8/16/1996
The art of counter programming seems to be a lost one. And it’s a shame. Not just because counter programming was successful…not just because counter programming really showed off programming skills…not just because counter programming forced a radio station to be on the cutting edge and make instantaneous decisions…not just because counter programming make you pay attention…but because counter programming worked. And it still does.
Unfortunately, we have programmers spending too much time on research, call-out, out house and eventually wind up in the dog house.
So what’s a programmer to do?
You should figure it out…and figure it out quickly. If you don’t, it’s going to be figured out for you. Someone else may be calling the shots and there aren’t any bullets for you.
Spot clustering…spawning 10-in-a-row and the like…is soon to be a thing of the past. And I’m not talking about a weekend promotion where you play nothing but Oldies (however, that is a good one).
I was never a proponent of that 10-in-a-row thing from the beginning. Hanging your hat on a positioning statement that is so easy for your competition to trump (11-, 12-in-a-row. etc.) has always seemed like an invitation to disaster.
However, because counter programming isn’t practiced as much as it should be, some stations have been successful (from a strict programming stance) in promoting the 10-in-a-row position and in garnering seemingly strong ratings.
The problem is that in our “lemming†programming mentality, it’s no longer necessary to give the time on a radio station. If you hear commercials, you can almost guarantee it’s somewhere between 15 and five minutes before the hour. Either that or 20 minutes past.
Radio, no matter the format, has become boring in its predictability. Programmers have forgotten that their primary goal is to sell.
Whoa! What did you say, bud? Sell? You must be confused. That’s the sales manager’s job.
Get real. Show me a great programmer and I’ll show you a great sales person. A programmer has to sell. We have two sets of clients on any given station…those who buy commercials and those who listen. It’s a programmer’s job to protect the listeners from too many tune outs and sell them on what a great station they’ve chosen.
It takes innovation, promotion, marketing and programming to sell your audience on the fact that your radio station is the best. And programming is much more than 10-in-a-row.
Not that any of you who are locked into the 10-in-a-row concept are paying attention. You’re so used to sleeping through “another 10-in-a-row,†that it’s certainly too much to ask that you stay awake through this Editorial. Besides, why should you care? If it ain’t broke, why worry about fixing it?
If you’re too bored, lazy or ignorant to try something new, then crawl up on the porch and let the big dogs runs in the street. You’re too far behind the curve to know that change is coming, and it has nothing to do with innovation before you’re forced to capitulate and wind up following a directive that has nothing to do with programming.
Since the beginning of time…as in spot buys…agencies have sought out radio stations that consistently deliver the numbers requested by specific clients. If a station has good numbers in the primary demo, that station will generally get the buy. Seldom, if ever, does an agency know (or care) what a station does to deliver these numbers. The agency just wants the numbers. Numbers don’t lie.
Maybe. But often numbers don’t tell the whole truth.
I’ve got a news flash for you: One of the largest radio advertisers has done some research into the reach, frequency and results of the advertising placed on radio in the top markets across the country and the results are astounding. This research is showing that time buys in spot clusters simply don’t work. Period.
The audience doesn’t hear the second spot in any cluster. We’ve trained our audience to understand that when they hear one commercial, in all likelihood, four more minutes of commercials (sometimes more) will follow. Fingers are on the radio buttons before a ten second live promo is half-way through.
When the research is complete, this advertiser plans to change its way of doing business with radio. It will no longer buy anything except the first spot in a commercial break. That’s when things will start to change. If every agency follows the lead of this client, radio will be in trouble.
Spot clusters may go away. Programmers will have to find a new way of doing things. When I was programming KFRC San Francisco, we were required, by the FCC and our parent company, to run two newscast every hour in morning and afternoon drive, a 60-second public affairs spot every hour and 12 units of commercials every hour. RKO hired a consultant to give us advice. After listening for a couple of days, he came in with his recommendations: Cut out all newscasts outside of morning drive, then do only one an hour, end all public affairs spots and cut the commercial load to 8 units an hour.
“Right,†I said. “Now a reality check. What I need from you are ideas to increase our quarter-hour and cume numbers with the current news, public affairs and commercial load, because they aren’t going to change.â€
Needless to say, the consultant left. If we couldn’t quit talking and run 10-in-a-row, he just couldn’t help us.
A lot of stations could wind up in a similar situation soon. Change may be forced. Spot clusters will give way to, “No more than 60 seconds away from music,†or something like that.
A bigger challenge could be to recognize the research before it’s presented and make formatic adjustments now. Tell the clients the changes are in their best interests. Make the changes a positive.
Then try and find a programmer who can win without 10-in-a-row!