Program in real time not on your own time

When working with shows and coaching personalities we talk about the 4M’s of content. Great content is centered around the Moment, Mood, Market and Music. We encourage personalities to think about creating content that is either relevant to the moment, reflective of the audience’s mood, connected to your market and/or demonstrates the shared experience with the music you’re playing. The 4M’s are in that order deliberately as being relevant to the moment and reflective of the audience’s mood are the most important.

This past weekend, with the sudden and tragic passing of Taylor Hawkins, we were once again reminded of the importance of needing to "program in real time not on your own time" and needing to be relevant to the moment and in tune with the audience’s mood. Radio can immediately be reflective of any event that is unfolding and of interest to your target audience. To abandon the content, we had planned and instead focus on emotionally connecting with the audience through content that is more relevant.

When something happens that is of importance or interest to your audience you need to reflect it. In that moment. You need to be part of the dialogue right then. Our world has never been so connected; we are able to access to information instantaneously and equally the ability to reach one another to share our experiences and thought in milliseconds. Radio needs to be ready – and able - to react immediately. In today's world the speed of our reaction is imperative. Brands that can’t respond in the moment will become increasingly irrelevant to audiences.

Last Friday, Taylor Hawkins passed away suddenly and again we saw the need for radio to "program in real time." As the news spread around the world Rock stations scrambled to reimagine their content. Many stations were able to quickly announce the news, increased the exposure of Foo Fighters titles, had imaging on the air, deployed digital content, built tribute pieces, and had live hosts connecting with emotional and shocked listeners. These stations knew what the moment was about. The smartest programmers and teams know there is nothing more important than being right there with their audience. Nothing more important than doing something. Often that means sacrificing what else was on the ‘to do’ list or even personal time.

There were equally many Rock stations who were slow to do anything. I suspect there were some stations that did nothing at all. Unfolding across a weekend meant many stations were voice-tracked or running syndicated programming and in those situations, it almost felt like the stations had checked out until Monday rolled around again. Voice-tracking is an understandable reality, but it can’t be an excuse to do nothing. Stations need plans to deal with unforeseen events that matter to their audience and quickly. You need to be ready and flexible to throw out what was planned and go with what matters, in the moment.

Your goal should always be to "program in real time." We need to make sure our brands are ready to inject themselves into the conversation our audience is having, and to make sure we add something of value to that dialogue. Consumers expect nothing less.

Kudos to all those station that were right there side by side with their audience. It matters. Truly it does. It’s what makes radio well…radio