Good Talent Is Additive to Your Brand

Are we are own worst enemy?  We, as an industry, seem to continually relegate the importance of talent.  We seem intent on de-humanising our brands in favor of uninterrupted music sweeps.  That can’t be a winning strategy for the long term health of our business.  If it is, then maybe I am in the wrong industry.  Successful radio stations have always had a soul; a heartbeat that went beyond simply the music we played... a soul that is emitted every time you come into contact with the station.  It’s an energy, a pulse, a rhythm that is hypnotic; no matter how hard you try, it draws you back in.  Successful stations are created by people for people.  When you think about the best stations (past or present), they have that soul, and I would bet that the talent between the songs were a huge part of creating that feeling within you.
 
In a major North American market I heard two breaks that made my heart sink this week.  “It’s 2 degrees right now outside of WXYZ-FM.”  The break appeared over the intro of the song, ensuring that no crack appeared in the wall of music being prioritized by the station.  Later the same day I found myself surfing around the dial and landed on another market leading station in the same market when the talent cracked the mic and said “WXYZ-FM.  Ed Sheeran coming up next by text request,”  Soul-less.

Now I am not placing all the blame with the talent.  That’s not the purpose of this musing.  I blame us as an industry for thinking that this type of content qualifies as entertainment.  I am left wondering whether we have taken the easy option.  Have we settled for what is easy instead of what is right?  Have we prioritized the short-term PPM battles at the expense of the long term war?  A war that will see us competing for attention amongst a myriad of entertainment choices.

To me radio’s magical power has always come from the people.  Our most valuable weapon is the human connection you are rewarded with whenever you choose to hit the listen live button:  A real person who shares themselves with you.  A person who is intent on making you smile on a miserable day.  A person who wants to ensure you have the information you need to navigate your day.  A person who shares the same interests as you and wants to share their thoughts and passions with you.  Companionship has always been one of the untold (and underplayed) benefits of tuning into the radio; something to keep you company when you are alone.  The more we de-humanise our radio stations by reducing the talent’s involvement to moments shorter than most PA announcements at a grocery store - and with equal entertainment value - the worse our future will be.  Surely we must all agree on that.

“There’s no new talent – the talent pool is shallow!”  That’s a statement that can be heard echoing around conference halls and reverberating around boardrooms.  I wonder whether that’s because we are treating talent as a nuisance rather than something that can actually elevate our station to unimaginable heights.  We aren’t cherishing the power of what talent can do.  If you were on the outside looking in at radio, would you perceive us as a creative playground?  A place where uniqueness will not only be welcomed but encouraged?  An environment where you will have the chance to be yourself and test drive your ideas?  I suspect when people hear us as an industry resort to “its 2 degrees right now outside of WXYZ-FM” they have a perception that is anything but one of creative freedom.  The curious thing is that there is more content being created and consumed today than there ever has been.  Talent just aren’t seeking out radio as their distribution model.  If we can’t inspire the next wave of young people to want to find their way into our industry then who is to blame?  Also, why is it always the managers who restrict their talent’s contribution who crow the loudest about the lack of talent?

Research seems to always remind us of the need to find interesting and entertaining personalities to magnify our formats.  We seem fixated on the idea that this means in the mornings only.  I’m not downplaying the importance of a larger than life morning show that conveys fun and is high on entertainment value, but simply curious as to why we don’t seek the same standards for the other 20 hours of the day?  Surely a roster of entertaining and diverse personalities tailored for the time of the day is a more compelling option than a station that downplays entertainment after 10am.

I’m not advocating - nor do I think the audience is - for heavy personality-led shows all day long.  I understand that brevity will likely always be part of the formula for music stations.  I’m however advocating for us to put more emphasis on talent as an additive to our brands.  The people who curate our brands have the power to make us human and to build unbreakable bonds with audiences.  But, if we keep constraining our talent so they think “its 2 degrees right now outside of WXYZ-FM” is entertainment, thenhow do we expect to build products that have something more compelling that music-streaming services?

Talent is part of what makes a radio station successful.  We need to create more space for them to perform.  We need to hire interesting people and let them share their uniqueness with the audience.  We need to encourage them to experiment and try new ideas.  We need to ensure they understand that their role is to make the radio station more entertaining.  Every break.  Talent, when they are focused on surprising the audience, can make our brands stickier.  In a world where music is easily accessible, talent have the potential to elevate us beyond the capabilities of music streaming services.  Talent will help you create content that audiences seek out time and time again.  Good talent will always make a difference.

It would be foolish for me to not state the obvious – some on air talent are part of the problem.  There are many examples of talent doing the bare-minimum.  Mailing it in.  Prepping on the fly, if prepping at all.  If talent aren’t invested wholeheartedly then of course the industry is going to put boundaries and policies ahead of entertainment.  Talent needs to actually want to entertain.  They should have a burning desire to share their thoughts, feelings and opinions with the audience.  They should be bursting to get behind the microphone each day.  If that’s not you, then you’re part of the problem.  Talent who think they know it all when they don’t are just as bad.  For talent who have more to offer but feel constrained – don’t give up, strive to be the best you can be.  Be the most inventive, most creative, most exciting you can be.  That might just be enough to get us to loosen the shackles and then you can be part of radio’s inevitable solution.

I urge anyone working in this magical industry to ask why?  What made you want to get into radio?  I suspect it wasn’t music alone.  It definitely wasn’t a desire to auto-pilot another long uninterrupted music sweep.  I suspect you were drawn to radio stations that sounded larger than life.  Big personalities. Great music.  Fun Ideas. Lots of energy.  For a radio station to achieve that larger than life sound you need all those elements working in unison.  Talent will always be one of those very important elements.  The great stations always know that talent is additive.  This is a plea for us – as an industry – to not accept breaks that are nothing more than “WXYZ-FM, here’s Katy Perry.”  Let’s entertain again.  Let’s commit to hiring entertaining people and then giving them the chance to entertain.  I think we’ll all have more fun that way.