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SO, DO YOU LIKE DR. LAURA...
By: Walter Sabo
“SO, DO YOU LIKE DR. LAURA...” is easily the most perplexing question asked of our consultants. Personally, I haven’t given it much thought. Dr. Laura is a great broadcaster. How do I know? Because I can read an Arbitron. As a professional programmer, the job is to gather as many listeners as possible. Dr. Laura is very good at that, therefore I like Dr. Laura. Many music programmers will tell you that they hate a lot of the songs their stations play but their job is to get ratings so they play them.
Interestingly, in talk radio everything seems to get emotional and personal regarding talent selection. Congratulations. What a medium. Many hosts are so talented they inspire strong emotional response. That’s a great host. But that’s only the first step. Strong reactions from listeners and radio execs are a good start but the goal is ratings.
Just ratings.
Do I like Dr. Laura or Rush or Howard or Paul Harvey? I like their ratings. There are other really interesting hosts that don’t get ratings -- I listen to them on my cassette player, not on a client station.
There are a few other strange questions we’re asked:
SO, WHY DO YOU THINK HOWARD’S RATINGS ARE GOING DOWN?
What did we miss? Our answer is that up or down, in most markets, other stations would kill to have Howard’s “down” book. Send him a thank you note for evolving the entire industry. Strangely no one ever asks the important question which is: “How does Howard make such a magical show every day, year after year, for the past fifteen years?”
SO, HOW DO WE GET YOUNGER DEMOS WITHOUT LOSING OUR OLDER CUME?
You don’t. You can’t play polkas and N Sync on the same station and get ratings. To win younger listeners you will have to do things that will alienate many older listeners. That’s the definition of targeting a demo; you usually do it by excluding another.
WHY AREN’T THERE MORE FM TALK STATIONS?
Do your research. There is one in LA (Grossing over $40M a year.), Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Orlando, Washington DC, Dallas, Nashville, Akron, Trenton, etc. Most of them are dominant in their target demo of Men 18-34. Not ok, dominant. It’s a much better business than music. Why? Active listeners buy more stuff from advertisers. You don’t need an MBA to figure that one out.
HOW DO WE EVOLVE THE FORMAT?
Pay attention to what works in other media. Pay close attention because your listeners are. Since the job is to get ratings, watch and read what most people watch and read.
PARADE is the most read magazine in the English Speaking world. Judge Judy is
the number 1 daytime show among women. Janet Jackson has the number 1 song.
U2 the number 1 album. The number 1 TEEN TV show is... Friends.
At the same time recognize your own power. In most cities, the number 1 morning radio show has more listeners than the TONIGHT show has viewers in that city. Your station most assuredly has more listeners than CNBC has viewers in your city. Get a hold of the TV Rating books and magazine circulation numbers for your market; you’ll discover just how powerful you are. The greatest programmers look outside of the industry not just for the answers---but also for the questions.
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