Use Listeners' Time Wisely

We heard it again last week: another air talent telling us they try to do their bits in three minutes or less. That's time listeners no longer invest in anything. Attention spans are shorter now than ever before. Today there are multiple stations, competitive media and so many choices. Imagine you're on TV and the listener has the remote control aimed at the screen. That's the best reason to edit bits to their finest content.

Three minutes? You have three seconds before listeners make a decision to give their attention and stay -- or leave -- your station. That's three seconds of a jock's comments, promo or a commercial ... so hook them or lose them. This fact should be known by every air talent and program director. We call it the "remote control effect," similar to what TV viewers do when surfing channels, and the three-second rule is a fact of life. For radio, if the air talent fails to connect in the first few seconds, the result is often "tune-out" measured instantly by PPM-metered ratings. Even if they stay physically tuned, they may turn their attention to other things and allow their radio to become "noise."

Great talents engage their listeners from the first few words and give them a reason to keep paying attention. They carefully craft material in their own words and avoid extraneous detail. While there is no set length for the perfect bit, the best advice is to use only the time you need and keep the listener as engaged as possible. Edit, Edit, Edit. If it sounds like lesser material or filler, leave it out. Leave listeners wanting more ... not less.