Depending on your state or community, this may be a peak time for sports. Baseball is headed to the postseason, college football is in full swing, and the NFL has returned. I know hosts who fret over focusing too much on sports, and the answer is complicated. Your news/talk station’s target demo is likely male. There is a sports talk station in the building or market. How much is too much? How much is not enough?
In my radio travels, every community has a focus on a professional or college team. Sports bring us together. If you are cheering for your favorite team, you really don’t care about the race, religion, politics, sexual identity or sexual preference of the individual next to you at the sports bar. You are wearing your team’s colors, cheering them on to victory. I am a Minnesota Vikings fan. I visit the sports bar that has a group of my tribe cheering for my purple heroes.
Does that sound familiar? Okay, you may not be a member of my tribe, but you are a fan of a team. Sports are a lifestyle. Your area’s pro or college sports team may be a huge deal for the vast majority of your listeners. I am the listener-focused experience guy. You must meet your audience’s expectations. I am in Missouri, and for my stations’ communities, you cannot go wrong discussing the Kansas City Chiefs. You must reference them during football season, training camp and on draft day.
Knowing your audience’s expectations
Is this what the audience expects? Are you delivering on your station’s mission? I believe in speaking to the station’s target listener. I can assure you that today at the bistro that is popular with the businessperson lunch crowd, they will not be debating tax policy the first workday after the game. They will be discussing the NFL, college football and may even dip into fantasy football. If you are a host, it is a must to participate in fantasy football because it connects you with a major activity of the fall.
It is estimated that 50-plus million Americans play fantasy football. Of that 50,000,000 figure, 65% are men. The players are affluent as well. These two stats mirror your audience. If your radio station is targeting men, sign up for a free league today. Here is another reason to play fantasy football — invariably, there will be an awesome play or a controversy in a game. Fantasy football allows anyone to have a working knowledge of players in the NFL. The worst thing that can happen on air is for a host to sound out of step with the audience.
It is estimated that in your metro area, if there is a big NFL or college team, almost half the population is watching or listening to the game. I had a host ask me about the other 50% of the people. Good question — here is my answer. What are they watching then? If half the people are enjoying the game and are discussing that game at work, at lunch, in line at Walmart, why are you not leaning into what people are doing?
Our job is to attract a large audience that advertisers want to reach, ideally through the host’s personal endorsements. This is your job.
Why Focus Matters More Than Talent
While ratings do not necessarily mean great revenue, it is essential for on-air talent to grow their shows as much as possible. Every moment of preparation should be designed for your station’s target demographic. What we do is art. There is a finesse to what we do. Without naming the host, there was a hugely talented local host who was heard in the evening on major stations coast to coast.
Every radio geek, including me, admired this host’s talent, imagination, and ability to tell a story. The unfortunate truth is that he had a limited shelf life. He always started strong in a market. Created lots of street talk. Early ratings success. Then the bottom fell out. It was essentially a limited playbook where people would catch on to the plays, and he would fade out. Universally liked. Great human.
It didn’t have legs. The show was never focused on the station’s target or mission. The lesson is that you must be focused on what the audience expects.
If you are working in Buffalo, the Bills should probably be important, even if you are a music station. If you are not plugged in with that team, you are out of step. There are dozens of examples like that. Lean into your audience. What are they doing and what are they discussing?
There is a truth to focus on — there are more distractions for your audience than ever. You must reflect on what is happening in their lives. There are easy putts. That professional and/or major college sports team is what people are discussing. It is a part of small talk at the gas pump. Your listeners are discussing the big teams. If you are ignoring it, you are essentially not connecting to your listeners.
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