A Different Spin

Off-The-Rack Formats Often Miss The Target

We've passed the halfway point of 2006. This is a perfect decompression time to look back and then look ahead. We need to see what we've accomplished and then set new goals. One of the things we've observed this year is that the so-called cookie-cutter, "off-the-rack" formats are not working that well. Maybe what the format really needs is a different spin.

Why would we need a different spin? For one thing, so far 2006 has been a wild year for our industries. Urban radio is facing new format competitors such as "Jack" and now "Movin'," both of which threaten to nibble away at our time-spent-listening (TSL) and cume. There are still the obvious old ones. iPods continue to gain larger fan bases with iTunes selling millions of dollars worth of songs every week. Then there's the Internet and podcasting, along with satellite radio. Many of these audio forms can be downloaded right onto your cell phone now.

Let's take a quick look at satellite radio. While both XM and Sirius are still losing money, they're also still building audience. They're doing active and creative marketing and continue to seek unique content. Sirius has Howard Stern. XM has Opie and Anthony and both have secured the rights to major league sports games.

Urban radio can expect to be forced to compete with more new forms of technology. Wi Fi Max is just around the corner and with it soon will come the possibility of broadband Internet connectivity in your ride and wireless Internet all over. In some markets, it will even be free.

Speaking of free, we haven't even talked about high-definition radio. I personally have experienced it under ideal circumstances and I can tell you that as soon as they figure out how to improve the antenna systems and bring the costs down, that's going to put a different spin on music radio. These HD side channels will offer a different format than the main channel and they're going to increase the available choices in an already crowded radio world.

Electronic Measurement

Another new spin that is going to add to the confusion is the way radio will be measured in the future. Electronic measurement is coming. While we don't know which system will be adopted, my experience and instincts tell me it's probably going to be some form of Arbitron's portable people meter (PPM).

Electronic measurement is going to change they way we think and program. For the first time, minute-by-minute instant audience ratings results will become available. Children from six to twelve will be included in the measurement process and non-commercial radio stations are going to be counted. All of this is going to cost radio and the agencies that serve it substantially more.

Mega -- The Hole Story

Something else the new spin must take into consideration and target is the Hispanic "hole" which exists and is growing in many markets. I've been saying for some time now that future research for urban stations needs to be adjusted to include Hispanic listeners who love the music and artists we play. These Hispanics have to be included in the auditorium music tests (AMTs) and perceptuals. Why, you may ask? The answer is that if you're lucky you will get as much audience as you go after. If you narrow your target, you lessen your chances of victory. If you target a 2.5 share composed almost entirely of African-American listeners, that's what you may get. In the future, smart programmers will put a new spin on their research and look for crossover potential between demos and music preference groups. Leave no potential listener type un-served, under-served or hanging for more than one song. Smart urban program strategists will make sure their stations always come back through the "center line." In doing that they appeal to the largest group of target listeners.

These past few years have been laced with change and demographic density. A population that is rapidly adjusting both its demographic status and its colors must be recognized. Urban radio's new target audience is not just black anymore. It's becoming more brown and yellow. In some markets, the catch phrase is "mega." Regardless of what it's called, it's what it means to the listener that counts.

Mega's loyal listeners will now get the best, researched classic R&B and funk enhanced with the right current songs, which includes hip-hop. Mega's new core audience is female-based and targets a non-Arbitron defined category that is 25-49. They are, for the most part, second and third generation Hispanics. And believe it or not, they're into artists like Bubba Sparxx, Chingy, Chris Brown, Ne-Yo, Mariah Carey, Outkast, Cassie, Cherish and Beyonce.

Hispanic-targeted radio is making huge gains in many markets, and it's not just the traditional markets such as New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Houston that have experienced this burgeoning swell lately. The Hispanic population in The Windy City, for example, has grown to 17.4% of the market's 7.7 million total. Chicago's African-American population is just 17.6 percent.

The Moving Target -- Generation Jones

Finally, we want to examine what demographers often refer to as the new "Generation Jones." From the time someone graduates from high school at around 18, until they turn 30, their lives typically transform from dependents living with their parents to workers supporting themselves to married couples and inevitably, to parenthood. They've become a moving target; one that is very hard -- but not impossible -- to hit. To consistently hit this moving, musical target, however, urban radio must keep up so that as it changes, so does our music and its presentation.

So far in 2006, we have witnessed lightning constantly striking while the game and the rules continue to shift. It's all part of today's hyper-competitive business environment. Through it all we have to keep the music playing -- but now it has to have a different spin. The spin will always best be determined by the market composition and its colors. Going forward, we're going to be forced to look at these colors a little differently and go a little deeper than just the surface colors. And we must remember, the grass always looks greener on the other side -- until you realize what's being used for fertilizer.

Word.