Is Music Radio Playing It Too Safe? "Predictably Unpredictable" Surprise Your Listeners

Is Music Radio Playing It Too Safe?

When was the last time your radio station took a chance, did the unexpected and thrilled your listeners? Most music radio stations today do an adequate job of meeting listener expectations, but rarely do they exceed them. Is the increasing conservatism in programming due to consolidation and corporate radio's risk aversion, or whether we have just failed to teach the current generation of programmers some of radio's most valuable programming wisdom? Regardless, many music radio stations today just are not any fun to listen to. We believe in music research, tight playlists and high rotations to maximize market share. We also believe in strategy, owning a unique music position and meeting listener expectations. But when did we decide that we could no longer deviate from our formats? Many radio stations are so safe and predictable, they are boring their listeners to tears. We have all heard the phrase "Variety is the Spice of Life", but why doesn't this apply to radio programming? When it comes to winning in the Arbitron game, it is still about Top of Mind recall. To win in the ratings we need to create snapshots in our listener's memories so when they receive that diary in the mail they write down your station. Successful Program Directors and Music Directors spend hours a day reviewing research, sales, and request data trying to craft the perfect music log. Unfortunately listeners don't remember "perfection," listeners only remember the unique and special things you do. Today's listeners are craving fun and spontaneity. Yet, most stations rarely offer anything out of the ordinary.

"Predictably Unpredictable"

An important lesson we learned very early in our careers, is that great radio stations are "Predictably Unpredictable". Sure, these stations would deliver on their promises but they would also constantly seek opportunities to take calculated risks and delight their audiences with the unexpected yet welcomed surprise. Its sounds so simple, however many programmers don't know how or when to do it? Most PD's are much more comfortable using a regularly scheduled feature to showcase an aspect of their music. While features can be an effective tool to highlight an important image or music type of your strategy, the element of surprise has the greatest impact. In the future, the competitiveness of attracting people to radio over TV, Internet, MP3 Players, PlayStation, and every other medium is only going to intensify. If you think you can survive by playing "10 in a row" or the "perfect blend of favorites" and continue to succeed, you are seriously mistaken. We have worked with hundreds of stations over the past few years in both programming and research capacities. The greatest common theme we discover in the various projects and focus groups is that listeners of all ages and across all formats crave more music variety from their favorite stations. In Canada, for example, the new JACK format is built on "Variety" and is taking market after market by storm. The JACK format's repertoire plays between 800 and 1000 unique titles in a week.

Surprise Your Listeners

We are not here to advocate expanding your playlist. Consistently delivering and meeting listener expectations is crucial to ratings success. However, as long as we are playing a "Top of Mind Recall" game, a few meaningful surprises go a long way to driving passion, loyalty and most importantly - RATINGS. Click here to visit Pinnacle Media Worldwide »