I think you can really separate and weed out the Great Stations from the Not So Great Stations when you look at what they do when something like Sandy Hook occurs. Or, when you look at their promotional calendar two weeks before Christmas.
This is it. Our the mid-point of our Meat & Potatoes promotional season. Halloween into Thanksgiving into Christmas into New Years. One amazing opportunity after another after another to market the station, make money, create buzz and close out the year with a bang, not a thud.
I was following up with my client in Grand Forks, Z-94.7 and Nikki Rush sent me a really impressive schedule of contests and events and happenings for December. I replied with some kind of “Wow, that’s fantastic!” and she shot me back “I’d like to see more happening.. we have a couple weeks.”
I got a little misty for a second.
Radio used to be the creator or bits and “stuff that people talked about”. In 2000, the Ice Bucket Challenge would have been the brainchild of WBLI or Wild in Tampa.
You should really monitor the Jimmys, Fallon and Kimmel, every night. They get it. Their acknowledgement of Christmas would not be a “Here’s what to do in Houston this holiday!” list on their website.