3 Radio Marketing Tips to Broadcast Your Station’s Brand

radio marketing

If a tree falls in the forest but there’s nobody there to hear it… does it make a sound? In the same vein, if a radio station is producing top-quality programming but has no listeners… at the end of the day what’s it all for? When you’ve got content you’re proud of it’s natural to want to share it with the world.

Amazingly, 92% of Americans still listen to the radio each week, so you’ve got a huge pool of potential listeners to work with. It’s just a matter of reaching them. That’s where radio marketing comes in. 

If you want to learn the fundamentals of radio station promotion you’ve come to the right place. Read on for everything you need to know.

1. Define Your Branding Identity

The first step in any sort of marketing strategy will be to define the image you’re looking to project. You can’t market yourself if you’re confused about your identity. If you haven’t done this already, it’s time to think about the type of radio station you want to be.

What’s your mission statement? what are you setting out to achieve with your station? Do you want to entertain the masses, dispense advice, or share new and exciting music?

Once you know who you are and what you’re about you’ll have a much easier time communicating this to everyone else and capturing the attention of your target audience.

2. Work With Exciting Guests

One of the things you can do to gain listeners for your station and its programs is to invite exciting guests to appear on your shows. It can be helpful if these guests are well-known in their own right but really any guest with a compelling story to tell will be a boon.

Personal stories resonate with people so speaking with guests always makes for good listening. You can then promote these programs with the hopes of reaching specific audiences. Your guests will also be able to tell their own audiences about their appearance which will allow you to reach an entirely new and untapped group.

3. Get Your Socials Sorted Out

No radio marketing strategy would be complete without an element of promotion on social media. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the perfect place to build a following and promote the content you’ve got on offer.

You can let listeners know when you’ve got new episodes coming out and tie in a social media campaign with a show or series. This is also a great way to connect directly with your listeners to listen to their comments, answer their questions, and take their suggestions on board.

Radio Marketing 101

The elements of a great radio marketing strategy aren’t all that different than that of a traditional marketing strategy. You need to produce quality content, know your niche, and take advantage of modern tools like social media to build up a following.

If you’re in need of help with boosting your station’s profile we’d be happy to help. Check out our complete list of services now to see what we can do for you.

On Air: The Thrilling History of the Radio Industry

history of the radio

We all know the lyrics: “video killed the radio star.” But even today, that is not true. The radio is still the top-reach medium in the U.S., with 92 percent of Americans being reached every week. 

This is followed by TV reaching 87 percent of the U.S. population and smartphones reaching 81 percent. 

Radio has remained a staple to our media consumption. However, it didn’t start off as a means of entertainment. 

Keep reading to learn more about the history of the radio!

The Discovery of Radio Waves

Radio waves have the longest wavelengths on the electromagnetic spectrum.

In the late 1880s, Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves. He essentially attached spark gaps at the end of an induction coil and the receiving end of an antenna. The waves created were picked up by the antenna, and sparks would jump the gap between the two. 

The Wireless Telegraph

Approximately a decade later, Guglielmo Marconi used the knowledge of radio waves to create the first wireless telegraph. He successfully sent a message from England to Newfoundland—across the entire Atlantic Ocean. 

The wireless telegraph worked by tapping Morse code onto a telegraph key, creating a message of electrical pulses that could get picked up at a certain frequency.

Marconi won a Nobel Prize for his work on wireless communication. His work kickstarted the way in which we use the radio today, which began to sell commercially in 1900. 

The early uses for the wireless telegraph generally consisted of military communications. 

The History of the Radio as We Know It Today

It wasn’t until 1914 that a Canadian by the name of Reginald Fessenden discovered a broadcast wave strong enough to transmit voices and music. He worked with General Electric to build alternators that could sustain a wave as powerful as this across thousands of miles.

By 1919, General Electric bought Marconi’s wireless telegraph resources in order to form the Radio Corporation of America.

It was the perfect time for an application of this sort to be invented, as news of World War I could be dispensed much more efficiently. It became a necessity to stay up-to-date and entertained. 

With this invention, the world became unified — for better or worse. Information could get presented immediately, which changed our society’s way of life.

Political leaders influenced public opinion with this device. Both Adolf Hitler and MLK Jr. presented radical ideas to the masses—sparking huge points of history. 

The most common use of radio is for entertainment in the car. People pursue careers out of this line of work. We can listen to music, advertise our businesses, and hear the news 24/7. 

The Radio Industry

We’ve come a long way since radio waves were first discovered. The history of the radio contains good and bad moments, but we aim to make more good out of this fine invention. 

If you’re likeminded and wish to become a proponent of radio services, contact us! We do the programming for radio stations and provide On Air radio DJ’s for station all across the country. 

A Quick Guide to Radio Station Equipment

radio station equipment

The radio industry as we know it today got its start all the way back in 1919. Every successful radio station since then has had a common denominator that led to its success: great equipment. 

No matter how many listeners your studio has, it’s important to understand the basics of radio equipment. After all, the best radio station equipment serves as the foundation for all of your content. Here’s a quick guide to every single tool a radio station needs.

1. Microphone

Every DJ needs a solid microphone if they want their voice to be heard, and there are a couple of options available. Dynamic mics and condenser mics are most common for radio broadcasts.

Both have pros and cons, so make sure you understand your individual needs before purchasing. For the best audio quality, find a microphone with some additional qualities:

  • Filters background noise
  • Able to be shock-mounted
  • Pop filter friendly

A great mic is where it all starts for a radio station, so find one that suits your goals. 

2. Mixing Board

With every microphone, there needs to be a mixing board. Having a great mixing board gives you the ultimate control over your sound. 

Not only can you control sound levels for you and/or guests, but mixers can also improve your sound quality ten-fold compared to raw audio hookups.

Mixers should arguably be the best radio station equipment in your studio, as they greatly influence the quality of your final product.

3. Soundproofing

Another great way to ensure your audio quality is top-notch is by purchasing soundproofing equipment. Most common are soundproof panels that can be mounted on the walls of your recording space. 

Soundproof panels come in many varieties including:

  • Acoustic foam
  • Acoustic panels/boards
  • Fabrics
  • Floor underlayment

No matter what material you choose, soundproofing is invaluable to any DJ since it reduces background noise and echoes. You can keep your audio sounding clean.

4. Headphones

Of course, every great DJ needs great headphones. Keeping track of audio levels is a must for every radio station, and headphones help accomplish that task. 

Over-ear headphones work best as they help to block out background noise. In doing so, you can stay focused on the signal playing back into your ears and keep track of the smallest audio details without any trouble.

5. Custom/High-Quality PC

In today’s day and age, broadcasting is a digital industry. That means you need a computer that can handle all the software needed to produce, record, and distribute your radio broadcast.

As is the case for any digital media, a fast computer makes production possible. Consider building/buying a custom PC to meet your individual needs.

If that’s not an option, research which computers are best for broadcasting and find a brand that works for you. Computers streamline your entire production process.

Get Started and Work Better With the Right Radio Station Equipment

Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a newbie to the radio world, we hope this short radio station equipment guide helped outline the important things every radio production should have. At Virtual Jock, we can take your broadcast to the next level.

We offer services in production, voice talent, and successful music formats so that your radio idea can thrive. Contact us so we can help you produce a quality radio show today!

What to Look For When Choosing on Air Radio DJ’s: A Guide

radio dj's

Looking for an on-air DJ for your radio station?

Running a radio station has never been easy, but in 2022, with streaming more popular than ever, you’ve really got to pull out all the stops to boost your listenership. Part of that comes with having really great on-air talent.

Finding great radio DJs is one of the biggest challenges of running a station. In this post, we’re going to tell you what you need to look for in a DJ with this helpful guide. When you’ve got a magnetic personality behind the desk, you’re going to attract people from all walks of life, so read on and get the best possible DJ for your radio station.

An Authentic and Unique Personality

When you think about the best radio DJs in the world, they’ve all got one thing in common – a unique and authentic voice. We’re not talking about the literal timbre of their voice – which matters as well – but their outlook on life and music has to be something refreshing and unique. 

The person you hire has to be able to go on air for 3-4 hours at a time and talk. If it’s a daily spot, they have to bring something new to the table every day, which isn’t something the average person is equipped to do.

They should be knowledgeable on various aspects of music and pop culture so that they can ramble about pretty much anything on any given day. That being said, they need to have their finger on the pulse of culture so that what they say is actually compelling to your audience.

Enough to Build a Brand Around

Radio station branding is so important and a lot of is it built around on-air talent, so there needs to be enough star quality to the person that you can work them into your branding. They should be active on social media and have a plan to help your radio station grow while building an audience of their own. 

Interacting with your audience on social media has become an integral aspect of spreading brand awareness for radio stations. Your on-air radio DJs are going to be a part of that – posting interesting content, letting fans get to know them, and engaging with followers.

Music Knowledge

Obviously, music knowledge is an incredibly important part of finding the right on-air DJ. It can’t just be general music knowledge, it has to be specific to the type of radio station that you’re trying to run. If you’re an adult contemporary station and you hire an expert in heavy metal, then you’re barking up the wrong tree.

The DJ that you eventually take on will have an important voice in your programming. They should have strong musical opinions but remain in line with your overall vision for the type of music that you want to play.

Radio Stations Need Radio DJs and Vice Versa

Radio stations need dynamic radio DJs to truly flourish, but DJs also need radio stations to put them on-air so that they can showcase their passion for music. Finding someone that wants to be a part of your station’s growth and possesses all of the qualities we’ve discussed here isn’t easy, but with a resource like Virtual Jock, you can make it happen.

Virtual Jock is your one-stop-shop for all things radio. We can advise you on content and programming, and we can find your on-air talent. Visit our site to learn more about how we can help your station thrive in today’s market.

5 Secrets from the Best Radio Stations

best radio stations

Do you hope to create a successful radio station?

Across America’s airways, over 15,330 broadcast radio content. How do you get heard above all the noise?

Keep reading to learn five awesome secrets that the best radio stations use to hook loyal listeners.

1. Develop a Niche

What do you want to be known for? This will play a big role in your radio success.

You cannot please everybody. If you try, then you will not keep people listening.

When listeners tune into an FM radio station, they expect to hear something specific. Make this niche a passion that you know a lot about so that you can create endless content. 

Some niche options include:

  • Top 40
  • R&B
  • Soft rock
  • Sports radio
  • Political talk 
  • Jazz
  • Classical
  • Country

The list goes on. Choose something that excites you so you can reflect that energy in your work to excite others.

2. Speak to Your Listeners

All radio stations have a target market, just like any other business brand. When you choose a niche, know who will listen to your radio station. 

Speak to them. Doing this goes back to your niche.

For instance, you may make your own radio station that focuses on top 40s music. Your station will appeal to a younger generation interested in pop culture.

Your DJs will mostly put out current smash hits. They may mix in some throwback jams that made the list during other eras.

Your twenty-something hosts will interview pop artists and make modern jokes. They may explore other topics of pop culture as well.

Your pop station will not play heavy metal or obscure songs that never saw the charts. The station should not attempt to appeal to say hippies or the older generation, because, then you suddenly stop speaking to your actual listeners.

3. Put Out High-Quality Programming

Anytime somebody switches the dial to your station, they should hear the high-quality output. Remember, any moment could be somebody’s first impression of you.

Choose services that will steer you in the right direction with your content and provide you with the top voices to represent your brand. Smooth out transitions from songs to talking to advertisements.

4. Opt for Lead Generation

All radio stations make money through their advertisers, But, do not advertise in a way that turns listeners off.

You should not pack in as many advertisements as possible just to charge the businesses for air time. Instead, let advertisers buy into specific slots and work towards getting your listeners to buy from them through lead generation

5. Show Your Faces in Public

When starting a radio station, you may think people only want to listen in. But, listeners want to see the faces they hear every morning.

Get out into the community! Involve the station in fundraisers, concerts, and other events. 

Run contests at fairs. Join in on parades! Interactions will grow listeners, which makes you attractive to advertisers.

Become One of the Best Radio Stations

If you want to rise in your industry, then take advice from those at the top. Follow these tips all the way there so you create one of the best radio stations on the air!

We want to help you succeed. Contact us to get started on improving your radio station!

Program Directors For Radio Stations: What to Know

radio station

Program directors: they’re not the most visible radio staff, but they’re perhaps the most important employee at a radio station. Without a program director, the radio station wouldn’t have a schedule, it wouldn’t have a defined sound, and there wouldn’t be strong radio management.

Yet what are the key duties of a program director? Running a radio station is a difficult task, after all, so what do program directors actually do to keep everything running correctly?

In this guide, we’ll take a look at the most important responsibilities that program directors need to fulfill, and the important skills that they need.

Are you ready to learn more about the role of a program director? Then read on!

1. The Program Director Creates the Station’s Schedule

Timing is a vital skill for DJs. They need to stick to a tight schedule to make sure that everyone’s shows start and finish on time. It’s up to the program director to create this schedule.

They need to be able to figure out the best timeslots. This includes figuring out when you’ll run the breakfast show, the drivetime show, and who will be keeping listeners company during their lunch break. Coming up with a schedule can be a challenging task that requires a lot of research: you need to research when people are listening to your station and make sure that you have you very best radio presenters on during these times.

You need to balance different genres of music, different types of shows, talk shows, news, and more. 

2. Program Directors Will Come Up With Shows

You may think that it’s the task of radio DJs to come up with shows. This is incorrect: the program director will often come up with a show to fill a niche that their radio station is missing. For instance, if you’re trying to compete with a radio station that has a fantastic breakfast show, the program director will need to come up with a breakfast show that can challenge them, and pick presenters who will be a great fit for this type of show.

On top of this program directors will also need to come up with recurring segments that will be featured on various shows. That contest that you love on a famous radio show? A program director will likely have come up with it.

Creating these segments helps keep listeners hooked and keeps content polished. The program director is an incredibly important role in this regard.

3. Radio Station Marketing

Marketing is very important for radio stations, especially online radio stations. You want to get people listening to your station and if you’re exclusively online, people aren’t going to find you when they’re flipping between stations.

Even if you use traditional broadcasting, you still can’t rely on people finding you by chance. Program directors are responsible for market research and analysis. They and the marketing team will work together to plan marketing campaigns and figure out which demographics are listening to your radio station.

This will allow the station to run successful campaigns that are tailored to their target market, which should lead to a larger market share. It will also allow your station to tailor its programming to the listeners, which will keep existing listeners tuned in to your station.

4. Program Directors Find New Talent

Finding talent for a radio station can be difficult without a program director. Unless you’re a community radio station, it’s not really feasible to allow everyone on air, as the quality of your station will drop.

A great program director will listen to a large variety of different radio stations. They’ll listen to radio stations that specialize in every genre of music under the sun, as well as talk radio stations, looking for the next talent.

When they find a great DJ who they think would be a good fit at their station, they may try to contact them and headhunt them. If they can get some top-class talent on their station, they will do that. 

For this reason, program directors need to be happy to listen to a lot of different radio stations, even if they don’t agree with their politics or don’t like the genre of music that they play.

5. Budgeting and Management

Along with the station manager, the program director is responsible for running the station and keeping it in business. This means that they often need to get involved with managing budgets, responding to emails from the public, and taking care of talent, making sure that everyone is performing as they should be.

This isn’t the most glamorous part of the job but it’s one of the most crucial tasks that a program director can do. If the station goes under because of poor management, the listeners aren’t the only people who will be disappointed and angry, after all.

6. Production and Presenting

While the program director will usually not be on-air talent, they may sometimes step in and run a show if the need arises. If the normal host of the radio show is ill or away, for instance, the program director may host their show for a week or two.

However, while they’re not often on-air, the program director will often make jingles, edit pre-recorded shows, and do other production work to ensure that the station’s output is kept to a high standard.

A Great Program Director Wears Many Hats

Unlike some other radio station jobs, the program director needs to be well-versed in a number of different skills, which means that it can sometimes be hard to find someone to take on the role. If you need some help, our virtual program director service could be what you’re looking for! We can get ratings and revenue, schedule songs, and advise you on talent and your website. 

For more information about our services, take a look around our site or contact us today!

How to Program a Radio Station

So you’ve got a radio station. Now you need to have great radio programming to go along with it. Coming up with a programming schedule can be a very difficult job: it’s the bane of producers everywhere! 

Yet, nevertheless, it’s still an essential part of running a radio station. So, how can you create a schedule that your listeners will enjoy? How can you make sure they don’t go anywhere near that dial?

In this guide, we’ll take a look at some tips that will help you to create a fantastic schedule of programs for your station. Are you ready to learn more and start improving your radio station? Then read on!

1. Figure Out What Type of Radio Station You Are

No two radio stations are exactly the same. Some will specialize in a particular genre of music or style of presentation (see radio stations that are exclusively talk radio, for example), while others will have a real mix of programs.

Neither of these is better than the other. However, some new or otherwise smaller radio stations find that their listeners tend to come from a similar demographic that prefers one kind of content to another. For instance, you may find that your listeners love to listen to rock music, in which case you may wish to pack your schedule with rock programs to maximize your listenership.

The disadvantage to this approach is that you may find it hard to attract new listeners from other demographics. If you want to broaden your listenership, you may want to try and produce many different kinds of content, but be warned that this may put off your core demographic. It’s a balancing act: do you want to try and maximize your current listenership or break into new markets?

2. Understand the Key Times Where You Need Your Best Talent

While you may want to pack your radio schedule with top talent, there are a few crucial timeslots where you need the cream of the crop. Let’s take a look at these right now.

The Breakfast Slot

Even in this day of vocal radio audiences, one thing hasn’t changed: breakfast radio is one of the most important slots. Running from around 6 AM until 10 AM, you need to have some of your best talents on first thing in the morning when people are starting their day.

The right content here can put a spring in your audience’s step and have them coming back for more day after day. If you make a poor impression during this timeslot, you’ll lose some audience share in other timeslots too. 

The emphasis here needs to be on feel-good vibes. Play great music and have fun chat.

Lunchtime Slot

Many people like to tune into the radio during their lunch break. While breakfast needed to be a little lighter, this is a good time to start introducing more challenging topics. If you’re a talk radio station, you could use this slot to discuss news and current events, while if you’re a music station, you could do interviews or album reviews.

The lunchtime slot traditionally runs from around 11 AM until 2 PM.

Drivetime

Drivetime is a great time to broadcast content. Running from 4 PM until about 6 PM, many people will be sitting in their cars, ready and waiting for some fantastic radio to keep them occupied.

A varied mix of music and chat is very good here, while this is also a great time for talk radio shows to run phone-ins, challenging your listenership and keeping them thinking. 

Many people will be flipping between stations at this time of day, so keep your content varied, too.

Late-Night Radio

Late-night radio is the time for more provocative radio that you wouldn’t run at other times. This includes edgier radio shows that may make use of shock jock tactics. 

However, this is also a great time for long-form radio. If you want to do a very eclectic music show or if you’d like to listen to an album in full and discuss it, late-night is the time to do it. This is also a good time to run audio dramas or plays if you have this type of content.

3. Don’t Be Afraid to Pre-Record

Getting staff to man the desk during the graveyard shift of midnight until the breakfast show can be quite difficult. If you want to, you could always try prerecording your shows. This allows you to curate a highly edited selection of shows that will give your station a polished nighttime lineup without requiring staff to be in the studio overnight.

The only disadvantage to this approach is that it makes audience interaction impossible. You can’t run phone-ins or have other features like this, which may make your listeners feel slightly cut off from the show.

4. Tweak Your Schedules

Ultimately, the only way to find the best programming schedule for your radio station is to try multiple different approaches. Don’t make sweeping changes to your station overnight, but try making small tweaks every so often and seeing how your audience reacts.

Over time, you will be able to use your audience’s reactions to create a schedule that both you and they will love. 

Coming Up With a Great Radio Station Schedule Takes Time

Coming up with a fantastic radio station schedule is a marathon, not a sprint. Try different approaches, keep your primetime slots golden, and keep track of your audience reactions and demographic changes.

If you’d like some help producing your radio show, we’re happy to help. We can create scripts, program your music selections, and a whole lot more. For more information about our services, look around our website or contact us today!

Advice On How to Be a Radio DJ

radio dj

Being a radio DJ is, to many people, the dream job. It’s impossible to think about radio DJs without thinking of all-time greats like Dr Dre on The Pharmacy, Wolfman Jack, or Rodney Bingenheimer.

Yet if you want to reach their level and become a popular DJ with a big fan base, you need two things: access to a radio station and some serious skills. In this guide, we’re going to take a look at the skills you need to master if you’re going to grow a great fanbase.

Are you ready to learn more and realize your dreams of being a radio host? Then read on!

1. Getting a Voice for Radio

People of any background, accent, or language can forge a career as a radio DJ, but there are some vocal skills that you need to practice. Mumbling, for instance, is a bad trait for a radio DJ: if your listeners can’t understand what you’re saying, they’re going to switch to another station.

You should learn how to enunciate clearly and project with your voice. You don’t need to shout (mics are very sensitive), but you may need to put a little more effort into speaking than you would if you weren’t broadcasting.

2. Great People Skills

Being a DJ means communicating with a lot of different people. As part of your production work, you’ll need to discuss ideas for your show with the producer. If you’ve got a new feature you want to run, you’ll need to pitch it to them and refine it based on their advice.

You should also be great at speaking to members of the public. This is especially important if you want to host a phone-in show, but even if you’re more music-focused, you’ll still want to run competitions and other features that will require speaking to the public. 

On top of that, you’ll also need to be great at speaking to any guests that you have on the show, which means polishing your interview skills. 

3. Excellent Research Skills

One of the most important skills for a radio DJ is the ability to create fantastic content that your listeners will actually want to hear: a lot of this will be the discussion of current trends, the latest music, or news, depending on your station’s style. This means that you’ll often need to speak about things that are brand new to you.

The key to doing this and still sounding confident is research. You need to be able to quickly find out the latest facts about current trends, whether that involves researching on social media, listening to the latest single by a popular artist, or reading in-depth news stories.

You need to be able to skim these resources and get a good understanding of a wide range of material so that you sound well-informed when discussing these trends with your listeners.

4. A Good Knowledge of Music

If you’re going to be a radio DJ, you need to have a very good knowledge of music. This could be a very deep knowledge of one particular genre (for instance, if you’re on a hip hop station, you need to understand the history of hip hop), or it could be a solid knowledge of a wide range of genres.

You need to listen to a lot of music if you’re going to host on a music-oriented station. Even if you’re hosting on a talk radio station, having a solid knowledge of music is important for interviewing musicians and industry figures.

Music is one of the key languages of radio: you need to be very well-versed in it to succeed.

5. A Sense of Timing

Timing is very important when it comes to being a radio host. Dead air is the enemy of any successful DJ, which is why the ability to start speaking as soon as a song has ended is so vital. If all your listeners hear is silence, they’re not going to stick around.

Timing is also very important for speaking over the intro to a song: you need to know when the vocals are going to kick in and when you need to stop talking.

Timing is also critical for making sure your show is the right length. Radio schedules are packed and you can’t eat into someone else’s show because you mistimed your ad breaks or songs.

6. Be Able to Moderate Your Language

Broadcasting means that your speech comes under a lot of controls that your off-air speech doesn’t. Firstly, most stations will not allow you to curse on air: you could get in serious trouble if you do. You will also need to make sure that you don’t express contentious opinions unless your station is slanted towards a particular stance on any issue.

You will need to make sure that your guests don’t curse, libel anyone, or express an opinion that’s likely to outrage your listeners too.

7. Great Technical Skills

Being a radio DJ means managing what’s going out on air, so you’ll need to get to grips with a wide array of software. There will be software that will manage the songs that are coming up, software that you’ll need to use to edit songs and ads, and software to handle callers.

You’ll also need to run your mixing desk, which involves keeping microphones and music at the right level of volume, among other things. 

While your producer will be able to help you out a lot, you’ll still need to be able to run this software and the desk alone.

Ready to Be a Radio DJ?

Being a radio DJ is a fantastic job, but one that requires a wide and varied skill set. If you want to produce fantastic content, we can help you. We can design a radio station format, schedule music, and help you produce your show.

For more information about our services, take a look around our website or contact us today.

The Best Ways to Get Listeners For Your Radio Station

radio station

A huge 83 percent of Americans listen to the radio on any given week, which means that there’s a massive audience just waiting to hear about your radio station. While your listenership may start small, eventually you could be broadcasting to thousands or millions of people.

Knowing how to capture the attention of these people is essential. A radio station without listeners is a costly waste of time. So, how can you attract radio listeners and start to increase your radio show’s popularity?

In this guide, we’re going to take a look at some great ways that you can grow your audience. Are you ready to learn more and improve your station? Then read on!

1. Create Compelling Content

Without great content, your radio station won’t have a chance of attracting listeners. You need to focus on giving your listeners content that they really want to hear, whether that is talk radio or fantastic music.

Creating a quality radio show isn’t easy and it requires you to really know your audience.

If you’re broadcasting to an audience that wants to hear about the latest news and events, you probably shouldn’t focus on playing classic rock, for instance. However, if your audience is made up of music lovers who want deep dives into various genres and musical styles, you should avoid trying to also be a phone-in talk show. 

2. Spread Awareness

If people don’t know that your radio station exists, your listenership will remain small. This is a particular problem for internet radio stations, as you can’t stumble upon these while tuning a radio.

There are a lot of different ways to spread awareness about your station. First off, you should make sure that your station is listed in directories of radio stations in your local area. If you’re an internet radio station, list it on an internet radio directory.

You should also be taking full advantage of social media to spread the good word about your station. Create a Twitter account and a Facebook account for your station, then upload shareable or interesting content that will make people click through to your main site. Don’t be afraid to hop on appropriate viral hashtags and the like!

Finally, you should also create some gear that can advertise your station. Branded t-shirts, caps, stickers, and the like can all help spread the word to anyone who sees them while they’re out and about.

3. Run Competitions

Another fantastic way to spread the word about your show is to run competitions. Give away prizes that your fans will actually want, whether that’s tickets to a nearby tourist attraction, copies of movies, or something else.

When you create the competition, you can set one of the entry conditions to be that the contestant needs to share information about the contest on social media, which in turn may attract more listeners. You could also ask them to answer a question, then give the answer out once during the show. 

However you run your competitions, they’re a really good way to attract fresh listeners. With any luck (and some great content), they’ll stick around after the competition ends.

4. Bring Guests Onto Your Shows

Bringing guests onto your shows comes with multiple advantages. It raises the profile of your radio station but it can also bring a lot more listeners to your show.

The guest will likely promote their appearance on your show, which will help their fans find your radio station and listen to the show. Inviting guests onto your show is a fantastic opportunity for both you and the guest: for a fairly short interview, you both get promotion.

5. Create a Station Blog

While the audio content is the most important part of any radio station, the importance of a solid content marketing strategy can’t be underestimated. You need to blog about your station online, practicing great SEO and keyword research to help people find you in the search results.

Local search is a particularly important aspect here. If you host a radio show that’s famous for promoting local artists, you should blog about local artists, their latest releases, and any upcoming gigs that they’re playing. When people search for the band’s name, your articles should come up, which will draw more people to your website and your station.

6. Run Outside Broadcasts

If you’re covering a local music festival or a mayoral election, why not run an outside broadcast? If your station broadcasts over the internet, all you need is a laptop and you’ll be good to go. 

Running an outside broadcast in a branded tent or van will allow people to see your station’s name and understand your niche at a glance. This can help people find your station and, if you set up a small set of speakers near your outside broadcast area, they’ll be able to hear the style of show that you produce.

7. Release Your Shows as Podcasts

Podcasts are incredibly popular, and your radio station needs to offer them. Not everyone can tune into your shows when they’re live, so a podcast version (with any music edited out for copyright reasons) is a great way for them to hear your great chat and features.

When you release podcasts, make sure that you post a link to the podcast on social media so that others can find it easily and share it with others.

Now You Know How to Grow Your Radio Station

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look at how to grow the listenership of your radio station. Put our tips into practice and you’ll be able to get more listeners and grow your profile.

If you’d like some help with creating compelling content for your show, we’re here to help. We can create a script for your show, program the music that you play, and more. For more information about our services, take a look around our site or contact us today!