Will Johnston: The Hits Takeover Challenge

Will Johnston and the team at Tremains Real Estate

The team from Tremains Real Estate is the first to enjoy The Hits Takeover.

You know how sometimes you look at someone doing a job or a task and think, "I could do that, doesn't seem that hard?"

Working in radio I get that all the time. Like how hard could it really be to just turn a mic on and talk in between music every day?

To be fair, those people have a point.

Like, it's not the toughest job. I'm not underwater welding an oil rig in sub-Antarctic waters. I'm not a CEO with thousands of employees and shareholders to worry about. I'm not flying a 747 and have hundreds of lives in my hands. I'm not a parent — the hardest of them all.

So it's natural for people to think it's a sweet job and it's not that hard. Also, I can turn up to work in any state of appearance.

Plus I love the job, so it literally doesn't feel like work most days. Yeah, I'm skiting how much I love my job, what of it? That's the goal, isn't it?

So I decided to give people the opportunity to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to radio being an easy gig.

Last week we began The Hits Takeovers.

First victims? Real estate agents!

The team from Tremains Real Estate came in for an hour last Friday and took over my show. We had an auctioneer doing the weather and listing the songs coming up like it was an auction.

We had other agents telling us about events in the community and the importance of being real and connecting with the Bay.

And we had a laugh about other jobs that real estate agents wouldn't necessarily be the best at. The best thing, the fact they were out of their comfort zones, messed up a little and technically not being 'pros' at what they were doing on the radio actually made great radio.

Gosh I might have even learned something from that experience about not always getting it right and messing up a bit makes you human and possibly even more endearing to people.

Damn it, real estate agents are teaching me something about my job.

How did this happen?

Oh that's right, it was my idea in the first place!

In all seriousness though, if you have a business and you want to have a crack at getting your team in the studio and taking over an hour of my show and people getting to know you and what you do and kind of learning and messing up in a public situation, then hit me up!

The climate of how business is done and how people advertise is constantly changing.

What I see with social media and its prevalence of 'influencers' shows me all I need to know about the connection between being real and raw and open and that making people more likely to actually want to be part of what you are doing and who you are.

If you disagree, then that must mean you aren't on any form of social media, never listen to the radio and hate any music that involves a singer talking about anything real.
Come have a go on with me on The Hits Takeover if you dare!

— Will Johnston is the local 9am-3pm host for The Hits Bay of Plenty 95FM. He's also a celebrant and MC. Follow Will on Instagram on @radiowill.