The Death of the Request Line

Remember 'back in the day' when the studio request lines would flash throughout the majority of your show? I remember working evenings, which generally serves a younger, more active audience, and whipping through those lines looking for requests, funny comments, and of course, sexy voices. Request lines were the ultimate ego stroke. The more those buttons flashed, the more we pounded our chests (insert Tarzan scream here).

Times have changed, haven't they? Unless I'm giving something away, or asking for some kind of specific feedback, those random calls are fading away. Why call when you can just send an email?  Why call when you can just DM?  My suspicions were confirmed by a Jacobs Media study that discovered "there are many other connection points the audience prefers over that studio phone."

Email is my first thought, but even that has tapered in favor of direct messages through Twitter and Facebook. Social media is the ultimate way my listeners like to keep in touch.  That's wonderful, but  social media doesn't have character and personality, not the kind that we need on the radio, anyway, because let's face it, there is nothing that makes your show SOUND bigger than a quick phone responding to your topic.


Quick tip: My friend, Steve Holstein, creator of Interprep.com, told me he posts a question to his Facebook page between 8 and 9pm the night before his show. He believes, and I think he's right, that Facebook experiences huge traffic loads during what used to be prime-time for television. He says the interaction is huge.

Before I put all the blame on social media, though, maybe there's another factor, another reason the phone banks have cooled a bit. Us. Have our listeners given up on us? I am, like many of you that read this blog, a solo host, which means to keep the show organized I sometimes (gulp) busy out the lines. How many times, I wonder, have listeners given up on me? Another reason we could be to blame is the way we treat the caller. We are horrible at customer service. I've witnessed personalities treat everyone who calls like they're the biggest idiot in the world.

Check out this California Aircheck to see what I mean.

Now Jammin' Chuck wasn't over the top rude, but a little guidance may have helped (especially when there's a camera rollin'!). We need to stop taking our listeners (lack of) attention span personally. They lead busy lives and may not hang on our every word. So when they call at the wrong times, maybe explaining the contest and when to call would be better than hanging up. When someone calls asking for a phone number to 'that commercial you just played,' it might be nice to get it, or at least promise you'll email it later.

Maybe once we really service our listeners when they call -- they'll call back?




What about you? Are your requests lines what they used to be? Is it harder to get people to chime in on a topic? What is your best technique to get voices on the air?

-Dave