Read This Book: Mark Ramsey's '10 Ways of the Radio Ninja’

I have been reading a lot on my vacation. Call me crazy, but most of it has been about radio. Live to work or work to live, I think you can guess how I feel about radio.

Just a quick note here on a great short read I just finished from Mark Ramsey called '10 Ways of the Radio Ninja’. It was a great way to start the day; it made me think about a lot of things on a individual level as part of a team of on-air talent and on a branding level for our entire station.

I do not want to give to much of it away, or make this blog post longer than the book (it is only 13 pages) but I do want to highlight a couple of points. I am going to stay out of the ratings part, working in a small market station it is not something I really have to worry about right now so that message was not as important to me.

The most important point to me was number three, “The Radio Ninja Creates Unique and Compelling Content”. I love the idea of not caring what has worked at other stations and going with something unique rather than tried and true. Each market is unique, what works in Toronto will not necessarily work in Tijuana. This extends from on-air breaks into contesting, even websites. Radio is an extremely personal medium, using blanket campaigns and templates (in my eyes) is a massive roadblock to creating the content that changes passive listeners into fans (Ramsey has a great chapter on passive listeners vs. fans in this ebook too).

Another great point made in ’10 Ways of the Radio Ninja’ discusses the fact that radio is not a stagnant, stationary thing; it is a platform that now crosses into other mediums (social media, web, mobile phones etc.). Most stations that I have seen cross platforms successfully are doing it by innovating and giving their listeners something fresh and new that fits for their demographic. Its not something they have done under the corporate umbrella in another market successfully, it is something they have come up with or borrowed with a unique spin to make it their own. Using the radio platform to help reach out to connect with listeners through other mediums helps build further relationships with interaction.

I am going to stop there because I am in danger writing a longer blog post than the e-book.

Checkout ’10 Ways of the Radio Ninja’ for FREE, yes I said for free! You can downloadit on Mark Ramsey’s website here: http://www.markramseymedia.com/.

While you visit Mark Ramsey’s website checkout the rest of his informative work, his blogs bring up great points on the state of contemporary radio. Make sure you read the comments as well, valuable discussions are happening that present other points of view.

Here is a preview of the book via Slideshare:

10 Ways of the Radio Ninja from Mark Ramsey