Deferred Gratification

It Takes Many Forms ... Affects Many Listeners, Each In Different Ways

This editorial is part of a historical, somewhat Urban-based continuum. It is a shortsighted approach. Today, because of the current bank crises, some economists say immigrants -- with good credit who buy starter homes -- may help to keep the bottom from falling out of the housing market. Even with the current economic crises, Latinos are opening new businesses at a rate three times faster than the national average.

What do these statistics have to do with Urban radio and its goals for the future? It's all about something we seem to have lost the knack for: deferred gratification. How long are our listeners willing to wait for something they have come to expect from their favorite radio station? The answer today is not long. They have too many other choices.

Now that fall's here, most markets this is the time to make some seasonal adjustments. There are people who still visit friends and relatives -- especially on the weekends. So you have hundreds (or thousands, depending on the market and location) of people who cume your station on a regular basis. Your job as the PD is to try to get focused on the new guys in town. These listeners come to your station for a few days, and then they leave. They go to your competition, or maybe they just go away and start listening to other devices. The same is true of your Internet listeners, although if you can get enough to move the needle, that could work for you. When you stop to think that your stream could be listened to from across the globe, it does alter your perspective. It allows hometown fans to keep in tune with their favorite stations when they're away.

The problem is they don't get diaries or meters. In the meantime, the others who listen to your station on a regular basis are going to be upset because they're being inconvenienced. They're upset because they've been made to wait for a variety of reasons. Often there are other factors which you can't control, but which affect the temperament of the listeners. Traffic is worse, gas is through the roof and now they can't get into their favorite restaurant, or tickets to your Summer Jam ceremonies because they're sold out or all the good seats are taken up for dignitaries. You need to find a way to get them to feel good about your station, so when you give them tickets to an event that is already sold-out ... and the only way to get them is to win them from your station ... that's a type of deferred gratification that works.

As We Shape Our Tools, Our Tools Shape Us

During the autumn, it's important for even an Urban AC station to try to be as mass-appeal as possible. That means playing some young-end songs and finding the adult party songs. That may also mean playing some rap songs that fit. Now, let's talk about the tools that will transfer those fickle fingers to your frequency. You know the Generation Y'ers and Generation Joneses are growing up with digital tools, and certain things are second nature to them: cell phones, instant messaging and text messaging. We have to recognize that the tools people use to listen to us are dictating how they will spend their time. Today it's all about connection and convenience. You have to understand that mindset of the people who are using those tools in order to succeed. Remember digital media permits listeners now to actually become their own broadcasters -- and they can do it for nearly nothing in many cases. With social media, blogs and podcasts, listeners can create their own playlists and even advertising systems with Google and other tools. Today's listeners can listen more not only to other stations in the market, but to a whole array of alternatives. They all basically present continuous music of their choosing with human involvement. Successful Urban stations have always had that element of involvement with the music. Why remove the one thing that sets us apart from the other format-similar stations?

Fortunately, most of these people still come to one station to find out what's new, so they can keep up and also to know what new songs and artists to download.

Urban is a format -- an arrangement of elements, a presentation philosophy. It's more than a music style. Time after time, so-called consultants and other radio "experts" confuse music with programming philosophy, then try to tell Urban PDs the way they're doing the format is no longer viable. That's so they can convince management they have all the answers. But for many of these "aliens from another format," they fail to understand Urban radio's prerequisites are relevancy, topicality and current-ness. If your station's involved with what's happening right now, that can be viable. Well-run Urban station's plans have always included several basic elements: repetition of the most popular current songs, the perception of being knowledgeable about the artists and songs, high-profile community involvement, a highly identifiable delivery, direct listener participation and fun.

Attitude Adjustment

Generation Y'ers and Joneses are the real targets of deferred gratification ... simply because they want instant gratification. They will wait or defer, but not for too long. You have to hone in on them as a target audience not only with the music, but also with the promotions and the technical air sound.

Too many stations are schizophrenic. They go from hot Urban AC in the daytime to super-youth-driven at night.

When done properly, Urban radio offers variety, recognizes trends, samples them early, sticks with them as long as they're viable, then moves on. Some of us have forgotten what winning Urban formats really are. We've tried to redefine it when it needs no redefinition. We simply need to refocus on it

An industry radio will figure out the next several steps we're about to go through -- and the advertising community and Wall Street will follow suit. In that process, Urban radio runs the risk of catching the same cold that general market radio caught ... and it doesn't deserve the germs. Urban radio is growing exponentially, but despite our growth some still perceive Urban radio to be very one-dimensional and less sexy than the new media or behind the curve of innovation. As a result, one of the most innovative formats is being penalized unduly. Some things just can't be deferred ... unfortunately, gratification is one of them.

Word!