This may seem like Radio 101 – play the right music – but it goes much deeper than that. First of all, too many stations have stopped doing any kind of music research. They say it costs too much. Actually bad ratings probably cost a lot more. If you are a music station, you better figure out what music your listeners want or they won’t be your listeners very long. You might be able to generate cume by having people tune in and out, but that cume will not be converted into Time Spent Listening and it will not generate the numbers you need to be successful – both in the ratings and in sales. You must be playing the songs that generate real passion from your listeners – the ones that make them want to listen longer and come back again and again. They should be afraid to tune out for fear of missing another one of their favorites. I have conducted hundreds of auditorium music tests in my career and I can tell you there is no substitute for this. It’s amazing to watch listeners react to their favorites and show little or no – and sometimes groans – response when a song they don’t like is played. These tests are a real window into the hearts of your most loyal listeners – because that is who normally participates in these studies. If you have never witnessed an “auditorium test”, you should try to stop by the next one your station has. During the test, the hooks (the most recognizable 10-12 seconds of any song) are played one after another and the participants marked down a score of 1-5. A 5 means it is one of their all-time favorites, a one means they don’t like it at all and 2, 3 and 4 indicate some degree of like or dislike. There is also a column for “unfamiliar”, meaning the participant does not recognize the song. I always instruct them to use that if they do not instantly know the song and not try to judge it by the ten second hook. Watching the test itself and then seeing the results are usually real windows into the “soul” of the listeners. Two things usually stand out: songs that are unfamiliar (that we thought were hits) and the songs they don’t like. (which, again, we thought were big hits) . It proves we really don’t know as much as we think we do about the listeners’ tastes. Going with our “gut” is a very dangerous way to go. Do you think McDonald’s puts something on the menu that they have not researched? Probably not! Usually, they will test new menu items in smaller markets to gauge the approval of the customer, and even then they might decide the response is not positive enough to warrant adding that item to the national menu. McDonald’s seems to have had some success by doing this. So, if one of the largest companies in the world asks its customers, why wouldn’t you?
Always think about asking your customers what they want on the menu. Auditorium music tests can be pricey, but in the long run they will more than pay for themselves with increased ratings.
Coming next: Getting the most out of a music test by the proper scheduling of the music logs each day.
