As an NBA fan (go Pistons!), I know how important home court advantage can be. Playing at home is an edge in all sports, but especially “hoops.”

In its battle with satellite radio and iPods, home court advantage can be an edge for your local radio station as well…

The obvious edge is that it’s local. Too few stations fully exploit this advantage. Many times, friends who aren’t in radio have commented to me that stations they hear in their travels sound pretty much like the ones here in the Detroit metro. Consolidation, syndication, consultants and (yes) even researchers have contributed to this homogenization of radio.

But this article isn’t about that. It’s about creating and exploiting an edge by shifting the home court.

Here’s an example from the world of politics: In 2004, George Bush had a perceived edge on terrorism and national security; John Kerry had a perceived edge on health care and the environment. If the biggest issues in the minds of Americans were health care and the environment, it would be “President Kerry” today. But the Bush campaign, aided by the powers of incumbency, kept voters’ focus on terrorism, and you know the rest.

For most radio stations, “home court” is music…better music, more music, etc. Sure, music consistently tests as the most important programming element for listeners, as a group. But radio certainly can’t compete with satellite radio or iPods for most music. It can’t compete with satellite radio for music variety. And it can’t compete with iPods for best music…what could be better than music listeners choose for themselves?

For the most part, radio is doing a good job with music! But if music is “home court,” that gives satellite radio an iPods an edge. Radio needs to shift home field to a broader construct — local entertainment…

For one thing, satellite radio and (obviously) iPods can’t deliver appealing morning personalities who relate to your market. Unfortunately, many radio stations have a tough time delivering this as well, but yours can and should do it!

And local radio’s personality should go beyond mornings. Whatever happened to killer PM drive jocks? Or charismatic night jocks that have cult followings among younger listeners? I can tell you that it’s a rare occasion when a personality outside morning drive emerges as a top-of-mind favorite in my research.

Personalities aren’t the sole source of entertainment local stations can offer. Contests that capture the imagination and attention of a city take a station way beyond “jukebox” status.

But home court advantage can’t be achieved merely doing these things on the air!!! It’s also about advertising and promoting the elements of your station that competitors cannot deliver, and, in doing so, raising those elements to the level of crucial criteria on which listeners choose from their multiple sources of entertainment.

Of course, emphasizing “local entertainment” isn’t the right strategy for every station. But shifting home field advantage to your strengths (whatever they happen to be) is always the right strategy for your station. And it’s the right strategy for local radio as a whole.

So, I just spent the first two hours of my morning waiting in line for at a GameStop store. Word was, they were going to have Nintendo Wii for sale. Sure enough, there’s a line out the door when I get there.

What possesses adults to wait in line for a video game?  Their kids. My daughter has been after me for awhile to get her a Wii. (OK, I’ve got to admit that I’m kind of intrigued with it as well, but let’s blame it on the kid!)

They’re hard to find. The Ann Arbor Target store got 100 in last Sunday and they were gone an hour later. Stores I called all over town said they didn’t have it and didn’t know when they were going to get it. Until I called this one particular Gamestop.

So what’s the attraction? It’s not like Wii is the only game console out there. Wii was launched in ‘06, around the same time Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s XBox 360, both with more powerful processors and more sophisticated graphics.

But Wii has a difference. As Forbes magazine reported it:

The feature that sets the Wii apart from both its competitors and its ancestors is the Wii remote, the device’s control pad….it’s equipped with an innovative motion sensor that detects movement and rotation in three dimensions….The Wii remote allows users to get up, move around the room and become part of the game. If you want your character on the screen to swing his sword, you wield the remote and make the thrusts and parries yourself. In a game of baseball, you hold the remote like a bat, and swing for the stands when you want your virtual player to do the same.

By giving players the ability to physically interact with a virtual world, Nintendo has significantly changed the experience of videogaming. It’s suddenly more immersive, more compelling and potentially more appealing to consumers who have never considered buying a videogame console before.

So, Sony and Microsoft gave consumers more of the same — more power, better graphics. They gave consumers MORE…Nitendo gave them something DIFFERENT. As one game developer stated it:

“The PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump.”

The result?  I’m waiting in a line at 7 in the morning. I didn’t see any lines for the Xbox or Playstation there.

In radio, we have to be open to change. We have to be willing to do something different…to be more compelling and exciting. There’s not a whole lot of innovation when it comes to programming. Instead, radio’s banking on a technical fix — HD radio — which is better delivery of the same thing — MORE (much like Playstation’s higher-resolution graphics).

Consolidation thwarted creativity in radio, because owners aren’t desperate anymore. Desperation fueled innovation. Back in the day, if  you owned one 1.0 share FM, you were willing to try something new and different. Now, if your 1.0 share FM is part of a cluster, you’re not going to go hungry.  But radio suffers from this complacency.

Some think that what I do — research — is thwarting innovation. It could, I know, but not if it’s used the right way! Research shouldn’t dictate anything…instead, it should give you insight into how listeners think, what they like and what they don’t. The best programmers can take that information to a higher level…to create fresh, compelling programming. They should be given the chance.

In radio, we needs hot new hits, like Wii. To get there, stop thinking more and open yourself up to DIFFERENT.
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I just came from breakfast at McDonald’s, where they offered me one of their new Premium Roast Coffees…not a sample, mind you, but a free regular-sized one. ”Mickey D” is trying to move onto Starbucks’ turf, so getting consumers to try their product is a very good idea.

Well, it could have been a good idea…

I’m not much of a coffee drinker…Diet Coke is my caffeine source of choice.  But I occasionally drink the stuff.  Most often, I’ll get a frozen Mocha Frappuccino at Starbucks (or, as Bill Maher would say, a “that’s not coffee, it’s a milkshake“).  McDonalds doesn’t offer a similar product, so I got the next-closest thing — an iced mocha.

It was horrible.  I still have the bitter aftertaste in my mouth as I write this (and I heard others complain as well).  I threw it out, and I’d never even consider ordering coffee at McDonalds.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”  Trite but true. It is especially true when it comes to food products.  The restaurant business is a tough one, because I suspect most people are like me…one bad experience, and they’ll never return.

Fortunately, we’re not in the business of food and drink.  We sometimes get more than one shot at potential listeners. Still, especially if we’re launching a new format, the initial impression we make is usually a lasting one.

That’s why it is essential to get it right. It means testing positioning lines, to ensure they truly communicate the positioning we’re seeking.  It means testing music, so we’re playing the best cuts with the fewest negatives. It means starting out with the kind of presentation our target listeners want — be it high energy, clean and uncluttered, or whatever.  It means advertising that grabs attention and says what we need to say about the station.

None of this effort is cheap, but it is the most important investment you can ever make in your new format’s future.  At launch is the best opportunity you’ll have to make it successful, so that the listeners you’re seeking come back again and develop a positive image of your station.

Now, back to my Diet coke…