How many times a week are your listeners tuning into your radio show? How many minutes are they staying per occasion? Do you know?
The data is important for your show’s health and growth. I am in a diary market, and the Time Spent Listening tends to be more than in a PPM Market. The Tune-Ins tend to be less in a diary market as well. You have one job: keep that listener as long as possible.
While both methodologies have flaws, it is what we have to work with and use. Blaming your bad monthly or quarterly report on the methodology is like a football coach scapegoating the 30-point loss on the referees. It is an excuse. I don’t like excuses. So, we are stuck with this. Use the data to your advantage. Maximize this process to your advantage.
You need a reality check. Ask your PD/Brand Manager for the data. This is the game that we play every day. You have one job: to provide a listener-focused experience to your audience. If you don’t know the data, get it. Don’t live in ignorance. You can maximize your footprint in their brains.
PPM has one thing that every radio professional should believe. Your listeners are likely tuning in every minute of every hour. The diary is a recall exercise. The process of sweeping the corners is a diary anachronism that still haunts PPM markets. Sweeping the corners is as obsolete as the rotary telephone. It gives zero ratings advantages.
You do not get credit for any listening less than five minutes at a time. PPM has taught us that almost every listener starts tuning into different stations during every commercial break. It is a fact.
Now, how do you counteract this truth? Teases. Solid teases at that. “More on the way” won’t do it. Content-rich teases will force your audience to stay through the commercial break. Another solution? Entertaining and compelling live commercials. Tying the events of the day into your live spots provides a certain entertainment to remain listening to the show.
Hey, Market Managers! You can help your station’s bottom line plus improve ratings by selling lots of live spots for your team. Your host is an influencer. People love them. Audience members will buy things because of the words of your host. Maximize this.
Getting five more minutes. This is your job. You have a wonderful group of humans listening to your amazing show. Get five more minutes. Another strategy? Benchmarks. Traffic and weather together are a tune-in factor. Special moments on your show are a reason for tuning into your show.
Here is something that I do successfully: my station does a Big 3 at quarter-hour breaks. The first Big 3 at 6:18 AM features a cold read from one of my news guys. I go out of my way to add unusual words to throw him off. What I hear from listeners is they love it. They tune in early to hear if there is a word that the news guy can’t pronounce. The news guy is a good sport. I hand him the copy the moment that he is to start reading it. It’s totally unique. It allows the news guy to be human, real, and relatable. It also allows him to become a sympathetic figure that the audience actually cheers for.
Your Benchmark is as unique as you are. Find something that anyone can relate to that is connected to your show. Perhaps you have a producer who can be a part of the fun. Make it real and your special moment. If you are not the master of hijinks, your news anchor, producer or perhaps someone in the building could be that for your show!
Your point of view is one of the secret sauces to your success. It is the thinking that allows you to reach your conclusion that is the real selling point. If your thought process does not come with a predicted conclusion, you have won. Be consistent with being true to yourself. Your audience will be surprised and lean into your thinking. I have listened to many hosts who believe that they must form a certain opinion on a subject. You must be true to your passions and your views. It is risky but creates an unpredictability that makes you compelling and a must-listen.
If you have been presenting your show in the same way for years, question yourself. I am not saying that you are wrong, but you cannot lie to yourself. If you use the tools that I have highlighted, you will be closer to a listener-focused experience that will make you essential to your listeners. Questioning the way that you create your show will allow you to grow. Growth creates innovation.
Analyze how you can grow Time Spent Listening. The data is your path to victory. Don’t run from data, cherish it. Data is the scientific way to monitor your show. Learn from your Brand Manager/Program Director. Listen. Your leader is desperate for your show to grow. Your leader wants you to win.
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.
