The Crossover Generation

They've Created A Powerful Story All Their Own

If you sometimes get an uneasy feeling that everyone is flying down the freeway while you're still in the garage, fumbling for your keys, you're not alone. Our world is moving at warp speed. And if art is truly a window to the soul, the music of the new crossover generation offers a glimpse into the myriad influences and inspirations that have shaped the ethos of our culture.

To the unappreciated ears of some over 30, this new generation of music and artists with their auto-tune and synthesizer-driven blare is as melodious as a train wreck. But those who take the time to listen more closely will hear the message of passion, love and swagger that pour out of the compositions of many of today's most gifted and popular artists. Urban radio's challenge is to first find, then blend and mix the right combination of these jams. In between songs we must communicate effectively with this new crossover generation. The music has created a demand for a new breed of personalities who speak the language and with whom this audience can relate.

Personality -- A Growing Problem

You hear the questions all the time. Where are the new personalities going to come from? Who's going to train them? One answer is they're going to come from the same place they've always came from ... smaller markets. But wait, smaller markets have all but abandoned live, local personalities. They've got as many as three syndicated dayparts and the remainder is voicetracked. Chances are, you're not going to get many strong candidates from smaller markets.

What about college stations? The problem there is two-fold. First most liberal arts colleges are still training their students to be journalists -- news people. And there are very few stations with a full-time news department. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find any Urban music station with scheduled newscasts after 10 in the morning. The other problem is the salaries now being offered are so low that many of these students don't want to work for a station alongside someone making the same or more money who barely finished high school but learned how to "keep it real."

There are a lot of jocks out there who, if you listened to their auditions in the '90s, would seem to be a perfect fit. Now they sound dated. But it really depends on your individual situation. It's all too easy to sit back and complain about the lack of good air talent. Why is there no new real talent being developed? Maybe it's because nobody who really knows and can find the time, is training them. Remember, now you have a lot of young programmers who never sat in the air chair, but learned Selector and are in charge. Then you have some experienced veteran PDs who are now in charge of three stations; some of them are also doing an air shift. At the end of their work week, they are ready to collapse. They really don't have any time for training.

Also, programmers have a lot of different ideas on what a good station sounds like and what a good air talent's rap should be in 2010. Most programmers we've spoken with say they want someone who's a real person, but on the other hand, has some radio skills, too. They also want them to have some hipness. You can't teach it, but you definitely recognize it or the lack of it.

Urban air talent need to sound hip. That's because the music is hip and aside from the music, part of the appeal of a good Urban station is the hipness of its air talent. Rhythmic and Top 40 stations, playing the same music, can't capture the same feeling, which is understandable considering that many of them can't even clap on the beat.

PDs have a lot of different ideas on what a good air talent should sound like. I blame the general managers with sales backgrounds, who are light years away from the shallowest programming experience and simply want to save money, for coming up with the theory that you can take some regular guys off the street, teach them how to run the equipment and put them on the air. I've seen stations make this move and wind up with the competition eating them alive. I have seen extreme cases where the GM who made the suggestion, the PD who took the advice and the "street jock" were all fired. In one case, the station even changed formats.

I personally subscribe to the theory that when it comes to effective air personalities it's absolutely necessary to find one with some radio savvy ... who knows how to be a "real" person on the air. It takes real talent and experience to know all the rules and nuances of radio and to creatively and effectively communicate all the things we need done on the air. Every now and then you may find that rare talent who you can take off the van and put on the air and have it work. But that is rare. The risks are huge and the question is do you want to take that kind of chance with your career and reputation given the sparse job market today? There are better, safer ways to "make the streets come out of the speakers."

You want a talent who knows how to sell the promotions and all the traditional things good jocks do, but also be natural, approachable and relatable as a person. And as much as we may want someone relatable and natural as a "regular guy" on the air, the audience expects a certain professionalism.

How To Turn Samplers Into P1s

Next we want to tackle the task of building cume. Getting new people to come to our stations and stay is a major challenge. But there are some things on your side. Whether you're a straightahead Urban or an Urban Adult station, you still have a broad base to draw from. Now you can't attract everyone from "basket to casket," but you can certainly reach outside the normal boundaries and be broad-based without compromising your core audience.

Urban stations under Arbitron's PPM have to become "cume machines." That doesn't mean slowing your rotations down by 15 minutes. It means a lot of things can affect your cume number,s such as having the right promotions and marketing in place. This can have a marked effect on raising your TSL. Urban stations may not get huge Time Spent Listening numbers, especially under PPM, but you can improve the cume. You're not going to make everybody happy. So don't even try. The same people who complain that you're playing the same songs over and over, will complain that you're never playing their favorite songs enough the next day. They're what I call "the music freaks" and you can never completely satisfy them. You'll drive yourself nuts by trying. Remember, they're selfish and fickle. The best way to handle them is to know even though they're complaining, they're listening and if you come closer to satisfying them than your competition, you're still ahead of the game.

Older Listeners - Newer Tastes

Now what are we going to do about the aging "baby boomers?" They're included in the "crossover generation." They're part of the millions of adult listeners who are about to march into the sunset of their years. Thanks to this group, maturing will take one a whole new meaning in the future. They have every intention of taking "it" with them. Gender will also play a more prominent role in their maturation process.

Women of this generation were the first in large numbers to maintain careers for most of their adult lives. This will mean more pension and Social Security money available to spend. Unfortunately, for many African-American females, the black male crisis is more than disquieting. It's deeply disturbing. Its consequences affect them in ways other people can only imagine. Their husbands are gone. Their babies are growing up fatherless. Their beds and arms are empty. For these accomplished, but lonely females, their radio station plays an additional role. It keeps them company, soothes their soul and makes their life a little easier to bear. We need to find and play their favorite songs and make them feel good.

Raised in an increasingly technological society, all of these baby boomers have the distinction of being the most statistically identified, analyzed and followed demographic of any generation in history. This group of 25-54 year-olds is still the most desirable target of advertisers.

Companies have focused on this huge population bulge with new stuff -- toys, fads, electronics, new car styles and new music. Here is an entire generation that expects and demands new products and services.

Music is an important, fun and vital part of their lifestyle, but this generation requires information and new stuff. Included in that list is new music from artists they know and new ones they don't. That's the key to attracting them to your station. They still consider themselves young. Let's face it. Some will migrate to News and Talk radio. Others will stay with us. Their music choices are deep. They will still want to hear some of the familiar songs and artists they grew up with. Our formats have the ability to be familiar, melodic and up-to-date musically. Urban AC, for example, is a winning format because the women in the target audience grew up listening to '80s and '90s Urban radio. They embraced the hits of that era, which provides the library of the format today. And these women still want to be hip, identify and relate.

When you start to separate this audience by age, certain activities stand out as having more appeal for those under 25. The younger audience spends an enormous amount of time online. In fact, according to studentmonitor.com, which tracks college campus trends, college students spend an average of more than 16 hours online per week. That's an increase of 7% over last year and 23% from two years ago. Some 60% of these students are online more than three times a day.

This younger group also used the Internet as their main source of news, weather and other up-to-the minute information. About half of this group does its banking online. That's an increase from last year and 47% from two years ago. The Internet is also an entertainment center for those under 25.

Many in this group are throwbacks to anther era -- a time before electronic gadgetry and studio wizards took over the music industry. There are consultants (aliens from another format most likely) who believe that these young adults don't like rap music. Nothing could be further from the truth. This generation grew up with rap.

It has crossed over and is now part of the pop culture. Yet, for all of rap's universal appeal, its edge has not been dulled. No art form epitomizes the anger, disappointment and frustrations of contemporary youth like the fiery rhymes of rap. Yes, rap may have an image problem. Some of its most popular stars flaunt street tough attitudes and speak in a tongue that might be completely acceptable were it not for the heavy doses of x-rated language occasionally mixed in for effect. That's part of its appeal. That's why big pop artists like Katy Perry get rappers like Snoop Dogg to spice up their tracks and enhance their crossover potential.

Like it or not, this new, crossover generation has a far different, decidedly more open value system, music and language that, by all accounts, is not only here to stay, but growing.

Word.