Thursday, April 26, 2007

She’s A Mind Reader

You have probably heard her words but chances are you’ve never seen her actually speak them.  Jillian has the difficult task of getting your attention, in a matter of seconds.

She is responsible for writing all of those “Tonight at…“ commercials that you usually catch throughout the day and night. 

Here’s an example: “coming up at 6…hillary and obama head-to-head in the carolinas…we take you live to the first debate of the 2008 campaign then…a health care crisis…  the shortage that’s complicating hospital visits. plus… storms rolling toward the triangle…  when and where we’ll get hit… join us at 6!“

Essentially, she is paid to do one thing…read your mind. I know, you are probably thinking that is crazy, but it’s true. She spends her days at work thinking about what stories you care about. How can she get your attention as you walk to the kitchen for a snack? What will trigger you to listen to what she has to say, and motivate you to watch one of our shows? With today being the first day of the May ratings period, her job could not be more important. 

As insiders, we refer to rating periods as “sweeps.“  In many ways, this is judgment day. It’s a time of the year when the currency of doing business is set by the number of eyeballs that are watching us. It’s a local race for the most eyeballs watching you.  February, May, July and November are all sweeps periods, and last for the entire month.

In short, the more people that watch you…the more money you make, as a station.

Here’s today’s webcast.

Send your thoughts!

Jason