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As radio faces fierce competition from converging technologies, it's essential to return to its roots: delivering entertaining personalities and real-time interaction with listeners. Good programming relies on audience research, particularly psychographics, instead of guesswork. Understanding metrics like AQH ratings and cumulative listeners helps in effectively targeting advertisers. The Program Director plays a crucial role in shaping station identity, ensuring a captivating flow of programming and coordinating all elements to create a unique auditory experience that resonates with today's audiences.
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Radio is under attack. • Cell phones represents the convergence of technology keyboard, e-mail, text messaging, plays MP3s, download and play video games, built-in camera. • Many portable MP3 players hold more music than a radio station can play in a day.
We do not listen to technology, we listen to people who use technology to entertain us. • Radio must return to “its roots of presenting enter- taining personalities and real-time interaction with listeners.” • Good programming is based on research,including psychographics, not hunches or guesses.
Arbitron Audience Ratings • “The book” – radio talk for the ratings. • Stations are usually rated four times a year. In about 100 top markets; Arbitron measures ratings continuously. • “The book” is issued to subscribing stations.
Average Quarter-Hour • AQH is one of several measures of listening. • Estimated number of listeners for at least five minutes in any given quarter hour of a daypart. • Broken into demographic age groupings: 18-34, 18-49,25-49, 25-54, 35-64; male-female.
Average Quarter-Hour (cont.) • AQH Rating: AQH listeners\Population X 100 • AQH Share: AQH listeners\All radio listeners X 100 • AQH tells advertisers how many potential people may hear their ad.
Cume (as in “cumulative”) • Average number of different listeners who tuned in for at least 15 minutes (five minutes) in a week. • Tells advertisers how many different people may hear their ads. • Cume rating: Cume listeners/Population X 100
Time Spent Listening • Number of quarter-hours the average person spent listening, either by the day or week. • Measures loyalty of listeners to a station. • Tells advertisers chances of a listener hearing an ad more than once.
Music and Format Selection • Music is a commodity, dependent on desires of customers. • Music is a tool to attract listeners, depending on the target audience of the station. • Some formats do not depend on music (see 14.2, p. 348)
Researching a Market Three main elements: • Footprint: Coverage area of a station’s signal. Also important to know competitor’s footprint. • Population: Also, the demographic makeup. • Competitors: Formats?Compete or counter program?
In-depth Format Analysis • Listeners are customers – they spend their time instead of money. • Two types of customers: (1) not being served at all, (2) not being served well. • Hole in the market? Standard format? • Weaknesses of other stations?
Selling the Target Demographic • Are there advertisers who will pay to reach the target audience? • See figure 14.4. Profile of “alt rock” audience. • Stations do quantitative and qualitative research; outside firm or in-house? • Audience surveys and focus groups.
Program Director’s Duties Four objectives: • (1) presentation exciting enough to cause listening. • (2) flow causes listeners to listen longer. • (3) Air staff trained to communicate with listeners. • (4) Listeners must know who they’re listening to, and be able to recall station.
Music Mix and Rotation • Play clocks (14.5), may change from daypart to daypart. • Promote smoothest music flow and longest time-spent listening. • How often to play the current #1 hit? How often to play recent past hits (“recurrents”). • Based on research, largely computerized.
Program Elements Other programming elements: • Traffic reports? News? • How often (and how) to give time and temperature. • Talk over music intros? • Back announce songs? P-D creates and enforces the rules.
Formatics and Inventory Control • Commercial inventory must not intrude too much into the format. • Commercials can become a tune-out factor. • P-D determines how stop sets are presented, number of spots, order. • P-D involved in deciding what types of spots will be accepted.
Coordinating All Program Elements • P-D uses all elements to create a “living, breathing” station. • Station develops a personality –part of “positioning,” creating an identity.
Strategy and Tactics • Program director decides on strategy and tactics. • “Strategy” is the overall plan (adopting alt rock format to reach 18-34 men). • “Tactics” are the specific steps (music rotation, stop sets, announcers’ attitudes, promotional events, contests, etc.)
