Broken Up

In retrospect, we could have seen it coming decades ago.

You radio geeks will remember. It was when FM finally took hold and we got the kind of format separation that is now industry-standard. No longer did listeners have to put up with Top 40 stations that played everything, regardless of genre. Eventually, we got today's formats. The result was a diminution of the common pop culture language; it became easier not to encounter hit records if you listened exclusively to a particular genre format. (There's a gap in my memory of Top 40 hits that neatly coincides with my college years, when I listened to, and worked in, college radio, and never listened to "the hits." I didn't have to, so I didn't.)

The fragmentation of the audience when the narrower formats didn't present much of a challenge for the industry most of the time, unless you were in Oldies radio and saw the handwriting on the wall, not just in the aging-out of the audience but the day when you'd have to account for the fact that the available audience might have had very different favorite songs from back-in-the-day. The short term turned Oldies into "Classic Hits"; the longer term is going to be interesting, because the audience only got more fragmented as time marched on. We're in an era when we can't even agree on how to define which are the most popular songs -- YouTube clicks, Spotify plays, downloads, appearances in commercials, whatever. It's easier than ever to not recognize the number one song even if you're an avid music radio listener. (And I'm not even going to go NEAR the "Old Town Road" debate.)

All of this is very much like the rest of popular culture in 2019. The common cultural language was different when we all had just a handful of broadcast TV channels and everyone would watch the same shows and talk about them at work or school the next morning. Even the shows that seem to be universal when you see people talking about them on social media aren't all that universal -- yes, I'm looking at you, "Game of Thrones," undeniably widely popular but still not in everyone's vocabulary. It may seem, if all you do is go on Twitter, that everyone on Earth is watching that show, but they aren't. Figure into the equation the time-shifting that removes the "did you see it last night?" aspect, and the fragmentation is even more pronounced.

That brings us to talk radio, which (checks name of column) (winces) is ostensibly still about which I'm supposed to be writing. I've argued that talk radio has left a lot of audience share on the table with the industry's long-practiced assumption that the "formula" is to hire a bunch of angry older conservative men and super-serve the core audience (YOU call them P1s. I hate that jargon). And, yes, that works to some extent, although demographics and aging are going to end that ride at some point. But the culture has fragmented for spoken word programming as well, and talk radio doesn't reflect that and before you say "liberal talk doesn't work" I'm not talking about that, at least not as the primary point. It's not just politics. It's what people are interested in hearing about from people talking on the radio. There's always been interest in stuff that radio wouldn't touch. It's just that, now, they have alternatives.

Again, I hear you. "Not podcasts again! Dear Lord, stop talking about podcasts!" It's not just podcasts. It's social media. It's streaming. It's Twitch, which you should be keeping an eye on. If people want to hear talk that isn't what you're offering, they can find it now. Broadcast radio let a large audience walk away by failing to recognize that potential talk radio listeners were fragmenting in their interests and cultural references and demographic breakouts in the same way music radio listeners have fragmented. And, like music radio confronting customizable, personalized streaming services, the reaction has been, well, limited; some stations are producing podcasts for more specialized audiences, but it's still in the nascent phase and it's far from enough.

What should talk radio do about this? More content for more audiences would be nice. And every company should review what their brands mean to those audiences. That's been the issue with all the radio folks intensely interested in what will happen to the WPLJ call letters, as if that brand has any real meaning to anyone under the age of 50. Does your talk radio brand have meaning to the people who you're trying to bring into the fold with more and different programming? No? Then create a new brand. Honestly, if your calls or slogan connote conservative political talk, you need to develop a totally different brand for other content, and market it as if it's another station. On the other hand, if your calls carry a strong brand that does lend itself to new content, like stations which have maintained a powerful news brand, use that brand to drive sampling; see, for example, how KSL in Salt Lake City, with the market's strongest news brand, extended that into podcasting with a true crime series that meant more to the market because it was coming from a trusted source. But if you're known for politics and you're creating pop culture or parenting or true crime content, the brand might get in the way. And if you're going to try reaching people on a platform with a different demographic profile like Twitch or Snapchat, you might want to consider that a separate product under a separate umbrella.

The bottom line for all of this? The audience changed. There's no one-size-fits-all formula for talk radio. (There never really was, but the available audience for the primary AM political talk formula used to be bigger.) But technology means opportunity, especially for those with proven expertise in creating spoken word content. You have more ways to reach more people. It's kind of like how FM's maturation gave broadcasters the chance to serve more listeners with more of what they wanted. Come on, you got this.

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Whatever the future holds, you'll always be able to get plenty of show material from Talk Topics, the show prep column at All Access News-Talk-Sports, all free when you click here and/or follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. And don't miss this week's "10 Questions With..." Joe Getty, he of the syndicated Armstrong & Getty Show, which is an example of a show taking a different approach to talk radio and finding great success with it. Imagine that. Joe offers his insight into how A&G do it, so go take a look.

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I'm going to be at The Conclave in Minneapolis next month, so if you're thinking of going, you've been warned, although I'm not on any panels, so it's probably safe. It's actually a very good event for networking and some good folks are on the panels, so go register at theconclave.com and I'll see you June 19-21 in Minneapolis. Think of it, as Lori Lewis says, as "summer camp." If that's what it is, though, I want s'mores.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
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