What Makes a Good Radio Remote: Factors Leading to Perceived Cost-Effective and Well-Received On-Site Radio Promotional Sales Events.

Radio has often been considered one of the most personal media. Because of its power to befriend, it is viewed by advertisers as an indispensable bridge between businesses and consumers (Vaccaro, 1996). The term "promotion" broadly refers to activities associated with that function. According to Warner & Buchman (1993), the purpose of promotion is "to create excitement and increased awareness for a product or service and to get consumers involved with a product" (p.261). A common radio station promotional activity is the scheduling of what are referred to as radio remotes, or simply, remotes.

The remote is often used to encourage people to go to a business. Remotes are typically contracted and arranged through the sales department, set up with the help of engineering, and executed and performed by staff from the programming department. Therefore, the remote represents an activity that brings virtually all aspects of a radio station staff together. In practice, a radio remote entails radio station staff personally going to the business site for a set amount of time, and performing in an agreed upon manner. The station personnel may go on the air to discuss the business, make pitches for listeners to visit the business, and include various prizes and/or giveaway items to those listeners who show up.

Retailers and media buyers often request radio stations to include a "remote" broadcast as part of an advertising schedule. Many stations offer a remote with marketing proposals as a promotional tool. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), radio has "the ability to create custom traffic-building vehicles such as remote broadcasts, consumer contests, and special events that result, not only in more shoppers, but also more sales" (Ad Answers, p.7). Local retailers expect a remote to generate traffic and increase sales from a pool of station listeners.

There are two broad categories of radio remotes, but both may accomplish the same goals. The sales remote is commonly scheduled with businesses and is primarily aimed at generating revenue for the client. The primary goal of a promotional remote is to generate traffic and interest in the radio station and its sponsors. Promotional remotes are common to holiday celebrations, parties, and non profit organizations. It is important to note that there is tremendous overlap in the goals and practices of these remotes. Sales remotes may also generate traffic and interest, and promotional remotes may also feature sales opportunities that generate revenue.

The radio remote has been a staple of local radio sales efforts for a number of years, but seems to have so far escaped scientific scrutiny. Renn-Scanlan (1998) compiled a listing of 42 radio-related theses and dissertations from 1995 to 1997, and although each one investigated an important aspect of radio, none of them included discussion of the radio remote. A similar search of related textbooks finds only the briefest mentions of remotes (primarily as part of a list of "added value" one can get from radio advertising). One textbook (Radio Station Operations, by O'Donnell, Hausman, & Benoit, 1989) offers this account:

Promotional remotes not only are often part of a direct-sales campaign but

also are used strictly for promotion. Remotes combine on-air

promotion--bolstering the station's image in the minds of listeners--with

off-air promotion--being visible to people attending the event where the

remote is located. Promotional remotes often are staged at fairs and public

service events. Be aware that remotes take much work and involve frequent

technical problems. (p.215).

Despite the absence of scholarly work on the radio remote, it should be considered for study because it is perhaps the only activity where the audience, the radio station staff, and the business client are all physically together, in one place, at one time. This unique aspect of radio deserves consideration because it applies to the study of audiences, programming, management, sales, marketing, promotion, and even engineering. These relationships between the business, the radio station, and the audience neatly fit into the model proposed a generation ago by Westley & MacLean (1957). Message senders (businesses) use radio to reach their target audience. To keep the system in relative balance, both the business and the radio station need feedback from receivers (the audience) as a self-righting mechanism. The remote fulfills the role of feedback loop for both the business and the radio station.

This suggests that the radio remote may provide a clearer picture of audience and business perceptions of radio. McQuail (1997) suggests that institutional forms of feedback may be inadequate because their structured nature may be intimidating to audience members, making them reluctant to express their views and feelings. In addition, Webster & Phalen (1997) suggest that, to best understand audience members (individuals), one should observe them as they experience media in a cultural context. The radio remote is an ideal mechanism for studying audiences because it is a relatively relaxed group activity which invites direct audience feedback--a place where they can meet the staff as well as sample the retailer's wares.

Therefore, studying the radio remote helps us understand the role radio stations play in modern society. The remote is an event that actively links radio station operations to both retailers and the audience. It is perhaps the one activity where the station, the audience, and business clients actually all come together and meet face-to-face. The role of the remote--as well as how it is perceived by audiences, radio stations, and business clients--must be investigated in order to better understand those conditions that result in successful radio remotes.

Research Questions

This study proposed to collect and examine the perceptions of radio's three most important constituents regarding the radio remote event. These are (1) the stations' personnel that execute and use the remote as a marketing tool; (2) the businesses that often request the remote in addition to an advertising schedule; and (3) the listeners who are active enough or ego-involved enough to attend the remote in person.

The research questions sought to identify dominant perceptions of remotes as well as to obtain specific information regarding practices.

a. What types of features are common to radio station remotes?

b. How does a client determine whether a remote has been successful?

c. How does a radio station determine whether a remote has been successful?

d. What perceptions about successful remotes are shared by the client and the station?

e. What type of person attends the radio remote?

f. What factors result in the person attending the remote?

Method

As a first look into radio station remote broadcasts, this study brought a variety of exploratory methods to the analysis of the effectiveness of radio remotes, rather than relying on what might be used in more typical social science research. For the key radio station and business components, a structured interview was used rather than the more standard fixed response survey format. Structured interviewing is designed to allow for greater input from respondents and to allow the further exploration and development of raised issues and comments. Structured interviewing also generally permits the gathering of more complete information and a fuller "picture" of the phenomenon under study than is permitted by more traditional survey techniques. We also sought to use a form of ethnographic research by going to a range of radio remote broadcasts, observing events and talking to people. Traditional survey techniques were used with audience members, but field researchers also talked more informally with radio station personnel at the event, and with the businesses involved. From this variety of methods we sought to examine attitudes about radio remotes and the effectiveness thereof from a number of perspectives: Station management, station personnel at the events, businesses using remotes, audience members/customers at remotes, and from our own observation of live radio remotes.

The exploratory nature of this study suggested the use of a stratified convenience sample of markets, rather than the more traditional random sample. This led to the selection of one large, two medium, and two small markets for study. There were three reasons for this decision. First, this was conceived as an exploratory study that sought to identify factors influencing the use and effectiveness of radio station remotes. Therefore, the focus was on the events themselves, rather than on a need to extrapolate results to a larger population of markets. Second, time and monetary constraints limited the ability of the researchers to examine a large number of geographically diverse markets or a random selection of radio remotes, much less randomly select from the population at large to find radio remote patrons. Therefore, the choice was made to visit as many radio remotes in as many markets as possible during the time allotted. Finally, the choice of markets was guided by the contacts that members of the research team had in the selected markets. Because of the sensitive nature of station-client sales relationships, it was believed that contact made by someone familiar with that market would improve the likelihood of station cooperation. Station cooperation would facilitate data collection from business clients.