We Need More Silence

Think about this: Your listener has an average of seven short-term slots of memory. And her mind, heart, and spirit are busy with things important to her: family, health, work, friends, appearance, not having enough time to juggle all she has to do, more month than paycheck. 

When we play or say something on the radio or online, we’re hoping she will lend us one of those short-term slots of memory. That she will lean in, pay attention and remember what we played or said. Your effectiveness in doing this is going to be dependent on:  

• her interest level in what you are playing or saying
• how much you engage her heart
• and how concise and obvious you make your message

Each of us has important stuff coming at us that we need to talk about on the air – that new promotion or offer, that new fundraising appeal, that new contest, that upcoming concert . . All good ideas. 

Here’s the challenge: throwing more different ideas, promotions, and appeals at your listener just makes it more likely she hears you as Charlie Brown’s teacher (“wah, wah, wah…wah, wah, wah!”) or even worse, that she tunes away or even turns you off.  

We don’t want this to happen. The goal is helping her stay and to come back. 

So, here’s the question: For each new item you’re adding to your station or program, what will you stop doing?  

More is not more effective. More concise, more obvious and fewer messages. Now that’s more effective!  

The CMB Momentum Conference 2022 was a special week with amazing worship music and outstanding speakers. For us at Finney Media, there was one speaker who made some great points in ways we’ve never said, but we thought you should hear.

Brant Hansen (of Brant & Sherri on-air and the Brant & Sherri Oddcast) gave a sobering and very hopeful talk on our role as Christian media.

Our world has “OD’d on freedom” and that has resulted in an unsatisfying, unhappy culture. Epidemics of depression, anxiety, lack of purpose and suicide. And that’s where we come in.

Many secular voices are giving advice on how to get through this . . . but few of them talk about forgiveness.

A culture that’s all about anger and despair, and we’re often the only non-anxious media voice, who will tell them the truth about…

We couldn’t have said it better. And we’re thankful Brant did! For such a time as this . . .

If you have the opportunity, we recommend you WATCH Brant’s entire half hour talk.* Sobering…hopeful…and worth it!

*A valid CMB membership and password required

If you get to know your listener, and you gear your program or station or podcast more toward your listener, you’ll have more listeners. 

Said a different way, those of us who think about our program or station or podcast all day are not good at judging what our listeners want, unless we better understand who’s listening, where they’re listening, and what’s on their mind and heart when they’re listening. This means we have to take our personal opinion out and listen to them. 

How do we know this? We’ve asked. In research. And we’ve observed what results in more listeners. After  organizing and advising programs, stations and podcasts for over 40 years, and observing what the highest performing entities do, I’m  convinced more than ever that listening to your listeners and acting on that information really is the secret sauce. 

The following “Four A’s” are how we recommend you think about this: 

1. Attitude. Listening to your listener is an attitude . . . of putting your personal opinion aside and pursuing what your listener thinks, what preferences she has, how and where she listens, and what will cause her to stay or come back more often. 
2. Ask. The Right Questions of The Right People. True story. I once was the Program Director of an NFL team’s radio flagship station. There was a change in the team’s front office leadership and along with new people, they brought in a new song to play at home games to celebrate the team scoring. Problem – fans loved the old song they had played for years when the team scored! And were very vocal about it. After the team scored in their first home game they played the new song, fans booed! The team decided quickly to go back to the original celebration song. When we asked team leadership how this could have happened, they said they’d done research and the new song was more popular. We then asked where they had done the research. They said they’d researched people in a town . . . 500 miles away, where likely no one knew the song or cared about the team. In fact, there’s a rival NFL team in that city! That’s a story of researching the wrong people.   
3. Acknowledge. You will be surprised. Often, what we discovered from listeners is different from what we expected. We’ve been surprised by Christian radio listeners’ appetite for worship music (it’s huge) and their interest in humor (it’s big) as part of a Christian station or program. And surprised by that same audience’s rejection of chatter about pop culture being a part of a Christian station’s programming recipe. Chances are when you listen to your listeners, you too will be surprised!  
4. Act. On the information. It doesn’t count if it’s not coming out of the earbuds. Listen to your listeners, then focus on how you’re going to make the sound they want happen. 

…anD pick the best version

In LAST MONTH’S BLOG, we considered crafting your audio content to be better edited for an audience who will leave if you don’t get to the point quickly.

This month, let’s look at the same topic from a different angle. How should we craft our audio so listeners turn it up and not off? So our short-attention-span-theater listener is glued to your sound?

Here’s a thought. Give yourself some choices by editing the same creative content multiple ways.

Often, when we produce a piece of audio, we have only one version of the audio. But we have the technology now to more easily do different edits. Different reads, different beginnings or endings, different voices.

I know. You have limited staff and time. I’m not suggesting that this can be done for every piece of audio. But when you do focus on something, especially creative, give yourself options.

And then choose the version or versions that best fit your purposes. Giving yourself these choices will help hone your material to its best edit. To find the one most likely to bust through the busyness and chaos of her noisy life and actually be heard.

Or you may discover that using several versions really keeps your listener on their toes!

To help illustrate this, we had an image idea using Nicole C. Mullen’s version of Because He Lives and combining it with Scripture. Knowing that high anxiety seems to be the state of the world right now, perhaps an image with music and words about less fear might help.

Take a minute and listen to the different versions our production folks developed:

How to Use this Sound for Creative Heart Connection

Just guessing but you likely preferred some versions more than others. You might have even heard edits you would have made for even stronger impact.

And that’s the point.

We need to hone our production – particularly the pieces that could have biggest emotional impact – to the strongest version(s). In our crowded media environment, it’s one more step toward not being Charlie Brown’s teacher!

…and here’s a story to show you how.

Is it possible we’ve become Charlie Brown’s teacher?  Wah-wah-wah. Wah-wah-wah. More noise in an already noisy world?  

We’ve finished some research recently that has reinforced two things: When we talk, if we want to be heard and not tuned out or turned off, we must no. 1: say things that connect with her heart/meet her where she is and no. 2: be concise and well edited. 

If we don’t aggressively do both of these, we are Charlie Brown’s teacher. Normally this would be the point where I continue to write about how important all of this is. But you’ve heard it all before, haven’t you? Tighten up. Edit. Check every word for meaning. 

This month, I decided to share an example instead of just talking about it. 

Below is a Christmas story I found online. Over 500 words. Takes over three minutes to tell. Has a sweet twist ending. It’s the kind of story we recommend Christian radio stations use this time of year.

And after the 500+ word version, I’ve put a recommendation of an edit of the same story with the same twist ending. Much shorter. Or just over a minute. A much more consumable length for our short-attention-span-theater listener.  

Original Version (ONLINE VERSION)

The year our youngest daughter, Shelly, was four, she received an unusual Christmas present. 

She was the perfect age for Christmas, able to understand the true meaning of the season, but still completely enchanted by the magic of it. Her innocent joyfulness was compelling and catching – a great gift to parents, reminding us of what Christmas should represent no matter how old we are. 

The most highly prized gift Shelly received that Christmas Eve was a giant bubble-maker, a simple device of plastic and cloth the inventor promised would create huge billowing bubbles, large enough to swallow a wide-eyed four-year-old. Both Shelly and I were excited about trying it out, but it was after dark so we’d have to wait until the next day. 

Later that night I read the instruction booklet while Shelly played with some of her other new toys. The inventor of the bubble-maker had tried all types of soaps for formulating bubbles and found that Joy dishwashing detergent created the best giant bubbles. I’d have to buy some. 

The next morning, I was awakened very early by small stirrings in the house. Shelly was up. I knew in my sleepy mind that Christmas Day festivities would soon begin, so I arose and made my way toward the kitchen to start the coffee. In the hallway, I met my daughter, already wide awake, the bubble- maker clutched in her chubby little hand, the magic of Christmas morning embraced in her four-year-old heart. Her eyes were shining with excitement, and she asked, “Daddy, can we make bubbles now?” 

I sighed heavily and rubbed my eyes. I looked toward the window, where the sky was only beginning to lighten with the dawn. I looked toward the kitchen, where the coffee pot had yet to start dripping its aromatic reward for early-rising Christmas dads. 

“Shelly,” I said, my voice almost pleading and perhaps a little annoyed, “it’s too early. I haven’t even had my coffee yet.” 

Her smile fell away. Immediately I felt a father’s remorse for bursting her bright Christmas bubble with what I suddenly realized was my own selfish problem, and my heart broke a little. 

But I was a grown-up. I could fix this. In a flash of adult inspiration, I unshouldered the responsibility. Recalling the inventor’s recommendation of a particular brand of bubble-making detergent — which I knew we did not have in the house — I laid the blame squarely on him, pointing out gently, “Besides, you have to have Joy.” 

I watched her eyes light back up as she realized, in less than an instant, that she could neutralize this small problem with the great and wonderful truth she was about to reveal. 

“Oh, Daddy,” she promised, with all the honesty and enthusiasm and Christmas excitement she could possibly communicate, “Oh, Daddy, I do.” 

I broke records getting to the store, and in no time at all we were out on the front lawn creating gigantic, billowing, gossamer orbs–each one filled with Joy and sent forth shimmering into the Christmas sun. – By Ted A. Thompson 

Now, here’s the shortened version: 

Shelly was the perfect age for Christmas, able to understand the true meaning of the season, but still completely enchanted by the magic of it. The most highly prized gift Shelly received that Christmas Eve was a giant bubble-maker, a simple device of plastic and cloth the inventor promised would create huge billowing bubbles, large enough to swallow a wide-eyed four-year-old. Both Shelly and I were excited about trying it out, but it was after dark so we’d have to wait until the next day.  

Later that night I read the instruction booklet while Shelly played with some of her other new toys. The inventor of the bubble-maker had tried all types of soaps for formulating bubbles and found that Joy dishwashing detergent created the best giant bubbles. I’d have to buy some. 

Morning. Shelly was up. She was already wide awake, bubble-maker clutched in her chubby little hand, her eyes shining with excitement, “Daddy, can we make bubbles now?” 

“Shelly, it’s too early. I haven’t even had my coffee yet.” 

Her smile fell away. I felt remorse for bursting her Christmas bubble with my own selfish problem. My heart broke. 

I could fix this. Recalling that recommendation of a particular brand of bubble-making detergent I said gently, “Besides, you have to have Joy.” 

Her eyes lit up as she realized that she could neutralize this small problem with the wonderful truth she was about to reveal. 

“Oh, Daddy.” “Oh, Daddy, I do!” 

I broke records getting to the store, and in no time we were on the front lawn creating gigantic, billowing bubbles—each filled with Joy sent forth shimmering into the Christmas sun. 

Commit to Being Heard

I’m guessing you’ve already seen ways you would have improved the edits I’ve made. Yes! Can we agree, though, that we’re going to have to address being connective and concise if we’re going to be heard through the noisy environments our radio stations and podcasts are heard in? 

A Christmas smile for sure—and with meaning. What do you think?