Mat Diablo
Eleven years in to his young but already accomplished radio career, Mat Diablo continues to grow as a programmer and music lover, while attentively balancing the two. We caught up with him recently and got the scoop on the latest goings on in a market that’s fostered quite a few proverbial “thinkers” in the format.
Up Close with KQXR/Boise PD Mat Diablo
Starting in radio at the age of 16 doing nights in Lake Tahoe,KQXR/Boise Program Director Mat Diablo has paid his dues and learned quite a few tricks along the way.
Moving to Reno to attend college, Diablo signed on to KRZQ/Reno for nights and eventually worked his way up to music director. From there his young journey took him to KXTE/Las Vegas where he was the resident specialty guy and assistant MD for two years.
Soon after, he returned to his old stomping grounds in Reno and took over as program director, this time for a four-year stint. Last February, Diablo segued to Boise as the station’s new PD and afternoon host (and now mornings, but more on that later).
Eleven years in and Diablo continues to grow as a programmer and music lover, while attentively balancing the two. We caught up with him recently and got the scoop on the latest goings on in a market that’s fostered quite a few proverbial “thinkers” in the format.
eQB presents excerpts from the FMQB June Magazine Modern Rock Up Close featuring KQXR/Boise PD Mat Diablo
On the Boise market… We have absolutely no competition in this market. Not that there would be any room for competition. We bridge that gap between Alternative and Active fairly well, and it’s such a strong brand that was built up by my predecessors. I would liken it to what I’ve seen in Salt Lake City, in that it is a very conservative and somewhat religious market. Many of our primary advertisers and friends of the station are of that ilk, yet the audience seems to respond very well to anything subversive to that point.
On the ratings challenges that Alternative stations face… We face a lot of the challenges that most, in fact all Alternative stations face, which is the fact that the majority of our audience would be considered early adopters and, as such, they don’t have land lines. I don’t think that the cell phone-only household problem has been overblown in the slightest. If nothing else it’s probably been under reported because it’s such a major issue. We’ve seen the demise of so many great Alternative stations, and I would be willing to venture a guess that that was a big part of it. With that being said, we maintain an incredibly strong share in the market even with the cell phone-only problem.
On the importance of listener feedback… It’s absolutely key; it’s not just here, it’s everywhere. In this day and age, radio’s not sexy. We’re losing an entire generation of radio, and chances are they will be lost to us. We’ll have to sit it out a generation and regain them on the backside. There’s nothing sexy or cool about radio. There’s a terrible perception of radio amongst 21-and-ups that, in good portion, has been due to the homogenization of radio voice tracking… We really have to take into account what the listeners want, temper that with traditional radio wisdom, and attempt to create a product that is acceptable.
On separating personal tastes and passions from programming your market… I’m about as much of a pretentious indie rocker as you can find. That’s not to say that I love Fall Out Boy. It is to say that I think that there’s five singles on the new LCD Soundsystem record. My music tastes seem to deviate quite a bit from that of the audience. But then again, I’ve tried this in the past. I’ve tried it in Reno; I tried it in a couple of different places. Not to try to shove music down anybody’s throat, but try to educate the audience and introduce, perhaps a little too aggressively, some of the newer indie, what I view to be vital music right now. For people who have been accustomed to a certain style, who am I to tell them that they’re wrong? Who am I, as a programmer, to tell a guy who loves Metallica that they’re really overrated? That’s my personal belief; that’s certainly not the opinion of the majority. That’s a tough lesson, and a lesson learned through quite a few pitfalls.
His take on the new media challenges facing terrestrial radio programmers and executives…As on-demand technologies become portable, that’s another challenge we face. And, although it’s been said by many people, many times, the one advantage that radio has that all these emerging technologies still haven’t figured out, is how to be local. I would say, in doing my morning show that I would probably resist the urge to syndicate to any other markets based on the fact that, at that point, you lose your localism aspect which is the most important thing for me and it’s what I see people relate to the most. People still want to know what’s going on locally. They want to have a face to the name, that they feel they’re involved in something. While on-demand music, I’m certainly not discounting it because it’s so important, there’s no real soul to it yet. There’s certainly a sense of community in that you feel some brand loyalty, whether it be the status that comes with an iPod or the loyalty of being part of an FM community. But, we still can trump that by having a true sense of community within the community.
** QB Content by Mike Bacon **
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