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ST Y OUT OF TROUBLE A
why you need to be in the know about libel

blue revolution

SOCIAL MEDIA
how to make it make money for you
6 of the best G I F T S T O TREA YOURSELF T TO I N 2 0 1 2
+ ON-AIR COMPETITIONS
juggling the details

bluerevolution
Issue 37 January 2012
Generating In this issue: What you need to know about libel l revenue through social media l competition tips l On-air Top resources for DJs and PDs.

Hi again,
Happy New Year! (Is it too late to say that now?) Well either way, 2012 is here and another issue of the Radio e-Zine hits your inbox. I should start out by admitting that we totally missed sending out a copy of the Radio e-Zine in December. Sorry about that! With all the best intentions in the world, the plan was to get a copy to you in early December. However, as soon as we started getting anywhere near the festive season, it just got a little manic. As many readers will already know, here at Blue Revolution we make a whole range of Festive Specials each year which adds to our already hectic production schedule. In fact, last month we produced over 36 hours of additional content to go alongside the 84 hours of content we usually produce. So Im sure you can understand when I say it got kinda busy. And I also hope you can forgive us for not getting December's Radio e-Zine out, as a result. :) We'll more than make up for it though with this packed issue: Page Page Page Page Page 3 - Paul Chantler Gets Legal 4 PD Tips 5 Paul Hollins Shows How Social Media Can Increase Revenues 9 6 of the Best: Gifts to Treat Yourself to in 2012 1 A SureLog Special Offer 1

Blue Revolution is a leading supplier of programming content, music services and production tools to radio stations worldwide. Our range of weekly shows include the award-winning Totally 80s, Totally 90s, The Weekend Vibe, The Donny Osmond Show, Wolfman Jack and many more. Our network of client stations trust us to deliver programmes proven to build audiences and raise revenue. Find out more by visiting us online at

Hope you enjoy it.

See you next month,

Paul Hollins

paul@bluerevolution.com

WWW.BLUEREVOLUTION.COM

Beware Schoolboys Bearing Libel Lawsuits!

PAUL CHANTLER is Senior Partner for United Radio Consultants which runs legal training courses for radio stations and can be contacted at paul.chantler@unitedradio.co.uk Hang The DJ? by Paul Hollins and Paul Chantler can be purchased from www.radiobookshop.com or Amazon online.
The dangers of radio presenters and the law of libel were brought home to me a few years ago by an eight-year-old schoolboy. It was in my days as a Programme Director and I was driving to work listening to our breakfast show. The presenter was running a competition and had the boy on air as a contestant. He asked the usual questions, Where do you go to school?, What's your best subject?, Who's your favourite teacher?. And then a tingle ran down my spine as the presenter casually asked, Who's the worst teacher in the school?. The boy answered, naming the teacher. Irritatingly, my carphone (it was fixed in the car in those days) was on the blink and it was another 20 minutes at top speed before I could get to the studio. On arrival, my PA (yes, we had them in those days too!) handed me a sheaf of phone messages from the teacher, her headmistress, her trade union representation, the boy's parents and the local education authority. In asking a stupid question and allowing the boy to answer, the presenter and radio station had libelled the teacher by injuring someone in their trade, office or profession one of the key definitions of libel. By some nifty negotiation and apologies all round including a donation to the school's playground fund we managed to avoid the vast expense of lawyers and being taken to court. The presenter in question was on the receiving end of an enormous rollocking from and nearly lost his job. It's lessons like this that are absolutely vital for presenters to learn. These days, the danger of legal action against a radio station is more likely to be prompted by something done by a presenter or producer rather than a journalist who, by and large, are pretty well trained in media law. Indeed, the two most high-profile radio libel cases of the last few years were caused by presenters. One of the most recent involved someone being defamed by a 'jokey' promo; the law does not have a sense of humour (despite the wigs worn by judges!) There's also the potential problem of presenters and producers posting on social media websites. People think posts on Twitter and Facebook are somehow exempt from libel and contempt laws. They are most definitely not. That's why it is SO important for everyone on the broadcast side of a radio station to be well trained in media law. The big groups already have training plans in place but smaller stations could be left vulnerable. I run a two-hour Media Law seminar especially aimed at presenters and producers with lots of audio and textual examples of when things have gone wrong in the past and lots of stories of when I've been sued or threatened to sue myself.

WATCH OUT!

WWW.BLUEREVOLUTION.COM

Beware Schoolboys Bearing Libel Lawsuits!

continued
These are valuable lessons as what goes out on air could not only cost the radio station a lot of cash in damages but could also land the presenter and their boss in jail. Together with Paul Hollins, I've written a book called Hang The DJ which is a radio presenter's guide to the law. It's well worth a read as it could also not only save you money and your liberty but also your job. If you're a presenter or producer, you need to know what you can and cannot put on the air. It's so easy to make a mistake especially when you're taking phone calls from kids on the air!

P D

tips

On-air competitions can be time-consuming and you've got to ensure that compliance rules are followed. Failure to do so can land you in serious hot water and in extreme cases cost the station a lot of money in fines.

Therefore it's important that you don't delegate the responsibility or swamp the presenter with extra unnecessary responsibilities such as lining up the callers, taking names and addresses, or checking for compliance issues. The presenter's responsibility is to concentrate 100% on the output of the radio station after all the output is your 'product' so it's important not to give them other distractions. Have a member of staff volunteer to handle to calls (or do it yourself). Train them in compliance issues. For example, if you have a competition where you're taking a number of callers to air, you have to ensure the selection of those callers is completely random and, more to the point, verifiable. Also give the designated 'phone handler' the job of collecting names & addresses so prizes can be sent out to winners. This takes the pressure off the presenter who is then able to concentrate fully on his/her show. The benefits are huge and you will be amazed how much difference this simple process can make to the sound of your station. Got an idea for a great PD Tip? Email pdtips@bluerevolution.comand it could feature in a future edition.

WWW.BLUEREVOLUTION.COM

! !

PD Tip #6. On-Air Competitions

If you're running on-air competitions the easy option is to give the presenter the info and then leave it to them to 'take care' of it. But as PD it's your responsibility to make sure that competitions are correctly executed. Otherwise you will have an angry Sales Execs and/or client breathing down your neck.

Social Media As A Revenue Generator

Paul Hollins is the CEO of Blue Revolution. He is an award-winning presenter and producer. His on-air broadcasting career includes many of UKs most well-known stations including Key 103, BRMB, Capital FM and Londons Heart 106.2. In 1999 he became the first British presenter to fly to Los Angeles to host the internationally syndicated World Chart Show for Radio Express Inc. Since setting up Blue Revolution in 1999, Paul has helped grow the company into one of Europes largest providers of audio content for radio.

In the last Radio e-Zine I wrote an article about harnessing the power of Social Media through sites like Facebook and Twitter. The article generated a lot of positive reaction, especially from programmers who had been struggling to get a handle on the positive impact Social Media can have on their output. I spoke about how Social Media can quickly and easily help you to connect with your audience in new and exciting ways which finally makes the conversation you have with your listeners two-way. Radio has always been a one-directional medium but now we can engage with our listeners like never before and see their reactions almost instantaneously. Radio, as an industry, needs to embrace this new world order because Social Media isn't just a passing fad. It's here to say, no matter how much you might want it to go away. Following on from last month's article, I promised to explore some of the ways that your station can monetize the process of tweeting and posting status updates. From the feedback I got after last month's article, I think this will be of particular interest to small and medium-size stations that don't have the resources (or budget) to employ a full-time Social Media expert. A Very Quick Re-Cap On Last Month's Article If you've followed the pointers in my previous article, your station should by now have a Facebook Fan Page and a Twitter account set-up. The idea is to get your listeners to 'Like' your page on Facebook. If you can get them to do that it means your status updates will start to appear in their 'news feed'. The benefit of this is that whenever you post an update it will automatically have an audience. On Twitter it's even easier as people just elect to 'follow' you. Once they do that, your tweets will then appear on their Twitter feed. Again, this means that your followers will automatically see your tweets. You can even link your Facebook & Twitter accounts so that when you post on one your message is automatically passed to the other. So if you tweet via Twitter, the same message will be shown to your Facebook followers and vice-versa. Its a good idea to do this as youll essentially get a double-whammy for the same amount of work The key is to post updates and make tweets on a regular basis, so that you are reaching out to your audience. Encourage them to respond to your updates and tweets. Above all, be visible. Follow the rules that I mentioned in last month's article about the best methods of tweeting and why your DJs should only ever give out THE STATION Facebook details and Twitter address (and not their own).

WWW.BLUEREVOLUTION.COM

generating revenue through social media

continued
Getting Started With Monetization If you have already started to build-up your Facebook fans and Twitter followers, its easy to start the monetization process. If you havent already started, set-up the accounts today and start promoting them on-air so that your listeners start to like you and follow you. Once you've done this you can pretty much post/tweet about anything. As long as your updates are relevant to your audience, they will feel like you are engaging directly with them. So, let's say you play Rihanna on your station and you decide to do a tweet/update about her latest music video, it might make for great Social Media content but it doesn't bring any revenue to your station, does it? So let's say that instead of tweeting about Rihanna's music video, instead you tweet/post about the fact that Rihanna is coming to play a live concert in your town (or at least will be at a venue nearby). Wouldn't it be great if you could also give your followers a link they can click to buy tickets immediately?

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