Some things are easy to imagine – like Miss Piggy giving your morning show her unvarnished feedback on a day that wasn’t one of your best shows:
“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? ONE THOUGHT PER BREAK!”
“STOP PIGGING OUT ON ‘GOOD MORNING, DAYTON!’ IT’S BECOMING A CRUTCH! LOSE IT!”
“HOGWASH! WHERE’S MY DAMN TEASE?!”
“YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO WIN A MARCONI SOUNDING LIKE THIS!”
Fortunately, many radio shows have great coaches with a much better bedside manner than The Muppet Show‘s (in)famous Senorita Swine. But we could all learn a thing or two about a newly reimagined version of the Sesame Street show and brand coming soon. Their priorities and methods of managing their long-running kids show provides great lessons for radio personalities and heritage stations alike.
The brain trust at Sesame Workshop is engaging in a “rethink” of their products, and what it means to their millions of viewers and consumers. Some may refer to it as a format change, but as we radio people know, when your brand has had a successful run for 55 years, it’s more of a rethink with a few tweaks. For example, since 2016, Sesame Street has been a 30-minute show (cut down from one hour).
A look under the hood at what the Sesame Street brain trust is thinking on the precipice of hooking up with a new network is insightful. It would be easy to fall into that Hippocratic Oath trap to “do no harm.” That’s a euphemism for “The model has worked well for more than five decades – let’s not make any big changes.”
A story in the Hollywood Reporter by Alex Weprin reveals some of the thinking
behind Sesame Workshop’s desire to change things up. The show’s current deal with Warner Bros. Discovery ends a year from now. Sesame Street might stay with WBD – or it might move on.
CEO Steve Youngwood notes “We felt like this was a moment to step back and think bigger about how we evolve it” – certainly something you’d hope your veteran morning show would say.
A look at some of the biggest and best morning shows in radio – especially on the syndication circuit – reveals both long-term success but also dogged consistency. Most shows don’t change all that much over the years and decades. Producers and talent might make the case that consistency breeds loyalty and habitual listening.
And while that’s true, the words of Sesame Street‘s co-creator, Joan Ganz
Cooney. According to Kay Wilson Stallings, the show’s Executive VP and Chief Creative Development Officer, “(Joan) always talked about ‘Sesame Street’ as being like an experiment. And she said that regularly, we need to look at the creative, look at who kids are, look at what they’re are interested in, look at what we’re trying to instill in terms of an education curriculum, pull all that together and on a regular basis assess Sesame Street and see where we need to make tweaks and where we need to make some enhancements to further evolve it.”
Not an easy task when you’re dealing with a franchise that’s been around forever, largely with the same format and cast. But it’s a process every heritage personality show and even “tentpole” news magazines like NPR’s Morning Edition should undergo.
In a nutshell, this new iteration of Sesame Street will still feature the same characters, but essentially, with a different clock and benchmarks.
Some of the structural changes coming to Sesame Street include:
- Dropping the “magazine style” and moving to two longer 11 minute segments. (Yes, this is the opposite of how it’s done in radio.)
- Showcasing a new animated series, “Tales From 123,” dropped in between the two long story segments. These 5-minute segments will go behind the scenes at 123 Sesame Street, giving the audience a chance to have closeups with monsters, fairies, talking numbers, food, etc.
- A “signature song” in every show.
Archived episodes of Sesame Street going back decades will continue to be accessible. Content is also available on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and a game on Roblox.
The Sesame Workshop team realizes the value of corporate partnerships and endorsement deals. Oscar the Grouch serves as United Airlines’ CTO (Corporate Trash Officer), while the count appears in personal finance ads for NerdWallet, while Cookie Monster plugs almond milk in a Califia Farms campaign.
These collaborations help get Sesame Street’s furry players front and center, creating even more impact when they show up in unexpected places.
What can we learn about guiding an educational/entertainment franchise more than a half century old that applies to heritage personality shows?
Consider the following:
1. The mission is the same, but the audience has changed – Like most shows, Sesame Street‘s overriding purpose has been the same for decades: educate kids without them knowing it, using charming characters and inspiring adults. But as the franchise’s management team acknowledges, it’s important not to see today’s kids (the target) as being the same as kids who grew up in the ’80s.
Getting to know your audience – who they are, what they need, and how to deliver it to them is a key component to this show thriving and surviving for several more decades.
2. Take them behind the scenes – A key to launching the animated “Tales From 123” is to go inside that magical apartment building to see things viewers have not experienced before. Consumers – whether
they’re adults or kids – love to go backstage, behind the velvet ropes – to see aspects of the show and the cast members that are new and different.
Like installing cameras in the air studio or extended versions of shows via contest after the over-the-air show ends can endear fans to personalities and hosts.
3. Prepare for new ownership and new audiences – Whether WBD retains the show or a new conglomerate or media company takes over, Sesame Street is ready for what’s next. Making sure a show evolves without losing what made it famous is a key component in maintaining relevance.
CEO Steve Youngwood notes it’s important the new shows are strong enough so that viewers won’t default to reruns: “We always want to be relevant to the audience. We always want to give the audience reasons to watch the new (shows), while they can still watch the library.”
4. But don’t lose sight of the past – Often radio shows forget about how they sounded “back in the day,” often jettisoning old bits, games, or characters they deem to be “tired.” In much of the research we conduct and see, core fans still value those classic moments and benchmarks.
Sesame Street‘s archives are a key component of the brand, an important aspect of any show that’s been around a long time. As Youngwood reminds, the old stuff binds fans of multiple generations together.
5. Expose your biggest stars – As mentioned, Sesame Workshop has leaned into endorsement deals for its Muppet characters, earning them visibility on different platforms across the media landscape. 
For your show, making sure your characters are present in high-visibility spaces and places is key to keeping them top-of-mind and familiar. The more flexible they are about showing up, the better the opportunity to glean “earned media” exposure.
6. Celebrity matters – One of the goals for producing “signature songs” in each Sesame Street episode is to bring in “famous singers” to sing along with the characters, a nod to the importance of lending musical credibility and fame to the show. It’s the same technique Saturday Night Live has employed with guest hosts and featured musical acts who join their ensemble cast.
Of course, hooking up with famous stars is always a memorable way radio shows can remain current and top-of-mind, too. Today’s social platforms provide opportunities for radio stars to glean the “halo effect” from a guest star’s followers. This might be a great avenue new listeners can discover an old show.
7. Lean into new opportunities to expand a show’s reach – Youngwood says that “as platforms evolve and as the gift of digital allows you to reach audiences in different ways, that’s what we’re doing on a very continuing basis.”
Radio shows – especially heritage brands – need to challenge themselves to embrace new channels and to take them seriously. New technology can be perceived as daunting or it can be seen as a new path to grow audience by developing content custom made for new platforms.
Sesame Street content is all over the basic social media channels, “meeting kids where they are.” They even have videos up on Twitch. You never know where your next P1 will come from.
Recognizing where the audience lives digitally, and how to entertain and inform on new platforms is a key to evolving shows and remaining relevant.
8. Use your show to launch new projects…or even new shows – That’s how Sesame Street is making sure its massive viewership is exposed to its new animated show, “Tales From 123.”
This is similar to how NPR launched its hit podcast, Serial, back in 2014. The first episode was played on the air on All Things Considered, guaranteeing a broad audience. It’s impossible to know how many NPR listeners heard their first-ever podcast during the airing, but it exposed the effort to its huge listening audience in what was a unique approach at the time.
Whether it’s branded merch, a new podcast, a spinoff, or any other piece of content, making sure it gets a hot launch on the flagship show is paramount to Sesame Street‘s ongoing success.
9. Don’t forget about the merch – The best shows know how to use all sorts of themed products, gifts, toys, and other items to ensure the brand is in people’s homes.
Sesame Street, of course, is no exception. If you have kids, chances are you have some of their stuff in your home.
The margins on most of these items are through the roof. Whether you’re Miss Piggy or Lady Gaga, a strong merch program is Job One.
Just as our kids learned from Sesame Street over the years, radio’s personalities can pick up a few pointers from the show’s current brain trust, not to mention a cast of lovable characters.
Despite the value of these lessons, hopefully we won’t see the Baroness of Bacon at Morning Show Boot Camp in San Diego next summer.
Fun fact: While Kermit the frog has always been a regular on Sesame Street, his main squeeze – Miss Piggy – has never made an appearance on the show.
Sign up for Techsurvey 2024 to learn how to meet your audience where they are. Info & registration is here.
Thanks to Chris Brunt for the inspiration.
To learn more/register for Morning Show Bootcamp in San Diego, go here.
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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Your blogs always capture my attention. I marvel at how you come up with these topics daily. How you act as a wiseman with sage advice while always remaining humble is admirable. This one may be the absolute best blog I’ve read this year: Love it. Thank YOU Fred.
Mike, that’s so kind of you. Alwways happy when my blog posts pass the McVay test!
Wow!
Thanks for your excellent article, Fred. It fits me like a glove, right now that we are working on the renovation of a heritage station in Spain, with 90 years of history.
Your advice and recommendations are key to helping us understand that changes must be made without forgetting the glorious past.
I’m glad the timing was good, Tito. Much appreciated.
Regarding “Expose your biggest stars”, several Muppets (especially Big Bird and Oscar) have appeared during both the Marshall and Bergeron eras of (The) Hollywood Squares–often enough for there to be, yes, a fan-wiki overview…
https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Hollywood_Squares
Of course. Fans love to talk about their favorite stars. Thanks, as always, Eric.