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Facing A Changing Fall Climate
September 26, 2006
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How Much Can Intimacy Help?
Of all the tactics Urban stations will attempt to use to help them win their ratings battles this fall, one of the most interesting and challenging may be intimacy. A few stations are already benefiting from it and may not even know they're using it. We've all heard about how terrestrial radio's one advantage over the Internet and satellite is localization. Now recent studies have shown that something else we can offer that gives us an edge is intimacy. The combination of localization and intimacy can be very powerful.
Providing intimacy or companionship -- a live, warm human -- offers a distinct advantage and can even help with the "phantom cume" problem, which we'll examine later. Urban radio is more than capable of providing companionship on a one-on-one basis. Companionship is part of intimacy, and some say it's an elusive quality, although my guess is most of us sense it intuitively.
Some are going to ask, "What is intimacy, and why is it important?" Intimacy is a combination of elements. It's communicating effectively with each member of your audience. And yes, as an air-personality you still have to make your audience laugh, chuckle or think -- or all three -- especially in morning drive. But intimacy is more than that. It's impossible to sound intimate with a member of your audience if you haven't the vaguest idea who he or she is. That's why it's important and why we recommend the use of the personal listener concept. When you believe you're talking to one good friend, everyone in search of human contact will perceive you are talking to them.
In addition to that one special person you're communicating with, it's extremely beneficial to know the actual makeup of our audience. We may assume everyone is getting up and going to work or school between 6-10a and then heading back home somewhere between 4:30-7p. But the latest national surveys are showing that fully a third of our audience doesn't work the traditional 9a-5p. So now that we know this, what do we do with it?
Well, once in a while you can put some backspin on the show by saying something like, "Checked in with Bryan, who works the night shift at [local factory, plant or company], and yesterday he and his homies all listened to us and they want us to know they like the vibe. Lorraine on the South Side says that on weeknights she listens when she and her friends are headed to the club. Well, check it out, whether you're headed to the club or crib right now, here's a little something to ride with."
Or how about for middays, when most savvy programmers have their stations targeted directly at the "desperate housewives," mothers or homemakers? They're not that hard to figure. They're like everybody else. They just get more diaries and often fill them out for the whole family. For this coveted crew of listeners, you might handle it this way: "For everybody balancing their bankbooks right now, here's a little music to sign checks by." Phrases like that help you to connect; they put you top-of-mind and in emotional contact with some people who are usually left out. Including them is putting intimacy to work.
Polling Pays Off
There's a direct benefit to polling your audience occasionally too. For example, "We'd like to know what you're doing while we're jamming the box for you. Why don't you hit me up on the jam lines or log onto the website or text message me?" Then share this information on the air: "We just heard from Cynthia at the main post office. She says that every now and then they make her stop listening and sort for a few minutes. I'd love to hear from you too." The richer your understanding of exactly who it is you're talking to, the better you'll be able to create the illusion of one-on-one radio.
Here's another thought about intimacy. We're all so complicated and stressed
and dealing with life's daily issues, we need relief. It's nice to be able to connect with someone. If you're an air personality who presents the exact same face to your listeners all the time, they will soon sense your "act."
Nobody's cool all the time. Nobody's always bubbly or up and bright all the time either. Trying to be that way, as many of us were taught for years, doesn't really uplift your audience. It can alienate them. That doesn't mean you should bring them down by being grouchy or negative. It simply means that being real and intimate is what will give you an edge. The bubbly, positive, always-laughing posture are attitudes that are nice "default positions," but if you don't occasionally show the range of your emotions, including frustration, sadness, tenderness and grief, the audience is not going to think of you as a real person and bond with you. This intimacy can also help you do one more thing: It can help with the phantom cume.
Solving The Phantom Cume
Of all the mysteries that will affect Urban radio this fall, perhaps none is more irritating or confusing than "The Case of the Phantom Cume." You see, ours has always been an industry famous for using buzzwords. These buzzwords came about because of the type of talented people who are attracted to our industry. We like these buzzwords; we like to throw them around in crowded elevators at conferences. In fact, I heard some buzzwords this past weekend in Dallas at the NAB Radio Show. These buzzwords are much like fads that come and go. But one that has been around for more than a decade is "phantom cume."
What is "phantom cume"? The book definition is that it is the difference between real listening and reported listening. But even if you understand that, it's an incomplete explanation of this ratings phenomenon that affects us all. It's not a new phrase, and it basically describes an old problem. Phantom cumers are listeners who consistently go unreported or underreported in Arbitron's unaided recall ratings surveys.
Although they listen to your station, these listeners don't name it unless prompted to do so with a list of call letters, frequencies or slogans. Some of you may remember Kurt Hanson's Accuratings, whose methodology not only included telephone retrieval but also used prompting as a regular part of its procedures. This produced different results and got rid of "phantom cume."
Winning radio stations have to be inspiring, passionate, imaginative and caring. And they must offer compelling content. They should become something the audience looks forward to every morning and goes to bed with every night. They should be a part of the very fabric of people's lives.
Music is the infrastructure of the station's presentation. Our jobs as programmers and talent are to give the audience a tight, focused selection of songs based on research, proper rotation and balance. The words in the songs we play can offer an intimate glimpse into a relationship that takes the listener on a romantic journey. And if they associate that pleasant journey with our radio station, we've won the game. All these things can help us adjust to a changing fall climate.
Word.
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