It's Better To Give Than To Receive

Unless You Can Do Both

As we roll into the new year, lots of urban programmers will ponder the problems of what to do to maintain their 18-24 listeners without sacrificing their core adult base. What can they give them that will keep those fickle fingers faithful this year? And if they give them what they want, will they then receive their rewards with increased ratings and extended TSLs? Many have found that with dayparting adjustments, the young "Generation Jones" can be an almost straight path to 12+ market domination.

Strictly from a musical standpoint, there are many ways to "stack" a play list. Some stations use past seasonal history. Others use only active methodology. Still others factor in requests, retail and call-out research. Our recommendation this season is to do all of the above and then look beyond the raw numbers so that you can predict burnout ahead of the research and the competition. It's a tough task because, in most cases, you can't tell a thing until you put the record on the radio. Urban is still a format that must take some risks.

Once the music is right, you have to plug in some personality to give the format and your station some flavor and even more strength. Programmers have to give their jocks some room to move around and let them be personalities. The key is to "keep one foot in place," meaning format basics, but the wiggle room is where you can give your audience something extra and special. Show prep and personality are like vitamins.

Jack Stations Aren't "Givers"

In order to find out what to give so that you can receive, you have to look at the competition. The competition has changed. With the proliferation of the "Jack" formats, radio is coming closer to the iPod shuffle of MP3 players. It's like a parade of artists more incompatible than most of us have ever heard on a well-programmed station. Recently here in southern California, I heard Barry White into Vanilla Ice into Gavin DeGraw into Prince into Dave Matthews into Gwen Stefani. What kind of alternative universe was this where the same 40 songs weren't formatted so tightly that they could barely breathe? It was a Jack station and soon enough the purpose become more obvious. "We play anything" came the booming recorded voice with just a hint of smugness. And the station did just that, whether it was from the 70's, 80's or today.

A lot of people aren't happy with these Jack stations. In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg cussed in public when WCBS flipped to Jack.

Those who work in radio -- program directors in particular -- visibly wince when we hear these "train wrecks" (i.e., genres and tempos that don't complement each other). Jack is four decades worth of artists sharing the same computer database, with songs that weren't necessarily rock or Top 40 hits in their day getting airplay. And then there are the rightfully incensed air-personalities, many of whom are losing their gigs to the sardonic voice-over of Jack. And most Jack stations are jockless.

With all this "Jacking," some listeners are probably thinking what difference does it really make whether stations have live jocks anymore, anyway. In this age of pre-recorded shifts, with the possible exception of morning shows and the occasional staunch jock who refuses to record a show, what are today's air-personalities really giving the listener? If you call to make a request, no one will answer because no one is in the studio. No one is in the studio because corporate mentality believes that personalities can be more productive if they aren't tied to the microphone for four hours. But checking off a to-do list instead of serving an audience is a dangerous swap.

I'm not suggesting that this is the fault of the air-personalities or even the program directors. Most of them have little or no choice. They hate that their jobs have come to this. They've been stripped of their personalities, relegating them to recording on-air breaks in 45 minutes to then be cut and pasted in between songs. But a paycheck is a paycheck.

Making these Jack moves can also be damaging for the record industry, because it means less fresh music on the radio. It means multiple airings of new music in prime day parts and no front-announcing or back announcing of artists and titles. And our friends in the music industry could really use some help these days. If we give them some help, they'll be in a better position to reciprocate.

Bakery Fresh

One of the key ingredients in any urban format is freshness. Even for adults, when the temperature goes down, the tempo should go up. Today's urban audience is forgiving, but they're not patient. You can't simply feed them a bland blend of library gold and ballads and expect their loyalty. This is still party time for a lot of fickle folks who, if you don't give them something they can feel, will find a fresh new frequency in a flash.

Giving your audience constant freshness by staying on top of the music, trends, and feelings for the younger end of your target audience can really charge up your station's sound and image and has been known to let you score big digits. Remember, if your teens and 18-24s go up, so do your overall numbers. Give them a reason to go up.

Many markets have fragmented young listenership. The teens and 18-24s that still think and dance like teens still want to hear their music. There is a growing Hispanic core that loves urban music, especially rap and even some old school jams. And even though for the teens and many of the 18-24's listening is often scattered, it can really help to swell your totals, especially with Arbitron weighting and sample balancing. Teen and young demo awareness is often the catalyst that leads to a stronger overall showing. The 18-34 females follow the teens and eventually the entire 25-49 cell develops.

Research shows that males like less repetition while female acceptance of love songs is overwhelming. Both like energy. Power ballads mixed with up-tempo jams or dance tracks can provide the balance needed to lock up teens and 18-24s. The key is to give audience the fresh new songs that are mass appeal but have a hip image. A lot of reactionary records fall into this category.

Teens and 18-24s are critical to any urban station's ratings, especially in the winter when many adult targeted stations tend to slow down the number of new songs and increase the long-term re-currents, stay-currents and library gold tracks. You have to take yourself out of the big picture. Music is much like fashion and other trends in that it always begins with the young people. They're the trendsetters. Music trends are created with them and that's another reason why teens are important.

Teens who can't or don't drive often are more like their parents, while older teens and 18-24s begin to make their own decisions and invariably choose things their parents don't like. Urban music and radio fall right into this category for a lot of rebellious, suburban non-blacks looking for a hip alternative.

Now what about the sales managers and GMs that tell us they only want 25-49 numbers to fill in the 18-34 cells? They wrongly try to separate the teens from the adults, which is an inter-connected process. When building familiarity with a new song, call-outs and requests kick in first with teens, build to women 18-34, and then spread to men. Few straight, urban male listeners over 15 comment about music at all on these call-out tests. Tomorrow's teen artists will appeal to tomorrow's 18+ audience.

Even some rap has done well with adults, proving the familiarity precept and the strength of a hit record actually transcends demographics. Rap and urban music is no longer just a success story. It's the story of the music industry, which it currently dominates. It's possible to keep your adults and add some teens. And teens can actually generate some adult numbers. Also, don't forget that there are a lot of mainstream urban stations that have attempted to go adult and ended up dying in the process.

On the other hand, it's not uncommon for a mainstream station to be number one 12+, second or third in the 18-34s, and fourth or fifth overall in the 25-54 standings. This means an advertiser can buy one station and reach nearly everyone, with some bonus audience on both sides.

Whether it's a top ten market or a small station in a market with one yellow page, the waters are just as turbulent. Markets and stations are changing. Competition, like the wind, is coming from every direction, every format. One thing about most of us, we can adapt and endure a storm or two as long as we know there's some sunshine waiting on the other side.

Economists and major agencies are both forecasting a softer winter and spring for urban stations from an advertising perspective this year. That's always bad news for programmers. When money's tight, GM's tempers are short and so are their budgets.

A lot of careers will be on the line this new year as we find our industries involved in some real ratings battles. There will be scars and wounds. In fact, in some markets, every book is so critical formats and fortunes have been known to change quickly. Every time business gets soft, the entire media gets the jitters. Tight money and sluggish economic growth may have a lot of radio stations singing the blues in 2006.

Feeling the Music Freaks

One way to avoid the ratings blues is to recognize that there are some "music freaks" out there. They're listeners. Selfish listeners who are disenfranchised. They're waiting for a station to give them what they want. These are listeners who can be yours for a song. The only thing they really care about is music. They want to hear the hits, their music, and lots of it. And they really don't care who gives it to them.

Finally, speaking of giving, whether you understand or agree with them or not, go easy on the Jacks and Bobs and their wacky, scattered playlists. Give them a break. They may have done us a huge favor. They have created a void that will allow us to return an element of fun and personality to an industry that is turning largely robotic. In this era of iPod shuffling and downloaded singles, variety and personality is obviously what people crave. And if we give it to them, ratings are what we will receive.

Word

Next week, in commemoration of Dr. Marlin Luther King's birthday, we will offer a special editorial tribute called, "Delivering On The Dream."