Remotes

[GlennO]

Studio voicetracking may be growing, but live remote broadcasts also seem to be a bigger part of the business than ever. Yet very little is discussed about it here. It seems to be the focus of station staff meetings and emails more often than not. There are success stories, innovative ideas, nightmare scenarios and divergent opinions about remotes that never make it to these boards or other radio forums. They certainly get our attention.

May I suggest a few threads for discussion...

Station policies on remotes
Do they work?
Quick! Use the cell phone!
Having fun... or at least sounding it!
Best sounding remote ever
Best equipment for on the road
Remote horror story
Cementing a client relationship on their turf
Remotes just for station visibility
Great venues for remotes
Several remotes at once
Are all remotes effective station promotion?
Importance of setup person
A jock's place in a car showroom?
Remote prep
Flying by the seat of the pants
On location for a good cause
What does the listener get out of it?
Just a guy reading a spot at the client's place?
Clients/customers on the air
Stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of chaos
Remote board ops - the new "first radio job?"
Have you been to remotes?
Most embarassing moments
Remote giveaways
Where's the salesperson?
Remotes and the competition
Watching radio shows - impressive or letdown?
Remote myths
Mascots

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

I sense you have a real enthusiasm for remotes and that you see them at the core of a station's vibrancy. You have listed a number of threads to be explored about remotes that is pretty well rounded.

Let me add to your list some "sub-topics" to also include:

1. What does a remote "DO" for the station?

2. What does a remote "DO" for the listener?

3. What does a remote "DO" for the location/sponsor?

Back in the day when DJs or Hosts were personalities, all of the attributes of a remote seemed to hang on the strength of personality.

So many stations today do not allow the announcer to have a personality. Do these stations have anything to hang a remote on?

 

[KFodor]

Remotes still, personalities notwithstanding, can be valuable to advertisers if...they are treated from the proper perspective.

What doesn't work? The half-baked card table remote with no real handouts, but a "chance" to win a trip to Florida (or pick your favorite exotic locale) that doesn't include transportation to and from!

Cell phone remotes...big tune out! I took a day off to go to a relative's high school graduation recently. On the way, I was "treated" (and I use the term loosely) to a cell-phone remote at a radio station somewhere near Chillicothe, Ohio. Crappy signal that cut in and out...and a remote break that lasted an astonishing 8 minutes!!!!! And this was at 2:45 pm on a weekday!!!! I couldn't believe in this day and age, a small town radio station would still do crap like this. If you gotta do it by cellphone, keep it to one minute, tops! And, for God's sake, invest 20 bucks to have an engineer rig up a professional microphone that can be plugged or wired into a station cellphone. It will sound better that way.

With a remote, incentive is everything. No one is going to show up to shake hands with your "personality" and walk away with a bumper sticker. And, don't just give crap. Find something usable to the listener. CD openers, chip clips, pens. Then, get some help from your advertisers. You might find a local McDonald's or other fast food chain might give coupons for free product in return for 2 mentions at every remote over a summer.

Or...build $500 dollars into the cost of your remote (even $200 might work in a small town). Take that money and create the "WXXX Free Money Vault". Put $100 in one envelope, smaller denominations into others. Promote, "the first (#) listeners get to pull an envelope from our free money vault. You could win up to $100 dollars cash from (advertiser) and (station).

Also, the advertiser needs to come to the table with something, too. If the deal they're offering is bad, the remote will be a stinker regardless.

I remember doing a remote in the mid-80's at a car lot on a steamy, hot, stifling 90 plus degree day. Needless to say, no one...but no one was showing up. The lot was dead. The owner of the lot pulled up. I was feeling pretty small. The owner asked me what was wrong, and I hemmed and hawed around the fact that the remote was not a success. He said "You want to sell a car? Come with me."

He got the keys to a used car, and showed it to me. It was a beater, but servicable, with a good engine, it was checked out and would be a good "point A to point B" car for a college student. The owner told me,
"on your next break, tell people that the first person who shows up here with $95 dollars in his hand (95.3 was the frequency of the radio station), buys the car".

I did what he told me...and watched cars doing U-turns in the middle of the street to buy this $95 dollar car.

Remotes still work. But, too many stations use them as "value added" these days. And, that's a disservice to the advertiser.

 

[Plays Well With Others]

Jason, I couldn't agree with you MORE... I wish more people (GM's and GSM's) saw things the way you do.

I've recently heard a lot of Tatoo remotes..I'm not joking. Then promotions/creative thinks it will be cool to have the Jock get a tatoo during the remote...WHOOOOOOOOO CARES!

Sure it might sound mildly entertaining on-air, but does any really care, is there a benefit? And to top it off it was on a Hot-AC station. That's another thing that really bugs me....these schmuck AE's who sell remotes to clients that don't even make freaking sense!

We're in a era where the only thing that matters is the bottom line...who cares about the "customer".