Ask A Focus Group

Mega-groups are struggling with capital debt, which means less emphasis on performance underscored by fewer PDs who have the time or training to recruit much less coach their air staff under the toxic presumption, "Listeners don't really care about personalities." The choice is simple; as a PD you can be an artist or a victim. "Artists" have the personal power to help make their people and products better. Victims float along with matchless strategic vacuity ... and when that occurs, no matter the format, size or scope of a radio brand, it's locked in neutral (which really means in decline).

In 2018, yours truly conducted 23 focus groups across multiple formats (something we offer our programming clients as value-added). We've done them from San Diego to New York and a lot of markets in between. Is there one universal, inarguable outcome regardless of format? Yes; listeners everywhere highly value personalities on the radio and each panel talks about their favorite personalities while offering anecdotal observations and even criticism for some.

You would think with all the peripheral noise, radio personalities just wouldn't matter as much today. You would be dead-wrong. When a focus panel can talk in-depth about a show's content, its cast members and/or unusual nuances, you know they're fully engaged. If your company doesn't believe it or worse, doesn't care, expressed through a favorite response, "Can't we track it?" ... you have a rugged road ahead. Here is what we know and stronger radio companies support: With the exception of Spoken Word formats, 75% of an audience will come to a radio station based on its music exclusivity, but it's only 25% of why they leave!

This delivers us to a paradox: Winning stations and their ownerships know the value of "what's between the songs." Crossing all format boundaries to include News-Talk and Sports; focus group after focus group loudly proclaim, "Talent matters a lot!" Often, we ask them to scale it: "One to 10, (10 meaning very important, 'one' meaning not at all important), where do you guys rank the Q 105 morning show?" Over the past year I can't recall a ranking lower than 7.

Probing deeper with a simple question like, "What leads you guys to feel that way about Rock 95's Morning Sickness?" We often hear very specific descriptions of why and how they've attached to a personality or show: "Well, they talk to us, not at us..."

As a Manager, as a PD, "passion" means caring enough about your art that you'll do almost anything to share it, give it away, making it a gift to change people in your building. Whining and fear become self-fulfilling prophecies in stressed organizations, yet the greatest property in front of more than 270 million American weekly listeners is the very basic opportunity to make a difference in someone's day which simply can't be done with songs alone. Focus panelists are universal in this proclamation.

When a programming person or a talent says, "I don't have any good ideas," I ask them, "Well do you have any bad ideas?" Eighty percent of the time they answer, "No." They need and deserve your leadership and support.

In this new year, do you believe your company culture appreciates the proven critical importance of their air talent? Assuming they do, how can you collaborate to raise your talent staff's awareness and performance? You don't need more genius; you need more commitment. Just ask a focus group.