The Need to Evolve

Radio has had little change to its’ programming approach in recent years. Yet the media world around radio has changed dramatically. Evolution is needed. Streaming audio is a greater threat to radio than are other radio stations. Consumers (listeners) program their own radio stations by creating channels, subscribing to DSPs, and using music services to play the type of music they like most. The same for spoken word. Podcasts, talk programs that are subscription driven, and social media delivering “snackable” content.

Admittedly, radio competing with radio is a natural assumption because you’re in search of an audience that uses radio. The thinking is that you only have to be better than the other radio stations in your market, or format, to be successful. Unfortunately that is only a microcosm of the competitive picture. Nielsen measures radio. While Cume is holding somewhat steady, Average Quarter Hours have been eroding, and the value of AQH is sliding. The lower TSL for radio, as it competes with digital for impressions, appears to be at the root of the revenue problems for the medium.

It would be easy for me to argue that digital impressions don’t mean that you’ve been around for any more than a click, and that radio’s selling power is greater than most other media options for advertising, or that most Americans use the radio at some point every week. All valid as radio has value, albeit challenged in a world where media consumption and competition are growing. The audience is using radio differently and less than in the past. There has been little done to change how we program, promote & market radio.

I’ve been quoted and criticized for having said “radio hasn’t failed badly enough to change for the better.” What I mean by that is … the public companies continue to live quarter-to-quarter and can’t afford short term losses for long-term growth. Unless there is a dramatic shift in listener habits, there will be a time when someone somewhere convinces their Board Of Directors to allow them to make moves that will enable radio to better entertain and inform their audiences. Changes that will grow audience. Radio has the distribution that is much coveted by everyone else.

Think about it. I’m among the many who challenge radio companies to air fewer commercials in order to create a better listening experience. It would also be a better advertising experience. The problem for broadcasters is that limited inventory requires raising ad rates, and there are competitors who purposely keep their rates low to take the majority of the buy off the table, which punishes all other stations in the market. These self-inflicted wounds are largely unaddressed by decision-makers. It has been described by some as a “race to the bottom.”

That’s not to say that airing fewer commercials immediately increases your ratings. The content has to be at the highest level. However, too many commercials is the biggest complaint listeners have about radio. That in the face of fewer/no commercials on streaming platforms continues to lead to audience defection for radio. If we’re not going to address the proverbial elephant in the room, then we should question what can be done to attract an audience in the face of such erosion. How do you perform at a level that the audience will sit through long stop sets, or listen two, three, four times a day. Repeat listening is what drives Time Spent Listening. Increasing your AQH should lead to higher ratings.

Content needs to be the very best it can be to overcome the irritation of a long commercial break. What can your talent do that will bring the audience back to the station. Can your talent tease upcoming content to hold the audience through a break. The odds of being successful increases when you take advantage of the availability of nationally known syndicated personalities, using local personalities who are a well-known in the market, or doing something unique that resonates in a particular community. There is evidence that if a stations content is compelling, listeners will endure long stop-sets for it.

The listeners short attention span is on full display. Sparked by social media and limited time in active lives, the audience spends time on Instagram Reels, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube to keep up on entertainment and information. Talent that can create “Snackable” content should be in demand by programmers and management. Those talent that “use every part of the cow” can expand an audience by sharing it on social media. Their brief content can be used across dayparts if presented much in the way social media takes an hour long comedians performance and slices it into 20-30 short segments. Think about how easy it is to go down a rabbit hole and before you know it you’re thirty minutes into reels.

Contesting has value in extending TSL. Offering desirable prizes, offering experiences that money can’t buy, and/or playing games that are fun and entertaining, are ways to hold an audience or bring them back with appointment listening. There is no shame in “buying an audience” as it is an age old tactic to grow your ratings. Keep in mind that cash giveaways are strongly challenged to compete with lotteries. The government has more money than you do, and lotteries are a way to fill their coffers. Whatever the prize you offer, it has to be enticing to create tune-in or hold an audience through a stop-set.

Music stations face the greatest challenge from DSPs. The theory of instant gratification remains important for radio. That is playing peoples favorite songs frequently. The strength in that approach is that the odds are you’ll hear a favorite song every time you go to a station. The weakness is the predictability that comes with playing the hits over and over again. There’s no algorithm with radio that engages to deliver to the listener the type of songs they like most. Radio is one-to-many. DSP’s are one-to-one. Radio has to continue to play the Power songs frequently, but we can increase the illusion of variety by having deeper secondary and tertiary categories.

Platooning songs, the act of swapping out songs in the secondary and tertiary categories, is another tactic that can keep your library sounding fresh. I am a latecomer to using this tactic. I wasn’t a fan of platooning, that is until the pandemic. How radio was used changed when Work From Home became commonplace. The need for variety was magnified as in-car listening dipped and radio wasn’t as readily available in homes. WFH introduced streaming to an audience that had not discovered the magic of the aforementioned algorithms. Which warrants a new take on how OTA (Over The Air) Radio should deliver variety. Platooning of the Non-Power categories brings a freshness to your station.

Research and Marketing. Missing from many budgets, these two elements were once a part of almost every successful stations strategy. A commitment to asking the audience what they want and giving it to them. Understanding the audiences desires and satisfying them. That’s how many long lasting leading stations became dominant in their markets. That alone should be evidence enough that research is valuable to map a stations plan of action. “Guessing” or “Copying” your competitors isn’t a logical strategy, but it’s one that used regularly in these times.

Marketing, engaged only when the product is right-on, should be used tactically to attract sampling. Television is a tough platform to use unless you buy a consistently well placed schedule, and you use OTA, CTA and Social Media. Direct marketing is my favorite tool for exposing a station. Used properly, you can target areas that have the greatest likelihood to be home to Nielsen diary keepers and PPM households. Media is competing in a noisy marketplace. You cannot break through if you’re invisible.

The fact is that we’re here. Despite some stations being signed off and licenses returned to the government; radio is a widely available medium. I remain a believer, but we need change. Look at the Cume level for radio versus Average Quarter Hour. People want to listen. We make it difficult for them to do so. Evolution is necessary if radio is to rebound. Change can be executed without the current business model being shattered. There are many successful radio stations in terms of revenue and ratings. Unfortunately they’re not the ones you think of first when you think about the state of the business.