While listening to radio shows last week, I heard personalities reveal lots of interesting things. I heard about a nose piercing, a speeding ticket, potty training that resulted in poop on the floor, a dog adoption, a weight-loss situation, a relationship breakup, and a move to a new apartment. As a morning show coach, I love to hear these personal life details. The more hosts reveal about themselves, the better the chance of a listener relating to them.
When the voice on the radio talks about a situation similar to someone in the audience, they lean in to hear the resolution — just like at a social gathering. For example, you see someone who just lost 20 pounds, and you want to know how they did it. Someone is having trouble potty training their child, and you are about to go through the same thing, so you want to hear those stories. Suddenly, the person on the radio is just like you.
I’ve seen countless research studies where long-time market personalities score poorly. That’s because they never made a connection with the audience. They talked about station events, topical news, pop culture, and perfectly hit the post on the intro. However, they did not live their lives on the air and provide points of relatability. Let’s travel back in the time machine to when Howard Stern was on the air with a new show five days a week. He talked about everything in his life — even his small member. Consequently, the less-endowed listeners felt validated and became fans.
Take It Further Than the Conversation
Now I’m going to push you one step further. It’s not enough to simply have a conversation with your co-host about your life. As my friend Steve Reynolds always says, it’s topic, treatment, and tone. What is the treatment you give the aspects of your personal life on the air? It may start with a conversation with a co-host, but then do you bring in the listeners? How far can you take the situation?
Moug and Karla at B96 in Chicago took the nose-piercing dilemma to the audience. The listeners told their piercing stories, and a vote was taken. A nose will be pierced, and I want to make sure I’m listening when Karla comes into the studio with her new look. Will her co-host buy her new jewelry to celebrate? Will it add new spice to her life with her partner? Will her mom call into the show to protest? Topic treatment could turn a small life event like this into a multi-day story arc. Furthermore, the possibilities are endless. Call an expert, maybe hold a contest to find the person with the most piercings, or even have the actual piercing live in studio on the air and on Instagram.
Your Reach Is Bigger Than Social Media
Chances are your listeners are sharing details of their lives every day on social media. That’s their channel. You, however, have a much bigger reach — use it. The more you share, the deeper the connection you build with your listeners.
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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.