Working in radio for the past ten years has brought forth quite a few lessons in business and people. I've had the privilege of working in a few different formats (news, talk, sports, and presently, music radio) and though the dynamics may be slightly different, the application of product knowledge and marketing are essentially the same. You are in a business where you want to attract the greatest number of listeners for the longest length of time to expose them to your advertisers' commercials. In turn, these potential consumers would patronize the advertisers from the compelling commercials aired on said station and upon seeing the increase in sales would maintain, if not increase, the monies spent with the station to increase more foot traffic to their businesses. However, the main goal of attracting listeners to your radio station must be from a good quality product.
That raises the question of what is quality programming to your radio station. This simple endeavor has started many stations from the ground up, brought in people who evaluate and cultivate radio show talent for networks large and small, inflated egos and broken spirits, and all with the end goal of raising advertising revenues. Some of these consultants and talent coaches are former executives of radio firms, program directors, or even former DJs and show hosts who think they have a keen insight into trends and the pulse of your audience. You can lease those acute perceptions for a fee, of course. How high usually depends on how well their research has worked before for other clients. Others are just the cost of one's own swollen and wounded pride after they were likely unceremoniously let go after a station format flip or new owners ran out the previous employee roster.
That said, radio in its infancy was a remarkable invention and served great tactical and practical uses in the military and navigation fields, but then was commercially utilized in such a manner of everyday life that whole families gathered around the radio to enjoy several programs throughout the week. As other broadcast technology evolved, such as television, radio had to do something else to reinvent itself to the consumer. In the 1950's, the process of completely remodeling radio began. Sadly, it has been coasting on that paradigm ever since. Then, in the early 90s, the world of radio took a pass at looking at the internet as another avenue for listeners until websites took their listeners away years down the road.
Television turned out to be a weathered storm for radio, but with the digital age, radio is being outpaced by mere portability. Some formats will always have a place on the dial such as news, talk, and sports. However, music radio is in a rather difficult spot. Beyond the world of mp3 players and internet radio is on demand music access. At the touch of a button on a phone, you can have access to any song and commercial free music service on the net, if your phone is capable that is. There are satellite radio services that broadcast for a fee, with limited commercials, but with a wide variety of channel offerings. I find it ironic that many mp3 players have FM tuners, but wished the ones I buy had an AM tuner. The AM band is the home of my local sports stations, but I digress.
In the time radio has expanded and shrunk in cycles, one thing remained the same. The science of building and refining content has become something of soothsaying by peer committees. With everyone caught up in acronyms of TSL and AQH, it morphs into a mighty catch all, WTF. By design of the advertising principles pointed out in the above paragraphs, there must be an appeal to the audience the format is targeting, naturally. That appeal has not been tracked properly. There is a discernible lack of originality in so many stations across the music format spectrum and I am engaged in such discussions on a daily basis with the very people these people are targeting. Working professionals, both blue and white collars, who have discretionary dollars in their wallets to spend.
The overwhelming reaction and criticism I hear of any station comes down to too much repetition and regurgitation of the same songs almost in the same place. Be it CHR, Urban, Country, Rock, etc. It all follows the same pattern and it leads to the same end result. More people tuning out and powering on their own playlists that they set themselves. Not to mention that with the advent of technology, MySpace Music, and just good old fashioned seeking, there is no longer an authoritative stance that radio can take for unveiling new music. If that hot new band from Sri Lanka takes off around the world, you won't hear it in the States until years later. Same goes for Taiwan, Brazil, and Poland. Techno, hip hop, rock, or any genre. Many bands go unheard of for almost a decade at least in this country, because simply put, if an artist doesn't sound like something already on the radio, it doesn't get on the radio. The exceptions to that rule is if it heavily sells its way through the underground with pure numbers or there is a major label push for an act to be on the radio. (I'm aware of other countries and their restrictions on radio, such as France's language requirement)
This leads to the "tried and true" version of radio that we(at least I) have experienced ever since around 1993. A few stations across the country shake things up and buck the trend to define their station as something wholly unique. For that, they get my admiration and applause. We need more leaders, not followers. We need people to stand up and put forth the effort to make stations that sound like nothing else on the air. Don't fear what you might lose. Take heart in what you could achieve in numbers, listeners and yes, advertisers.
Radio