Radio programmers are constantly looking for advantages. They tweak tactics to gain a quarter-hour in a constant game of cat-and-mouse to tilt The Ratings Game. But maybe we shouldn’t look for game-changing tactics. What if we focused on tactics to change the game? When tragedies like celebrity deaths occur, radio stations have opportunities.
The death of a beloved artist is one of the few moments when everybody feels the same thing at the same time. Fans pause. Social feeds flood. Old songs suddenly sound brand new. And in those moments, your station has a chance to either fade into the background…or become the place your listeners turn to connect, grieve, and celebrate together.
Because listeners don’t want “a station.” They want connection, and you can be the conduit.
