We Are The Problem AND Solution!

Homer Simpson once famously said “ahh, beer…the cause of and solution to all my problems.” If Homer worked in radio instead of a nuclear power plant, maybe he could say “ahh, radio…the cause of and solution to all our problems.” It won’t be outsiders that do radio in; it’ll be us. Update: it IS us, collectively. Or to be kind, it’s many of our decision makers and owners.

Radio has successfully faced down 100 years worth of challengers. TV. Tapes. Burning CD’s. Napster. In recent years, satellite radio was a mortal threat (but they often do legit good radio…maybe they’re closer to peer than competitor?). Smartphones, social media, and self-driving cars were also supposed to kill us off. I’ll never forget an industry conference in 2010 where the featured speaker declared self-driving cars would rule the roads by 2015, at which point we could all kiss radio goodbye. The closest my Toyota comes to driving itself is when I turn on cruise control and steer with my knee.

After a century of existential threats, we’ve come through like a beat-up car after an epic blockbuster movie chase scene. Like…radio is still here, albeit barely in some cases. The license plate is dangling by one screw. The windshield is cracked. The left blinker won’t turn off. But the radio still works! (jingle out!) There will be more foes in our future, including confusion of how to even turn radios on in newer cars. The only way we’ll pull through is if we double down on what we do best so our brands are worth hunting down. Here are some places we might urge our leaders to start:

1. Personalities & Music. The top two things radio can blend like nobody else. But PPM has fooled radio stations into making music a commodity instead of treating it as a valuable asset. COVID gave owners the perfect cover to further diminish the role of Air Talent. As I write to you from market 24, some of St. Louis’ most legendary FM brands have multiple unhosted dayparts. Not even an out of market voice-tracker to offer bare minimum basic companionship. Allowing the talent pool to dry up like Lake Mead only gives owners more excuses to homogenize and automate.
2. Does EVERYTHING have to be monetized? (Owners be like “yes, duh!”) Some of us were beating the drum against 6+ minute commercial breaks 20 years ago, urging decision makers to tap new revenue streams and shrink stopsets. Radio found digital and NTR, yet the eternal commercial breaks remain. The RDS and album art on almost every commercial station where I live scroll the names of lawyers past me, instead of artist/song info or something engaging about the station. The legal ID’s don’t serve to reinforce the station brand, but rather the studio sponsor. (Let’s not even get started on the hot mess radio websites are.) We all have that one friend who, every time we see them, they’re selling something. Grabbing a drink with them is never just grabbing a drink; it’s always a pitch. This friend exhausts you. You’re rarely eager to see them, even if you like them and have fond memories of your time together. How is radio much different than that friend these days?
3. We need true believers in the corner office, and on the streets. If you owned a soccer team, you’d hopefully be very reluctant to put me in charge of it. While I love the show Ted Lasso, I have no passion for the sport itself. Radio, despite so many self-inflicted
   
   wounds, is loved and used by a majority of the nation. It’s still even seen as “cool” by Gen Z, despite lower use levels. (We’ll get to that next.) There aren’t a lot of true radio haters out there, but there are plenty in charge who doubt its power or are just indifferent to what makes radio unique. We can’t survive, let alone push back on our problems, without leaders who champion us.
4. Target “Blue Ocean” listeners. Blue Ocean strategy is about serving people few others have on their radar. Why don’t younger listeners default to radio? No doubt technology is a big part. Nearly as large: name a market where a quality radio brand targets Gen Z. I don’t go to the mall near my neighborhood because they don’t have any stores I like. And they don’t have any stores I like because I don’t go. Which is why I don’t go. Which is why they don’t have stores for me. Vicious cycle.
   
   I’m fortunate to program a brand our owners intended for younger listeners, and it’s working. 75% of our audience is Gen Z & younger Millennials (says Nielsen). For many, this is the first time radio has ever been relevant to them. Edison Research found that 25% of our audience named Spotify, Apple Music, etc. as their primary listening choice before they found our brand. I’m not trying to Field of Dreams you (“if you build it, he will come.”), but tens of thousands of new radio listeners in one market? People who didn’t just migrate from other stations? Imagine if that were replicated in every market!
   
   Radio’s decision makers have the power to influence everything mentioned here. Maybe you’re like “Mike, I’m not one of those people. I’m not in management.” You could be one day, though. It’s too easy to let the fog of our challenges hide the clarity of our solutions, so keep this stuff in mind if/when your day comes. If you don’t want to wait that long to see changes, print this and sneak it under your leaders’ doors. Kidding! #kindof Remember when SWOT’s were all the rage? Strengths. Weaknesses. Opportunities. Threats. Radio talks a lot these days about our W’s and T’s, forgetting the power of our S’s and O’s. If we aren’t celebrating them, who will?

Mike Couchman is Operations Manager for JOY FM/St. Louis and the BOOST RADIO network. He's also grateful to have been part of SOS Radio/Las Vegas and the WAY-FM Network. His radio journey has taken him to various iHeart media stations in Detroit and Grand Rapids, doing mainstream CHR, Country, and Urban formats. It all started with a $9 RadioShack wireless FM microphone as a kid in Lansing, Michigan.