by Jaye Albright
Partner, Albright & O'Malley Consulting

Your market is more competitive.

Consolidation, deregulation and fragmentation have made literally every radio battle much more combative.  Well-financed, smart owners are in every market.  Whether you're in Ft. Worth, New York or Maui, Salt Lake City or Toronto, Albuquerque or Jacksonville, the stakes are bigger and the state of the broadcast economy has made finishing among the top three mandatory.  And, everyone feels the same way!

Your competition is smarter now.

Whether they are local live, use computer-assisted or even syndicated programming, it's a sure bet that research plays a major role in their choices.  It's still true that power often determines the winner in a hard fought radio war.  Only, today, that power is not just wattage, it is knowledge.  Resources are too tight at every level of the business to waste time or energy.

You need help keeping your music, your attitude, your non-musical elements and other non-duplicatable branded assets on track.

You need experienced help in strategic planning.

During the Spring 2002 book, Jaye Albright and Mihcael O'Malley consulted 46 radio stations.  It's gratifying that 83% of them were #1 in their target demo, had "up" books or both.  But, we often tell clients that we never approach our relationship as if Albright & O'Malley is brighter than they are.  Of course, we do approach the consultant-station partnership with the background that being inside more radio stations, intimately involved in their planning, in a month than most owners, GM's or PD's will be in their career.  But, that's just the start.  It's our job to share what we learn, to help clients learn from the mistakes others have made as they walked the same path.  The best station can't possibly achieve goals with a poorly-conceived or hastily-drawn plan.  We work to get all major decision-makers to agree where the station and the company needs to go, and how best to arrive there.  Each member of the Albright & O'Malley team is an experienced meeting facilitator and brainstorming leader.  And, we've participated in research at every level - from questionaire design to fielding supervision to interpretation - to assure that you have high quality information on which to make your decisions.

You must have ongoing objective input on execution of your plan.

There is no more distracting and intense business than radio.  It's a 24-hour pressure cooker at most radio stations.  Keeping a cool head and seeing problems and opportunities clearly can sometimes be difficult in that working environment.  We work hard to monitor situations and trends, to help you forecast accurately and achieve objectives in a timely manner.  And, we need your assistance to stay up to date on your situation.  Install a monitor line.  Send regular UNSCOPED random hour-long air checks of "us" and "them." These things can tell us a lot, and we'll share our candid reactions so that you can gauge your progress with objective feedback.

Staff motivation and personnel development is critical to longterm success.

People seldom need to be told what they are doing wrong.  Rather, both in our phone consultation and market visits. we concentrate on teaching the skills and techniques to help your staff understand what it takes to do it "right."  We are happy to perform in-station group training sessions for your team,  do individual one-on-one self-improvement seminars for your most important performers and phone coaching sessions.

Music research and targeting are essential, yet tricky.

Last year's research may be worse than no research at all.  Yet, well-researched music is a key to winning.  In small markets, your competitor is no doubt playing carefully researched music, if not tested locally, from HIS consultant, satellite network or syndicator.  If you don't have access to current research, your music may be undermining your position.  Research is expensive, and yet we can help you decide which methods are best for your situation.  We provide normative national data to assure that your local test tracks with national trends.  We update currents and recurrents weekly, golds quarterly to keep you current and on target. 

In large markets, it's equally important to choose the right titles to test when you do research, which we strongly recommend.  We'll make sure that you're testing strong, appealing songs so that you get the most for your research dollar. 

There are only two ways to build audience - programming and marketing.

And, there are only two ways to do it - right and wrong.  Marketing the incorrect images can cost money and actually hurt you.  Great marketing of a poor product can be equally wasteful and self-defeating.  Experienced in all facets of research, and well-versed in trends analysis, Albright & O'Malley strives to be certain your product and your creative choices are in synch.  As experienced air personalities, news directors and managers, we know that radio is a creative medium.  As such, we keep that crucial research in perspective and work to assure that all your output is product-driven.

The choices are getting harder.

Information crosses your desk faster than you can digest it.  We work to help sort it our and clarify it.  Our multi-format experts - all battle-tested, first team players -- are available to bounce ideas off of.  Close contact is important to us.  We are proactive! 

More than one viewpoint helps.

That's why the resources of a complete programming company like Albright & O'Malley, with experts in all formats from country to rock, CHR to AC, oldies to news/talk are at your disposal. 

The time you've got to make decisions is getting shorter.

The bank, your stockholders, and even local media buyers don't care about last month's numbers.  What are you doing THIS month, and how is NEXT month looking?  The best way to maintain those good numbers that they ALL are looking for is to make well-informed choices, every time.

We help make those choices for some of the world's most successful broadcasters and have a track record of ethical conduct and success.  Our goal is to make you look good.  We never forget that "your success is our success."  And, as we enter 2000, all of us at Albright & O'Malley want to say thanks for your business.  We are proud to be on your team. Make FULL use of us!

Winning begins with a PLAN.

Albright & O'Malley's website with its planning calendar, promotion ideas, format forums and monthly memos is just the tip of the knowledge and intelligence iceburg that is at your disposal.  We are proud to be working with some of the world's most successful broadcasters.