The budget has arrived for your radio station. You open the spreadsheet, sip your coffee, and here’s your scenario:
The brand sounds good, the line item for marketing reads zero, but the front office expects Cume growth and a 10% revenue jump. That leaves you with the following options:
- Fish for more fish, widen the pool by adjusting the content.
- Be patient.
What’s your answer?
If marketing were an option, that would be C and the real answer. In this case though, B gets the chicken dinner. A could be malpractice.
It usually goes like this: If we broaden the library, we’ll get a larger audience.
It’s understandable logic. But that thinking, if not careful and especially with established brands, can trigger an identity crisis. Even worse, it can alienate the core.
Just ask Alternative brands that wanted to youngify and started using TikTok like callout. Or Rockers that thought they’d grow Cume by sprinkling in a few Hot AC hits “with guitars.”
Those movies usually end with the new crowd not moving in and listeners wondering why there’s kale on their burger.
This thinking is common across all sectors:
- Cracker Barrell
- CNN+
- Whatever that Bud Light moment was
If Artery Blasters wants to add a protein shake to their menu that’s fine. It shouldn’t pretend though that burgers and fries aren’t why people come.
Making tweaks — adding one more Recurrent per-hour or going 10% more Gold — are normal. If lucky, maybe it minimally moves a meter. Tweaks aren’t widely noticed or likely to change behavior. Behavior is what drives growth.
Think of it like this: Adjusting clocks or bumping Green Day from Power to Secondary are like straightening the bedspread. It looks a little better but it doesn’t mean Sydney Sweeney is sleeping over.
Fred Jacobs used to remind us: “Don’t expect big results from small tweaks or baby steps.” If a brand wants big results, they’ll have to do something big and bold.
Of course, big and bold can become big and bold. It can also become big and dumb.
I’ve seen radio stations with the best of intentions want to demo down or widen. They alter their target and change the library with several tweaks, hoping to find new friends.
Six months later? They are flat at best, down at worst, and rarely up. It becomes a case of ‘here we go again, back to the never-ending drawing board’.
A brand can’t tweak its way to transformation.
Tweaks may seem small, but if a brand makes a lot of them, they’ll add up quickly. That can become a problem. You’ve heard the phrase, “Death by a thousand paper cuts.”
So, back to the original scenario.
If the product already sounds good but orders have come down from the big house that growth is needed, there are only two reliable doors to choose.
- Patience — still scratching and clawing for every inch, but hoping that if it’s built, they will eventually come.
- Marketing and promotion — actually let new people know there’s a great product waiting for them.
The other common scenario is when the product isn’t perfect and needs improvements for growth to occur. That’s more complex and deserves another 500 words.
The first step is to understand why the product is off and what bold adjustments will fuel growth. Knowing those correct answers requires at least one of several different types of reliable research. Hey, maybe you’ll find out kale is what the audience wants.
It’s funny what happens after that. Now you’re right back at the beginning.
The product (now) sounds great, but cent-comm wants growth. What should you do?
The correct answer is C — that’s the door that brings people in.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Keith Cunningham is a music industry and Rock/Alternative columnist for Barrett Media and the founder of Black Box Group, a modern-modeled creative & strategic consultancy built for brands that need strategies with teeth. He’s the former Master of Mayhem at 95.5 KLOS-FM in Los Angeles for over a decade, a nationwide consultant, and has been repeatedly voted one of America’s top Program Directors and strategic thinkers. Keith has built his career by taking multi-million-dollar brands from worst to first and leading Marconi & Gracie award winners along the way. A data nerd with a rock-and-roll heart, he is an advisory council member for St. Jude fundraising, a fantasy football champion, and lover of his daughters & dogs. Reach him at keithblackboxgroup@gmail.com or on LinkedIn or X.
