Veteran broadcasters remember a Radio Bible? The Program Director would distribute it as part of the onboarding process once you joined a team.
Built – literally – so every team member would be on ‘the same page’.
The contents were (among other things) part strategy education, part tactical approach to the brand and who we’re trying to attract.
On and off air.
The Adult Contemporary Playbook universally covers the market-dependent and prevailing strategic landscape forces, including the following:
- Target and Demographic Composition
- Mission Statement
- Talent and Imaging Specifics
- Music Matrix
- Christmas Music Philosophy
- Promotional Outline
- On Site Specifics
Your Brand Playbook should also include:
- Community Impact
- Target Listener Profile importance
- Promotional Philosophy
- Music Content
- Formatic Terms
Let’s build a Starter Kit for YOUR AC Brand!
Target Demographic
- Every team member should know who we’re engaging with our music and content philosophy. While most will say their target is Adults 25-54, that audience spread is more like a family reunion than a specific target.
- When you narrow your focus, you receive wide results. Adult Contemporary brands create a hyper–focus for research, music design and promotions. And it doesn’t need to be a Nielsen demo. For example, Females 38- 47 are a solid focus for the Adult Contemporary brand.
- So, what about the Men? Successful Adult Contemporary stations are predominantly Female, with Men coming along as P-2 or P-3 listeners. Men are there, just not raving fans. The typical AC demographic composition is 75% female and 25% Male.
Mission Statement
In the spirit of ‘being on the same page,’ a solid yet concise mission statement helps keep your team focused. A few examples follow:
- A winning Adult Contemporary station needs a smile-generating, vibrant and engaging experience for the listener. Music will be tightly focused, consistent with listener expectations and aligned with our designed target audience. To succeed, Adult Contemporary stations must dominate At-Work listening (midday) and be the top choice during the workday. It’s essential for the station to be deeply connected to the community and foster a strong relationship with its most loyal listeners—the P1s.
- This guide outlines the strategic approach to reach our target audience. Specific tactics are outlined here, including music, personalities, and promotions, to deliver compelling and relevant programming that connects with our audience. We are committed to strengthening this foundation by providing listeners with song and album details, artist interviews, concert tickets, and event experiences whenever possible. Music remains our constant with an at-work focus—the core connection that keeps us grounded to our listeners, our “capo d’astro bar.”
Talent and Imaging
- Talent must be relatable, natural, warm, and concise. Music comes first. Keep breaks short but engaging with forward momentum. Stay active in the community with a vibrant social media footprint and stay likable (non-controversial).
- Use quick, local, compelling content (hit the hole) with a smile. Avoid long, unfocused breaks and always give forward, promote a song, promotion or content.
- Morning shows should exude a fun atmosphere. Be local, brief, and focused on the audience. Never overshadowing the station. Benchmarks must be strong, clean, and to the point. Get in and out of content quickly with a bold hook and an exit point planned.
- Our music carries meaning, and every artist has a story. Share brief, relevant stories or facts about the music two to three times per hour as a pre-sell, front-sell, or back-sell. Interview clips are also available to enhance your content. Update morning show imaging daily with a bit from today or a pre-promote for tomorrow.
- All liners and sweepers must clearly promote the station’s strategy and position. Highlighting the benefits of listening at work. Keep them fun, upbeat, and on-brand with natural, relatable voice delivery. Use an upbeat jingle package with tempo transitions that fit today’s Adult Contemporary format.
Music Matrix
- Our music is scheduled with purpose. Each hour is crafted with careful attention to flow, considering tempo, mood, test scores, appeal, vocal balance, intro length, and artist separation. It’s imperative NOT to move music.
- Music will be focused, consistent, and highly familiar. Strong active Adult Contemporary library targets 350 to 400 active titles. Hold full library audits quarterly. Today’s AC mix should be familiar, upbeat and without slow or sleepy sweeps. Prioritize proven hits, avoid weak titles and check rotations weekly.
On-Air Promotions
- Promotions should be focused, lifestyle-driven, and designed to grow Time Spent Listening (TSL) without overshadowing the station. Use Appointment Listening for major promotions and connect all key contests to our database. Keep contests fun, relevant, and easy to play. Offer lifestyle prizes that our target audience desires.
- We will always have one on-air Time Spent Listening (TSL) promotion running. It will be family-friendly, have broad appeal, and air multiple times daily.
- Smaller TSL promotions may also run, focused on specific dayparts or days, such as morning show giveaways or weekend ticket promotions.
On-Site Events
- For Adult Contemporary stations, event presence is an extension of YOU and your brand. Our appearance, interaction, and overall presentation reflect your station’s core values of approachable, community-connected, upbeat, and family-friendly.
- Brand our setup. Tents, banners, table skirts, and vehicle wraps should be clean, polished, and consistent with our on-air imaging. Use updated station logos and colors to create instant brand recognition.
- Along with being approachable, be enthusiastic and work as a team. Be present when possible—interacting naturally, not as ‘celebrities’ but as part of the community. Street teams should be trained to engage attendees with warmth, positivity, and clear station knowledge.
- Music at our setup should match the station’s music matrix – upbeat, familiar, and family-appropriate. Our on-site contests, giveaways and games should be simple, fun, and appeal to a broad, adult audience without complication.
That should get you underway toward the development and completion of your own Playbook.
Make certain you add:
- Community Impact – design a goal to create community events EVERY quarter that help the area (not just at the holiday).
- Target Listener Profile – Choose the target AGE for your listener and build a profile (with picture and name) of what’s important to your target audience and post in the studio
- Music Content – what are the expectations of the listener for music content, and outline this in your Playbook.
- Formatic Terms – Every station has its own ‘lingo’ for pieces of imaging through the hour (sweepers – liners – whispers – ramps, etc.). Outline yours in here.
We understand it’s a different world today than when these custom ‘playbooks’ filled our stations. People are remote, and few shows are LIVE. Promotional teams represent an entire cluster if you’re fortunate to have these teams.
The Playbook is created to share and review with new team members and to be readily available for review when questions arise.
We can assist you in building one for your Adult Contemporary brand.
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Kevin Robinson is a passionate award-winning programmer, consultant and coach – with multi-formats success all over the country. He has advised numerous companies including Audacy (formerly Entercom Communications), Beasley Broadcast Group, Westwood One, Midwest Communications, Townsquare Media, Midwest Family Broadcasting Group, EG Media Group, Federated Media, Kensington Media, mediaBrew Communications, Starved Rock Media, and more. He specializes in strategic radio cluster alignment, building lean-forward tactics and talent coaching – legacy and entry-level – personalities.
Known largely as a trusted talent coach, Kevin is the only personality mentor who’s coached three different morning shows on three different brands in the same major market to the #1 position. His efforts have been recognized by The World Wide Radio Summit, Radio & Records, NAB’s Marconi, and he has coached CMA, ACM and Marconi Award-winning talent. He is also in The Zionsville High School Hall of Fame as part of the 2008 inaugural class. Kevin is an Indiana native – living near Zionsville with his wife of 39 years, Monica and can be reached at kevin@robinsonmedia.fm.
