Rediscovering the number 1 tune in reason in radio
After having discovered story telling as a strong way of differentiating radio from other media, now music is celebrating its come-back in the attention of radio professionals.
It’s more than obvious that the radio industry is not sufficiently appreciating its most important asset – the music. The story telling expert Uwe Walter once used the catchy image of a radio station “just sliding its music titles into the oven like some plain briquettes”.
This impression can be reproduced easily as it already shows in the company structure of many radio stations. Even at music stations the music department is still often less valued than the news department. Music departments are constantly understaffed and often not included when it comes to organizational or creative processes. At some stations presenters or other departments are even still allowed to change the music scheduling! Imagine a music editor changing the wording of a presentation or a report on short notice! Hard to believe.
Radio stations need to rediscover the value of music for themselves. But what does that mean in practice? First of all, many radio stations should be involved much more with the musical lifestyle of their listeners than with their own internal processes (news, editors, promotion…).
The basic task of choosing the right music strategy and testing the right songs is crucial and not to be questioned. It represents the table on which the food is displayed. But this is not enough anymore, every listener has the theoretical power of setting it for himself in the shortest of time, e.g. with ‚Spotify‘.
What adds is that not too many years ago only a few stations could afford music research and therefore obtain a successful differentiation in the market. Now music research has become a standard tool. No station can afford to play songs that its audience doesn’t like.
But what does a radio station have to do to meet the new challenges of the market? Or to take it differently: What is it that makes a station more valuable for the audience than music platforms like ‚Spotify‘?
- Rediscover the emotional power of music for the station!
- Identify the entertaining strength of music for the right target group!
→ Is it the demand for hits? Is it the possibility of discovering new music? Is it the good feeling that is transported with the mix? - Reorganize the company structure and processes with strong regard to the emotional power of music, e.g. by increasing the power of the music department in the station!
- Corporate communication → Match between the musical lifestyle of the listeners and the station’s genetics!
How to do in practice?
- Launch Music Air Checks!
→ The music department coaches the presenters in talking about music to the listeners. - Creative Focus Groups
→ Develop a music communication with the words of the listeners‘ lifestyle group! - Choose the presenters with regard to a musical lifestyle fit with the listener!
- Music scheduling
→ Optimize the music with regard to style flow, not only along with the test results and categories! - Do interactive music campaigns for the listeners that support the emotional power of music!
- Coach the presenters to ‘enjoying the music‘!
The goal should be to keep on harmonizing the logarithms of the music scheduling software, the processes within the different departments and the positive feeling that music should transport. This is indeed a complex task – which perfectly fits the nature of radio programming though.
It is fun – and creates the so much discussed ‘good mood‘ for the listener on the way! All our studies prove a strong correlation between music and good mood. ‘Good mood’ is not only created by ‚funny presenters‘ and ‚comedy‘, but above all by the right music that evokes emotion and memories!
Brand Support wishes fun enjoying the music again!
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