The Future of Radio … is Listener-Focused

For years radio has relied heavily on hype and not so much on compelling content. Why? Because it's easier to come up with hype than to find and develop talent. As you look at your target listener today, it is important to understand that they have much less in common with that same target of 10 years ago. The hype of "more music," "better contests," "10 in a row," etc., usually has no positive impact on them. In fact, it may actually be a negative because it is viewed as empty hype. Listeners are not looking for hype, they are looking for a companion that has a lot in common with them. And that's where your station comes in.

What do you do for your listeners?

First you provide the welcome mat for them by developing a strong statement of what you are to them. Make sure this statement is a strong listener benefit. They are the only ones that fulfill their purpose. Don't make this statement too thought-provoking or deep, or it will pass over their heads. The deepening of relationships with your audience comes from personality content and music, not from slug lines or phrases.

Music … is only the price of admission. The relationship-building comes from your personalities and your imaging.

Interacting with your listeners is the single most important step you need to take to create an emotional connection with your audience. Short-burst interaction with and about your listeners' thoughts and feelings is what differentiates us from the other stations and other mediums. A mother of two telling of how happy she and her kids were to be able to go to the concert you sent them to will not show up on iPods, broadband radio, CDs, and most other radio stations. We need to become known as the interactive station because it makes us all about them. I recommend that your station have at least one type of audience interaction every quarter-hour. These do not need to be themed or ongoing going topics or even part of some elaborate bit. Instead they need to be free-flowing thoughts and feelings from our listeners.

What it means to focus on the listener

I believe we need to change our thoughts about the way we image our stations as well. For years we have used listeners to accentuate our stations. I believe we need to change that so our radio stations accentuate our listeners' lives instead. In the long run, this will build deep and long-lasting relationships with our audience. These relationships will far outlive the thin associations we get from hype. Here is an example of what I mean:

OLD WAY: "Oh, I love 100.5 WADG. They play the best music and have the best prizes."

NEW WAY: "Getting the kids off to school can be really tough. They want this, they want that.... Then I go to work, and it's the same thing. That's why I love to turn on 100.5 WADG, because they give me what I want."

The new way is a story about them and how we can accentuate their lives, not about us. These listener enhancers may take a few more seconds, but they really align the radio station with the listeners' lives. And that's what matters.

Our level of success in reaching more people in the future will be proportionate to our ability to make a radio station focused on the listener's needs. Music is very important, but it is only the price of admission. The relationship-building comes from your personalities and your imaging.

Ideas for listener-focused imaging

Here are more ideas for your listener-focused imaging:

1. "By the time I drive to work, it feels like I've already put in a full day, and I wonder how I'm going to find the energy to make it through the rest of day. It always helps to turn on 100.5 WADG. They are more like a friend than a radio station."
2. "I have no idea how I'm going to get all of my shopping done for Christmas. There's just so much to get and not much time at all. But when I turn on 100.5 WADG, it helps me take my mind off of it all."
3. "I knew I shouldn't have tried to ski the Double Diamond hill. But I thought I could do it.... I'll be laid up for a few days, but I can always turn on 100.5 WADG. They're like a friend who doesn't look at my cast all the time."
4. "After it snows a lot, my kids are always asking me, 'Do we get to stay home from school? Do we?' I know they want to stay home just as much as I'd like to stay home from work and be with them. When they heard on 100.5 WADG that school was canceled, they were overjoyed."
5. "I finally got done with all of the yard work I had to do. I didn't think I would ever get through it all. I had 100.5 WADG on the whole time. It was a lot better than listening to my neighbor's dog barking all day."
6. "My doctor told me that it would be a good idea to start walking every day for about 45 minutes. I sure do feel better, and I've dropped a few pounds too. It's really kinda fun, and every once in a while 100.5 WADG plays a song for me and that makes me feel good too."
7. "I love to spend time with friends. My friend Steve is always there for me when I need help with my car or something around the house. I even heard him dedicate a song to me on 100.5 WADG last night. It was great."
8. "Have you ever wondered how to dress your kids when you're trying to get them ready in the morning? If it wasn't for 100.5 WADG's 'What To Wear Weather,' I wouldn't have a clue."

The production of these liners is critical for them to work properly. I recommend that you have people from your local theater group record these. Then mix them in with any actual listener comments you can round up. Don't accept anything but greatness with these liners. Do not use phone calls for these enhancers. They are far too difficult to hear over the road noise in automobiles.

All of these points take thought and time to set up, but they are all very worth your concentration and energy. You may be saying, "We are already doing this here at our station." If so, that's great, but more than likely you are not. The last five people I've talked to about this said that, and when we listened to what they thought was "listener-focused," it was really just the listener focusing first and foremost on the station.

Have fun creating a radio station that accentuates the lives of your listeners. They will love you for it and reward you with record-high TSL, and they will tell others about you so your cume will grow too.