Don't Forget About The Summer Music Freaks

The Growing -- Shedding Theory Of Consistency

For several years now, I've been talking about the "summer music freaks." Those are the selfish listeners who find our frequencies and use our stations strictly as a music source. One of the keys that will help keep them fixed on your frequency this season is musical consistency.

During the summer months it is especially important to recognize this and realize that with a few tweaks, you can capture them and make them part of your primary audience. The problem is with so many programmers overseeing more than one station, or having to do an air shift in addition to programming a station -- they have even less time. They may not get a second chance to make the right decisions, and because of their schedules, it is virtually impossible for a busy rookie programmer who hasn't been taught the basics of how to soothe these music freaks to survive.

One of the ways Urban radio can sooth these summer music freaks and grow some audience is to stay consistent and not limit itself. It is also important to be being willing to air some fresh new music and artists to please the summer "music freaks." Who are they and where are they, you ask? They are everywhere. They are those listeners who selfishly only use radio as a music source. They just want to hear their own personal favorite jams over and over. During the summer, they multiply.

There are kids out of school; people on vacation who now have more time to listen to the radio ... much of it in cars. When their favorite radio station doesn't give them what they want, studies show they will hit three buttons in the car and then go some other device, such as iPod. These kids all struggle with peer pressure, and parents will tolerate their kids' demands for a particular radio station with the thought being that to not let them listen to what they want to hear is not just denying them a choice they would like. Many parents feel they would be denying them "membership" in the social club of the moment.

Unfortunately, a lot of programmers haven't realized that Urban stations need to be aware of this and they need to stay fresh. Even the Urban Adult stations need to expose some fresh new product -- all varieties of it, including some hit rap songs that fit ... once they become familiar. We're talking about jams such as Lil Wayne's "A Milli." Today's music freaks don't want to listen to just one very narrow type of music, especially in the car. If the station is too narrow, so is its audience, its ratings and its program director's head.

The key to keeping the music freaks is to find a hole that your station can fill in the market this summer. Then focus. Put the blinders on and execute

Don't Play On The Players -- Listen To The Listeners

If you listen to the listeners they will tell you what they want to hear on their favorite station. Smart programmers follow their research and gut closely to keep their station synchronized with the audience. This research, properly interpreted, will reveal what the music freaks love most and just as important, what they hate most. It's not unusual for there to be less than 8-10 jams they're really into that aren't short-term recurrents.

Many stations with aggressive new music positions are finding that less than half of the music in current rotation survives and makes it to the recurrent stack. The percentage is even smaller for tracks that ultimately make it into the station's library.

We have observed an interesting development lately. In a recent series of callout tests among upper-demo age groups, artists and jams that had traditionally only tested and scored well with the young end demographics began to change. Not only are some songs scoring better in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups, we're also noticing significantly higher scores among 35-44 year-olds on some titles. In these comparisons, the 35-44 demo scored artists such as Keyshia Cole, Raheem DeVaughn, Mariah Carey, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys and Rihanna very high. They actually scored an average of 40% higher during the summer than in March and April.

Why is this happening? It is because of the summer music freaks. More and more we're finding growing popularity for songs as they cross format and demographic lines. Urban, Urban AC and Rhythmic stations lose exclusivity as these songs cross over. Heavy exposure on multiple sources can increase burn scores in the callouts and ultimately shorten a song's life on the station that got it started.

As vital a tool as research has become, it is still necessary to take a proactive approach to music, particularly in the Urban format. Here, programmers with strong instincts have a clear advantage. Some jams will test just "OK" in the beginning. Of these, a few important songs may eventually emerge. But belief and gut always precede research. They can take time. Some of our best, most evergreen songs don't test immediately, so it's important to have a very sharp idea of what your music freaks want and don't want.

What will research tell us? I like to recommend that programmers count on their strong intuitive feel for the audience. Use research to only educate your gut. For pure rap songs, even ones that you might feel initially could become "adult party songs," there's usually a cutoff age around 29 or 30 for men, a bit older for females, especially for songs that have love lyric integrity.

When you use research properly and regularly, you are less like to be victimized by surprises. With frequent checkups, you can avoid mistakes that might otherwise leave you clutching your heart in a panic. Research may help you see exactly what is happening to you now; often it can provide you enough of a glimpse into the future to keep you employed.

Pushing the envelope too much can push the audience to a competitor. Being too aggressive with the wrong new music can TSL above a station's natural cut-off age. In a few years, especially with Arbitron's PPM, this might not matter so much. But right now while we're in the transition stage, it's matters a lot. Musical styles are cyclical, and so are the summer music freaks. Patience is prudent. But the summer music freaks are not.

Word!