When Does TSL Really Happen?

As the Portable People Meter comes into our world, the old system of keeping a diary will eventually fade away. My feeling is that for most markets, the People Meter is at least three to five years away from being reality. Therefore, the following is an extremely important document on how to ensure that you hit your target -- the diary keeper (the person who votes) -- in your market and increase your ratings and revenue.

TSL (Time Spent Listening) is thought to be having someone listen to your station for a certain period of time, with that listening being instantly recorded/documented as it happens.

Not true! Sweeping music across the quarter hour and other games do NOT lengthen TSL. The average person listens to radio approximately two hours a day and samples three different stations within that one day of listening. Therefore, take that two hours a day, which is 120 minutes, and divide it by the three stations they have sampled, and you will find that you have someone using radio for about 45 minutes to one hour a day ... NOT all-in-a-row.

Listeners take "snapshots" of your programming throughout the day ... a little bit in morning drive, a bit during the workday, and then some in the afternoon. If you look at your research you will see that after 7:00 pm, the bell-shaped curve drops significantly with the 25+ demo as they go to TV, family, movies, etc. Therefore, it gets down to the benchmarks or "triggers" built into your programming throughout the day that are memorable.

Why should someone remember that they spent more time with your station as opposed to the other two stations that they also listened to that day? Is your product compelling, fun, interesting? Do you have your jocks making "appointments" with the listeners to listen at specific times throughout the day for specific events, features, bits, etc.? Do you have MEMORABLE benchmarks that help to trigger diary recall?

The biggest mistake we make in radio programming today is over-estimating product knowledge on the part of the listener. We tend to assume that they know everything we do on the air ... every promo, contest, etc. That is not even near reality!

Radio is an appliance to the average listener ... a toaster, toilet, microwave oven, period. The scary thing is that people can (and some do) live life without using radio! Radio is FREE to listen to. You don't have to pay $10 for station "A" and $20 for station "B." So why should they remember what station they listen to?

Music is not a strong enough benchmark to make you #1. Don't get me wrong ... music is important, but to reach the full potential of your radio station in the ratings, there must be more to your station than just a music image or "18 in a row."

In a recent seminar at a major Ivy League college, students were asked to raise their hands if they had listened to a local radio station in the past 7 days. Out of the 350 students in that auditorium, NONE raised their hands!!!

When probed, they admitted to listening on the Internet, and listing to iPods/downloaded music, CD's, and watching VH-1 and MTV. When asked why, they said there wasn't anything "interesting" on local radio. That, my friend, is a sad testament to our industry and what we do for a living!

If we as an industry don't start getting back to what made us famous, i.e.: localism, fun, personality, local news & traffic ... "the basics" that listeners tell us over and over again they want from their favorite radio station, we are doomed to declining ratings and revenue.

We as broadcasters tend to say "to hell with what they want ... we know what radio needs and should be doing." That is the quickest route to the bottom of the ratings stack. Give the listeners what they want when they tune into your station. Meet their expectations! When someone tunes into your station, there is a certain expectation as to what they will get. If you don't deliver or meet that expectation, they will go somewhere else to be fulfilled.

For example, if you go to McDonalds and ask for a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke and they say, "sorry, all we have is beer, ribs and sushi," what would you think? What would you do?

The same is true for a radio station. Consistency is the key to success. Meet the expectations of the listener and deliver on the promise of being what you say you are. Never make them guess what is on your menu.

There are about 15 "little things" that make up a successful #1 radio station; i.e.: fun, (in presentation and sound) community reflection and involvement, personality from jocks, localism, news & information, lifestyle information that your P-1 listeners want and need to know, contests and promotions that fit your station's image and the listener's lifestyle, and the list goes one and on.

So ... when does TSL really happen? Over 75% of people who fill out an Arbitron diary do so between 7-11p. When a person sits down and puts a pen to the diary and fills it out, that one instant is when TSL is really happening. They are "un-aided" trying to recall what they "perceive" they actually listened to over the past 12, 24, or 48 hours.

What station comes to mind first and why does that specific station command top of mind awareness more than the others they have sampled? Ask yourself this question: What did you have for lunch last Thursday? Can't remember? Of course not. Why? It wasn't all that important. Right?

Damn, eating to stay alive is a very important human function, isn't it? So, if you can't remember what you had for lunch last Thursday, then why should you remember what radio station you listened to in the past 24 to 48 hours?

That's right ... there is no such thing as quarter hour maintenance. Never has been, never will be. That term in and of itself means that someone is filling out a diary every 15 minutes all day. Not true!

Look at your station and your product as a listener, and NOT as a radio person. Don't try to program your station to impress other radio people, corporate PD's, etc. Program your radio station for the diary keeper in your market ... period!