the same dozen or so freeloaders showing up at every remote. How does that serve the client?

I'll never forget car dealer Bernie Wagnild's words: "Food draws flies. I want buyers."

Given a choice between running a remote or putting that same money into an ad schedule, my tendency would be to choose the latter. Less emphasis on "show" and more on business.

True, given the differences of market sizes, competitive environment, etc., generalizing is not often achievable. If your market is Arbitron rated, then programming and keeping good ratings are a major aspect . . . you’d certainly rather air one $100 commercial than five $20 commercials. To some degree, my remote questions were aimed at those working in a competitive environment. In a rating driven situation, just because we can sell it, does not mean we should. In a non competitive environment, the game plan may be as simple as rack-‘em-and-stack ‘em. What I have noticed is that in conglomerate radio, the regional managers are always pushing remotes (by Thursday there is the usual cookie-cutter email demanding to know if all the remote times have been sold), at privately owned stations, not so much. Regional Managers are an issue for another day! Hopefully, most of the remote questions reach across various market sizes. There were a couple of questions I forget to ask about . . . do you always provide food (once you do, from there forth it is expected), do you offer smaller prices (t-shirts, mouse pads, etc.) or offer one bigger prize (either from the client, or one of those three day hotel stays, etc.). . . . do you have a minimum one hour (or more) bridge from the end of one remote to the start of another or is one remote per weekend (or day) the limit? Has your remote policy drastically changed because of the recession, either in terms of price or number of remotes?

I sold radio for a dozen years and the longer I did the less I enjoyed remotes. We talk about sizzle that a remote can bring but do we want sizzle or do we want traffic for our clients? Traffic that is there to do business with them and not get something free from the station. The last few years of selling I did not promote remotes or Live Action Broadcasts (we used both terms). If a client really wanted one I set the proper expectations. We would show up and talk about their buseinss or event. I would send them a bill that they would pay. Anything more than that should be viewed as a bonus to them.

Too many businesses that have no business having a remote have one. Shame on the sales person. Most businesses have the wrong expectation about what the remote will do for their business. Shame on the sales person. Most businesses look at the few hours of the event to determine if radio worked and not the ongoing sales that week or month. Shame on the sales person.

Most remotes we did were on the weeekends when rates were less. By the time we were done charging talent, engineering and other fees the client could have run a lot of commercials talking about the benefits of their business.

A remote will never be as good as the client wants. Why put radio in that position?

Remotes are a wonderful thing as long as you have the right person with the right personality
at that particular site. As a 100 % LIVE , local AM - FM simulcast operation [ celebrating our
50th year this month] Remotes keep WAKO AM-FM in Lawrenceville, Ill - Vincennes Ind. out in front of people, who are our listeners. We will find a way to make a live broadcast at the local furniture or funeral home
interesting. No silly stuff, as we are are professional radio station. But a remote is one of the heart
beats of any station who cares about being local. Larger market stations who just cut in
for 59.8 seconds 3 times per hour to fit the clock sound rushed, un-careing and tired. A live remote must contain interviews with the mgr., the owner, anyone. With todays cell phones, a live, local
remote is so simple, or set up the big equipment and make a professional appearance.
Charge a flat fee and give the client XXX number of spots, but most of all make it worth your while.
Remotes build interest with other clients and they too want to be next. A remote is job security.

Kent Lankford
WAKO 103.1 FM & AM 910
Lawrenceville,Ill. - Vincennes, Ind.

At a stand alone AM station, we do it all. We sell it, set it up (usually two people) and broadcast it. We get $25.00 per hour per person on site. Two remotes at the same time does sound good I think to the listener. Makes us sound bigger than we are!

I always ask...."what are your expectations" of a remote. More often than not an advertiser is better off putting their $$ into frequency. Unless, the remote is done in conjunction with an event. A remote should be an event. Never ever use a cell phone (unless it's a cell jack - JK audio) always put up banners and make it a good show. Always be prepared with a remote check list (how many times have I run back to the station to get the whip antennae! Wear station shirts and keep smiling no matter what.

I often trade out food for mentions to give away or for sampling during during the remote. We use our prize wheel....people love it. We've done a wheel of meat at a grocery store....a wheel of plants at a nursery......it's something about that clacking noise and spinnin' that wheel.

For the most part, I hate remotes unless the weather is perfect - no wind please. Again, unless it's involving an entire event - grand opening - going out of business, anniversary, etc. .....I encourage to put their $$ into frequency..... Kathie

Everything you mentioned makes plenty sense. Unfortunately, one reason I asked about “remotes” is that a friend working for a corporate competitor says that the recession has turned every Saturday into a remote marathon. Gone, or quickly slipping away, is the idea that a remote needs to be an event.

The pressure from their regional managers demanding that certain weekend times have remotes is resulting in giving free remotes to advertisers for just buying a down-and-dirty low rate spot schedule. Given that these big groups typically own 4-6 stations in a market, these free remotes can add up quick! This is becoming a problem because our clients are now starting to ask for a free remote with their schedule.

We have gone from a :60 remote break being charged 4-5X the normal spot schedule rate to free. How does one overcome this new challenge?

Right on Jeff, I'm with you. We always package in commercials with our remotes scheduled before and after the broadcast. I also, take my little micro chip recorder to the remote and record short testamonials from customers (or freeloaders - I hate them) who are there. I edit them and play them back the week after as a thank you message. But I agree with you about remotes in general, let's all work for the client in their best interest and in these economic times, teach them how to use their advertising dollars wisely. Certainly, not on remotes to grow their business. We are teachers and advisors to our advertisers and not "order takers". That's only for newspapers!

Whenever we were asked for "something free" that was given away by the competition my reply was, "I'm glad we don't have to give things away free" and then I'd explalin the concept of an event like a live broadcast and once they understood the big picture, many were good with it. Some still wanted the freebie from the competition and they got it but most respected our position and saw that it made sense.

If live broadcasts are so valuable to the competitors, why are they giving them away for free?

....."If live broadcasts are so valuable to the competitors, why are they giving them away for free?"... As I mentioned earlier, the edict from regional is that there are to be remotes on the weekends at designated times. . . I guess if the staff cannot sell them, they give them away to get corporate off their back. Of course, it's hard to stabilize (or increase) rates, when you're giving away commercial time for free! Of course the idea of holding rates is predicated around business returning to normal in the foreseeable future. . . . which now seems somewhat questionable.

I always say we as sales people have to manage our clients expectations!  That can be difficult to do, but if done correctly then it makes things a lot easier and prettier!  My question is - in our market the majority of the car dealer ships in town love to do remotes even though the out come is not always that great.  They feel like they have to do them and they have them scheduled back to back to back...when we are wrapping up, another station's vehicle pulls up and is waiting to unload and get their remote going.  How do you convince them that their presence of mind is best in the on air schedule (which we opperate by the client buying a schedule and getting the remote thrown in) but if I could steer away from them all together, I'd be happy.