I believe today, more than ever, strong personality driven morning radio is key to radio’s future. Live/local shows, community involvement, humor, storytelling, and trusted companionship are what drive it. Listeners form habits around the people, not just the music. When you’re looking for analytics on those shows, Nielsen is the place to go. What’s the percentage of P-1 listeners, length of each listening occasion, time spent listening each week and, maybe my favorite, number of days listened?
If you are on the radio, especially in the morning, you need to see the number in Nielsen’s PD Advantage that shows average days listened per week. They show you the number for the entire audience, as well as the P-1 audience. If you’ve never seen it and expect that your audience is listening every day, you’ll be in for a shocker. Chances are, if you’re the biggest show in the market, you’re getting as much as 1.8 days a week and hitting a home run. If you’re further down the ranker, you could be at 0.7 days a week. How’s that for trashing your ego?
I find that not enough shows take advantage of the multiple-day story arc. Have you watched the HBO show “The Pitt”? Each episode is an hour of the day, and you can’t stop watching because you need to know what happens next. If you’ve done a good job making the audience care about you and others on your show, they will certainly come back tomorrow. They want to hear what develops when you’re in some sort of dilemma. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s best when it’s something everyone can relate to.
Start Close to Home
Let’s start with your spouse/partner. Their college roommate is coming over for the weekend. Or they want to sleep in separate rooms due to snoring, talking in your sleep, stealing covers, or temperature disputes — there are hundreds of possibilities. They/you are too messy, never close a half-eaten snack food bag, won’t share a remote, or won’t hang out with your relatives — etc. These are all so easy. You talk about it on the air and listeners weigh in. The next day you talk to your partner on air. Maybe an expert the following day, followed by resolution. Home repairs, furniture shopping, and even painting the kitchen can turn into a multiple-show storyline.
Neighbors are great for this as well. A neighbor can leave you a note about parking in their space, not taking in your garbage can on a timely basis, a messy yard, being too noisy, or having too many or not enough holiday decorations. Again, there are hundreds. Same formula. Ask the listeners, talk to other neighbors, and finally confront the person who left you the note.
Everyone loves a great story. One with drama and conflict that can be part of your show at the same time every day for several days is a home run. Of course, exaggerate it and make it memorable. You must involve your listeners so they feel invested and will come back each day to hear what develops.
Journal Your Life Off the Air
Steve Reynolds has always encouraged his shows to journal their lives — to keep a diary of things that happen while you’re away from work. Sometimes the simplest event on a Saturday can turn into three days of must-tune-in radio. You might even be able to use a station feature to create multiple days of drama.
Here’s one from when I programmed WNEW. I gave the morning show the news that we were going to have to cancel our popular “Can’t Beat Karen” game because the company cut expenses, and one of the casualties was the mug that contestants received for playing. The audience freaked out. After two days of complaints, show bad boy Johnny Mingione gave my office number out on the air so the listeners could complain directly to me. That got Johnny suspended from the show. Fortunately, the sales manager was a fan of Karen Carson and managed to find a sponsor to buy the mugs. Yes, the client saved the day, the feature (and Johnny) returned, and everyone lived happily ever after. Everyone except me — I wasn’t able to answer my office phone for months without a listener yelling at me. We turned a budget cut into a ten-day story arc that caused listeners to love the feature even more, and to bond with Karen, Johnny, and Intern Anthony as they battled the evil boss. Great storylines always have a villain. Batman wouldn’t be Batman without the Joker.
One reminder on the continuing story arc. Always reset and recap the issue each day so those who missed the first parts will be up to speed. Also, these MUST be prepared in advance. It’s usually best to have an ending before you begin. Remember, every great story has twists and turns, something unexpected, and a satisfying ending. And it hopefully doesn’t involve your actual office phone.
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Jim Ryan is a Music Radio columnist for Barrett Media. In addition, he runs Jim Ryan Media LLC, a consulting company which assists major market radio brands and top talent including national radio personality Delilah. Prior to relaunching his consultancy in 2025, Jim spent 15 years with Audacy/CBS Radio, serving as SVP of Programming. Among his responsibilities included programming WNEW-FM and WCBS-FM. His career includes additional programming stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston. Jim was voted the #2 PD of 2024 in Barrett Media’s Top 20 series in the AC category. He can be reached by email at Jim@JimRyanMedia.com.
