The attitude of your station is often based on the transitions between commercials and programming. Bumper music is a tool to create a sound signature for a news/talk station.
For years, program directors have allowed hosts and producers to pick out these transition pieces that define the station. It’s a terrible idea. Talk show hosts and producers should never pick the bumper music.
Many talk show hosts transition to news/talk after they aged out of country, rock, AC, classic hits, and CHR stations. Generally speaking, these hosts loved the format that they had been working in for years. They loved the music that was played when they were jocks.
There’s nothing wrong with having passion for the format, but this is news/talk, and the target listener may be really different from the music the host loves. Did the jock pick songs on the format they transitioned from? No! Why? It is about the station’s focus on the mission of that particular station. I will go through the formats and help you find appropriate bumper music.
Contemporary Hit Radio is one of the most popular formats. They are focused on women 18-34. The core message of this format is about going to the club, love, breakups, etc. Taylor Swift has been a huge artist in this sphere for over a decade. She has a monster tour going on now. The audience? Women. The only men there are hubbies, boyfriends, and dads. News/talk’s audience in most cases? Men.
I was listening to a host go on and on about how much he loved Taylor Swift. That she was an amazing artist. Ok, buddy, dial that back. She is an amazing artist, but is she a favorite artist of your core audience? No. Everything on the station should sound exactly like the lifestyle of the target listener. Many hosts come from that format, and some are huge stars like Glenn Beck. Rush Limbaugh played top-40 back in the day. In one market where I worked, the morning and afternoon drive hosts came from CHR.
Country is a huge format with a big audience. The values demonstrated by the lyrics and artist’s attitudes would seem to be a natural fit for news/talk.
Well, here are some facts: country is focused on women 18-34. The audience tends to be poorly educated, the audience also makes less money. These are not good fits for news/talk.
The demographics for news/talk are male, homeowners, and some college, or more. Of course, there are some news/talk listeners who love country music, but it is not the average listener of the format.
Classic Hits or AC are both huge formats. Classic Hits can be 50 percent male in listenership. AC tends to be 65% women. Here is my concern about Classic Hits: The format generally feeds into the older end of your audience. About ½ of these songs are too soft for a male listener. News/talk needs to be focused on the sound that transitions people in their early 40s to the format. If the bumper music is too old, you are coming across as the geezer station.
Active or Classic Rock are both very likely to share more audience with this format unless you have a news/talk competitor. These formats are focused on men. Now a warning about classic rock, some of the playlists on these stations can be 50 years old. Be careful not to sound like the favorite station of a 45-year-old’s dad. There is a balance.
I have 3 songs from the 70s in my bumper rotation. God Save The Queen by The Sex Pistols, Cold Gin by Kiss, and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC. If these songs play once a week, it is a miracle. They have the right attitude. I generally avoid hair metal songs. I personally love hair metal, but most of the songs sound really dated.
I do play some active rock songs. I seek attitude. I use a lot of songs from the Grunge era.
I find great selections from the alternative format. Many of the songs have a retro feel that will resonate with your audience but not overpower the host.
Here are some of the artists that I am using right now for bumper music:
The Killers
Foo Fighters
Metallica
Megadeth
U2
Nirvana
Stone Temple Pilots
Black Keys
The Interrupters
Weezer
Linkin Park
Twenty-One Pilots
The Offspring
Green Day
System of a Down
Paramore
The Godfathers
The Raconteurs
Yungblood
Fall Out Boy
3 Days Grace
Nickelback
Imagine Dragons
Oasis
Trapt
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
All of these songs provide energy coming out of the break and set the mood for the segment. My station uses Wide Orbit, so I can make some songs run every time they come up in rotation or make them only available 5 hours a week. There are some songs that only play every other week and some that play weekly.
I cater bumper music to the feel of the station and the market. I always find that each station has a special and unique feel. Every station is a living breathing entity.
Letting the host pick the bumper music can be death. Disc Jockeys on any music station follow the playlist. Keep your station focused on your target demographics. Keep your hosts focused on compelling content.
Every market is different. Look at the cume duplication report from Nielsen. Don’t look where your audience is going, check where the competition’s cume is landing. It will give you an idea of what music station listeners are checking your station out.
Peter Thiele is a weekly news/talk radio columnist for Barrett Media, and an experienced news/talk radio programmer. He recently served as program director for WHO/KXNO in Des Moines, IA. Prior to that role he held programming positions in New York City, San Francisco, Little Rock, Greenville, Hunstville, and Joplin. Peter has also worked as a host, account executive and producer in Minneapolis, and San Antonio. He can be found on Twitter at @PeterThiele.
