Archive
October 24, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
For as long as I can remember, the holy grail of radio demographics has been 25-54. The cynics among us have often said this is a family reunion, not a homogenous group of people. To put this in contemporary terms, a 25-year-old is a digital native while a 54-year-old is a digital immigrant.
The fact is that radio’s demographics are aging. Look at your market and you’ll see that one of the strongest demos for radio listening is 55-64. Countless formats depend on – and deliver – rock star-level shares with this group. Classic Hits, Classic Rock, Adult Hits, News/Talk, Talk, Sports, and Urban AC all play extremely well with the age cell.
Yet, the sales target remains the same as it ever was. As a result, programmers do whatever they can to avoid those 55-64 listeners.
Read More…
October 17, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
The buzz about the upcoming three-minute qualifier in the PPM measurement world has captured the industry. Without question, this will be a boon for our medium.
So let’s talk about the gaping hole that will still exist in PPM measurement. According to Edison’s Share of Ear, AM/FM radio (including streaming) is the dominant ad-supported platform, with an overall share of 68%. To state the obvious – the streaming portion of this audience is a huge, largely unmeasured market.
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October 10, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
This time of year is special in my family. Last week my parents celebrated their 42nd anniversary; my wife and I will celebrate eight years of marriage on October 21st; and my mom was born on October 5th, 19*ahem* (don’t worry mom, I would never give that up).
What does this have to do with you? Well, you can learn a lot about your listeners’ milestones if you have access to quantitative data like Scarborough, Media Audit, and others.
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September 26, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
We usually keep this blog focused on things like ratings and data and numbers. However, this time I want to opine about a radio “axiom” that seems to still be in vogue.
We’ve all heard the line: Your radio station should showcase the format in every quarter-hour.
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September 19, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
If you’re a Nielsen subscriber in a PPM market, you are just a few clicks away from a wealth of data. PD Advantage and Tapscan can help you parse the numbers beyond who’s #1 in your target demo. The Custom Programming Reports (CPRs) will show you who your top panelists are and when they went live. (Remember: quarter hour counts in CPRs are not weighted.)
These are all valuable tools you should master so you not only know how your stations are performing, but why they are, or are not, succeeding.
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August 29, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
A couple weeks ago, we touted The Power of Radio here in Hot Topics. Of course, this implies that we ever take a break from touting radio, but I digress.
We were encouraged by the positive responses we received. Despite radio’s perceived beleaguered status, there are still a lot of people who remain passionate about our industry.
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August 22, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
The industry was stunned when Audacy announced they were shuttering WCBS-AM and renting it out to Good Karma for their sports property. There was also a lot of wailing and finger-pointing about how this was another sign of radio’s demise.
I have a different take.
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August 15, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
I got my haircut last week. That may not be the most compelling opening line for a blog, but bear with me. I went to a new barber shop and was paired with a 20-something woman. When I told her I worked in the radio industry, she said:
“Do people still listen to the radio?” Read More…
August 1, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Artificial Intelligence has been trending lately, especially in the radio world. But the reality is that we’ve been dealing with AI for years. Stop me if you’ve never experienced the following:
You call your bank, a store, your doctor and you are greeted by a metallic sounding “Hello!” followed by various prerecorded ‘blah, blah, blah.’ You spend the next eight minutes screaming “Operator” into your phone before Skynet says “Okay, you want a representative. I just need a few more bits of information…” That’s when you succumb and realize you have lost.
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July 25, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
I’m so sorry because I’m sure you now have “Here Comes the Sun” playing on repeat in your head. However, this is about the importance of radio on the weekends. Lately there has been a lot of buzz in the trade press about radio’s readiness on the weekend. This was obviously prompted by a couple of momentous events that happened on consecutive weekends. I’m not here to pontificate about what you should or should not do on the weekend at your stations. If you are a programmer, you already know all about this situation. Read More…
