The Changed Reality

Why Urban Adult Formats Shrink Rap

What's become of our format boundaries? It seems everywhere you turn these days you're faced with a general breakdown in where to draw the line. From the halls of Congress and the political campaign trail to our sports venues and talk radio, blunt vitriolic sound bites and the latest hip-hop offerings, our world is changing. Venomous exchanges seem to have replaced old-fashioned politeness and rhetorical decorum. Some say it is our obsession with the bottom line. But even in the greater music and radio communities some of our sense and sensitivity seems to have evaporated into the air of the times. They're all part of what I like to call "the changed reality."

For some of us, part of this changed reality has to do with shifting format focus. You can hear it everywhere. Rap and hip-hop music are taking over the airways. It's not just Urban radio, but so-called Dance, Rhythmic Top 40, mainstream Top 40 and now, even the new Alan Burns "Movin'"-formatted stations are dipping into rap for flavor and energy. It is used as background for many products and services on network television. Yet, despite the fact that rap is at the forefront of the most popular music on the radio and in the street, many stations are shrinking away from it. Could it be that the cold, stooped dope beat and rhymes bum-rushin' 24/7 are scaring off adults? Not really. Wherever you go, you hear it: rap music, the thumping sound of sampling drum machines, rhyming voices with snatches and scratches around the beats. It's fun, political, funky, obnoxious, brilliant, stupid and selling. On the cutting edge of technology, rap is inextricably linked with a certain lifestyle. The image of hipness and freshness is part of the attraction. And if you've ever attended any rap concerts lately, despite the isolated incidents and bad press, you know a large part of the audience is both affluent and over 25.

Rap subject matter covers a wide range, from hardcore violence to raunchy sex to peace and deep political doctrine with much aggrandizing about everything in between.

With mainstream acts such as Jay-Z, Ludacris and Mary J. Blige scoring platinum records, sold-out concerts and having a major impact on television video shows, David Letterman and The Tonight Show, it's obvious that the appeal of rap music has extended far beyond its original boundaries. As a musical market, rap music is growing faster than any other and everybody wants a piece of the rock, except some newly formatted, so-called Urban Adult stations that fear rap will run off their adults. The reality is that not playing some hit rap songs could lose them both the young and older audience that wants fresh music. The key is dayparting and careful transition of the tracks on either side of the rap songs. Yes, you have to be very selective about these songs. Just like the early Urban stations wanted to be first with the new jams, today's Urban and Urban Adult audiences still want to listen to a station that is first with whatever the contemporary equivalents might be -- including some rap songs.

The Secret Growing-Shedding Graying Theory

As the audience continues to gray, Urban Adult station's upper demo growth is no longer basically a given. Now it's a question of following this demographic conveyor belt where the audience just keeps getting older and looking ahead to the next five years. As the audience gets more 25-44, some hit rap songs are just going to become more attractive. In the early days it was teens and young adults who seemed to be the target of Urban formats. Then research came in and forced stations to split their audience, and you heard early slogans such as "The kids have their station and now you have yours." Or "all hits and no rap." These slogans eventually went away, but not the notion that if you want an adult audience you have to play just oldies and ballads and avoid rap. Urban became a mass-appeal format, and now it's almost in a dead tie as far as some stations' 18-24 audience overlapping into 25-44. So the success of the right demographics is going to help drive it and as we progress and get more success stories.

Some of the artists might be short-term novelties, but the major artists will definitely endure. It just gets down to that intangible quality of the music. There was a rare time in history when the music that came out between 1980 and 1990 was just so strong, so lasting, so musical and non-fashion-driven that it stuck around in some form. The artists and their songs had character that caused them to last.

A good Urban AC station should be like your favorite pair of jeans. Now that doesn't mean that you don't wear a new shirt with those jeans every once in a while. Today's Urban AC station needs to live up to expectations of familiarity, but it should not be so safe that it becomes predictable and boring. That's where the art of programming meets the science of programming. Urban AC-formatted stations have always been slow to add new music, but now they need to move faster to keep up with the speed of how new music is exposed to the audience from other sources. Today's Urban AC stations need to sniff out some new artists for the format. The goal is not to become too hip for the room, but we still need to find our next generation of adult radio stars.

Let's face it. If the most popular songs include some hip-hop titles, don't fool yourself -- the people who want to hear it will go to where it is being offered. And you could instantly go from a P1 to a P2 or P3. In today's highly fragmented markets, establishing a strong identity is not only desirable, it's matter of survival. So many signals float through the airwaves with imperceptible differences in style and substance that being without a trademark is to be the perennial also-ran.

We've all seen instances of the new program director that comes to town and decides to program what he/she likes instead of listening to his audience. You have to be responsive to what the research bears out and if the findings show that ballads and re-currents and some rap songs are what's happening, that could be the difference between winning and being a half-step behind. On the other hand, if your research shows that freshness, uptempo tracks and certain selected rap songs are what your audience is feeling, that's the way to go if you want to be in the mix.

One of the little-known secrets I want to share with you this time is that it's possible to play some rap songs without losing your image as a hit-oriented, Adult Urban station. Sales managers and GMs all say they want a station with strong 25-54 adults, and they want it done without sacrificing the younger demos they take for granted. And it's the young end of the demographic scale that can make a difference because if they're not happy with your station, as they get older, they are likely to go where they hear most of what they like and your station could suffer.

Don't forget about the attitude of the air personalities. After all, they're the ones who have to get the musical message across to the audience. If they don't feel comfortable with what they're being asked to play, it will come across on the air, or even worse they may challenge the computer, the playlist and the program director's judgment.

The good ones will understand that radio is a business and that no station can be truly successful by acting like someone's personal jukebox. For mutual respect to grow there has to be give and take on both sides.

Focus On Purpose

So why do so many managers and owners look at air talent in the same general category as robots, and then become alarmed when they act like robots? Either they're insecure, insensitive or both. They should realize that their programming staff is only reacting in kind to the signals sent out by management.

So before you decide to completely "shrink rap" in an effort to score big with adults, remember the bottom line is that the younger end of that demo can be a real franchise especially if you can't have it all. Keep in mind too that Arbitron is often at least a month or two behind what's actually happening and usually Arbitron and the agencies are still going to sort and decide the numbers break out. And while many buys that Urban stations will qualify for this season will still target 25-54 adults, the bulk of the mainstream heritage Urbans are going to target those adults who are 25-39 as the target slice of that statistical pie. As Urban baby boomers grow older, that pie could expand. Performing well at both ends of that demographic equation is not only a fairly healthy generational spread, it's an attainable goal.

When Urban radio focuses on purpose as well as music, it gains an often overlooked advantage. Purpose is most effective when it centers around what happens between and around the records. Providing great, well-planned entertainment with air personalities who do daily show prep is a real plus. Then marketing to the community and being involved can make a huge difference in image and perception. The key is to be a mass-appeal Urban station within the format context.

Hip-hop music is the music of today for a lot of people over 25. That's very important for the young end of the audience that has grown up with you. People grew up with

certain music, and when those over 25s Urban radio is not targeting grew up, there were no specialized Urban Adult stations, so they're used to hearing all the hits, all the time. Unlike Top 40 and Rock and other musically-similar formats, the Urban audience is more active and more impatient. They want the best music of today being offered, and if that music now includes some rap artists, don't "shrink them." There are songs now as then that take you back to a point in time that you can reference yourself. While power golds and recurrents do have some value, so does new music. A full-service, mass-appeal station in 2007 must continue to provide new music the right way and not restrict the music because of preconceived notions about the songs or the artists.

Finally, if you're meeting or exceeding the expectations of your audience you can survive a formatic attack, a down book or trend or even the loss of a key player. Research can help you to determine what the audience thinks of your station, even what they expect of a station that wants their Arbitron vote. As it relates to the inclusion of rap on even the well-researched Urban Adult station, there is even a way to mix rap and some smooth jazz artists and have the best of both worlds. But I'm not going to give that secret away here -- not just yet.

When adults tell you in focus groups or auditorium tests that they don't like rap, they are really saying they don't like some rap. They are saying they don't like talk. But what they're really saying is that they don't like the kind of talk they hear on most stations. They may not like some rap for the same reasons. But if your current playlist includes some hip-hop that works, it can give you both freshness and energy. Those are two ingredients that can keep you in the game.

The basics never change. Your air personalities have to sound like they are having fun on the air. As audiences get older, they get more cynical and more sophisticated in their own tastes. And they appreciate genuineness. If they suddenly hear a jam on their favorite station that has some rap in it and you're known as a station that plays fresh new music, with the right presentation it can still all come together. Familiarity combined with freshness is really what the new Urban Adult format is all about. It's the new way to keep it real. It's also the changed reality. Embrace it.

Word.