I try not to sugarcoat my articles with fairy dust and unicorns. To maximize revenue, ratings, and relevance, news/talk radio must lean into the habits of listeners.
I am talking about life here, and we are just a small share of the entertainment pie. We must know our strengths and weaknesses.
People are inherently selfish and have very little patience. P2 and P3 listeners turn on news talk radio for a very specific reason. They want to know what is going on. If there is a monster news story and it is not being discussed, the listener will lose trust that you are on it. I understand that you prepped for a three-hour show and may have a guest on another subject booked. PPM data says the average listener is with you about 14 minutes per listening occasion. Diary markets are longer, but always remember that listening is based on recall.
Years ago, I spent the day at Arbitron’s office in Columbia, Maryland, going through the diaries for the market I was programming at the time. It was a frightening and humbling experience. One diary commented that they loved my station. It was the listener’s go-to radio destination. This individual listened for zero hours, zero minutes for the week. It was a huge lesson in branding for me.
What are your listeners’ habits? News/Talk radio is no longer their only choice for entertainment while in the car. The phone, podcasts, and personal playlists are a few of the distractions. Your listeners are dropping off kids at school. They are picking up milk, visiting the dry cleaners, hitting the dispensary, and running kids to activities.
I counted it last week. Most days, I made two to three stops on the way to work and on the way home each time. What does this mean for you? You need to be on your game. What is your listener expecting? I am not talking about the text line people who are sitting in a dark room, focused on your show. We all fantasize that our audience is totally glued into every moment on the radio. I wish that was true. It isn’t. Let’s talk about reality. Your listeners have busy lives.
Let us lean into our listeners’ lives. Your market may have a big road construction project. This leads to opportunities for longer time spent listening per occasion. This can be a huge win. How often do you mention the traffic mess on your show? If your listeners are frustrated over traffic, you are connecting to them.
I am a data guy, but I also have hunches that I follow. These hunches are derived from experiences over the years. I have had successes, failures, and ideas that did not move the needle either. But the data is key. Census, Nielsen, and whatever research you can collect matter. If your morning host gets totally sidetracked by a text or email and 90 percent of your listeners are driving, this is an opportunity to focus on the right things.
We must always be concerned about growing our platforms. You have the radio signal, audio stream, video stream, podcasts, station database, social media, and more. If we are not meeting expectations, there are plenty of choices. Evaluate your life. Think about your distractions.
This is about our P2 and P3 news/talk radio listeners. Have you noticed that community groups seem to be disappearing? I have been invited to speak to these groups. The members are older and insular. We are a tribal people. We surround ourselves with individuals who are like us. This could be through ethnicity, faith, interests, or community groups. If you are not adding new members to the tribe, you are shrinking. Focusing only on the people who are with you is a losing proposition. People move, change their routines, die, or become Luddites.
Your understanding of what is going on in your community is key as well. I am not referring to city council meetings, which have very limited interest. What is the new restaurant everyone is talking about? Is there a big event this weekend? What is the toughest ticket to get? On this Valentine’s Day, the wife says she doesn’t want anything. By the way, that is a trap. Of course, she wants to be thought of and cherished. You must do the flowers, wine, and dinner thing. Dinner can be made at home. Relationships are, or should be, an integral part of the lives of your listeners.
We need to know our role. We also need to always think about addition and what is really going on in the lives of our fans. Andwe have heard about super-serving our P1 listeners. There is some truth to that, but it can create fewer people at your party. I like to focus squarely on the station’s target demographic.
Program directors, when is the last time you got together with your staff to develop a listener profile? If it has been a few years, this is a great way to build a plan to relate to your listeners. Market segmentation is a challenge.
Creating focus and a mandate as a team can help revitalize your station. It also creates a playbook led by you and developed by your team for unity of mission.
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Peter Thiele is a weekly news/talk radio columnist for Barrett Media, and an experienced news/talk radio programmer. He currently serves as News/Talk Format Captain for Zimmer Communications. Prior to joining Zimmer, Peter held programming positions in New York City, San Francisco, Des Moines, 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.
