Radio veterans know there are “rules of the road”—the conventional wisdom that most programmers are taught early in their careers. Stay focused, play the hits, and don’t make the audience jump through too many hoops are just three of those so-called axioms for success that have been handed down from radio generation to radio generation.
A similar set of guides has developed over the last quarter century or so about digital programming and sales. But even those who are true believers in “the digital way” are all too aware the playbook undergoes regular change as new technologies and novel philosophies come into play. The old “because we’ve always done it this way” is seldomly heard in digital media circles because change is a constant. And because the web is disruptive by nature contributes to a foundation of chaos and the wild, wild west.
But one tenet that has become something of a mantra is the idea to “meet the audience where they are.” Unlike the pre-internet days when entertainment and information choices were highly limited and content was tightly controlled by digital gatekeepers, today’s landscape is highly fluid as consumers seamlessly move from one source to another. The idea of being “platform agnostic” has become the norm for brands—and justifiably so.
But there’s a limit—especially these days in radio—as to just how many touchpoints stations can develop content for. That’s because if poor or misguided choices are made, these content plays simply won’t pay for themselves, due to lack of audience and the inability to monetize other content platforms.
So, how can a radio station make intelligent, strategic choices about content and distribution decisions? Even though our Techsurveys are syndicated across in some cases, hundreds of radio stations, the ability to determine audience comings and goings is a key part of what this research is designed to provide.
If you’ve seen one of our Techsurvey presentations over the past couple decades, chances are you’ve spent time with our content-rich Media Usage Pyramids where multiple media, gadgets, and activities are tracked year after year to help station programmers understand where the audience goes when they’re not listening to a radio station.
Below is the pyramid for WBFO, the NPR News station in Buffalo. Each of the measures on the pyramid is trackable over time and against the norm for stations around the country. At a glance, it’s a nice 35,000 foot look at where the station’s listeners are and what they’re doing.
Over the past few years, we’ve drilled deeper, creating side-by-side analyses that show habitual media consumption by discreet audience groupings. In this way, programmers can easily determine the media usage that is habitual—things listeners do every day—not just sometimes.
The example below, also from our most recent Public Radio Techsurvey 2025, is an important piece of research for radio stations dealing with the harsh reality of budget cuts in the form of government defunding. Last year was easily the most difficult year in public media history, threatening the very existence of hundreds of radio stations, not to mention the thousands of employees and the millions of listeners.
Getting it right in this quest to “meet the audience where they are” isn’t just an admirable goal—it is the essence of survival as stations find themselves in the squishy position of having very little margin for error. Keep an eye on the “daily” slice of each of the four pie charts because they tell the most foundational story of how programmers can, in fact, meet their listeners where they are. Whether you’re a public station in Philly, Portland, or Pensacola, you can ill afford to sink substantial amounts of money, personnel, and time in producing content that lacks audience appeal and/or the ability to reap a return on the investment to produce it in the first place.
There are four key requirements achieving “MTAWTA” success:
- Research – Having the funds and then asking the right questions that can determine where the audience is moving and what they’re looking for. In your perceptual research, you have my permission to stop asking “Which station is the ‘concert authority?'” and start strategically investigating where they hang out and what they’re looking for.
- Content – Anyone who tells you the “…..is king” piece of CW is kidding you or themselves. It won’t matter if you decide to produce a newsletter because you learn your audience, by and large, reads them every day. If your newsletter is poorly designed and populated, success will almost certainly be fleeting. The audience doesn’t have to put up with crap content in 2025—there are too many places where they can now get the good stuff without working too hard to find it.
- Partnership collaboration – It is essential to forge the optimal collaborations with the most desired platforms. While brands can go it alone, success can come more quickly with the right content players.
- Monetization – It goes without saying that if you can’t pay for your efforts, you’re not going to be making a piece of content—a show, a podcast, a newsletter, etc.—for a whole lot longer. If the salespeople don’t like it, don’t get it, and don’t have a clue about how to sell it, you’re going to be out of that business before you know it.
Armed with this data, programmers and marketers move that much closer to thinking like the big brands do. It starts at the top with research, a guide that can help guide a brand’s content and distribution expansion strategies.
Like Sesame Street, for example. That’s right—the venerable kids institution that at one time was only on PBS over-the-air TV stations now has the same array of choices in front of them as you do. In their own way, they’re assessing the same three qualities that challenge most radio stations regardless of the format. While it is true these pie charts will take on different proportions depending on which format lens your team chooses to evaluate.
Last week, Variety’s Tom Spangler wrote an important story in this saga to align with the existing media habits of toddler and their parents (or care givers). In “YouTube Now Has the Biggest ‘Sesame Street” Free Library, With More than 100 Full Episodes Available to Stream.”
Sesame Street detailed its new strategy in a tweet on X:
The Variety story also explains how the Sesame Street team is crafting content for YouTube Shorts featuring the Muppets as well as 1-2 hour compilations of content by topic—the alphabet, numbers, and the STEM categories, making it easier for parents to call up programming on-demand. Of course, the show and its characters are still prominent on PBS stations, but now, they can be accessed in both “snackable” and long-form formats.
Beyond YouTube, Sesame Street is ensuring it is highly accessible on several other platforms, including Netflix (current season streaming plus some archive content), HBO Max (“a large collection of episodes”), and also on the PBS Kids outlet.
It is also notable that in addition to its award-winning shows, Sesame Street is a personality-intensive brand. Its characters are well-known and loved. I’m watching my 16-month old granddaughter get attached to them, and even imitating some of them as she learns not just how to say words but the ways to imitate the tone and attitude of the characters.
For radio stations with winning content and highly appealing personalities, the MTAWTA philosophy is one that is perfectly in-synch with this moment.
So, where’s your audience, what do they want, and how can you effectively give it to them?
As easy as A-B-C.
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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