MEGS April 16, 2016

Scott Williams (480) 774-8480 [email protected]

Peter Dominowski (727) 421- 6214 [email protected]

Principles of Morning Edition

1. Fewest most powerful words
2. Doing less with better overall quality
3. A strong sense of place in local breaks
Billboard
WGBH creates their own billboard
WABE inserts local information
Use NPR billboard
WSKG is the only station that doesnt use the billboard
Newscasts
Most stations (74%) do not use Newscast II
0:18 Break
Promote C segment (also in 0:21 break)
Local underwriting, promo, WX
UW in 0:18, not 0:20:30 break to avoid stacking UW with NPR
Make your breaks unhurried, let music ride
KPCC does conversational weather, with traffic report, then produced UW
related to traffic, with produced station ID (more content for listeners)
o If weather is the lead story, dont bury the lead
0:20:30 Break
The stations that do the best run on a 24-hour clock. Creating occasions
within the day, NOT promoting shows coming up next week or in 3 days, etc.
Some do newscasts
If you dont have those resources do two short stories that theyre covering
and preview them. Look carefully at the rundown from NPR so they dont
repeat. Its news / promotional, encouraging people throughout the day
(updates on these stories throughout the day) or visit our website if you
cant listen
0:30:00 0:33:00
Move the return to another part of the break?
Promote ATC and the show coming up after ME once an hour, every hour of
ME; more people hear the promo than ever hear the program
WABE, WGBH, WHYY do local newscasts. They do not carry the return
This is an appropriate spot to start a break with UW, especially if youre
leading into a newscast
Listeners dont distinguish between national and local underwriting
KJZZ runs super spots 1:10-2:00 long
Some do sports report, WX, UW, let music ride, local promo of show playing
that day (i.e. classical music), station IDs (WSQG-FM HD Ithaca, WSQE-FM..)
When scheduling an occasion, give the listener the biggest window to tune in
What is the station-focused content? (UW, station IDs) what is the listener-
focused content?
MEGS April 16, 2016
Scott Williams (480) 774-8480 [email protected]
Peter Dominowski (727) 421- 6214 [email protected]

Non-occasion promos promote content NOT in the next 24 hours

0:43:30
WGBH and WHYY do local newscasts
WABE does not
:90 BBC newscast

0:45:35 0:49:35
WGBH runs Marketplace Tech Report
WABE, WHYY run station-produced feature
0:49:35
Small radio interviews about what WSKG means to them (0:30); showing
value, branding the station (non-occasion)
Only do 2 promos max (coming up, later today)
0:59:00
Morning Edition continues just ahead..
Whats the next program/ content?
Important Decisions
Where does the news coverage go?
The 0:30:00 break is often the most awkward break for stations
For Morning Edition, two-thirds of listening is at home/work, one-third in
the car; For ATC, its flipped. One-third is at home/work. Two-thirds in the
car.
Traffic Reports
WHYY, WABE, WCVE, WOSU
Do your own traffic. Dont use a service

ATC Specific
Tell whats going to be on Morning Edition, but
ALWAYS tell whats going to be on later that evening
Dont stack UW at the top of the hour
More time checks for parents taking kids to classes
Weekend Edition Saturday
One of the top 10 most listened to shows
Live news at :04?
Promote upcoming weekend programming
Working Tuesday Saturday
Do it LIVE
Stations tend to under ID during this show (ID 75 percent less than prime
time)
Underwriting
Other stations / hosts have leeway on when / where they play underwriting
(not NPEs) during the hour
MEGS April 16, 2016
Scott Williams (480) 774-8480 [email protected]
Peter Dominowski (727) 421- 6214 [email protected]

Median time spent underwriting on ME: 4:07 nationwide; DC stations 4:49

Median time spent underwriting on ATC: 3:31 nationwide; DC stations 3:43
Underwriting influences the radio sound
WSKG spends more time underwriting BY FAR on ME and ATC than ANY
other station in DC (6mins is pushing it)
Lowest is WCVE, WAMU, around 4 min.
If you do have to run UW back-to-back, run your local UW ahead of national
When reading underwriters, dont read two in a row. Do one toward the
beginning of a break, one toward the end
Does selling incentives emphasize number of sales over cost rate?
The goal of UW isnt to sell more UW, but to make money for the station
Four Kinds of Promotion
Forward Promote
o Good to use audio
o Dont say coming up; instead, thats at..
o Say both specific times and in about 10 minutes
o Dont fo pro stories that arent good
The less you ask people to change their behavior or remember something,
the better. Tune in next Tuesday at 8:00, probably wont happen
Vertical promote
o Dont say weekdays at 1:00pm. Rather, join us for lunch here on
WSKG Public Media
Horizontal promote
o Join us tomorrow at this same time for *** (Marketplace Morning
Report, Weekend Edition)
o Particularly when youre running a series
Diagonal promote
o This is for a different time several days from now
o Ineffective
o If you have to promote TV, promote your air the radio first. Rather,
promote a news program thats coming up that evening WSKG TV
o Dont promote against yourself
o For the weekend, its a waste of time to promote one-hour programs.
Rather, promote its fun on Saturday afternoons
Average listening to ME is 15-min increments. Average no. of occasions: 2 or 3
Two Kinds of promotion:
1. Occasion Building next 24 hours (farthest threshold wed recommend and
have it actually work)
2. Non-occasion building promotion anything else
3. The exception: Promote WESAT and Saturday entertainment programs on
Fridays
Occasions
MEGS April 16, 2016
Scott Williams (480) 774-8480 [email protected]
Peter Dominowski (727) 421- 6214 [email protected]

The components of tuning occasions: switching vs. tuning (national study)

o Turn on/ turn off (once) 82%
o Switching in from another station, turn off 7%
o Turn on NPR, then switch 6%
o Switch to NPR from another station, then leave to another station 4%
o Length of listening occasions: 9 mins.
Each quarter hour
o Successful stations create the most occasions
o Every quarter hour is important. Dont waste it. Since 15mins is how
long people listen, its like a program-within-a-program
o What do you want to be sure your listeners know about your station,
and what do they need to hear on a regular basis? (news, WX, time)
Try not to let your audience down
o AVERAGE:
Occasion promos per hour (nationally): 6
Non-occasion promos per hour (nationally): 2 or 1.5
o Web / mobile is crucial, so PROMOTE it. Nationally, stations do it
three times an hour on ME, twice an hour on ATC
Not just a mention of the URL, but make it a promo
o Adding it to the Station IDs at the top of the hour
o Promote streaming during the last hour of Morning Edition. Streaming
happens the most during the middle of the day
o During the last two hours of Morning Edition, promote whats coming
up after ME
o NPR says theyll make block promos by June
How many inefficient non-occasion promos do you schedule and why? If
youre making that choice, be very intentional about when / where it is
placed
Do not use Morning Edition or ATC to promote specific programs on your HD
service. Its prime time, dont waste it.
Sarah Gilbert (Executive Producer of Morning Edition)
What is it that people have to cope with in their environments that shapes
what they want from their politicians
Balancing getting the right voice with using phone tape
One of the strengths of radio is that its live, the information is now, unlike
podcasts
The responsibility of caring and tending to public radio
Inserting a button if youre shifting from commentary back to news
The Peoria stories (View from..)
o What is it that people have to cope with in their environments that
shapes what they want from their politicians
Started to lose focus and wander
MEGS April 16, 2016
Scott Williams (480) 774-8480 [email protected]
Peter Dominowski (727) 421- 6214 [email protected]

Dwelled too much on peoples stories and didnt talk enough

about how that related to their political choices this
presidential election cycle
Hosting Tips:
Be in front of the microphone at least 1 min before the break starts
REHEARSE
Tighten up news and promo writing. The fewest most powerful words
Transcribe one of your breaks once or twice a month
Convince me you live in the same community I do.
Look outside the window for weather
IDEAS worth stealing
Bringing news to listeners 7 days a week tag line
On air. Online. On your phone. This is WSKG Public Radio, supported by
..UW..
You and I are listening to WSKG Public Radio, the Southern Tiers local NPR.
Send the message that your local host is on par with the national host
Pre-record intros to stories youve been promoting the hell out of
Rather than promoting everything a couple of times, give each department
their week. Promote the hell out of one or two things for one week, then
switch the next week. A little of a lot doesnt help.
An additional quarter hour you can get out of one listener is an additional
1:45 hours/week, 91hrs/year
Dont just think about what MORE you can do, but what you can do less of, or
stop doing altogether
Try to figure out a way to hire a producer for ME; it makes all the difference.
Contact stations of similar size to figure out how to do it (Scott with KJZZ)

Steve Inskeep
the way a poet thinks of rhythm and meter, so should you think of hosting
the limits can make you think better
think of the value of every single second on the air
writing and thinking in a certain way
strive to make every word and sentence that visceral
specific, detailed tale to enter into a bigger narrative
our competition is every other piece of media thats ever been created in the
last 20 years
hosting / writing using the same ideas:
o start simply, but not with stuff we know already (Chicago is the latest
city to have trouble with its drinking water.)
o youre a storyteller, youre telling a tale
MEGS April 16, 2016
Scott Williams (480) 774-8480 [email protected]
Peter Dominowski (727) 421- 6214 [email protected]

o Your first sentence should have the resonance of the first sentence of
a novel
o Writing, stories that are so compelling that it turns people from
passive listeners to active listeners
o You dont have to go beyond the facts. But be VIVID
o Listen to the piece youre introducing. What about it is news to you?
Make sure you can promise what that piece will deliver. Let your
brain go quiet.
o Have the confidence not to show off; part of your job is to make the
listener feel smart
o you can engage with us throughout the day by checking in with us on
social media..
o encouraging people to change media doesnt really work
o people binge watch House of Cards for 13 hours; listen to podcasts for
an hour. Shorter is not necessarily better
o Find every second you can.
o What do you want from an interview? Whats the one thing you want
to know? The one little gem you want in that story. One theme, one
idea.
o Get right to the point. Then if they havent answered. Then follow up.
Follow up.
o Talk to the guest. If I raise my pen, stop talking. Or put your hand in
a certain way. Let me tell you, Ive got 3.5 mins to talk to you. Well
need to be concise. Say what you need to say, but I dont have control
over when this interview ends. Make your expectations clear. We
want to hear what you have to say, heres how that can work.
o Kids are listening. Dont be disturbing, but if you are, let people know
that and how long the story is.
o Live interviews are usually better for news, political interviews.
o Youre trying to get people to think their thoughts.
o Radio can be fleeting, but the web story people can go back to.
o In preparing interviews, let the person know generally what youre
going to ask them about. It allows them to mentally prepare. Never
rule out any question. If thats the only way theyll agree to do an
interview, its probably not worth it.
o Were collecting dots, today is to be careful about connecting them.
o Were trying to figure out the world together; remind the listener
about the limits of your own knowledge