Middle ground. Common ground. Can’t we all just get along? That’s been radio’s strategy since PPM arrived.
“One man’s trash is another’s treasure.” I’ve said it 2,000 times, but it explains a lot.
- Listener A thinks “On A Plain” is Nirvana’s best song
- Listener B says it’s “In Bloom”
- Listener C doesn’t know “On A Plain” but loves “Come As You Are”
- Listener D thinks Nirvana is overrated and wants Linkin Park
That’s the reality radio faces every three and a half minutes when one song leads to another. And it’s the root of the most common complaints: predictable, too safe, too repetitious. Understandably, radio tries to please everyone all the time — avoid all the trash, offer nothing but treasure. And that leads to sounding like the “same old, same old.”
It’s a noble effort — serving only the treasure — but it’s also impossible.
When listeners A, B, C, and D walk into a bar, no one leaves truly happy. Someone’s changing channels or flipping to their “treasure playlist” before Cobain screams, “I’m on a plain.”
So radio sticks to the middle ground: safe songs, smaller playlists, nothing but researched hits above the mean — whatever the aggregated spreadsheet says.
It wasn’t always like this. PPM was the tipping point — the moment the industry shifted from programming to P1s to programming almost exclusively for cume. “Don’t rock the boat. Find that ultra-common ground. Avoid tune-out like it’s the Hantavirus.”
PPM changed everything — music, talk, stopsets, promos, imaging length. Evolution is good. Data is good. Doing what you think is best for the audience is good. But every year, even with all the “best practices” in place, listenership declines a bit more and those complaints get a little louder.
Why? Because the audience isn’t noticing meaningful change, and industry structures aren’t built to create much of it.
Meaningful change isn’t easy. PDs and GMs are stretched thin — logs, airshifts, proposals, reports, staffing shortages, HR headaches, budget pressures. So you keep your head down, do the best you can, and live to fight again tomorrow. There’s no shame in that. That’s reality.
But programmers deserve defending. What are they supposed to do? Put “On A Plain” in power just because Listener A loves it? Listener C might not care, and D wants another band entirely.
And yes, it’s easy to dump on Nielsen. PPM absolutely drove the gold rush to the middle — it also pushed RockTernative to be more gold-based. But it’s still the industry’s report card. Flawed, but important.
A few Nielsen reminders:
- It’s not a census — it’s a panel, an estimate
- Less than 1% of the market population is in the panel, and only a fraction of that listens to your station
- One heavy P1 going to Hawaii for 10 days can wreck the monthly
- Panelists can stay in for up to three years — 1,000+ days of happy hour shots if it leans your way, or a long road of misery if it doesn’t
So how does programming create meaningful change?
First, there won’t ever be a day without complaints. You can stop playing RHCP today and still get told you play RHCP too much two weeks from now.
Second, rocketing spins for “On A Plain” aren’t the magic fix. This comes down to something simpler, but harder.
Stop programming scared. Stop living only in the middle. This is more important at RockTernative than any other format. Rock audiences are different from CHR and Hot AC — more artist-based, more passion, more lanes, different expectations, different tolerance levels.
PPM pushed the industry to the middle. But for RockTernative, the middle isn’t where loyalty or passion grow. “All middle all the time” or “40 minutes of non-stop middle” — that’s how brands become forgotten, wallpaper, replaceable, disposable.
But the middle isn’t an arch enemy — it’s important — the magic happens when you navigate to the outer edges and back. Because the stations that win over the next several years won’t be the ones trying to please everyone all the time. They’ll be willing to stand for something — the ones who make listeners feel something… even if someone else complains.
Some brands do this naturally — or strategically — already:
- 91X is famous for finding ways to drift away from the middle to create identity
- KUPD, WJJO, and KILO stay louder, heavier, and unapologetically themselves
- KNRK created its own middle out of sheer width
- KTCL is uniquely Colorado
- KROQ has a Latin show, KLOS has Whiplash, Live 105 has local
RockTernative can’t live full-time in the middle. It never has. The real treasure that brings identity, passion, and loyalty — that’s found on the edges, and by not being afraid of the PPM shadow.
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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.
