RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION
You never know where one can find the freshest ideas that can truly spark a radio station, making it vitally important — and fun — for its listeners.
One successful FM serving Canada’s biggest market has one that every AC, Classic Hits or Rhythmic “Old School” station should consider. Now.
Why? It demands appointment listening, audience engagement and involves something simply gratifying. When’s the last time one of your stations did that?
On Friday morning (3/5) from 10:25am-10:45am Eastern, yours truly joined Maie Pauts on Stingray-owned Adult Hits giant CHBM-FM “Boom 97.3” in Toronto.
Musically, the station could be considered somewhat ordinary if one were to look at its hour-by-hour song logs.
But, as has been stated numerous times over the last few decades, it is what is in-between the records that matters. And, there’s no better radio station than “Boom 97.3,” led by Program Director Troy McCallum, that understands this.
The latest example of why Boom is so compelling and invites lots of TSL — great for attracting advertisers — is its “Mixtape of You.”
It’s the stuff of genius. Here’s how it works.
First, listeners are invited to go to the radio station’s website to learn more. More traffic to sell for a digital advertising play? Check.
Then comes the fun part. Anyone can create their own “mixtape,” with the following pitch offered to Boom listeners:
The best part of growing up in the 70s, 80s and 90s was making mixtapes. It’s time to rewind your memory and create one more masterpiece. Make it, name it, share it. And if we love it, we’ll even play it on air.
That’s exactly what happened, as Maie called on Thursday to pre-record the Friday on-air feature starring … me.
How can your station replicate this? Visit Mixtapeofyou.com and see for yourself.
In short, one clicks “create mixtape,” and is offered the visual choice of what blank tape they’d wish to use. Fun.
Then, they can use the label. Cool.
With the custom cassette in an old-school desk player, the website visitor is invited to “press Record and Play” by clicking with their mouse on the tape recorder graphic.
Five Steps then appear. First, you’re asked to select the year you graduated high school. Then, you’re asked when you had your first kiss. Third, Boom wants to know what ‘clique’ you belonged to. Band geek? Yup … Theatre buffs? That’s the wifey.
Step Four: What’s the most memorable vacation you’ve taken.
Lastly, you’re asked to select your fave “old school flick.” If you graduated high school after 1991, “Grease” and “Back To The Future” are shown.
Now comes the fun part. While suggested songs are listed, you have a choice to replace those that don’t fit you.
My three songs: “It Takes Two,” by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock; “Too Much Time on My Hands” by Styx; and “Wouldn’t It Be Good?” by Nik Kershaw.
How did it sound on the air? Here’s the first segment:
Now, for those of you thinking this isn’t fair to those in Toronto, as a veteran radio and television industry journalist was the listener featured March 5, please note that all was disclosed to Maie prior to the session being recorded. It was even clearly stated that we’ve not been to Toronto since before the pandemic started; Streamline Publishing’s head of IT cannot come to the U.S. and has been in Ontario for a year.
There were three other segments as part of the daily feature, and here’s what makes it such a winner. One: database building. Two: listeners have a must-listen appointment. Three: the excitement and buildup of being on the air cannot be replicated by YouTube, Spotify or Pandora. Four: Aside from the lucky few who get through to Howard Stern on Sirius XM, Radio wins not only with reach, but in connecting to the listener.
With so many dour, gloomy stories of late about layoffs, including the “Curt, Corine & Leonard” morning show at Sinclair Broadcast Group’s lone music radio station, KPLZ-FM “Star 101.5” in Seattle and major cuts at Bell Media across Canada, Stingray’s live personalities, continuous listener interaction and everything in between the records makes Boom explode.
Wouldn’t you want your station to explode, before it all implodes?
Adam R Jacobson has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Radio + Television Business Report since August 2016. He is a finisher of the 2011 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, raising more than $1,700 CDN for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada. Today, Jacobson regularly keeps a pulse on broadcast media business news from across Canada as part of his duties at RBR.com, and eagerly awaits the importation of all-seasoned potato chips and President’s Choice products to the United States.
