The Simple Adjustment Your Station Can Make To Captivate Listeners

There's one area of programming that most CCM stations fail in, most of the time. There are many reasons, ranging from lacking confidence in content, a desire to be tight and brief and a misguided idea that we should avoid calling attention to ourselves. In other words, we're afraid of hype!

Hype is a bad idea, of course. But many stations seem to think pre-promoting content is like radio click bait. It's not.

Pre-promotion is one of the most important aspects of building audience anticipation and setting appointments.

Which means it's one of the most valuable tools for building ratings. In fact, a consistent, effective teasing strategy is a key to my Double Your Ratings concept. But what makes a good tease? And in what ways are a good tease and bad tease different?

At first, one thinks it should be obvious. A good tease gets listeners to tune in or come back. A bad tease doesn't. But sometimes it gets confusing because there's a thin line between a good tease and bad tease.

There are many types of teases, of course. And teasing strategies go much deeper than comparing text. But there's value in looking at actual teases, then fixing them with simple tweaks.

Good Tease and Bad Tease: Is It Specific?

There are many elements that make for effective teases, but the most common thing that causes teases to succeed or fail is if the copy used is specific or generic.

Sometimes the problem is the actual tease. And sometimes it's the content. If the break isn't well prepared, and the topic is weak or vague, it's diffcult to craft

a tease that causes listeners to care. This is almost always a flaw in the show prep process.

For example, if the topic is "What's your favorite vacation ever?", how can you create a compelling, dramatic tease? I challenge you. You probably can't find a tease that truly would cause a listener to look forward to the break, can you? It's a problem with the content itself.

But assuming the content is strong, generic teases happen because personalities haven't taken the time to plan or prepare it.

Often, we think too literally, connecting the tease directly to the topic. Or worse, the Pay Off.

The goal of each tease should be to get listeners to the break. Just one more quarter hour. It doesn't have to have a direct connection to the story, and should not suggest the outcome of the topic. Just get them interested in the segment itself.

Examples of Good & Bad Teases

Let's apply this concept to a radio show.

Here's a weak, generic tease that I actually heard on a radio station:

HI, THIS IS (YOUR NAME). I'M HERE UNTIL 10 THIS MORNING, AND IN THE NEXT HOUR WE HAVE HOLLYWOOD SLEAZE. THAT'LL BE RIGHT BEFORE THE NEWS. AND A TON OF YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC.

There's a lot wrong with this tease. Mostly, it doesn't say anything. It's 10 seconds of clutter. Listeners don't care about a DJ's work schedule. Promising you're there until 10 does nothing for them.

Saying "in the next hour" is far too broad. My life will change in the next 60 minutes and I'm not going to adjust because of anything on the radio.

Promoting the Sleaze, news and "your favorite music" is shallow and non- specific. I don't want to hear the news, but I may be interested in what's IN the news. I can get traffc anytime and how would you know my favorite music?

It's a bad tease all the way around. So let's fix it:

HEY, THANKS FOR LISTENING THIS MORNING. I'M (NAME). WHAT WAS ELLEN DOING TO TOM CRUISE YESTERDAY WHEN HE SAID THIS (PLAY SHORT CLIP). I'LL GIVE YOU THE INSIDE SCOOP IN 7 MINUTES DURING HOLLYWOOD SLEAZE. AND BEFORE THAT, THE NEW SONG THAT I PROMISE WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD ALL DAY...IN A GOOD WAY...RIGHT AFTER (CURRENT SONG PLAYING).

Here's another example. A client was planning to talk about Wendy's promotional offer of a Frosty every day for a year for $1. After brainstorming how the break would turn into a story, I asked how we would tease it.

The response:

SOMETHING COLD AND SWEET THAT IS ONLY GOING TO COST YOU A DOLLAR.

I don't know about you, but that wouldn't make me tune in. It's too generic. It's vague. There's no intrigue. Here's what we came up with.

WENDY'S HAS RUINED YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION MORE THAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE YOU MAKE IT. I'LL TELL YOU WHAT THEY'VE DONE IN FOUR MINUTES.

This is a compelling, interesting tease that causes curiosity. There's a very good chance of getting one more quarter hour to find out about it. Get them to the break!

Specific comments make for a good tease. Stop Advertising Tune Out!

Here's another typical example. Many media outlets get in a habit of teasing just before commercials. And that's a good time to tease for sure, but inexperienced personalities often fall into patterns and the tease is a signal that commercials are coming.

That's often because of how the tease is constructed. Here's a bad tease:

OKAY, WE'RE TAKING A BREAK, AND WHEN WE COME BACK, YOU'LL GET UPDATED TRAFFIC AND WEATHER.

First, it's generic, violating point #1 above. But we should never, ever call attention to commercials. It's a terrible thing to promote! As soon as they hear, "We're taking a break", most listeners with access to a push button have tuned out. they don't even hear the tease because they're gone!

Avoid saying things like, "Don't go away" or "when we come back" or "After this". Those are instant signals to change the channel.

Here's a fix:

ARE YOU STUCK IN THAT MESS ON HIGHWAY 52 THIS MORNING? YEAH, IT'S GOING TO BE AWHILE. WE'LL TELL YOU HOW LONG YOU'LL BE STUCK, HOW TO GET AROUND IT AND THE WRECK THAT CAUSED THE MESS NEXT...AND IN 10 MINUTES, I TOOK MY 4 YEAR OLD TO A MOVIE ON FRIDAY,

AND I'M STILL PAYING THE PRICE. I'LL TELL YOU HOW TO AVOID BEING IN MY HELL AT 7:43.

This tease now moves forward and gives the audience something to look forward to, and it relates to something immediate happening in their life. And we do it without introducing the commercials.

Promote Content, Not Stuff!

A third principle is to always promote content. Never promote features. Nobody listens for a feature. They listen for the entertainment that's in the feature. The story. That's why I call features Content Containers. Nobody wants the packaging. They want what's inside.

Of course, it's fine to mention the the name of the feature and position it, but the tease should be about content first.

Here's a bad tease:

ANOTHER PRANK PHONE CALL COMING UP IN 10 MINUTES. YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT.

They don't listen for a prank call. They listen to laugh, to be entertained. So that needs to be the lead.

The fix:

COMING UP...WE'RE GOING TO CALL A DOUGHNUT SHOP AND TRY TO CONVINCE THE OWNER TO DELIVER ONE PASTRY TO OUR HOME...TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR FREE DELIVERY SERVICE. AND THE DOUGHNUT GUY LOSES HIS MIND (PLAY SHORT AUDIO). A NEW PHONE TAP AT 7:25.

This tease sells the story, not the content container. Once the audience is hooked on something they like, let them know where to hear it! That's the time to promote the feature.

Conclusion

Break down the good tease and bad tease in the examples above and a couple of things will be obvious.

Usually the tease is better when focused on fewer things.

And, good teases are longer. That's okay. Sometimes it takes a few more words to be effective. It's not a contest to see how short the break can be. It's a competition to get attention and drive tune in.

The fastest way to grow share is convincing the existing audience to listen more. They've already chosen to listen, so they like what they are hearing. Just make it easy to tune in more often. That's teasing.

Teasing isn't a diffcult skill to learn, if you take it seriously and devote the time to it. Make it a part of the daily show prep routine for every segment.