In this week’s Programming To Win column, Liz Janik examines how to program radio for women. While there are all sorts of preconceived notions as to how to program to women, Janik lists some steps to actually establish a bond with your female listeners, rather than just follow stereotypes.
Liz Janik
By Liz Janik
The idea of an FM news service targeted to women listeners intrigued me. Would FM NEWS 101.1 in Chicago be the breath of ‘fresh air’ women (and men) have been looking for? Or would it offer more of the same stereotyped programming heard everywhere across the dial?
Out of the box, there seemed little to get excited about. Chicago media journalist Robert Feder wrote in his blog on October 13th: “One of the biggest mistakes at the outset was tailoring the format too narrowly to women — or at least the assumption of what women wanted to hear on an FM news station”. So what are the true needs of women across all formats?
Some of the stereotypes about women I typically hear reinforced by male colleagues in format strategy meetings include: “real news doesn’t matter”; “lifestyle news is more important”; “weather is ok”; “we don’t need sports”; “fashion is big”; “we need lots of celebrity gossip news”; “they don’t like rock”; “stories about family and recipes”, etc.
When given the opportunity to describe what they want, women have clear ideas about what they prefer. “News and information” is usually one of the highest needs expressed, including sports and financial stories. They want to know about local issues, local entertainment and events. Women need conversation and would love to hear more discussion with depth and detail on pertinent topics. They are interested in health and wellness, and more likely to be interested in matters of the spirit.
Winning with the Heart
Women connect with their world through their emotions and how they feel about things. Any format has to appeal to their hearts before it can win in the ratings. What are some of the steps a station can take to establish an emotional bond with women?
1) Offer a Safe and ‘Kind’ Listening Environment.
Women seek safe environments for themselves and their families. They turn on the radio in the morning to find out if their world is OK. Women have warm feelings about their favorite station, and need to know that it is not going to jar them or offend them, or their families.
- Fear-mongering has become the loudest and most over-exposed media message heard today. Compulsory vaccines, armed police lockdowns in junior grades, full body scans, pat downs at football games and so on. Women need a haven from the fearful mood, topics and presentation style that currently dominates most of their media world.
• They want fair and balanced coverage of news stories, not the strident hyped headlines heard endlessly repeated on nearly every other outlet.
• There is an opportunity to gain listeners simply by presenting troubling news and information factually, without the fear-mongering language or tone.
• In addition, offer additional insights and solutions to issues whenever possible, from experts and other listeners.
• Insure that all humor is ‘everyman’ type of funny, or ‘family-friendly’.
• Many women are as enthusiastic about sex as the guys. Humor based on sexual innuendo is great, graphic sexual talk is not.
• Women are annoyed by and avoid humor that is mean spirited or cruelly insulting of others. This type of humor has become the dominant and tiresome tone of too many radio and TV programs.Overheard comment, by a male AC morning show host in New Orleans: “Pregnant women are ugly”
2) Be a Good Neighbor.
Create an atmosphere or ‘station personality’ that exudes hospitality and warmth, on and off the air, delivering a ‘feel good’ experience. This inclusive attitude needs to be reflected in all dealings with the station from a live receptionist answering incoming calls through to sales staff and on-air talent.
• Insist all listeners and colleagues are treated respectfully, with good manners, and in a timely fashion.
• Get involved with local community needs and causes – on the air and in the street.
• Create ‘good news’ features. Involve younger and older people in these stories.
• Celebrate successes of listeners and community leaders and highlight people who make a difference in the community.
• Establish station events where listeners get together to have fun.
3) Populate the Station with Real People
Women can ‘feel’ when air talent and news presenters have authentic personalities, and are more likely to connect emotionally with sincere people and develop loyal listening patterns.
• Employ true personalities, funny and interesting people who would make good neighbors.
• Choose people who are active in the ‘real world’ and passionate about life and can talk from their hearts about the stories that matter in their community.
• Encourage hospitality, consideration and respect in all encounters with listeners.
• Avoid ‘empty-head’ voices, with little to say other than repeating positioning statements bragging about how great the station is. One female-targeted music station ran the same liner every hour, insisting they were good company for women, even though there was never a live body behind the mic. Women get it that radio liners do not make good neighbors.
4) Cover Real News
Real news coverage and authentic journalism have taken a beating in the past fifteen years, in the aftermath of media consolidation. Thousands of reporters and journalists were forced out of newsrooms. This has resulted in dwindling quality news coverage, less local coverage and an increase in superficial “info-tainment” news. How is this going over for women? Not so good. To illustrate: few comments from women on one such fake ‘news’ story:
“YAHOO NEWS: Get the Look: Nab Pippa Middleton’s Chic Ruffle Dress”
Anne: “Why is Yahoo always plugging these women? Is there some kind of cash deal to list them so many times a week? There are way more interesting women out there who are more fashionable and that have something to say! ENOUGH ALREADY”
missy1972: “People are dying, murders committed, kids missing, but let’s make Pippa’s dress the topic of the day. Seriously Yahoo, give me a story that isn’t for the brain dead.”
Debra: “Get a job, writer. There are people in your neighborhood who need food, housing and medical attention which should be more on people’s minds than anyone wearing a dress priced over $200.”
The “Mainstream Media” has gained a reputation for not covering much more than a few headline/propaganda/celebrity stories. People have a hunger for wanting to know what is really going on outside their front door. This means opportunity to win with news coverage that has true content and value for the listener.
- Women have a high interest in what is happening in the world around them, and are looking for concise and professional coverage of the key elements they need to know everyday. This includes: local, regional and national news, sports, business, education, humor, health and wellness, spirituality, technology, self-improvement and personal finances.
• Even with music format, invest in a solid newsroom team, which can develop and follow up on original local stories, rather than echo national headlines.
• Having live bodies covering heavy weather and other local emergencies would be one sure way to stand out in today’s over-automated radio world.
• Make the time for discussions and interviews about the relevant news that is happening in the community, especially since most female targeted formats/competitors are endlessly recycling boring celebrity gossip and fluff news.
• Involve citizen journalists to tell the story as they see it from the street.
• Could this item become an interesting story locally? A woman recently commented on a FM NEWS 101.1 blog: “Right now I want to know what has happened to all of the birds in my yard. They’re gone. I found at least 3 dead birds this summer and the County of DuPage Health Dept told me last week that next year I should have them tested for West Nile Virus. I have lived in this house for 34 years and have always had nuisance birds and Robins and I’m sitting on the porch with no chirping anywhere in my 1/2 acre yard.”
5) Men Will Like It Too!
When stations learn how to program what women really want to listen to, there will be an added bonus – a lot of guys will also be tuning in. Unfortunately, men have also been heavily stereotyped into a corner by radio programmers. Many men would appreciate a more holistic and humane approach in news/talk and music programming. A great station for women also means a great station for all listeners.
Liz Janik, President of Janik Media, specializes in researching and strategic positioning of radio formats. She can be reached at 905.454.3865
