 |
 |
|
David Rogerson
David Rogerson has been involved in nearly every facet of the radio and media industry from on air personality to Group Program Director to National Marketing Manager and senior consultant.
David’s background covers over 25 years in Media and Communications. He holds an Honours Diploma in Advertising through the University of Technology, Sydney and is a graduate of Radio Executive Management from the Notre Dame University, USA:
Founded in 1997 Strategic Media Solutions, is a program, marketing and research based media consultancy business providing services to the media and communications industries in the Asia Pacific Rim.
|
|
|
This year, radio celebrates 45 years of talk radio in Australia. While several immortal radio personalities have laid claim to having been the very first talk back or two-way radio host in Australia, the facts are that radio continues to dominate the talk and information segment at breakfast time. Sure The Today Show and Sunrise on TV is starting to gain some traction, but radio’s immediacy and mobility continue to give it that competitive edge.
Talk, talkback, two way radio, one to chat or whatever name you want to give it has been a key element of radio’s greatest strength– delivering information and entertainment instantly. Anyone who has worked in radio from large scale capital city markets to the smallest of regional radio markets will know the benefit of having a listener on the end of the phone talking about the local issues that impact on their lives.
It got me thinking about music based formats in 2007 and whether music at breakfast time is an important component for listeners. In this fast paced life we live today, is music at breakfast time getting in the way of the listener’s need to hear information, entertainment and update to date “survival” information ( eg traffic, weather and so on). Increasingly, FM radio has been adding personality based talked ( as opposed to information based talk) over the past 10 years with shows like Grubby and Dee Dee on GOLD FM Melbourne, Ian Skippen and Jamie Dunn on B105 blazing the trail .
In 2007 it’s 2DAY’s Kyle and Jackie O and NOVA Sydney’s Merrick and Rosso along with a host of other talk based music personalities around Australia creating new kinds of entertainment based talk. Even outside of breakfast Hamish and Andy are bringing a new form of entertainment to the end of the day, a daypart in which Tony Martin and Mick Molloy broke new ground for Austereo back in the late 90’s.
So back to my original thought ... does an entertaining breakfast show need to play music? Maybe not. The reasoning? People are hectic in the morning. They are looking for something to grab hold of to start their day. It may be humour, viewpoints on current topics or oddities, controversy, or information. These elements, more than music, potentially give listeners something to ponder or talk about once they get to work.
Think about it. If a listener arrives at work a few minutes early, and like most, does not go into work until start time, he/she will sit in the car, maybe even listen on a portable radio with ear buds, finishing a cup of coffee or having a smoke and listen to the radio. What will keep his/her attention - a song or a piece of humour, topical discussion, controversy, or information? I don’t ever remember someone saying to me “ hey , I loved your breakfast show this morning, especially when you played the new Snow Patrol Song.”
With said this though, the critical question would be “does your breakfast show have the talent and skills to drop music and be all talk?”
Like those talk shows that started 45 years ago, in 2007 content is still the key to an all-talk no-music breakfast show. The difference today is that all you need to do is turn on your computer, get on the ‘net, and do what your listeners do – look for content of interest to them and even you. When you look around Australia at present, the less music the higher the ratings for the breakfast show and as a result, the station!
Being all talk at breakfast gets down to the show’s ability to relate to its target audience, deliver content that appeals to that target and the show itself, and be entertaining, compelling, talk-generating, and memorable!
|
