Radio's On-Ramps

Ah appointments. Are they ever fun? When I hear the word "appointment," the dentist's torture chamber comes to mind. It's rare I look forward to "appointments." Unless it's "Appointment Listening." Because that's where the REAL parties are; right, fellow radio nerds?

Say what you will about the PPM ratings system. If nothing else, it has reminded us that giving our audience compelling reasons and times to tune in can lead to more listening from them.

Since they're often driving while listening, and because I love driving-I even love being stuck in traffic a bit because that's more quality time with my radio-let's add some pizzazz to "Appointment Listening." Let's call those moments "on-ramps."

A couple of years ago at the AC I program, our station's consultant, Jon Hull, led one of those fancy-schmancy focus groups. As our team lurked behind the glass, invisible to our P1s, Jon asked what else they loved listening to. (Say what? A hardcore P1 loves things other than me? Say it ain't so!) Jon also dove into why they tuned away from JOY-FM.

Gratefully, we weren't doing much that drove them to punch away. When they strayed like lost sheep from a Bible parable, they were attracted to features our brand couldn't offer them. A lot of these ladies were wooed by Cardinals baseball games on KMOX. (Yes, women can love sports, too. Especially St. Louis ladies and their hometown team. *Cough* Go Cubs! *Cough*). They listed a variety of things they loved hearing elsewhere, and, of course, the distractions of life that caused them to stop listening to the radio altogether.

The obvious takeaway: these listeners were drawn to radio on-ramps. You're probably like, "Duh, Mike!" Down the hall at our Hip-Hop station, I put my newfound knowledge (that you already knew) into action. We took a benchmark we were already cross-promoting decently, and turned it into an all-out event. For July 4th, 2017, we went into non-stop "Mix Spot" mode. (That's what we call our daily mix shows.) In addition to the usual, casual jock-chatter such a thing might warrant, we ran a heavy promo and social media schedule.

The payoff: On a holiday where listening usually bottoms out, our audience numbers were at weekday Drive Time levels. The whole day. Caveat: I'm going strictly by streaming data (we weren't buying Nielsen a year ago). Even so, I had nearly three years of streaming history to compare that day's numbers to. We turned a throwaway holiday into 12 hours of Drive Time listening. On top of that, those listeners stayed the next day. By investing into unique content and making the on-ramp an easy/fun merge for our audience, July 2017 went on to be BOOST 101.9's most-streamed month in the station's history. Until August, when we nearly doubled July's numbers! In fact, July 2017 would now be a bad month. We've easily surpassed that doubling from last summer, thanks in part (I contend) to smart on-ramp efforts. (We tried this again in 2018. Numbers weren't available by the deadline for this article.)

Before you set about creating a dozen new features: assess what you're already doing that's worthy of promoting well. You might be surprised! Unbox yourself when it comes to how you get the word out. Avoid the tried and true factual promos. Bring creative writing, graphic design, social media and even video into your efforts.

And please don't invest into on-ramps that are off-brand. The reason BOOST 101.9's Mix Spots perform so well year 'round is because they take what the BOOST brand is already known for and simply put a twist on it. Take a page from Taco Bell: when they introduce new items to the menu, they're almost always using core ingredients their customers already love. They're not trying to sell you sushi. (A rock specialty show on an AC station could be the radio version of Taco Bell selling sushi, as one obvious example.)

Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc. can't touch radio when it comes to creating unique experiences and giving listeners on-ramps to hear them. And in this era where digital outlets consider radio a direct competitor (no matter how we feel about them), we should be doubling down at creating content nobody else can. When you couple that with being intentional about setting those appointments, it's a win for you and for your audience.