Say what you will about COVID and 2020. It’s been a highly charged emotional time. No matter how you, your family, and your co-workers have navigated these past 14 months, emotions have run ragged.
This period will underscore the need for better mental health treatment in communities throughout the U.S. And sadly, this rash of mass shootings point to the emotional wear and tear so many are feeling. Yesterday, Dr. Fauci referred to it as “a public health crisis.”
And that brings us to the ways in which mass media can move us during difficult times. While “we’re all in this together” and similar catch-phrases became ubiquitous during the early innings of the pandemic, the ways in which brands have performed during the crisis have been very much dependent on their Emotional Intelligence – their ability to “read the room.”
A much-quoted line from the always prescient Maya Angelou sums it up very well:
From my perch as a radio content creator, in fact, I take it as a challenge. We need to do more than focus on “quarter-hour maintenance” or “build cume.” Those tasks even sound mechanical – like an oil change or an audit.
We’re programmers. We need to enchant, entertain, touch, and connect with our listeners. That’s the art of this craft.
I’ve been thinking about the late Nick Michaels these days. He passed away suddenly nearly three years ago. I’m betting he was a Maya Angelou
fan.
Nick hated the banal way programmers wrote copy for him – “Call in to win,” “The most music with less talk,” “Listen at home, at work, or in your car.” To Nick, this was absolute drivel. Better put, pure crap.
He had a way of boiling down what we do to precious few words. Rather than exhort the audience to “Be my 9th caller RIGHT NOW” (or as Nick would scream, “You’re not talking to the dog!”), his simple three-word suggestion was this:
“Make them feel.”
In radio, we conveniently love to pigeon-hole people by the formats they listen to most. “He’s a Classic Rocker.” “She’s into love songs.” “They’re news junkies.”
But as we learned during the proliferation of the iPod, our music collections – and the breadth of our tastes – tend to be more eclectic than simple format boundaries. We have our “guilty pleasures” – songs that don’t fit our algorithmic profiles, but have the ability to spark emotions and conjure up memories. Depending on the mood and the moment, a great Hip-Hop song, a Sinatra smash, an Elvis ballad, or a Pantera thrasher may be just what we need. Maybe not all the time, but at that intersection of emotion and real life.
Radio programmers are a pretty savvy lot, having been around for decades, working their magic over the airwaves. But it took Spotify to confirm what we’ve known all along – mood and emotion often drive our musical desires. That’s why there are so many emotionally-based playlists with labels like “Come dance with me,” “3 a.m.,” “Vibing and grinding,” “Lost in you,” and “Therapy session.”
It’s about “the feels.”
You don’t generally see radio labels like “Hot AC,” “Churban,” “Variety Hits,” or “Hot Talk” when people are putting together their mood-driven playlists. Even so, radio formats aren’t collections of songs, show lineups, and scheduling rules. They are living, breathing entities. The best of them move us.
Nick Michaels thought of radio stations as “feel machines” – places where people go to experience emotional satisfaction. In a moving tribute to Nick shortly after his death in 2018, Holland Cooke provided several of Nick’s quick-hitting format interpretations – yes, all summed up in three precious words:
Talk radio: “Wasn’t I right?”
Classic Rock: “Take me there”
Sports radio: “My team first”
Adult contemporary: “Time for me”
Country: “Share the feeling”
All news: “Now I know”
Nick had a not-so-subtle way of reminding me how little I knew about Classic Rock. As he cajoled, the format is not about “safe lists” or knowing which are the most popular Queen songs. It has always been about how the music, the artists, the moments make people feel – how it takes them back to those times and experiences that are markers in their lives.
I have been channeling Nick in the way I have written questions in our Techsurveys, focusing on the emotions behind the behaviors and choices people make. Over
the past decade, we have framed the relationship between radio and its listeners not just around empty image statements like “the station that plays the best songs for your tastes” or “the station with entertaining personalities throughout the day.”
Instead, we have centered our energies around the “emotional benefits” some stations are able to give that to their listeners. We’re talking about everything from habit to companionship to mood elevation to escape. And in the Year of COVID, all those “feels” characterized the degree to which stations were able to make those important connections with their listeners.
I described this emotional energy in a post last month – “Making Radio Straight From The Heart.” On our familiar “Why Radio?” chart, we laid out the main drivers behind why consumers choose radio – and that’s where the emotional foundation of radio listening came into focus. It turns out these emotional reasons for listening to broadcast radio all rose in prominence this past year – more confirmation we’re living in volatile, highly charged times.
It’s about “the feels.”
Last week, Edison Research and NPR released a new study – “Radio: Live On Air And Everywhere” – that conveniently attempts to segment the radio listening audience into six very distinct lifegroups.
The largest segment is what they refer to as “Rhythm Rockers” – radio listeners who tune in primarily for the music. They make up 27% of the overall sample of radio listeners. They are followed by “Infomaniacs” – those who turn to radio mostly for news and information (18%).
Next up are “Laid-back Listeners” (17%) who tend to listen to radio in the background, followed by “Connection Seekers,” identified as the more emotionally-driven radio users.
Then comes “Habitualists” (13%) who listen only when radio is the last option, and the smallest group – “Radio Heads” – those who are truly P1 to the medium. Sadly, they make up fewer than one in ten radio listeners in aggregate (9%), according to Edison and NPR.
The survey, conducted earlier this year, describes each of these personas in strong detail. We learn, for example that “Rhythm Rockers” – those who listen to radio mostly for music – lean heavily female, 18-54, and they skew Latino.
Programmers will find these profiles useful. But they also call into question whether most radio listeners are, in fact, so easily categorizable. My thousands of focus groups over the years tell me that many people adapt their media usage to those same aforementioned moods and emotions we talked about earlier.
Having a lousy day? There’s probably a morning show a pushbutton away that can lift your spirits. Something happens in the world – there’s a radio choice for news and information. Busy at work? Put on a radio station in the background. Need a pleasant memory? There’s always that Classic Hits or Rock station there for you.
But the same person can easily resemble several of these personas, depending on the given day, time, situation, and mood.
While we programmers love to conveniently slot and label people, the truth is these emotions and radio usage aren’t mutually exclusive. The same consumer can listen to music while on the job, while they also laugh all the way to work in the morning. They can actively tune in for news, weather, traffic, and sports when they need to know, but mellow out with a music station on the weekends.
When researchers try to mix and match programming preferences (music, news, etc.) with behavior (background listening), and emotional fulfillment from those seeking connections, they come up short in truly defining meaningful listener groups.
In the case of NPR and public radio, there are other types of listeners not represented in this 6-pack of radio consumer categories. There’s a difference between simply listening to radio for news and information versus wanting to expand one’s horizons and intellect. It’s the difference between the utilitarian nature of WCBS-AM via the programming diversity of WNYC. Public radio listeners have a powerful yearn for curiosity and storytelling that transcends these simple classifications.
Ask public radio fans how listening to Morning Edition, Fresh Air, or This American Life makes them feel, and many will tell you the experience makes them
feel smarter, more interesting, and more informed about the world around them. It’s why those pyramids and “Why radio?” hierarchies we create in our Public Radio Techsurveys end up looking so much different than in our commercial radio version.
In radio, we yearn for the answers to be simple. In the same way that air talent can better relate to those life-size cardboard cutouts of the so-called “average listener,” the fact is, there is no such thing.
It was not disclosed how the six personas were developed or created by Edison and NPR. Did respondents select the category that fit them best from a menu of six (or perhaps more) choices? Or did they answer a series of questions, and were then slotted into these groups via mathematical correlation? Or was it something else entirely?
Whatever the case, radio is more versatile than these half dozen boxes, as consumers have become more adaptable to the media content they hear and experience. They can and do occupy multiple personas – sometimes during the same quarter-hour.
That’s why in 2015, Facebook gave us more than one way to respond to posts, photos, videos, and other content in our news feeds. A simple “like” didn’t do a response justice. Some posts make us laugh, others bring a tear to our eye, some make us angry, and others hit just the right note.
That’s why we have a rainbow of emotions to use in which to react to content – whether it’s social media posts, podcasts, or radio programming.
We are emotional creatures by nature. And these days, there’s an awful lot to emote about. Radio programmers and air talent who interface with citizens day in and day out know this is true.
And when nerves are frayed and emotions are raw, radio stations that are in the moment, attuned to the feelings their audience are experiencing, have the best chance to hold up that magic mirror to the audience and reflect back in kind.
It’s about “the feels.”
Don’t give me the excuse that you have a syndicated morning show, making it challenging to be in the moment locally. The fact is, whether a show is broadcasting
live and local in Topeka or being beamed in from Indianapolis to 115 radio stations around the country, programmers with a strong Emotional IQ can reflect their audience’s collective vibe.
Every network show I’ve had the pleasure of working with is eager to know about conditions on the ground – what’s going on in their affiliates’ markets. The problem is too many programmers assume there’s no way to localize a syndicated show, so they don’t try. That’s a lazy reaction, and one that limits the potential of what is very likely a strong show in the first place.
It’s all about getting on the same emotional page as your audience.
Yes, there are more than six personas of radio listening. It’s more complicated than that.
Emotional Intelligence transcends data and charts. It’s the ability of programmers to do that Vulcan Mind-Meld with their audience, and reflect back the zeitgeist of the moment.
Done right, radio has the ability to give audiences an “emotional rescue.”
It’s about “the feels.”
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.
- Old Man, Take A Look At My Ratings - December 20, 2024
- In The World Of On-Demand Audio, How Do We Define Success? - December 19, 2024
- Scenes From The Classic Rock Highway – 2024 Edition - December 18, 2024
Fred, I remember throughout the 1980s women at the office, mostly divorced or single talked about how Alan Almond always made them feel so special and wished they could find a man like him.
Yeah, Alan set aan impossibly high standard for all us men – and himself. Thanks for commenting, Mark.
Another great thought piece Fred. A couple of notions it inspired in me….
If you’re going to give your audience “the feels”, you have to hire air personalities who are capable of feeling themselves. Programmers have to essentially see and experience their air staff in the halls of the radio station as emotionally in touch with themselves and with other people, if they are ever to expect them to exude those qualities over the airwaves. This has not always been a litmus test for hiring. It may have even been considered off-limits to try to assess a job candidate’s emotional grounded-ness and empathetic abilities in a job interview. True, you’ll never get to the whole picture of someone’s true capacity for “the feels” until they are actually hired and you’ve spent a lot of time with them. But it’s important to maybe spend a little more time in the hiring process exploring that explicitly…for all the reasons you laid out in your article.
The other thing I wanted to share is a little 4 word phrase that I think should be implied in almost anything that comes out of an air personality’s mouth. Whatever the host is laying down should come with the implied frame of “You gotta hear this…” The host is curator of the human experience for the listener. I heard this song, I read this article, this thing happened to me, I saw this on TV….”You gotta hear this…” It’s at the base of the best story-teller at a dinner party.
BUT, what makes it a great story is not merely WHAT happened, or WHAT was seen, WHAT was read… but the accompanying HOW IT MADE THE STORYTELLER FEEL that makes people want to lean in.
The honest expression of feeling from the storyteller is really the connective tissue with the audience.
And if the personality/storyteller is authentic with his/her/their role as curator of experience, they are not going to be caught in the disingenuous position of saying “You gotta hear this!” unless they truly believe that their audience really has to hear this. If they’re merely shilling, (for advertisers, for local promoters, for routine station events) without connecting to some-degree of actual emotional pay-off for listeners, the audience will sniff that out. This is why folks like Imus and Letterman scored because they generally made fun of the shilling when it was happening… even calling themselves or their guests out for it when it was happening. Even now, you can tell when someone like Colbert is really moved by a book or a movie or a current event. You can tell from his comments, his questions, that he’s seen it or read it and he connects it with the emotion he’s experienced – “touched, angered, wept, confused” – whatever. Because he labels the emotion. If he HASN’T read the book or seen the movie, he generally makes a sly reference to it to preserve his credibility all the other times when he has, and is reacting authentically.
Listen to Meg Griffin on her Sirius/XM shows – especially on The Loft (sadly relegated to only online access now). She pre-sells and back-sells with the emotional WHY of the “You gotta hear this” curation. She’s playing this particular song because it made her feel a particular way, when she first heard it (along with the story), or when her father played it for her as a kid (along with the story), or when the artist told her about it in an interview (along with the story). She experiences music the way music lovers experience music. It’s “the feels” over and over again. I presume for years and years – which is why she’s still doing it, and encouraged to do it her way. The way you’ve described, Fred.
And it’s not something PRESCRIBED or FAKED. It can’t be. It’s the human experience, shared honestly and truly connected with the full sweep of emotion in our lives.
Or to quote Tom Petty: “I ain’t gonna do it, if it ain’t real.”
Thanks for getting that out there.
This would have been a great guest post, Paul. I will tell you that I believe Nick would have read your commented nodding all the way.
I hear Meg all the time on SXM, and I agree with your assessment of her. After all these decades, she still brings it. I only lived in NYC for a year so I don’t have hundreds of hours of Meg Griffin in my head. But I have thought she may be doing the best radio of her career, and for precisely the same reasons you mention.
Like Jim Ladd (and he may be the GOAT), you get the feeling that Meg is enjoying the music she’s playing as much as you are listening to it. That’s authenticity.
Thanks, as always, for the thoughtful comment.
Great perspectives, Fred. And Paul’s comments above are dead-on. If radio stations and employers in general were a little better at interviewing candidates, they’d end up with more quality employees and be a lot healthier companies overall. Recruiters should spend less time asking stock questions about work experience and more time discussing topics that reveal someone’s true character traits and passions. The people who give thoughtful and creative responses in THOSE areas are the ones you want on your team!
Fred,
A million years ago I was working with the late, great Magic Christian (RIP) I was driving home about a quarter to 7 one night, I heard a woman’s voice say, “Hi, this is Patty Hearst, whenever I’m hiding out in Boston I always listen to the Incredible Magic Christian on WVBF.” I almost drove off the road. Of course the next day, Magic and I had a sit-down in my office with the FBI. Old Magic hit the “feels” button with that one. The buzz lasted for days. Like a good talent, Magic never mentioned it again.
Robert, I’ve done enough focus groups to have learned those “feels” moments are indelible. People remember them forever and can quote where they were and what they were doing when they them. Thanks for that memory of MC.
Yep, 20 years later, I was having a drink at the Capital Grille, talking with the guy next to me, radio came up, he quoted the Patty Hearst line back to me, word for word.