(By Gary Berkowitz) Have you noticed that we (radio people) can spend hours discussing and debating programming issues? Listeners, on the other hand, have no problem boiling it down to a few words to describe how they feel.
From the many focus groups and strategic research projects I get involved with, here are the most commonly mentioned subjects with female listeners, And the winners are….
On Advertising – “Why do radio station’s all play ads at the same time?”
On Music – ’Commercial Free Music’ is crap, they play ads for the station.” (this means no promos).
On Station Promos – “They’re ads!”
On Music – “Why don’t they tell us the names of the songs?”
On variety and unpredictability – “What I really like about (Jack) is that I don’t know what I am going to hear next.”
On advertising radio stations – “Word of mouth advertising is the best.”
On Traffic Reports – “Focus on the trouble spots, not the usual delays.”
On Mornings – “Don’t try and be funny or self-serving.”
On Contests – “The ones you can play along with (and not have to call in) are best.”
On Advertising – “Why don’t stations run different ads, not the same ones over and over?”
On Station Voice – “That station is automated”
I did not make these quotes up. They come right from listeners. Plain and straight. This list might make for a good conversation at your next programming meeting.
Gary Berkowitz specializes in ratings improvement for AC and Classic Hits radio stations. Gary can be reached at (248) 737-3727 or [email protected]. www.garyberk.com
Interesting atricle, agree with most of the complains. Anyway, I was thinking whether male listeners were thinking the same way. Any related articles?
I assume everyone hates advertising, regardless of nationality, gender or race.
Seems we’re so sensitive about ads, lol. Anyway to fix that? I mean, is it possible to merge ads into the content of radio show？
As long as the show itself is fantastic enough and the commercial time is limited, I think most listeners are fine with taht.
Listen to the listeners.