I read a blog posted on BIA's website this morning. Paul Marszalek wrote an article entitled "The New Radio Model: The People Solution". In his article Paul calls for the reinvention of radio and challenges the industry to determine what the customer needs and deliver it, even if it means learning new skills. He believes if exisiting management and talent doesn't 'get it' their jobs will soon be filled by people who do.
I could not agree more. The days of 4 and the door is out. Today's talent must be willing to actually work at their craft. You need to deliver more than just your show. Here are some ideas to help you keep your job. Believe me if you don't begin to do them, we will find someone who will.
1. Do your show prep. Spend at least an hour before your show, looking at what's going on both locally in the World. Deliver what's most important to your listeners.
2. Throw yourself into your show. Plan your breaks, edit your calls, and deliver gold every break.
3. Learn new skills to support your show AND the station. You can learn how to shoot and edit short videos, learn html to help with the web effort or teach yourself how to really use PhotoShop.
4. Read all the industry trades you can find. Really understand what the industry is doing both wrong and right. Use this information to put a new, creative twist on for your show or for the station.
5. Don't be afraid to experiment with new media like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Podcasting and Video Blogs delvier your unique show content in many different ways. Take your content to where the audience is already - don't assume they will find you. You'd be in LA if that were the case.
In a nutshell, deliver content to the audience that they like and content they want to share and talk about. Not everything will be viral, but it only takes one great element to make you famous. Work at your craft and don't relax. There's a bunch of people out there that figured it out after they were let go and they'll take your job in a heartbeat. Get to work.