Saturday, November 27, 2010

What makes an overall good radio station?

In my search for what makes an overall great radio station, I came across a great web page that basically sums it all up in three different categories. Check it out for yourself as I have sourced the most important pieces of information here. Source: http://www.enati.com/lance/radio/goodradio.html

"First of all, there have to be personalities that are captivating, voices that are friends you would let into your home. So-called good radio voices help, but even a man with a raspy voice like KGO's Bernie Ward can fit the bill by building a relationship with the listener. On music radio, this means having something interesting to say between songs, but not something shocking (the obvious example being Howard Stern) or assenine. Stations that claim to emphasize music and completely gag their humans are missing the point."

"The truly great radio stations are clearly local. In the case of music radio, that often means sponsoring events in the community, from food drives to free outdoor concerts where people from the station appear, but it can also take the form of play lists emphasizing local artists or ignoring national charts in favor of local record sales. In talk radio, that means having local people talking about local events for at least a good portion of the day. Good syndicated personalities don't need to be excluded, but the best stations have a good sprinkling of people that understand the community."

"Finally, a good radio station sounds familiar while never failing to surprise. On the music radio side, this means having a clear "sound" while not limiting the play list to forty songs. When a new song comes on, the listener should not have been able to predict it but it should flow from the previous piece."

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