What are programmers saying about Pinnacle Media? The Lost Art of Counter-Programming "The News, Five Minutes Sooner!" How Do You Beat Must-See TV?

The Lost Art of Counter-Programming

Have you ever wondered why radio stations all present news at the same time? How about traffic and those annoying ads? Sometimes it seems like every radio station is playing commercials at the same time. If you haven't thought about counter-programming lately, you need to know that savvy radio listeners are raising these questions in focus group after focus group. And it doesn't matter whether we are moderating a focus group with listeners in the United States, Canada or Europe. When I was first started learning about programming in the late 70s and early 80s, programmers were obsessed with counter-programming. Programmers stressed to disc jockeys how important it was to hit breaks on- time so they could beat the competitors back to music, or be playing a power song during their competitions ad breaks. Today, counter-programming just doesn't seem as important to radio programmers as it does to radio listeners. Maybe since consolidation has eliminated most of the head to head format battles, programmers just don't think it is necessary anymore. Perhaps the lack of counter-programming today is partly responsible for the declines in Time Spent Listening, too. Nowadays, many radio stations and radio markets, regardless of the music format, sound more or less the same. For instance, how many stations in your market or cluster air news around the same time, play ads at the same time, have big ballsy station voices, and only have female DJs on air in midday or as sidekicks? In the U.S. this past December, two to three stations in many markets claimed to be "The Official Christmas Music Station".

"The News, Five Minutes Sooner!"

The news, five minutes sooner" was one of the counter- programming tactics the late Rick Sklar used when programming the legendary WABC-AM/New York in the 60s and 70s. While every New York City station was presenting news at the top of the hour, WABC delivered the news at 55 minutes after the hour. Rick knew being different was good, and presenting the news "five minutes sooner" allowed WABC to play music while every other station was talking and let news junkies know that they could hear news 5 minutes earlier than anywhere else. It was counter- programming tactics like this that helped WABC become the most listened to station in US radio history. I can remember in one of the many CHR battles I fought, we deliberately hired a station voice talent that sounded completely different than the big deep generic voice heard on the competition. What Bobby Ocean lacks in resonate pipes, he makes up for in style. Bobby has an extraordinary ability to use his tenor voice like a fine-tuned musical instrument. He is phenomenal at bringing copy to life and painting pictures in listener's minds. Bobby made a difference, and helped us turn around the station and annihilate the competition in 90 days. The DMG Radio Group in Australia built a strategy on counter-programming the long commercial breaks heard on most stations Down Under. Instead of subjecting listeners to 10 ads in a row, the Nova stations promised to never play more than 2 ads in a row. And you know what, its working. Their stations in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth have become market leaders in a very short amount of time.

How Do You Beat Must-See TV?

While counter-programming seems to be a lost art in radio, its what helped the CBS Television Network defeat NBC's number one rated Thursday night schedule. CBS didn't try to unseat NBC's top-rated sitcoms like "Friends" and "Will and Grace" with more sitcoms. CBS bet there was an audience craving something different, an alternative to the sitcoms. CBS was right. The reality series, "Survivor", and the police drama, "CSI", continue to defeat the once invincible NBC Thursday night lineup. We don't program in a vacuum. Radio listeners today have more choices than ever. My new car has 20 station presets. If listeners don't like what they are hearing it is very easy for them to change the station or even worse, turn off the radio and pop in a CD or cassette. Listeners are asking for counter- programming, so let's start giving it to them. Counter- programming is good for listeners and likewise good for radio.