Radio Bruno

Do you know what your listeners want?

By now, you should be aware of "We Don't Talk About Bruno," one of the biggest hits in America right this minute. (Don't make me explain it.) It's huge, and it's everywhere... except radio. Radio won't play it, because it's, well, it's not a traditional pop hit, it's a song from a movie, lyrically requiring some context to understand what's going on. But it's massive on TikTok, it's a nearly universal meme on social media, it's a punch line, it's what a lot of people want to hear, and radio won't play it. Programmers have their reasons, some of them quite valid, but the fact remains that it's a popular song that radio isn't playing.

You know what else we don't talk about? A lot. So, let's look at talk radio. We know what the hardcore talk radio audience -- 65 and older white conservative males -- want. Talk radio gives it to them, and offers nothing else. That's great to preserve that audience, but it also means that as that audience dies out, there's no future there for the format. And so, we've seen younger, less conservative, less political listeners go elsewhere for spoken word content. They're at public radio to some extent, and they're listening to podcasts, but they're not listening to talk radio.

Want them to listen? The simple answer has always been to find out what interests them and give it to them, but the "We Don't Talk About Bruno" situation tells us that radio, handed evidence on a platter, doesn't always know what to do with it. There are always excuses for why this happens. It's too unusual. The appeal is to, ahem, "other" audiences. It doesn't test well with our core. Nobody else in our market is doing it. We don't want to be the first, in case it doesn't work.

Sound familiar? It's the litany of excuses used against every programming decision that bucked the industry norms. It hasn't mattered that there have been some huge, lasting successes among those who have tried to do something different. Timidity rules, until someone else takes a chance and weathers the inevitable "that's a stupid idea" attacks, at which point the copycats emerge.

Look, I'm not programming a Top 40 station; it's been a while since I worked in music radio. But I do know talk radio, and I do know that there's a world of content available to talk about that talk radio doesn't touch because all the people in charge seem to know is to get someone who sounds exactly like everyone else in the format, with the same talking points and the same sub-Rush style and the same everything. Go ahead and do that if you want to just muddle through. If you want to grow? Call me crazy, but if most of the public doesn't consume your product, I'd think that something that appeals to that majority might be the way to go. I know, it's radical, but it just might work.

Talk about Bruno, already.

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Oh, and, yes, I'm in South Florida now, the move coming just in time for what might be record-breaking cold weather. My timing is, as always, impeccable. The next few months will be a blur of looking at houses and waiting in line for turkey subs at Publix, so thanks in advance for bearing with me. Gonna be busy....

Perry Michael Simon
Senior Vice President/Editor-in-Chief and News-Talk-Sports-Podcasting Editor
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
Twitter @pmsimon