Give Me A Reason

What does your station's brand mean to your market?

It's been part of radio's plan for years, the idea that as listening migrates to digital platforms, all you'll have to do is be available that way -- podcasts, streaming, smart speakers -- and you'll be set. The assumption is that people will continue to look to you for their audio entertainment, that they'll just ask Alexa for your slogan or call letters.

Why would they do that, though? What reason are you giving them for doing that? What does your brand mean to them?

That's where the reputation of some heritage stations used to come into play. People knew that, in an emergency, they could turn to the big all-news or news-talk station in town and there'd be the information and talk they sought. Some stations still have that reputation, and, indeed, if news is breaking, there's a better chance that a listener will seek them out on any platform.

But others, not so much. A station that has no local personalities and little or no local news hasn't developed a brand that people will seek out. Why would they? You can get national news and talk from countless sources, including podcasts. You need to give them something they can't get from elsewhere, and you need your brand to be all about that.

Try this: Go to the supermarket or someplace like that and walk up to someone you don't know. Tell them the call letters or slogan of your station and ask them what comes to mind when they hear that name. If they punch you or call security, get out of there. If they say that they don't know or don't have any reaction, you have a problem. If they volunteer any opinion at all on what you do, you're on the right track, because, good or bad, your brand MEANS something to them. You're on their radar. You've achieved the elusive "stationality," which, by the way, is one of the worst pieces of industry jargon in history and we shall never utter it again.

That doesn't come out of thin air. That requires personality. That requires developing talent. That means respecting talent and giving them the platforms and support they need to grow into something people will ask for. (See last week's column.) And that means recognizing that anyone can develop their content and brand without radio, which in turn means that radio needs to be to content and talent what music labels are to artists and songs: a marketing and development platform that can help the talent be more than what they can do alone. Sure, you can do a podcast, but you could use marketing, distribution, and sales help, right? And radio has the potential to be better at that than podcast networks, doesn't it? Radio is still a powerful marketing tool, isn't it? There's radio's future, if it wants one.

And I hope it does want a future, rather than just focusing on cutting costs to survive to the end of the fiscal year. I know, the kids, they don't care about radio, they don't own radios, they don't even know what radio is. That's as much because radio hasn't given them a reason to care as it is about the rise of other technologies. Let's give 'em a reason to care. Let's give em something to ask for. Maybe your brand will mean "stuff you gotta listen to" instead of "grandpa's station" or, worse, nothing at all.

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If you'll excuse me, I'll go back to watching the weather and where those tropical storms in the Atlantic are headed. That's what you do in Florida this time of year. It's been strangely quiet this hurricane season, but if and when we see a big storm, we're ready with hand-cranked radios. I wonder what radio stations will come through with information in emergencies. That would be a good brand for someone to have.

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