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What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
What’s wrong with radio? That question might fill up thousands of posts on this site. But music journalist David Farrell found that was one of the big topics at this week’s Ontario Association of Broadcasters convention held in Toronto.
Among the main conclusions is an obvious one: “it is time broadcasters started listening to what audiences want and stop talking about audience-engagement in an era when audiences are drifting to a broader spectrum of online news, information and music services.”
The main point seems to be that all this endless “audience research” is actually ignoring listeners rather than serving them. Among researcher Jeff Vidler’s (who almost hired me at CJBK a long time ago…) conclusions in talking to GenXer’s and Millennials:
-Those radio apps, like the iHeart player, have been a dismal failure among the target audience.
-Too many unoriginal and boring spots are driving people away.
-They want more variety instead of the endless same hits over and over.
-Local news and info remains important, although how they get that is changing.
-And once they tune out because something bores them, they tune out fast – and they don’t come back during the remainder of their time spent listening.
I’m not sure these are exactly startling observations. But for whatever reason, radio programmers rarely seem to pay any attention to them.
You can read Farrell’s entire article here.
- Sunny
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
RadioActive wrote:
-They want more variety instead of the endless same hits over and over.
Long-term maybe, but PPM will punish you for it.
- Radiowiz
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
-They want more variety instead of the endless same hits over and over.
What a pile of B.S!
99.9 Virgin radio plays the same gosh darned songs over and over and over again and yet they are the number one hit music station in Toronto while Z 103 plays "all the hits" and throws in way back play backs...but yet they're rock bottom in the same demographic.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- geo
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
"The Hangman's Sonnet", the current novel in Robert B. Parker's Jesse Stone series has the following at pg. 69:
"For almost five decades beginning in the sixties, he'd had one of the highest-rated overnight FM rock shows in New York City. But his station was bought by a giant media conglomerate and the format was changed to songs that were one step harder-edged than elevator music"
- Chrisphen
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
...songs that were one step harder-edged than elevator music"
A friend of mine, who worked at Q107 a while back, once told me of the complaints he received from listeners when he snuck a Motorhead song into the overnight shift.
- alangee
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
We recently started playing a radio in our office. We picked Boom 97.3. When we first started listening to it we thought, "wow, what great music." After listening to it for about a week we were sick of hearing the same songs played over and over and over again. I have playlists in Itunes larger than 97.3's regular playlist. I think this should be their new tagline: "Listen to the music you love and hate it within a week"
- Radiowiz
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
I have playlists in Itunes larger than 97.3's regular playlist.
Great! Now delete 35-40% of the music and replace it with Canadian music from the 70's 80's and 90's.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Old Codger
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
The more things change...the more they stay the same. I've been hearing some of these very same complaints...especially about the redundancy of the music and the annoying commercials for 45 years now. Yet some here [and obviously elsewhere] continue to 'poo poo' the info and point to ratings results as justification and proof that it remains totally fine to ignore the wants, needs and desires of the audience.
This smug, know-it-all attitude which has prevailed in the programming departments and boardrooms since WAY-back-when has a shelf like similar to that of the historic cockroach. And perhaps a similar sort of likeability/acceptability level.
Meanwhile? Repetitive AM was replaced by FM which subsequently in more remote areas and smaller markets, where it's more apparent and easy to recognize, now fights tooth and nail with sirius and a host of on-line radio options...along with i-pads and in-car music players for 'hours tuned'. This, of course, is happening in larger markets as well. Rural folks don't hold a monopoly when it comes to having some semblance of TASTE.
Meanwhile the music industry has collapsed. Meanwhile 'sales' becomes harder with radio ceasing to be as important a vehicle to get one's business message out there as it was back when know-it-alls first chose to NOT LISTEN to the people they wanted to listen to their station[s]. Radio is quickly becoming the electrified version of a newspaper with a terribly shitty soundtrack...which they play over and over like it's a success. Long live the shareholders!!!
Kind of makes you wonder just how accurate the ratings procedure actually is. Or is there simply just a segment of the public who'll begrudgingly settle for any old crap as all you have to do is turn it on and off like a light bulb? Maybe 1 ratings 'vote' only counts for one or two thousand people...not 10,000. Maybe the whole ratings presentation and method of procuring cash from a sponsor is as bogus as the programming has been all these years.
My research suggests LOUDLY, CLEARLY and CONSISTENTLY...in fact it yells...that 'it' is but a steaming pile of reasons why flies sometimes flock together. Maybe it's the flies which actually participate in the ratings. I haven't heard a compelling music station on the air in Toronto in approximately 25-30 years. And you know what? Neither have music lovers.
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And then, as always comes the age old blame it on Can Con fall-back position ... the accompanying justification for being really, Really SHITTY at doing the job. Grow some friggin' ears.
Last edited by Old Codger (November 16, 2017 7:04 pm)
- alangee
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Re: What’s Wrong With Radio? Modern Audiences Weigh In
I have playlists in Itunes larger than 97.3's regular playlist.
Great! Now delete 35-40% of the music and replace it with Canadian music from the 70's 80's and 90's.
RW, I can understand hearing a lot of the same Canadian songs repeated, but the other 60%? The way they repeat the same songs by Elton John, Journey, Tears For Fears, David Bowie and Stevie Nicks to name a few would make me think they must be Canadian content.