For Air Personalities, Facebook And Twitter Are Now Mandatory

by Phyllis Stark / phyllisstark@radio-info.com

 

If you’re a radio air personality, it’s no longer enough to go in, host your four hours, and check out. For most jocks these days, it’s not just what happens on the mic that makes them successful. How they interact with their listeners on social networking sites, particularly Facebook and Twitter, can go a long way toward making their show popular, and many say it has become a required part of the job.

They’re finding these sites are not just a vehicle to promote their show, but a tool to solicit feedback, test out potential on-air topics, and engage their fans on a whole new level. And while social media interaction is time consuming, jocks say the benefits by far outweigh any downsides.

“Anyone who doesn’t take time out of their day to engage their listeners, even briefly, in a medium they have all incorporated so thoroughly in their lives is totally missing out,” says Randy “Mudflap” Wilcox, OM/PD and morning man at WEGX Florence, S.C. “A few conversations during the day goes a long way to convince people that you are people too, and not just some monolith pumping out country music. Depending on how you use it, it can incite tremendous passion for your brand. Plus, it’s a ton of fun to just randomly drop in on [listeners’ Facebook] walls and respond to something they said. They get a huge kick out of a ‘celebrity’ acknowledging them. As my daughter likes to say, it’s full of win.”

KMLE Phoenix afternoon driver “Big Shoe Stu” Evans agrees. “I love the immediate feedback, and the occasional one-to-one conversations,” he says. “The social media explosion can be extremely helpful with an immediacy of information and feedback that we’ve never had. I compare it to times when I’ve done plays or stand-up [comedy]. The audience is right there, for better or worse, and you can ‘feel’ the performance, and how it’s going.” 

WUSN Chicago afternoon driver Drew Walker is active on Facebook and, particularly, Twitter, and says, “I try to be as transparent and responsive as possible.” He makes sure his interaction with listeners is “always a two-way exchange. I use Twitter more for information and pictures … or passing along items that I think are of direct interest to listeners,” he says. “I use Facebook more for conversations, but I do reply individually on both.”

Walker believes his social networking greatly benefits his work, and calls the networks “truly an extension of my show [and] tools to continue the conversation with my listeners and make it easier to connect. Especially with the tight formatics of the new PPM world, there is a lot of good fun that doesn’t always make it on-air outside of morning drive. Now, it happens online.

“My ultimate goal is create a sense of community [where listeners want] to come back often and check in,” adds Walker. “If the listener feels like they have a connection to me, I believe they’re more inclined to tune in during the show, and PPM is all about getting more tune-ins, more appointments, more repeat listening opportunities.”

WCOS Columbia, S.C., morning co-host Kelly Nash is also active on both Facebook and Twitter. “The way we use them is a supplement to the phones, and to test out subject interest,” he says. “For example, I posted a video of a small riot happening in an IHOP in a suburb of Columbia Tuesday before I left the office. By Wednesday morning, I could see a bunch of comments including some good one-liners, so we know our P1s are into this. When we went on the air, we were able to use calls and mix them in with Facebook/Twitter comments.”

“When an event like the Grammy Awards is on, I’ll tweet or Facebook a bunch of my thoughts and comment on a bunch of other people’s,” adds Nash. “I can see some of my better lines will be re-tweeted or shared, introducing me to a potentially new audience.”

Wilcox, too, is a master at engaging his fans during televised awards shows, posting a running commentary that draws lots of listener feedback, which he also then comments on in a way that can make listeners feel like he’s right there on the couch next to them.

Several air personalities note that listeners now simply expect them to be active on social networks, particularly during their air shift.

WMIL Milwaukee morning co-host Karen Dalessandro says, “We’re most active on both Facebook and Twitter while we’re doing the show. We’ll send topic ideas out to get feedback before we even present them on the air. Or we promote an upcoming giveaway with the time it’s going to happen so those online can be tuned in. Producer Radar is [online] constantly during the morning, but any one of us will jump on if there’s a ‘conversation’ going on that we want to be a part of.

“Off air, we’ll upload pictures and video at our appearances in real time,” she continues. “We’re able to invite listeners to that exact location. If they can’t make it, they can check out the photos online and still be involved. Social networking is a great tool that definitely enhances what we do on the radio.”

“I use Facebook and Twitter, mostly in the hours I’m on the air or if I’m at a station event or concert to share station stuff—behind-the-scenes things that might happen while the mic is off,” says WFRE Frederick Md., PD and afternoon driver Jess Wright. “Facebook, Twitter, texting, e-mail, etc., are all now an integral part of the show.

“From 3-7 p.m. each day, I keep Facebook open in one tab and my Twitter mentions page open in another,” says Wright. “I always try to respond to listener comments and engage them in conversation. I look at it the same way as answering listener e-mail. It’s important, and even if I can’t get to it right this second, I’ll have time later in the show.

“Also, listeners love hearing their names on the air, and reading back some of the more interesting responses tends to make more people post responses too,” Wright continues. “It’s sometimes better than the phone in that respect because you don’t have to count on them being good speakers or having to edit out big, gaping pauses and irrelevant information. It makes the show more of a whole package—it stands on its own on the air, but if the people listening are also on Facebook or Twitter, they get another dimension that makes it even better.

“It’s a relatively small group of listeners who are interacting in the social networks, but those listeners are enthusiastic fans and will tell their friends that they ‘talked’ to me and that I responded,” Wright says of the benefits of social networking. “It keeps the conversations going when maybe we’re done with them on the air, but people still have things they want to say. It’s just one more way to pull in P1s and keep them excited about the station and the show in particular, and it keeps them talking about it. 

“Plus, on Facebook their activity will show up on their friends’ news feeds, and on Twitter people will see their friends in a running conversation with me, so it gets my name and the station name out to even more people. If people come to my page and I manage to entertain them in some way, they’ll turn on the radio and see if I’m that awesome on the air, too. (And of course, I totally am).”

Still, air personalities say the social networking aspect of the job can be a lot of work Says Dalessandro, “It adds tons of extra time to an already long day … We’re really lucky to be a three person morning show, because it would be tough keeping up with this on the air if you’re doing a hectic AM drive show with fewer members.”

Says Evans, “The biggest downside is strictly a time and mental overload issue. You have to learn to filter the information using the technology itself, but also not to be consumed with the rambling stupidity we all see online. I like the platforms, I’m learning more and more about new usages, but I think most folks over 35 can survive just fine without it all. Younger people can too, but they don’t want to, and I get that. If we grab more radio listeners using social media, how can that be a bad thing?”

“It is definitely a time-consuming portion of my day, but so is blogging /podcasts /content for our station Web site,” says Walker. “It’s all part of the new personality/PPM world. And even though both mediums are ‘instant gratification,’ I've found that you can reply four hours later (or within a day) and still be fully connected to the conversation.”

Nash has a different view. “It can backfire if you respond 12 hours later to people commenting on stuff,” he says. “Social media is all about now. People post comments and expect at minimum a ‘Like’ within an hour or so if the jock is on the air. 

“It’s even worse if you post something like a promotion of a contest coming up this afternoon, and [a listener] comments a question about it,” Nash continues. “The fact that you didn’t respond before the contest aired is the kind of thing that gets them commenting to other friends what a jerk you or the station is.”

Still, Nash says, “For shows like ours which run live, it’s an awesome tool. People don’t have to wonder if we read their comment, because I’ll respond to it [online] and might mention it on the air. That deepens their bond with us. It’s a lot easier to post something on our page than trying to call a request line, too.”

And jocks say there are very few negatives to being active social networkers.

Says Walker, “the only downside might be Internet overload [or] burnout, but I’ve set limits that work well for me. My phone [and] computer are off from 8 p.m. until the next morning.”

“We have a few crazies that comment on most of our stuff, and every once and a while a small commenting war breaks out between them and someone [else] who wishes they would stop commenting,” says Nash. “It usually leads to an opportunity for us to play peacemaker amongst our tribe, and everyone walks away more devoted to the show.”

Asked if that kind of familiar conversation can attract the nuts and would-be stalkers that tend to bond with many radio personalities, Wright says, “As long as you use common sense [and] you’re careful about what you share, I don’t think it’s any different than being engaging on the air. In fact, it’s a bit better, because while you can only answer one phone call at a time, and sometimes you miss calls entirely when people give up, you can always take the time to go back and answer them online. I can’t think of a down side.”