WHAT DO LISTENERS WANT?

Valerie Geller is one of the best talent coaches out there.  This is too good not to share. 

John Paul

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WHAT DO LISTENERS WANT?

From Valerie Geller

Your listeners want to be informed and entertained and have fun. They want new knowledge. If they are alone in a room or alone in a car maybe they just do not want to feel alone. Listeners are hungry to feel connected in a somewhat isolated world that they find themselves in.

A listener wants a connection, or to “feel at home” with or comfortable with the person on air. They like to feel they “know” the person on air. Sometimes listeners like a little help in making up their minds. Say they are not completely certain of what they may think about a subject or topic, here they can get enough information or opinion or viewpoints to make up their minds. And in commercial radio, when the spots are effective, listeners say they like to learn about bargains, new products or services. And if a listener is having a down or despairing black moment, he or she wants to be lifted out of that mood.

We are lucky. Most people out there listening do not have exciting lives or careers. Because of this, listeners also desire “talk able topics.” They want to be able to turn the radio off and have ideas and interesting new things to say to people.

Listeners also want vicarious experiences. They like to be taken on journeys they cannot get to on their own. And everybody loves to laugh. If you can make a listener laugh, it’s like handing them a solid chunk of gold.

Listeners to your station like to be in the know, they like learning new things. It works if you can give them material they can talk about. Listeners also want you to get ahead and lead them and give them ideas, things to think about.


Valerie Geller is president of broadcast consulting firm Geller Media International; she leads workshops and seminars and trains broadcasters to become more powerful communicators in the digital world. She also is author of “Beyond Powerful Radio: A Communicator’s Guide to the Internet Age.” gellermedia.com