After returning to the airwaves in February (I’d hung up my headphones to join Paragon as a consultant focusing on Triple A) to host a weekend specialty show at WRNR/Annapolis, it was apparent that certain things had changed for broadcast talent, but one pillar of emphasis remained the same: the importance of Immediacy and Localism.

In an age when voicetracking in advance has become a necessary indulgence for programmers and air talent with overloaded day-to-day responsibilities, it is important for us to remember that perhaps the most important advantage radio has is its ability to relate to the listener with a focus on community, in real-time.

It has become (sadly) easy to identify stations who program and sometimes voicetrack music logs as much as a week in advance. This is not a condemnation of voicetracking; in fact, I think “voicetracking in real-time” has great advantages over actually being live on the air for all but the most experienced jocks.

When I refer to “voicetracking in real-time,” I’m referring to the practice of recording a break within the same hour that it is scheduled to air. For me personally, even though I have over 40 years of experience as a DJ, I find that recording a rolling break and listening to it before saving to the music log offers the opportunity to revise the break in an improved and more efficient way. Sometimes I’ll listen to a :30 second rap I’ve done, and think, how can I say that in :20 seconds? How can I make that break better, clever, or more compelling? For those of us who put a premium on forward momentum and recognize the fragility of consumers’ attention spans, “voicetracking in real-time” can pay big dividends and result in longer TSL.

It also allows us to constantly update relatable current events in this lightning fast-paced world. It’s as simple as giving the current weather condition, or a successful splashdown from Artemus II astronauts (when was the last time all 3 major television networks broke from regular programming to cover an event?). “Did you see the Oriole’s manager get hit in the head with a foul ball last night?”

When Jack White unexpectedly drops 2 new singles on the Friday before his appearance on SNL, or when the Rolling Stones release a new single under an alias on a Saturday, or Beck has new music available on 4/20 a Monday, I want to hear my radio station expose those songs that same day, not days later in your first unscheduled music log. Great programmers still prioritize immediacy.

Let us not forget how competing stations once were, anxious to beat their cross-town rivals to the punch and tout a “world premier” of the brand-new single from a core artist. Sure, exclusivity is a relic in the streaming era, but it doesn’t mean you can’t sell it that way. If your broad audience target is 25-64, there’s probably a big part of your audience who will value your presentation and passion for the music you play. We are, after all, still music curators, and that is an advantage that no algorithm can duplicate.

Management can empower talent by not only insisting that jocks monitor social media and recognize the advantage it provides — in the palm of your hand — but by providing access through subscriptions and paywalls for the on-air staff to be dialed-in at all times. Jocks should always start with diligent show prep, and if you are lucky enough to have an air talent whom you trust, they should have the license to change break placement and sometimes music when necessary to be able to always sound “live and in the moment” when they are on the air.

I find the “Guaranteed Human” positioning statement almost laughable, as it means nothing, unless the on-air presentation is Immediate, Localized, and Passionate for your community.

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