These days, you can read some truly great stories in some of the most unusual places. For example, I love browsing Delta’s Sky magazine, one of the most entertaining publications in the commercial aviation industry.
And there’s the Costco Connection, the monthly magazine Costco sends to its millions of members. This month, the cover story is “Born To Run,” an interview with Bruce Springsteen by Tim Talevich. The Boss is plugging his memoirs, and gave the big box store one of hundreds of interviews he’s done in the past few months.
But this is a good one. Talevich writes a strong story about Springsteen, but the money quote comes at the very end of the feature – a statement about music passion that has stuck with me since reading the story:
“I think for people from our generation that (rock) has played a very, very shaping and very powerful role. While I still believe it plays that role in young people’s lives, I think there’s a lot of other things that compete with it – the video games, so many other things. But for us, I mean music was everything.
“It was how you shaped your identity. It was how you chose your friends. You woke up to it in the morning and went to sleep with it at night. And it always pointed toward a bigger world and other possibilities.”
And by extension, Springsteen is likely talking about the role radio played in the life and times of his generation – Baby Boomers. Yet even among today’s Millennials who have all those distractions – the Internet, smartphones, social media – music delivered on the radio can still play an important role for consumers of all ages. And in any format.
Last week, I was asked by a reader of this blog if Classic Rock is a song-driven format or an artist-driven one. My feeling is that it’s more the latter. 
Classic Rock fans tend to revere and appreciate artists, and generally enjoy hearing catalog songs from their favorite bands. The Classic Hits format, on the other hand, tends to be more about hit songs and less about the bands and artists who recorded them. But oftentimes, the success that both formats enjoy is wrapped up in the pure passion the airstaff delivers day in an day out when presenting the music they play.
The best Classic Rock jocks – and there are many of them around the country – are the ones who deliver the music with pure unbridled passion. We see and hear about it all the time in quantitative surveys, as well as in focus and listener groups we conduct. On the other hand, stations and jocks on auto-pilot often fail to ignite the joy for music that Springsteen speaks about.
In an environment where consumers construct their playlists or let an algorithm do the heavy lifting, the passion factor is sorely missing. Spotify, Pandora, and others are mechanical platforms that cannot replicate the personal connection that radio can deliver between the music for the fans who live for it.
And while The Boss’ formative experience was with rock music, a station’s embrace of the music has an impact with other formats, too. Right now, Alternative is trying to rekindle its momentum. After a nice long run, many stations are struggling. This prompted Richard Sands, publisher of the always entertaining The Sands Report, to launch a multi-issue series by asking the question, “What Is The Problem (If Any) With Alternative Radio?”
In the first issue, industry pundits talked about the ratings malaise that many Alternative and Active Rock stations are encountering. And some pointed to the music and the way it’s being selected and programmed as the culprit. But the final word went to a record promo exec who also laid the blame on the variables that radio can control:
“I think the problem is lazy presentation and lack of spirit. In other words, boring radio. Not the words you want to associate with a youth-based format.”
Perhaps all these decades of music testing, sorting, and scheduling have commoditized the music to a point where programmers and personalities have reduced songs into bite-sized marketing statements – the powers, the secondaries, and the fillers – rather than as the mini-passion plays they are for fans.
And so we end up back where we started – with the person behind the mic having a major say in the way the music comes alive. And I suspect that Springsteen would concur that the shaping effect he speaks of about the music was engineered by some of the seminal DJs who played it. Alternative radio is no different.
And perhaps it’s presentation that helps connect fans with music in many formats, from Christian to Hip-Hop. While I would never claim to have any expertise in Country, it makes you wonder if that format’s current travails don’t have a little something to do with the perfunctory, ho-hum delivery common to so many stations. Listeners want to be energized by their favorite stations. For most, it starts with the music.
As my friend Tom Bender used to explain it, a PD and an airstaff’s central obligation is to hold up the mirror to the audience and at minimum, reflect back their passion for the music your station plays. As we watch formats go up and down during the course of a year, the way jocks fan those flames can be a difference maker. I always take it as a good sign when I walk by the air studio, and hear the music blaring. Extra credit for dancing in the studio, playing air guitar, and singing along with the songs.
That’s the passion factor, and who else but Bruce Springsteen to explain how and why it works.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Great piece Fred.
You don’t hear much excitement over new releases these days as radio once did, with both AOR and CHR playlists. The last one that comes to mind (as a listener) was radio’s excitement over Adele’s “Hello” single when it was released last year.
During my album rock on-air days, new releases by major artists became an event – a celebration for the station, both internally and on-air.
I recall coming in for a shift with the opportunity to spin side 2 of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” on the day the label dropped the vinyl off at the station. Talent on before me already tracked side 1. I still smile remembering when I heard “Have a Cigar,” “Wish You Were Here” and “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” for the very first time; and then went on to share that feeling with the audience. Calls that came in on the studio line certainly confirmed the reaction and you knew right then that this was something special.
Granted, not every release is a “Hello” or “Wish You Were Here,” but there is no reason radio cannot show a bit more passion over new music, regardless of the format (or even gold titles as hosts like Cousin Brucie, Phlash Phelps and Pat St. John regularly do on Sirius/XM “60s on 6”).
The passion air talent for the music passes on to the listener. The listener’s passion comes back to the radio station.
Just some thoughts on a Monday morning.
And some good ones, Dan. Both you and Bruce are lamenting the passing of an important time for radio and rock music. But it makes you wonder whether in a world of digital playlists, radio isn’t missing an opportunity to rev up audience passion for the music. Thanks for the comment.
I’ve always said bring back the night guy. The guy that bends the rules, introduces new music and “stuff” you might not know or need to know. Takes callers – “make or break” give away free MP3! Passion! Compelling. But hard to do when the station is one of 5 you have to VT and you’ve only heard the intro and outro of song.
Bill, there’s no question that the loose cannon after dark was a big part of the passion factor at all the great music stations. Thanks for chiming in.
I think many Alternative jocks are merely reflecting (and maybe sharing) the attitudes of their core audience: Enthusiasm can be perceived as proselytism. “Stop selling me, dude.”
There’s a tendency to reject authority, distrust traditional salesmen, and deflate and discredit famous idols. That makes it very difficult to thrive as a high profile personality, WHILE simultaneously downplaying your own perceived fame AND appropriately pushing the music, contesting, promotions, branding, etc.
A high-wire act, indeed. Especially when a certain increasingly jaded faction of the audience would love to see you fail.
Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady has an embarrassment of riches. But people snicker when he pitches Ugg boots. He shows up at the top of the Most Loved AND Most Hated Sports Stars lists.
There’s as much hatred for the Mike Francesas, Howard Sterns, and John DeBellas of the radio world as there is love for them. Guys like Kevin & Bean, once perceived as 100% cool, are now being re-imaged as just the opposite by younger competitors and their audiences.
On the one hand, enjoying this kind of polarization is the mark of a true star. On the other hand, is it the beginning of the end? I suppose it depends how you handle it moving forward.
That radio ain’t dead here!!!!
I can hear that all the way here in Detroit! Thanks, Max!
As always, count on Fred to keep the ‘art’ in heart. At a time when radio needs to inspire, as a medium, this column is vital reading.
Many thanks, Sky. When I think about passionate DJs, I think of the young rocker who lit up Chicago and Detroit all those years. We could use a few more like you.
Amen. For me, there was no better example of how to show real enthusiasm for the music and pull the listener a little bit closer than Sky on The Loop in the late 1970’s. I realize this post is old, but it just showed up in my FB feed today and that’s how much of an impact Sky made on me. Now, fast forward to Bob’s comment about the logistics of today’s radio– I agree that’s it’s much harder to generate that vibe when you are whipping out 4-5 hours of voice tracks in 15 or 20 minutes.
I remember Sky at W4 in Detroit, and he was the real deal. Thanks for your comment, Tim.
I hesitate to write this because its a day late and if I’m getting bored with my recurring themes then I assume others are as well.
But…It’s harder to be passionate about a song if you aren’t about to hear it. So much is tracked now and personalities aren’t about to listen to the song they front announce – maybe they don’t even know the song at all and what can you say about a song you never heard?
I think the different structure of programming departments now vs. when classic rock was new has something do with the lack of passion too. Now, those decisions are often made somewhere else and the people charged with making them come alive are disconnected from the process in ways there weren’t in the past.
Put the two together and communicating passion about a song or music in general is harder. That’s just one more thing that has to be a part of the calculus when a station decides to originate its programming remotely.
It should also be noted that millennials are very passionate about music. I saw a survey (might have even been here) that showed a frighteningly high % of them said that festivals were signature events in their lives. If radio can find a way to connect to that passion it could be a good first step to a better connection with those millennials.
Bob, these are good comments. And you’re right that the environment (let’s include PPM) conspires against the passion factor.
Radio still has the ability to make moments happen around a great new song or an amazing old one. It’s a matter of remembering why people listen in the first place. Thanks for commenting.