IS COUNTRY RADIO TARGETED TOO YOUNG?

I'm really nervous for the next 18-24 months for country radio.  Everything is so focused 18-34 (music out of Nashville, many country stations are now making 18-34 their #1 target, not 25-54 or 18-49).  18-34 year olds are fickle.  They love what's cool now, but will leave in an instant when the "next big thing" comes along or they get bored.  

With all the focusing on 18-34's, we are blowing off our 35-54 core.  They are already starting to leave the format.  According to Country Consultant Jaye Albright, “the 35-44 country share is down from 16.0 to 14.7 to the lowest point in the history of the tracking.  Meanwhile, county's 12+ share is the highest ever, 14.1 up from 13.3 last year on the strength of the younger side.  As always, the music biz sells more to 18-34 so they want us to go there in spite of the HUGE 45+ audience and even those Gen Xers.” 



Nielsen Radio Today tracking, maintained by A&O&B

If our 35-54's leave and 18-34's find something "new and shiny" and they leave, country radio's healthy ratings will crater.  It could get real ugly.

We need to be careful not to go too young. Country radio's success has always come from having a wide target.  I always say our format works from "birth until death."  Up until now, it's always been a real mass appeal format.  I fear that is changing.

Remember "Young Country" in the 90's?  It didn't take long for all of those "Young Country" stations to go away.  

As radio programmers, we need make sure that we always have a wide variety of music in each quarter hour.  Don't ignore 35-54's (they are far more loyal than 18-34's).  Be careful of songs that are too abrasive.  Radio's bread and butter is daytime, at work listening.  If we play music that won't work for the at work listener, we'll be in trouble.  AC and Hot AC will benefit.

RULES FOR LISTENERS?

I was listening to a local talk station the other day and they ran a bumper before the show started that said "our only rule is that you can only call once a week."  Really?  Why are you limiting your most passionate and loyal listener to only calling once per week?  Who cares how often they call?  That's the call screeners job to weed them out if they aren't compelling.  If they are smart, articulate and compelling, let them call all they want and put them on the air.  Let them be the star of the show.  That's a really dumb rule.

Since I'm on a rant about dumb rules, I hate the "you can only win once in every 30 days rule."  It has never made sense to me, unless it's a big chunk of cash they are winning, but if it's a smaller prize, who cares how often they win?  Unless we bring it to their attention, most listeners will never know if a winner has had multiple winnings.  Research shows that these people are the ones that would be most likely to say yes to a PPM or diary survey if asked, they are heavy users of the station and are talking about your station to their friends.  You're going to tell them once they win, they should go listen to another station for 30 days and try to win their prize before they come back?  That's a dumb rule.  Let the "Prize Pigs" win (can you image if these loyal listeners knew we called them "Prize Pigs?")  Other businesses reward this kind of repeat business, but radio doesn't.  Can you image Safeway calling their most loyal customers "Shopping Pigs" because they may come in 3-4 times per week to shop?  I bet that customer would find another store pretty fast.

Listeners have a lot more going on in their life than the radio.  Why make it hard on them to listen?We need to make it as easy and rules free as possible for them. 

The harder we make it with dumb rules, the less they will listen. 

MUSIC RADIO WITHOUT DJ'S

Gary Theroux wrote this and it was recently in Radio-Info.com.  It's spectacular.

 

Music radio without DJs is like listening to someone else’s very limited capacity iPod that’s been infected with commercials.

 

I was inspired to write this after reading yesterday’s piece (7/29) by Duane Doobie, Bring Back the Disc Jockey” in RadioInfo. OF COURSE the DJ plays an essential role in making music radio attractive. One must keep in mind that the number one reason why anyone turns on the radio — be they in their car, in the office, by the pool, on a picnic, in a hammock, in the kitchen or up a tree — is COMPANIONSHIP.

That voice you hear belongs to your unseen friend who is right there beside you, full of fun, compelling, thought-provoking, engaging things to say for you to hear. And if the entertainment they’re providing is compelling enough, after you turn into your driveway and shut the motor off, you’ll click the RADIO back on — because you’re afraid that if you don’t, you’ll miss something great. When was the last time you heard radio like that?

Music radio without DJs is like listening to someone else’s very limited capacity iPod that’s been infected with commercials. The only spoken words you hear are either the content of spots or station slogans rendered meaningless (and annoying) by endless repetition. With the element of companionship stripped out, the only remaining attraction is the music — which is showcased as if it is generic audio wallpaper unworthy of even being identified (violating one of listeners’ most frequently cited gripes: stations which fail to ID the music). Such broadcasters, viewing each track as simply filler between the commercials, act as if every song they play is simply a clone of the one before and the one that follows — which sadly enough (thanks to ultra-narrowcasting), IS too often the case. (Talk about broadcast boredom!)

So how do listeners feel about faceless, personality-free radio which is clearly designed to NOT engage them — particularly when every quarter hour sounds exactly like every other quarter hour 24/7?  They come to realize that if they tune out for an hour, a week, a month or a year THEY AREN’T GOING TO MISS A THING. Rather than being as essential to their being as their heartbeat, radio that doesn’t compel them to listen drifts in that tragic territory known as “Not Needed.”

First-rate radio DJs are both skilled entertainers and super salesmen. Through a blend of insight into the audience and the music, humor and knowing how to work their voices for maximum effect, they SELL not only the music but the audience on the idea that this is the radio station most in gear with the likes, views and interests of you the listener. Not having DJs is like stocking a store with merchandise but forgetting to hire anyone to sell it — with a friendly greeting, a genuine interest in filling the needs of each customer, building a rapport, showing them OTHER stuff they hadn’t thought of but might like to buy, closing the sale and then insuring the customer that the same great service they just enjoyed will be there for them every time they stop by. Again, note that the “sales” I am referring to is a lot more than simply what the station’s advertisers are offering. It is selling the STATION, its music and its overall personality — as expressed via the DJs’ comments, vocal tones and their individual personalities.

From www.radio-info.com.