The Right Tool For The Job

It was just sitting there at the edge of the supermarket parking lot, practically screaming for attention, a bright yellow McLaren. You know McLarens, extremely powerful , fast, and expensive sports cars, built for racing and for very rich people to demonstrate how very rich they are. Mission accomplished, I guess.

The location was, however, incongruous. You don't expect a McLaren in the Ralphs parking lot, even in an area where you see Ferraris and Lambos and Bentleys. (Note: I do not drive a Ferrari, Lambo, Bentley, or McLaren.) It doesn't belong there because it seems silly; Even if you can afford a McLaren, even if you can handle it, is it the best option to drive one to the grocery? Can you even fir your purchases in it? Where are you going to put the 12-roll pack of Quilted Northern? Strap it to the roof? And what are you going to do about shopping cart dings? Besides, most people can't really handle any really powerful car, not the ones made for racing. They're built for a racetrack, not for Hawthorne Blvd. A car built to do up to 200 mph isn't built for stop-and-go, or for the short, 40 mph scoot to pick up milk and Chips Ahoy.

In short, it's the wrong tool for the job. That's not to say it's wrong, period -- they're great cars, and if you have the money and want to advertise that fact, more power to you -- but even if you CAN afford a McLaren, it's probably a good idea to leave it in the garage and have a Buick or Kia around for popping over to the Costco or the Carl's Jr. drive-thru. Small, expensive, and extremely fast is fine for some purposes, but cargo room and fast enough for the speed limit have their place, too.

The idea of using the right tool for the job can be instructive in radio, too, as the industry continues to adjust to technological upheaval. Every radio company has some kind of digital presence now, but some of them seem to be uncertain about their approach to each option. Here's one way to look at things:

Broadcast radio's strong suits are the ability to be live, ubiquitous, and free. Okay, you put live broadcasts on there. People want entertainment that they can dip into and out of at random as they go about their day and get in and out of their cars. Appointment listening used to be the goal, but there are better places for that.

Like podcasting. Unlike broadcast radio, people are making the conscious decision to listen to particular shows. That's better for shows that are meant to be listened to from beginning to end. But it's less well-built for timeliness; if there's breaking news, you're not going to be getting it from podcasts. Podcasts, then, are the right tool for deeper dives into what's going on, for analysis and commentary. They're also ideal for content that's not time-sensitive, like comedy and true crime and scripted fiction just like the days when people gathered in front of the Crosley for the evening's entertainment.

Streaming offers live options, just like broadcasting, but it takes more effort to get there -- it's still a pain to stream in your car -- and the advantages are the ability to be heard anywhere there's internet access, unrestricted by broadcast signal limitations. Oh, and one other thing: You can have as many streams as you want. The only limitation is how much bandwidth you can afford. That means that the best use for streaming, besides allowing your broadcast signals to reach a different and wider audience, is to offer more specialized streams. It's an opportunity to offer live programming to narrower audiences, with topics and music and personalities that may not work on a mass-audience broadcasting signal but have a salable audience to target.

Smart speakers? They deliver podcasts and streams, but judging by the early returns, that's not what most people are using them for. They're not the "new radio," they're a different medium. Shorter content seems to be the rule here. If users ask Alexa for the news, you can have flash briefings or other short-form content at the ready. (Just make sure you promote it. Listeners don't know they can ask for your news if they don't know that it's an available option in the first place. And make it easy for them to ask for you.)

Social media is for immediate, breaking news. It's also for engagement. You're still not likely to change listener habits back to the days when phone calls were a huge part of talk radio, but they're still looking to engage, just on Facebook and Twitter (and TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram and Nextdoor). That's separate programming, but if you're trying to sell engagement, social media's the right tool.

That's what's in your toolbox. (Video, too, actually. And your website. But it's Friday and I want to get this thing done already.) You pick the tool you need for the job. You don't use a wrench to pound a nail into the wall. You don't take the Lambo out of the garage to participate in a monster truck competition. You don't do breaking news on a podcast. You CAN do it, but you SHOULD use each medium for which it's best suited. You may not be able to get that Costco-sized package of paper towels into your McLaren, but it'll be better on the racetrack than a Ford Explorer. So race it, take the Explorer to Costco, broadcast live on AM/FM, go deep or non-time-sensitive on podcasts, narrowcast on streaming, do quick-and-current on Alexa, break headlines and go back-and-forth with listeners on Twitter and Facebook. Call it Audio Content Optimization.

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Speaking of tools... okay, stop snickering. I walked into that one. Anyway, check out Talk Topics, All Access News-Talk-Sports' show prep column with lots of stories for your talking needs, available by simply clicking here and/or following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item.

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Heads up: no columns for the next two weeks; All Access will be closed on July 3rd for the long holiday weekend, and then I'll be off the following week. I'm sure you'll manage without me. Enjoy the break.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
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