Radio: From OFF to ON

I was digging through some old files recently, and some decades-old ratings and research caught my attention. It was a reminder of how cyclical trends are, habits can be, and how that which is unique and unignorable can take radio from Off to On.

History has shown it is possible. The AM band was desolate in 1988 when Rush Limbaugh was first nationally syndicated. Following the elimination of the FCC Fairness Doctrine, Limbaugh built a following that not only brought an audience to the AM band but also exposed the talk format in unusual locations.

One example would be restaurants that launched Rush Rooms. They would air Rush’s show during lunch hour so their clientele wouldn’t miss a minute of the program. He rode that wave through the end of his life. His program initiated a new kind of Conservative Talk radio.

We saw a similar rush to FM Talk radio when Howard Stern was first nationally syndicated from his WXRK/NY home base. Starting on Rock formatted stations and expanding beyond that, the program first joined sister stations within the same ownership group for syndication and then expanded across the nation, airing on non-O&Os. The cumulative audience was huge, and Stern commandeered the ratings in almost every market where the program aired. The ride ended when he departed for satellite radio.

The ”Off to On” phenomenon existed pre-Rush and pre-Stern. Although few will be familiar with the format known as Music of Your Life, that’s where I first witnessed radio cume growing without apparently having come from another radio station. The format played classic oldies and standards that were being played nowhere else on the radio. The songs were all familiar hits, but they were tunes that had been forced off the air by the British Invasion, Top 40, The Summer of Love, Rock, and ultimately Classic Rock.

The Music of Your Life format brought an audience back to the radio for something that they weren’t getting anywhere else. The demise of that particular format was the age of its’ audience. It was driven by the 55-64 cell, and that fell outside of adults 25-54. There are still stations that target an upper demo, which is a valuable audience to local businesses, but doesn’t align with national sales and agency business. It requires a different approach to pitching media to advertisers.

The message here isn’t that radio’s best days are in its past. It’s from the past that we can learn lessons for the future.

What moves an audience from Off to On? Answering that question is difficult, but it’s not impossible. There are shows and stations that maximize the strength of multiplatform distribution to magnify their presence to where it cannot be ignored. A highly engaging program, driven by personalities that can generate a desire to listen daily and repeatedly, can move an audience from Off to On.

The Breakfast Club on Power 105.1/NY is one such show bringing an audience back to radio while siphoning off audience from other stations. The show, nationally syndicated as well, is #1 Adults 25-54 in the New York metro. Tied with WHTZ morning icon Elvis Duran with a .5 rating. (Nielsen Audience Measurement; New York, October 2025 Adults 25-54 M-F 6a-10a)

The show’s growth has been consistent. Charlamagne Tha God has built a unique program. Sunday Night Slowjams with R Dub is another that’s nationally syndicated, but originates in San Diego. The show takes a unique turn from what happens weekdays on a station and presents something altogether different.

We’ve seen the same thing with radio stations that step out and go in a different direction. Magic in Miami is a bilingual Adult Contemporary formatted station that plays English AC music with Spanish air talent. The return of 99X in Atlanta rekindled the concept of Classic Alternative. The Jack format, first launched in Vancouver, Canada, continues to be a unique-sounding station that forced the industry to create a new name for the format. Adult Variety. The “keeper of Jack” is Garry Wall.

The energy, time, focus, and financial investment in writing and creating the personality sound of Jack is the backbone of its body of work.

Radio can bring an audience back to the core delivery method of over-the-air. It doesn’t have to be so unique that it is narrowly cast and niche to the point of minuscule audience metrics. It has to be of interest to an underserved part of the audience that is available to be engaged and hungry to be satisfied. The question: what is it that would resonate in your market? Almost every cluster has one underperforming radio station.

Do you have an opportunity to create a powerful attraction that brings a community from Off to On?