A Little Focus

When you think about it, the idea that "Talk" is a radio format is kind of ridiculous. We don't say that "Music" is a format; instead, it's about genres. Top 40 isn't Rock isn't Classic Hip-Hop isn't AC, and while there are overlaps and crossovers, there's generally a format somewhere on the dial or the Internet for everyone.

Why has that not been true, for the most part, for talk radio, I'm not sure. And it wasn't always the case. It wasn't long ago that you had political talk stations and you had what, for lack of a better term, you might have called "hot talk" or "guy talk" stations, but the latter were, after Howard Stern decamped for satellite radio, banished to the Island of Misfit Shows known as podcasting, where, it turns out, there's still a hunger for that kind of thing. In fact, there's a hunger for all kinds of talk that isn't what passes for talk radio today. Podcasts prove that. Sports talk on FM proves that; so does public radio, also on FM. There's a market for something different.

This came to mind when I was talking to someone about a station that has fallen on tough times -- the overall numbers aren't horrible, but the demographics are in the death-to-decomposition category and nothing they've done has changed that. And thinking about that reminded me of the eternal question whenever I bring up the usual problems facing most traditional talk stations these days, the AM problem, the talent problem, the demographics problem: Okay, then, what would YOU do about it?

My first response to that question is another question: Are you paying me for an answer? Because I'm not going to do your job for you for free. And, let's face it, if you're on AM radio, you will never reach Millennials, period. They will not come to the AM band, even for programming reaching out to them. Those days went away even before the electrical noise overtook the programming (around here, every AM station on my car radio sounds like someone's using an electric razor while talking).

Assuming that you're either on FM or that you're hell bent on defying physics on AM, the next question is always the same: Where do we find the talent to appeal to younger audiences? And while I can always trot out the usual responses -- look at podcasters, try out music show hosts who have something to say beyond liner cards, reach out to people in the community, check out local YouTube and social media personalities -- I'm thinking that this is pointless unless you take a step back and look at your format in a more specific way.

What I mean is that you should be asking what format you're in, and calling it "Talk" is way too broad. If you wouldn't look at a music station and think of its format as "Music," why are you defining what you do with the broadest, least specific description? Only the Talk format does this. Yes, there's Sports and All-News and public radio, but they're treated as if they're separate formats, not subformats under the Talk umbrella. And under that Talk umbrella is... well, other than a few Florida stations where guy-talk lives, it's mostly the same, mostly white male hosts talking politics. The result: appeal to an increasingly older, difficult-to-sell demographic. Replacing an old white male with a young female is not the answer if the replacement's still talking about the same stuff; it's not the age of the host, or the gender, it's what he or she is talking about, and how it's presented.

Which is why I'm suggesting that rather than focusing on replacing talent, you should be redefining your format. You want to do political talk? Fine. There's always going to be room for that, however you approach it. But that's not the only talk out there. "Lifestyle" is too broad, too. How about entertainment talk? Talk about things that appeal to parents? Comedy talk, not necessarily stand-up clips but funny people talking to other funny people (like, say, about half of podcasts do now)? Talk about music (which happens to be the latest satellite channel's format)? You want Millennials? How about a format that exclusively talks about the issues most germane to their lives, from workplace topics to student loans to politics as it relates to their perception of the future? Maybe all-news with an attitude, like a vintage "Daily Show" approach to news?

I know, nobody's tried some of this before, or it's only working in one market, or someone did 30 years ago and it failed, so it's off the table forever. Maybe every single idea I could come up with is a flop in the making. Maybe you could do a lot better. That, above all, is the idea I want to leave you with from this column: It's not the specifics, it's not purely about recruiting talent, it's not about age. It's thinking about talk radio not as something set in stone that needs new parts, but as a general term that covers all sorts of options as yet unexplored. Better minds than mine can develop ideas that might just be the next big thing and compete well with digital options, or adapt better to new media, but it's going to require the ability to break free of the image we all have of talk radio as a guy in a tie sweating profusely and cursing the opposing political party. Nobody complains that there are too many different music formats; we haven't even scratched the surface of all the spoken word format options radio could deliver.

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No matter what kind of talk you do, or if you host a show on a music station, or if you're a podcaster or whatever the hell it is you do, All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics is the ultimate source for news items and kickers and bad jokes you can talk about, all in one place, available by clicking here and at the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. And there's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts. Oh, and check out "10 Questions With..." Andy Carlson, the creator and host of the "Purple FTW" podcast about Minnesota Vikings football, who's grown the show from an independent venture to affiliation with KSTP (1500 ESPN)/Twin Cities and PodcastOne, an innovative relationship between podcasts and broadcast. He's perceptive and worth knowing.

You can follow my personal Twitter account at @pmsimon, and my Instagram account (same handle, @pmsimon) as well. And you can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pmsimon, and at pmsimon.com.

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Oh, and speaking of podcasts, I'll be at the Now Hear This podcast festival in Anaheim this weekend if you're planning to stop by. There might be some ideas to be generated by seeing what those folks are up to....

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
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Twitter @pmsimon
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