|
According to the
latest research radio has grown its audience by more than 500,000
weekly listeners from one year ago and now reaches 242.2 Million
people twelve and over during an average week. Arbitron also says
daily Time Spent Listening to radio among persons age 12 and older
held steady (2 hours and 35 minutes a day). The report also shows
radio also saw gains in the Hispanic audience across all major
demographic groups while the while the Black (non-Hispanic) audience
remained steady year over year.
While this is very
good news for radio as a whole it should not be seen as a right of
massage, as in, “We weathered the storm of new media.” More than
anything this means that the window of opportunity is still open to
better connect with our listeners to forge a tighter bond with them.
It should also be known that this window will not stay open
indefinitely. We are clearly hearing through our focus groups and
other research that the tolerance for average radio is shrinking
fast.
Radio stations that
rely on being primarily a music-service; with little true focus on
personality, will eventually fade away. It’s already happening in
many markets. Make no mistake, music accuracy is as important as
ever but should be seen as the front-line price of admission, not
the lone-magnet of the game. It is clear that the personality is the
one that convinces people to come back to the radio station and to
stay with the radio station. The varying degrees of effectiveness in
this area depend on how good the personality is.
You can see how
important the investment in strong personalities is, yet there is
less and less coaching happening than ever before and very few
rehearse their content before going on the air with it. The call to
let spontaneity rule is a fatal flaw for many personalities, not
realizing that what sounds like great spontaneity from great
personalities is actually the result of expert planning and
rehearsal. Do the best you can right away.
Brian is a 30 year radio veteran
who has successfully served many companies over the years as Program
Director, Operations Manger and VP of programming. After many years
of success working for individual radio stations and clusters, Brian
Joined one of the most trusted consulting firms in the country,
Audience Development Group. For the last 15 years Wright has enjoyed
building alliances with scores of stations in the US & Canada
helping them grow in ratings and revenue. Contact Brian at
brian@audiencedevelopmentgroup.com
|
