So Ya Wanna Do Internet Radio: 8 Guidelines To Planting Your Show For Growth

by Vintage Valentine Vignettes

Let's put aside the technical aspect of hosting your own radio show for a moment. That's relatively easy to learn and if you're like me, you can always find a technical person to partner up with. What's tough is content and format. You can have a great format for your show, but if the material isn't of value to your audience, it will be difficult for you to sustain a large, loyal audience. You can also have a steady stream of earth-shaking materials, but the wrong format can drown out even the most profound message.

Many musicians will agree that being a member of a band is much like being married to your band-mates. You need to be so in love with your radio show concept, you can't wait to rush out and marry yourself to the show, but try not to rush through completing the tasks in these guidelines. Sure you can toss anything out there you want...but what if it sticks? Changing the name or format of a popular radio show puts at risk the existing relationships between you and your fan base, let alone futzing with your existing search engine rankings.

If you try to think of this part of the process more like planning a wedding, with many decisions over a period of time leading up to that one special event, sorting through these guidelines will help you plant strong creative roots to grow your radio show. Happy broadcasting!

1. You are about to become an on-air personality. Come up with an identification for yourself as a radio host. It could be your real name or a stage name, but make sure its memorable. If you select a stage name, don't start signing checks using that name and don't have people make checks out to you unless you go to court and have your name legally changed. Its one thing to broadcast your creativity using a pseudonym, but if money is going to exchange hands, make sure you use your legal name in the transaction. Just be sure your advertisers and/or investors are on board with keeping your legal name out of show-based activities.
2. Your radio show should reflect its own personality and have its own identification. For example, if you want to do a show about cats and dogs, then make sure the name of your show at least hints at this. If you're going to have a talk-show format, make sure the name you choose is marketable, even if you name the show after yourself.
3. Pick a length of time for your radio show and try to stick with it. Don't scoff at the idea of a 5 or 6 minute show, if you can deliver quality entertainment in that time frame and don't hesitate to run a few hours, if you can deliver the quality entertainment. Reliability and dependability are two key ingredients to growing a reliable and dependable audience.
4. Traditional radio stations are required to make station identifications at certain times every hour. Although you are not bound by law to abide by this requirement, consider it self-promotion and do it anyway.
5. Speaking of self-advertising, make sure you leverage self-advertising techniques used by the pros. For example, writers for 30 second commercial spots frequently rely on repetition to get the message across. You might hear a product name or phone number mentioned 4 times in that 30 second spot, sometimes woven into the lyrics of the jingle. Other techniques can work as well, so try a few different styles of promoting your radio show during your show, including pre-recorded materials or impulse promotions.
6. If you are thinking about playing other people's music, copyright law still has a place and purpose and so does payment of royalties. Your most headache-free option to cope with such issues would be to purchasing licensing rights to both the ASCAP and BMI catalogs. If you don't want to pay the fees, consult with a lawyer and discuss what other options you have available, such as a pay-as-you-go strategy.
7. Conduct a few practice runs. If an entire show is just the way you want it, then save the materials for a rainy day. You can also split up the materials and save only a few segments for future use in an upcoming show.
8. Make yourself a set of cliff notes for each show whether you broadcast it or not. Give yourself a grade and set goals for your next show. Did you sound monotone throughout the show or was your voice up and down too frequently? How about those um's and ah's and other pause words? As long as you commit to improving each show, audience members will commit their support to your show.