For years, we have been trained that the music is the true content of radio. But in this week’s Programming To Win column, Bob Quick argues that due to changing technology, listeners don’t see it that way anymore. Instead, radio’s most valuable content is actually the personalities and that compelling talent is the best path to ratings success in this day and age.
Bob Quick
By: Bob Quick
Music is not content. Think about that for a minute. When was the last time a consultant told you that…probably never.
Thirty years ago it was, but that was a VERY different time. So many things have changed in the last 30 years, or 20 years, or even 10 years. Life is more convenient, but more intrusive because of technology. Our kids and grand-kids don’t have the same point of reference as we do, so they don’t see the intrusiveness of getting a text message in the middle of a movie. Is it a distraction? Or is it the ability to multitask? They see it as a convenience. They are more social, but less interpersonal. It’s an odd reality, at least to my generation’s way of thinking.
Try an email free day at your place of business…or make your employees leave their cellphones in their cars for a day…you’ll see just how much these “conveniences” affect us. If you told a jock today to stay off Facebook, it would be like telling them not to answer the request line.
No matter what the geniuses reading PPM data at Arbitron say, in 2011, music is not content to the current generation. They can steal/share/discover/download music almost anywhere with their web-enabled smart phone. Music was radio’s strength 30 years ago, but it wasn’t how radio started.
Way back, radio started with personalities, and if we can get back to that we can bring some of the current generation back to us. Personalities like Amos and Andy, Groucho Marx, George & Gracie, Abbott & Costello…among others were talents stolen by TV and film away from radio. Those personalities made radio an appointment, a destination, a “can’t miss” portion of our lives. Radio was a social event shared with the family.
Then the Rock ‘n Roll era hit, and the only way to get the latest music was from radio. The Top 40 songs, played over and over again. Radio became a cool technology for kids. AND this was ALL on the low fidelity, AM dial!
Forty or so years ago, technology changed, improved, and music was introduced in STEREO on FM…and music radio exploded again. Hi Fidelity music broadcast to the unwashed masses. A pristine presentation of the hits. It was cool to get a STEREO FM radio to hear the latest music and, other than the record store, it was the only way you could. Thirty or so years ago, in 1978, FM listening outpaced AM listeners nationwide.
Then came the internet, Kazaa, YouTube, and in the same period of time…radio consolidation. When we were in radio’s version of the “land rush”, we took our eyes off the ball and became the technology of the parents and not the kids anymore. As we cut our way to prosperity, radio became no longer cool. The personalities (for the most part) were gone AND discovering music that your friends like (ones across the street they hang out with everyday and ones across the country or the world they’ve never met face to face thanks to, at first MySpace, and now Facebook) moved to stealing/sharing/downloading with the help of the internet became cool.
Unlike STEREO FM, HD Radio will never be cool enough to interest them…even with iTunes tagging or record and pause (TiVo like) capabilities. The technology and the CD quality, an even more pristine, presentation of the hits isn’t a selling point to them. Not when your kids and grand-kids have been stealing/sharing/discovering/ downloading mp3’s ripped and encoded at bitrates that make AM radio sound pristine. It won’t work for our industry like STEREO FM did.
The only thing that can save us is to go way back, old, old school and invest in personalities. Steal them from TV and film if we can’t grow them ourselves, and give them the freedom to entertain. AND save their best stuff for our websites available for downloads in podcasts. Jerry Del Colliano of the blog Inside Music Media even thinks you should save those personalities exclusively for your website.
Now, I’m not suggesting you ditch music on your station, just invest in your personalities. EVERY TIME they crack the mic, the break HAS to be a “silver bullet.” With all the other entertainment options out there, we as an industry…more specifically, your station can ill afford a bad or wasted break.
The truly successful radio stations always have had the best and most popular jocks. I can’t think of an example of a station that was a jukebox or even one that gave away gobs of money trying to knock off a format competitor that had true, long-term success against one that had great personalities.
Why do you think your competitors have always tried to lure your best jocks away? For more money, a better time-slot, different market within the company, etc. In any scenario above, the same thing is accomplished… less talent on the competition and more on their station.
If talented personalities aren’t the answer to compelling content and the hope for the future of the radio industry, then why have we all been following this Charlie Sheen mess? No matter your feelings about it, he is a compelling personality that demands attention. I think our industry could use a little “tiger blood”, “goddesses” and “Adonis DNA.”
Bob Quick is Chief Consulting Officer at Quick Radio Consulting. He specializes in medium and small market stations. Bob can help make your personalities a can’t miss destination for your listeners. He can be reached at (706) 358-9103 or at bob@quickradioconsulting.com.
