NOW FM™
Radio consulting services from Alan Burns and Associates
We help radio stations win with “Conversation” Radio. Among the services we provide to insure your success are:
- A strategy customized for your station, market, and company
- Format Playbook and Brand Values
- Coaching for Content Directors and Talent
- Help in Recruiting and Training Talent
- Topical Content Generation
- Music Strategy
- Support for Time Demands
- Social/Digital Strategy
- Protected Language, including terminology such as NOW FM™, Social FM™ and Join the Conversation™
What is NOW FM™?
NOW FM is a music-and-talk approach that makes the audience the star of the radio station. In fact, this is radio's counterpart to the user-generated-content model used with spectacular success by online giants like Facebook and You Tube; the verbal content of the station is based on personal stories that listeners contribute via text and phone.
Does It Work? And Why?
NOW FM is compelling radio beacuse of the power of personal stories. Humans are hard-wired to tell and listen to stories, and stories are the way we think and process the world. NOW Radio™ is driven by listeners telling "what happend to me when..." stories.
In addition, NOW FM puts the listener first (see below)
The concept has been proven in Canada, where radio stations that have been in the format for a while tend to dominate the Canadian PPM ratings among Adults 25-54. The first station to adopt this approach has ranked #1 for 38 out of 40 quarters- that's ten years- and is #1 with both men and women. The second station in this "format" has now won 25-54 for six of its last eight books. This is a powerful concept.
Will it work in the U.S. and other Countries?
That's a resonable question to ask, given that Canada is less ethnically diverse than the U.S. and has fewer radio signals per market. Ironically, the fragmentation of America markets means that a station can rank #1 in the U.S. with a lower shar than it would take in Canada. More importantly, though, the drive to be entertained by stories is not uniquely Canadian or American...it's a powerful human need that transcends nationality, ethnicity, gender, and even age. Stories work in every culture.
Think about the incredible success of Netflix. What does Netflix serve? Stories!
The Power of Putting Consumers First
Businesses that focus what they do on their consumer tend to be spectarcularly successful (think Apple, for example). Many independent bookstores and even video stores have sruvived and even thrived in the face of category-killers like Amazon and Netflix by concentrating intensely on what their customers want and need most.
Radio, however, has not done a good job of focusing on its listener-consumer lately. The topic musc radio stations talk about most is the station.- in liners, imaging, contests, features, sales promotions, etc. And the people our highest profile personalities talk to most is each other.
NOW FM™ flips that on its head. In NOW FM, as we noted, the listener is the star. And while NOW FM has talented, forefront hosts those personalities become popular for their talent in eliciting listener stories. Social FM puts the consumer first.
NOW FM™ Addresses Many of Radio's Problems
Here's how NOW FM™ answers many of radio's current challenges:
Problem 1: There's Nothing New to Excite Listeners, Advertisers, and the Press
Answer: NOW FM™. Listeners and Advertisers have never heard anything like this. They'll love it: listeners for the stories and community, advertisers for the large and highly engaged audience.
Problem 2: All the Major Music Positions are Occupied (sometimes three-deep)
Answer: NOW FM™ is more than just a music postion; in fact, this approach can work with many different music mixes and strategies.
Problem 3: Our stations and Audience have Become a Commodity
Answer: That's because of share compression and low differentiation- low "specialness factor"- between competitors. NOW FM™ is very different and stands out on the dial. It's special, and wortha premium to advertisers, because it's unique and the audience is highly engaged.
Problem 4: As a Reason to Listen to Radio, Music isn't as Powerful as it Once was
Answer: that's true; in fact, according to Jacob Media's TechSurvey 2021, host and personalities surpassed music as a reason to listen to radio in 2019- and the gap continues to widen. Given that, and in comparison to customizable, low/no commercial-load streamers, this is not a good time to be a "jukebox iwth commercials". While Social FM includes music as part of the mix, its personalities and listener stories bring- and bond- listeners for both music and stories.
Problem 5: Radio is Guilty of Poor Listener Focus
Answer: NOW FM™ is ALL about the audience.
Music and Converstation- Sounds Simple
It's a simple concept but there are dozens of things that have to be done right for this kind of radio station to succeed...and that's where Alan Burns and Associates comes in. Here are just a few of the challenges and how we can help:
Execution- We bring the playbook and, equally important, the brand values that make this work.
Finding/Developing Talent- NOW FM™ requires special talent that can be hard to find and hard to develop. We help with recruiting (including an unusual talent scouting strategy) and coaching.
Staffing Plan- This kind of radio station has to be staffed differently. Having the right people in the right roles is vital, and we provide the staffing plan that will work for you.
Topics- NOW FM™ consumes topics and listener questions voraciously. We bring the startup topics, we train and provide your staff with the strategy for generating strong topics, and we've built a platform for sharing topics among Social Radio stations.
Social/Digital- There's an important social/technical component to NOW FM™, and we can hook you up.
Knowledge- No one south of the border knows more about this concept than we do, and we research the audience of the model stations to mine knowledge for you.
Language and Marketing- How do you brand this kind of radio station with names and phrases? How do you communicate how it's to be used? How do you introduce it to the market? We bring the words and the plans. We've even protected certain terms and phrases so our clients don't have to worry about someone else using them. Some of the language we have trademarked include:
Social FM™
You FM™
Join The Conversation™
The Story™
NOW FM™
Please find the recording or our (along with Coleman Insights) recent webinar "Personality on Music Radio Stations: New Research on NOW FM™"
Sample Download: NOW FM audio example: Scary Flights
sample-breaks-scary-flights-1.mp3 (5.16 MB)
Find Out More
To find out more, including how NOW FM™ might improve your cluster or company, call Alan Burns @ (251) 243-1592 or email alan@burnsradio.com