remote post

Last evening I went to a ‘remote’ and I just wanted to give it a post of its own. It was a really cool experience. I arrived at the station at four and was driven to the Brain Freeze Café in New Bedford in the fun 107 van. There were a ton of people already there when we arrived and the kids were wicked exited to see us. You would have thought we were driving the bat mobile by their expressions. The bigger spectacle was the Fun 107 prize wheel a wheel of fortune type thing, and everyone that wanted to got a free spin. We were giving away tee-shirts, mugs, CDs, and other prizes. The whole point was to have people enter and draw a winner for the Selena Gomez contest. I was with two PA’s or Promotions Assistants, both really cool twentysomethings, and they were just pretty much doing customer service. The strangest people came out of the woodwork to spin the wheel, wearing all different kinds of what I’m sure they consider ‘clothing’. But it didn’t matter, we had to be nice to all of them. I figured that the selena gomez contest was not the only reason for this remote. Firstly, the location we were at is one of the staion’s sponsors and clients. They pay for ad space and different promotions (that’s how the station makes money). So being there and putting on a little show is important to making the client happy. And the only reason clients are interested in fun 107 is because we are a fairly popular station. Our popularity comes from listeners, so essentially the listeners are the customers. My job at the remote was keeping the customer happy… the prize wheel helped. That’s something Neil emphasized and Jr as well, as annoying as some callers amy be, they are the customer and consumer and it is important to keep them happy and feeling special. I talked to the PA’s and they told me a little bit about their job in promotions. It involves a lot of remotes and things general officy things like sales. Kind of cool because its related to the station, but not nearly as cool as what the on-air staff do. Also Ashley, a PA, told me about her internship and how in working for the morning show JR’s stiffness kind of made it hard to get her hands on anything. She said in fact “I didn’t learn anything when I was doing that”…made me really appreciate the week with Neil and Mellisa.