Thank you for the feedback on my column touching on CHR’s proclivity of late to play 20, 25 even 30-year-old gold. Certainly, an argument and a strategy that 45-year-olds are heavier users, giving radio more QHs and the most direct path to a ratings/revenue win is to play to them at CHR and worry less about breaking new music or focusing on the old “Hot Hits” like 30 song playlist. Radio was told by agencies local and national that advertisers wanted 25-54, and that meant getting younger on adult stations (we’ll circle back to that) and older at contemporary formats, particularly CHR, abandoning any effort to be “the teen station” or even the 12-34 station in a market. Combine this fact with increasingly mediocre programming caused by the continuous cutting of innovation and resources, new technology, and choices, and TSL has fallen off a cliff among young people. Unless we’ve decided as an industry collective, we are going to target this last group of 35-54-year-olds who grew up with radio until they age out and then give up and turn in our licenses; we ought to: 1) get younger at CHR (and other contemporary formats and 2) ALSO not be afraid to get older at gold formats.
CHR needs to engage younger listeners, and the only way to do it is first to learn to talk to them. That’ll mean innovating and trying new content on the air and probably returning to some vintage tactics that will feel new again, as it has been so long since they’ve been used. It involves hiring talent, marketing, a sales staff that gets the excitement of a young forefront format and radio station plus, embracing new music and current music and not relying on gold and certainly not 20+ year old titles. That will also require a rebuild of the artist-label-management-radio echo system and not just with the big guys, with independent artists and labels too. CHR just hasn’t been cutting-edge for far too long.
Second, whether it’s the programming options that drive Sirius XM subscribers, listening to online stations, streaming, Music Choice on cable, or even YouTube channels, there is a huge appetite for older hits and more niche formats within them. Radio needs to reengage the 50+ audience who have been turned off by the tight playlists, pre-1975 music leaving the air mostly, long stop sets, etc. This also requires talent, marketing, and a sales force that understands and will sell the format with the knowledge that baby boomers have enormous disposable income and will spend it when they want to. As a matter of fact, boomers have just about all the disposable consumer income in the US.
Does radio have the will to double down and do it? That’s another question…
Robby Bridges works for Press Communications where he serves as the VP of Programming for 99.7 and 107.1 The Boss. He also hosts the morning show ‘Robby and Rochelle’ alongside his wife, Rochelle. He’s been with the company/stations since September, 2021.
Prior to arriving in New Jersey, Robby spent decades working across the country in many top markets for many highly successful brands. Among them include Z100, WPLJ and Q102. He has also worked in Detroit, Boston, Providence, Portsmouth, NH, and served as an exclusive guest host for Scott Shannon on the True Oldies Channel.
To get in touch, reach Robby by email at RobbyBridges@hotmail.com.
