What Are The New Rules Of The Game

Re-Defined Music and Image Targeting Set The Tone for 2008

As we enter into another new year, this would be an excellent time to examine the fragmentation of the format -- what we are calling refined music targeting because aging demographics require format adjustments.

Is it an aberration of our time that the general population is getting older? Perhaps. What is not an aberration is the fact that the median age is increasing and Urban radio, in trying to appeal to this growing majority, still finds itself often defending its Urban Adult formats on the basis that they have to serve both the old and the young at the same time, often with the same music. One of the things that can make a difference is style. If you can get everything else right and then bring "the right style" to the dial, you can score big time!

For a format to win it needs to be well executed. It also needs to have a pool of available fans who love it. There needs to be a balance of ingredients so that regardless of its target demo, it can be as mass appeal as possible. Depending on the market, both formats can overlap, and research can determine the "lean." The concept is that the difference can not only be the music, but also the style. That style difference can also be the ratings difference.

It's true that advertisers and agencies still desire a salable demographic audience to sell their products and services. Some rep firms are now reporting that the 25-49 age group is the most requested. Others are saying it's the 18-34s that most companies really want. What they're really saying is that youthful, old age is more desirable than tired, old age. There are important distinctions here.

We spoke with programmers in all size markets about this style difference. One well-known East Coast major-market programmer, who also divides his time with two other stations, says that with almost all stations doing 'or stealing' some form of research, music is not the only ingredient that will cause listeners to stray. Another, medium market, Mid-South programmer says that the jocks and the station image are what can make a difference in format similar stations.

First, let's look at mainstream stations that feature a lot of hip-hop tracks. Regardless of ethnicity or region, the partisans of this format choice are most likely attracted to markets that index high on nightlife and culture. Hence all the references in rap and hip-hop jams to club life. Believe it or not, they also contain an unusually high proportion of creative professionals.

This means that these creative professionals have to be included in your station's perceptual research. It's still all about making your station stand out with clear, simple strategies that can make ratings rise.

The Science Of Scheduling

Even though in some large markets, later this year, Arbitron will re-introduce electronic measurement, it's important to know what's important, regardless of which methodology is at work. What has to happen is that the timing and math have to be factored in. For example, even the best promo works better when it is scheduled so that the most people hear it. When scheduling a recorded promo announcement of 20 seconds or less, one that has a high-production value, it's best to play it out of the stopset into the song that follows. In this way, the promo can be used as a sales tool for the promotion, or as a station image liner. Naturally out of the stopset, it works best as an imager into music. When it ends in the call letters (and it should), it serves to set up the song -- that follows and the message always "prints" better in the mind of the listener, especially if the calls have some special effect going for them.

Once we're into electronic measurement and Arbitron's PPM is in place, the best concept is to play the promo first, going into the stop-set to avoid tune-out. But suppose you have an active listener eho actually or mentally tunes out anytime he/she hears something other than his or her favorite song? We also call these people "the music freaks." They could then tune back in toward the end of the stopset and hear your promo. This is particularly true if you have pre-sold the upcoming 10-in-a-row and the lead song. You will notice this because Arbitron methodology listening patterns show the heaviest listening still takes place in the first quarter-hour.

Now we're ready to add in the style that most listeners come to Urban stations to hear. There is a hipness factor that you don't get with Top 40 or Rhythmic stations that the new generation of listeners wants to hear. They want to hear it on the radio, just like they hear and see it in videos and in the clubs. Urban AC shares most of its audience with mainstream Urban, as well as the Top 40, Rhythmic and Smooth Jazz stations. Many listeners are bored with urban ACs and Smooth Jazz stations. So the answer in 2008, particularly if you're an Urban AC or a mainstream Urban that goes soft in middays, is to spend more time on production values and personality.

Let's face it: Music isn't brain surgery any more, and you have to do more than just get the music right. By concentrating on image, production and personality, your station can become a fresh market alternative. More and more formats are coming after us and chipping away at our numbers. It's important for us to think about adjusting our formats to recapture and/or keep some of those big shares.

Think about making most of the production on your station nonlinear, humorous and creative - have it paint a picture. The biggest mistake Urban AC programmers make in counter-programming mainstreamers is focusing strictly on music values. Urban ACs talk about variety, but the audience is getting its variety by pushing the button back to the mainstream station that plays hip-hop and whose style is a lot hipper. For the past several years, many Urban AC stations' music have had little variety and even less substance. Most have never developed non-preemptive values. Their values have always been strictly music-driven.

Personality is perhaps the other biggest difference separating mainstream or Hip-Hop stations from Urban ACs. People often associate "Hip-Hop stations" with teens, but done right, it can be a very attractive format for 29-34 year-old females. Even though it's often a very natural one-on-one station that makes lots of mistakes, young Hip-Hop programmers and jocks are often very loose and like the artists they play, and often talk a lot about themselves. They go out of their way to keep from sounding too professional. The result is that, in most cases, in spite of the looseness, the Hip-Hop or mainstream station is the coolest, hippest thing in the market. It is the most hyper-current and therefore, the station whose music is the least stale. Some of that that coolness and hipness and lack of staleness has to spread to the Urban AC stations that want to score in 2008.

It may be a little difficult to know just where to draw the line and determine how narrow you can be and still win, but just know this: If you're going to be a winning "gunslinger," you have to continue to hit the target. There's one more thing you need to know if you're going to remain standing after the smoke clears. Today's gunslingers have to get hip to the new reality and the rules of the new game. And the new reality says that you have to be prepared to go up against the best in a format competitive environment.

Remember, you only need one bullet to hit the target. But that bullet needs to be coated to really penetrate.

Word.