Generation Revolution

A Snapshot Of Tomorrow

What would you think if you suddenly woke up one morning and realized that nearly all forms of entertainment were geared at people over 30? Then, on the other hand, suppose there was an underground network of book shops, night clubs and other retail merchandising outlets that catered only to youth. That's the dilemma facing many Urban and Urban AC stations.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in the next 10 years the 35-54 demographics may grow by 2%. Simultaneously, the 25-34 age cells will decrease by 15% and the 18-24 group will likely decrease by 3%. At the same time, nearly one American in three will be a minority. The largest of the minority groups will be Hispanic. Given this information, what do you suppose is going to happen in those markets with stations offering an all-white, all-rock, youth-driven format? That's an easy one to answer. They're going to be forced to change.

Add to those statistics the fact that the world of media is in an upheaval right now. Newspapers struggle with massive debt while posting their articles free on the web. Ad revenues shrink as advertisements leap from broadcast and print media to Google and Craisgslist. Passive television viewers now post videos on YouTube, one-liners on Twitter and autobiographies on Facebook. Computer software gravitates from individual hard drives to remote servers. Radio continues to stagger under the weight of the current financial crises and nobody seems to have a clear sense of what will happen next.

Traditional advertising, a major source of income for traditional media, is under threat. Even after the current recession ends, audiences will be much farther along the path of spending time online, rather than with radio or print unless it's with their Web-based versions. Marketers will use the new media to interact with consumers directly, leaving the traditional content providers in the lurch. Increasingly, consumers seem more interested in talking to one another. That doesn't mean the death of professional content, but it is going to force a dramatic shift in radio's programming strategies.

Now, let's briefly look at the music industry. The music business hit this wave before radio. They started out complaining that people were stealing their music and they were right. But the reason was that their cost structures were out of whack. Over the last few years, many successful labels have refocused themselves on helping their artists manage their careers and market themselves.

Behavioral Targeting Demos And Discretionary Dollars

When we refer to behavioral targeting, we're simply looking at tracking consumers' behavior across the sites they visit and showing them ads relevant to what they're posting or where they're visiting. It also means recognizing that when, without really knowing they're doing it, stations literally barge into an ongoing conversation, talking abut something at a time and place where listeners aren't really that interested. They get upset because they feel that their conversation has been interrupted. That's why it's so important to know the type of content to put between songs. If it's not interesting and relevant, listeners will either tune it out or change stations.

Many advertising agencies now opt for the Web over radio because they think they can sell their clients more easily on a visual medium. But they're ignoring young boomers' lifelong love affair with radio. Yes, they may listen fewer hours now than they used to. And they're probably spending more time on the Internet, but they still listen and they can still be influenced. One of the reasons is that radio leaves more to the imagination - something these listeners appreciate. And crossover music means their children listen, too. And for those stations whose markets are being measured by Arbitron's PPM, remember those kids 6-12 have tremendous power because of unintended listening.

Remember too, these young boomers pass their music and listening habits onto their kids in a way previous generations didn't. This new generation and their kids will spend more money on retail sales in the next 30 years than all the previous generations combined spent in the last 100 years and that, of course, allows for inflation. Clearly, they represent a critically important market and radio is uniquely positioned to reach them.

So now the question becomes, how do you reach them? The answer is you can win more new generation listeners by getting them more involved with your station. Run a series of contests and promotions tied in with station clients - promotions that revolve around listeners' youth, history and the music of their childhood. The right song or historical sound byte triggers listener's memories and emotions.

Younger listeners tend to be more receptive to new music. The older you get, the less comfortable you feel about change. People under 25, especially males, enjoy hearing lots of new music. Except for gospel, stations gearing toward passive 45-plus listeners shouldn't play a whole lot of new music, but they still need to keep their stations fresh. They need to play the right new music. The problem is that many of these older listens spend less time with radio and probably won't recognize some songs until they've been out for a few weeks.

The generation revolution is real and Urban stations should do everything they can to create a welcome environment for both groups of listeners. You don't want them to feel this is an alien format when they stumble across your station. One of the biggest obstacles our stations face in attracting and keeping young listeners is that audience's self-centered, short-term view. Twenty-somethings are typically far more concerned about hitting a party or getting a date for Saturday night than anything else. The key to capturing them is in the music, the content and how it's communicated. Both of these things take time and research to develop and require tapping into the listeners' emotions. Remember, you don't fall in love overnight. You date first.

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