My long time friend and radio colleague, Mike McVay has just written a great article for Radio Ink. Here is the link: https://radioink.com/2021/01/25/disneys-rules-of-management-for-radio/. Those in the know learned a long time ago that listening to and learning from your audience is what would ultimately separate the great stations from the “wannabees.” Disney was a pioneer in this and, at some point, radio people realized that the way to get the audience to listen to you, was for you to listen to them. There are still many out there who, for some reason, believe that audience and music research have been a large part of why radio audiences have diminished, somewhat, over the years. “They took all the fun out of it,” is what these people say. I ask, “what is more fun than winning?” How will you ever really know how to attract and hold listeners if you never ask them? This is part of the Disney culture in which I firmly believe: “Find out what the audience wants and give it to them.” Simple…right?
Music research is a huge part of that. I believe, it is what separates the average radio station from the great radio station. Knowing what your listeners really like and not just going by “the trades” will give your station a real advantage in this uber-competitive radio marketplace. A music test, be it on line or auditorium, can be a real eye opener for programmers. Some songs we thought were big hits don’t really mean that much to the listeners and songs that we thought were “fried” still get great scores, showing no signs of “burn.” It is also amazing to see the lack of familiarity on songs that we thought had been in power rotation plenty long enough and it was time for them to be a recurrent. Changing music too quickly and too often can be a real “turn off” for the audience.
There are so many platforms competing for the audience now and you can’t afford to be wrong – even for one song. Do your homework and discover what the audience really wants to hear and not what you think they want to hear.
If you would like to know more about music research, how it is done and how it can really reap dividends for your station just contact Jim Kennedy Consulting at 434-990-0145, james@jimkennedyconsulting.com or on Twitter @ jimkennedy6. I would love to talk with you and help you get the success you want and deserve.
