OK, I’ll say it – after spending several days at the NAB/R&R, I still have this sour feeling that just won’t go away. Back in 2000, I was part of the committee to program NAB panels. As part of the exercise, you get to create and moderate a panel of your own. My choice was "My 14 Year-Old Thinks Radio Sucks." It was a well-attended session, with great panelists from advertising, radio sales, and the media buying community. And nothing happened.
Fast-forward six years, and we’re back at the NAB Convention. This time around, there’s research. Larry Rosin’s truly scary picture of 12-24 listening erosion. Mike Henry’s focus groups of young people. And everyone you talk to NOW says essentially the same thing – we’ve lost America’s youth, and that’s part of the problem with recruiting new talent for PDs, sales reps, and DJs.
But nothing’s happening. Why aren’t broadcasters taking those 4th or 5th loser stations in clusters and turning them into teen-targeted stations? Why aren’t more HD2 channels being turned over to the college radio broadcasters, and other young experimenters? Why isn’t radio developing a true farm system of young people? Why do we have to replace the old Howard Stern Show with the old Opie & Anthony Show? Who is going to replace Bob & Tom, John Boy & Billy, and all those first and second generation morning shows when they finally hang up their headphones?
Broadcasters intellectually understand the issue because they’re smart, and they’re concerned about the future. But emotionally, they cannot seem to get past the selling difficulties presented by teen-targeted stations. So nothing happens. Our listeners are getting older, the advertising industry is writing off radio as a dinosaur medium, and we’re not replacing the audience with the youth necessary to energize the business. This goes well beyond selling youth demographics – it goes right to the heart of how radio is going to populate its stations with sales, management, programming, and on-air staff down the road.
The reason teens are hard for radio to sell to is that the hundreds of advertisers who focus on them (just watch MTV, read teen magazines, look at the web banner ads) have given up on radio. For too long, we have provided little viable programming to reach these coveted listeners. They’ve moved on. If we have any hope of getting them back, radio has to seriously launch an initiative.
And this blog entry is designed to stimulate just that. Radio’s biggest broadcasters need to launch a Teen Task Force – a consortium designed to confront and solve the youth problem. It’s not going to be easy, but we have to have programming acumen and talent to make it happen. It just requires a commitment from the nation’s top broadcasters. I’m volunteering my services here, and personnel from Jacobs Media to help make this happen.
Who’s going to be the first to step up and finally address perhaps the industry’s #1 problem?
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.
- Baby, Please Don’t Go - November 22, 2024
- Why Radio Needs To Stop Chasing The Puck - November 21, 2024
- Great Radio – In The Niche Of Time? - November 20, 2024
Fred…Let’s not forget when dereg hit all the broadcasters said it creates the opportunity to develop new formats to address opportunities and demos…and 10+ years later…
Hey, I’m just a PD, but count me in. I’m working on “Bone 2” our New Rock HD channel and hoping to use some of the ideas from what I saw at the NAB/R&R.
This is the single BIGGEST crisis radio faces over the next 10 to 20 years and just like “global warming”, it’s NOT OUR problem right?
The 12-24 year old demographic is growing up WITHOUT our product.
Want to see a example of a industry in my market that put their “money where their mouth is” when it comes to the youth market? It’s our local NEWSPAPER!
Two weeks ago, the Virginia Pilot launched “Link”, a DAILY, FREE newspaper designed specifically for the 12-34 year old adult. That medium is losing that audience in droves! It’s a VERY good looking piece, that is distributed by a LINK street team of 40 people daily throughout our area!
They know they’re gonna lose their butt on it for a while, but as their publisher told me..they have to try! If it works or not, who knows….but they made a significant investment ($$$) in it and TOOK the risk!
Who would have ever thought I’d be using NEWSPAPER for a example of what radio needs to do! Take some fricken risks and realize LONG TERM isn’t the end of 2006!
I’ll help, Fred. It’s not just a radio marketing
problem (both nationally and locally) but also
one of our stations’ deliberately “aiming over
the heads of” teens psychographically. This is
an old, old bias from the days when teens had just
a little allowance or earnings from mowing lawns…
and were not seen as a means of driving more than
Mountain Dew sales. Things have changed. That TV
spot where the teen girl hits-up her dad for a hundred
bucks for a freakin’ pair of jeans and he says he
IS (!) interested in the latest school fads…and then
buys online a hundred shares of the company’s stock—
THAT is more the reality today than the flip-side
where a kid hordes cash for 3 months so he can
afford a cheap skateboard. “Thar’s GOLD in them
thar teenagers!” (if only because many of them are
given the “chore” of doing 100% of the family grocery
shopping…contemplate THAT power for a minute!) We
as air personalities need to TALK TO teens in a normal
and non-condescending, non-parental way on the air.
PICTURE them as included in our “mind’s eye” image of
a typical cross-section of our listeners (all really
sharp jocks already use this mental imaging device
but, generally, visualize folks age 20 and older).
As far as the “lack of product” counter-argument.
I don’t buy it. Starbucks, just to name one seller,
is blowing-out-the-door classic hits and rock
compilations like crazy…to “Britany” and 17-yr.-old
mall companion “Heather” with obvious $$$ to spend!
They love CLASSIC, timeless music…but the local
radio stations that play it simply aim over their
heads with their on-air demeanor and presentation.
It’s an egregious, fatal error especially 4-11 pm!
Let me know how I can help, Fred…seriously.
Fred – we have a leadership problem and a crisis in sales. Our staff was recently involved in a project which required pricing radio inventory in the top ten markets. Reviewing the numbers we found a Detroit station selling morning drive at $50. Feeling there had to have been an error we checked with a second source and were told “there might be a way to get it for less.” Until we recognize and address this crisis in sales it is not likely funds will be made available for programming innovation, development nor the commitment of capital required to sustain a youth radio initiative. Of course there are examples of successful youth targeted stations – simply too few – Entercom’s Kiss in Milwaukee comes to mind. Well programmed and well sold.
Having folks offer their two cents worth like this
is very healthy and makes for a much more compelling
blog. With as much work as Fred obviously puts into
this project…DAILY!…not weekly, as most bloggers
such as Lee Abrams (no diss there…I really enjoy
Lee’s blog also) do…we all need to continue adding
our angles of view. And don’t worry about signing
your name to what you say. If you make a valid,
well-supported point…be PROUD of your response
and “own” it. I have come extremely close to
starting a blog myself, but haven’t because 90%
of the time folks get NO reaction to what they write.
How gratifying could THAT be? We owe it to Fred
to agree, disagree, to split the difference or do
ANYthing other than scroll through a month’s worth
of blogs and see about 4 short replies, total. See
how much more interesting and provocative this one
topic became once people picked up the gauntlet
flung down by Fred? Let’s all keep contributing!
Of Dinos and Meteors
A recent post by Fred Jacobs about 6 years of radio ignoring the under 25 problem brought to mind a cartoon by one of my fav bloggers – Hugh McLeod at Gapingvoid.com.
…
Fred, I agree with your comments here and your comments in the teen article in this weeks R&R. I find it interesting that a number of young end recording artists can sell huge amounts of product with almost no radio airplay. When I was in the Quad Cities, the local paper did a poll with some teens who voted the Veronicas one of their top 5 favorite groups. Their airplay was very limited. I know teens will come to radio if we only played what they like. It’s so simple and basic, but everyone is afraid to do it. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll buy a station (if I can)and do it myself. I can’t think of anything that would be more fun.
WANTED: 30 UNDER 30
After many years of trying to get some traction, the radio industry finally seems to be serious about efforts to attract and maintain the 12-24 generation. Fred Jacobs has been agitating on this topic for years, and recently has called…