What are the biggest Google searches for the news/talk audience? What are they looking up online, and this is very applicable for us in radio?
Let’s start with this premise: most news/talk radio stations target men somewhere between the ages of 40 and 60. Considering that we no longer need to retain useless information, what are these people searching for during their digital lives? How can news/talk radio use this data to our advantage?
The number one Google search is news, politics, and current events. I have found that many hosts bury themselves in the small details. Your audience can find out the information they crave on their phone in an instant. Your listeners can go down that rabbit hole about the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses. The phone can dig into any tangent.
I am not saying that you don’t need interesting tidbits — I am telling you that being the one-stop information shop is not a winning strategy for your show. It is about your opinion and observations.
The next most popular Google searches are finance, jobs, and the economy. Obviously, gas prices are currently in the news. Are you an investor? Most people are part of a company 401(k) program. Many people have stocks, crypto, and mutual funds. When is the last time you griped about your personal stock holdings? Investments are a huge part of people’s lives in our target demographic. Do you work this into conversation? If you want to build a stronger bond with your audience, you must reflect on their lives.
Your station’s target listener is interested in sports. If you have not been discussing the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, you are missing a huge chance to relate to your audience. Yes, sports are a huge search subject.
Let’s say that you are not particularly interested in sports — do this: look at the headlines at ESPN.com every day. Check out the information on your local professional and major college teams. Just as a matter of perspective, following prep sports is not a winning strategy unless you are in a very small town. You don’t need to know everything, just be familiar with your teams. I am in Missouri. The Kansas City Chiefs are a center of conversation, and if you are not paying attention, it is a missed opportunity.
Another surprising Google search is health. Your target audience is interested in feeling good — they don’t want to croak. The guys are investigating their testosterone levels and are really worried about erectile dysfunction. Is there a cure for male pattern baldness? The male 40–60 target demo is not that interested in much else when it comes to medical information. Eating better and not dropping dead is a thing.
Another big Google search is “how-to” videos. Your sink is plugged and you don’t want to pay $500 for a plumber to fix the issue. Try it yourself first. YouTube is built on videos that can assist with home improvement, car repair and maintenance, smoking a brisket, your hobbies, and so much more. When is the last time you referenced a common problem you are experiencing at home and asked your listeners for tips?
People love to share their knowledge. “How-to” videos are sometimes used purely for entertainment. I have a buddy who just watches them. I know that watching videos on how to repair a tractor when you don’t own a tractor seems odd, but it is a great way to follow an interest. There was a time when finding information on anything was a scavenger hunt — you would go to a bookstore and search for that information, or the library. Now, you have that in your hands. These videos are a way to relate to your audience.
Here is the reality of the situation: information is no longer a mystery. We have access to an avalanche of data. The problem is distilling it into useful and applicable bites. This is where opinions and observations provide that clarity. Any host can just give the information — that is the easiest part of our job. Taking the data and personalizing it is the challenge. What does this mean first for the host, and then for the audience?
This is the quest of every host in news/talk radio. If your setup is 80 percent information and 20 percent opinion and observation, you are in a losing battle. I am not saying that providing information is a bad thing — I advocate that information is no longer a monopolized strength of anyone in mainstream media. And yes, I said it: news/talk radio is mainstream media. Radio has been part of the distribution of information delivered by very few people.
Now, anyone with a social media account can provide information on the fly about any situation. The democratization of media has had many very beneficial effects on our society, though there have been some downsides as well. There is a glut of poorly sourced news stories that sometimes reach print, TV, and radio. I know of one TV station that had to apologize for running a news story that was an artificial intelligence-produced graphic from a fake “news” account.
The gatekeepers need to actually check their sources. Your observations and opinions are always more important than the information. Information can be obtained almost everywhere.
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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.
