Wish I'd Written This

[nowradioguy]

Full disclaimer: I am an industry outsider. I have never worked in radio or TV or print media professionally. Nor do I know, either personally or professionally, the writer of the article posted at the link below.

http://www.talkers.com/2019/01/17/radio-for-the-55-listener-its-about-time/

I came across this article on talkers.com. The writer makes points as if he had gotten inside my head. Especially these two statements:

The 55-72 “Boomer” demographic is the last generation that genuinely cared about radio. They grew up with radio, they were actively engaged with it, and it was an integral part of their lives. At a time when our industry is struggling to stay relevant, we need to reconnect with listeners who still care about us and what we offer.​

Year after year, the upper end of (the 25-54) cohort ages out while the incoming younger end cares less and less about our medium. Yet, year after year, our industry keeps chasing the 25-54 audience. Do the people in charge understand the inevitable result of insisting on this approach?​

 

[TheBigA]

Year after year, the upper end of (the 25-54) cohort ages out while the incoming younger end cares less and less about our medium. Yet, year after year, our industry keeps chasing the 25-54 audience. Do the people in charge understand the inevitable result of insisting on this approach?

Here's the problem: Somebody has to pay for it. Advertisers are the ones forcing the old folks out. There are lots of radio stations aiming at people in there 60s and 70s. The demos for news and talk stations are mostly over 55. There are lots of stations that play 50s and 60s music. They struggle to make ends meet, because advertisers know that older listeners hate commercials. The public stations have a lot of older listeners. WCRB has a pretty old audience. But listeners pay to hear those stations. The question older audiences have to ask is who will pay for their favorite radio format when all the advertisers leave? This is a money problem. Will you pay a monthly fee so you can hear what you want? If you do, then you're more likely to get it than if you expect advertisers to pay for it.

 

[Methuselah]

Will you pay a monthly fee so you can hear what you want?

Probably not, which is why more and more people are dumping cable as well, for OTA or lessor-priced streaming alternatives.People will only pay (reluctantly) when they have no real alternatives

 

[TheBigA]

The funny thing to me is that this commentary was in Talkers magazine. Look at their list of the top talkers in the country. They're ALL boomers. And the audience for these stations are primarily boomers. And the boomers who listen complain all the time. Like the guy who wrote this article.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Year after year, the upper end of (the 25-54) cohort ages out while the incoming younger end cares less and less about our medium. Yet, year after year, our industry keeps chasing the 25-54 audience. Do the people in charge understand the inevitable result of insisting on this approach?

Understanding a problem and actually having the power to do something about it are two different things. It's not complicated to see. The problem is, chasing the 55-dead demographics don't result in positive revenue results. The other day DavidEduardo posted some figures for WGN in Chicago. Their audience has eroded and aged, so they now have a lot of 55+ listeners, and their revenue is down almost half since 2010.

They struggle to make ends meet, because advertisers know that older listeners hate commercials

I would suggest that younger listeners hate commercials more. Especially those who are just starting to age in to the 18-30 demo, for whom "premium" services like Netflix and Apple Music have been available since they started making their own purchasing decisions.

OTOH, older listeners are likely less interested in buying a Casper mattress online. And keep in mind, a lot of major advertisers on radio are really targeted at decision makers at businesses (Indeed.com, Stamps.com, Barracuda Networks, Grainger all come to mind) -- which means not retirees.

 

[TheBigA]

I would suggest that younger listeners hate commercials more. Especially those who are just starting to age in to the 18-30 demo, for whom "premium" services like Netflix and Apple Music have been available since they started making their own purchasing decisions.

There's a difference in how younger people use radio, which is for shorter periods of time. In that way, commercials don't matter because they are only listening for 20 minutes at a time. Boomers on the other hand are listening for hours at a time. The repetition and the infomercials are more of an issue for them. A lot of radio formats are designed for shorter periods of consumption. They have two commercial blocks an hour, and they can be avoided, if that's the goal. So a typical young person listens long enough to find out what's going on, and switches to another platform. It's very easy to do, especially in a car.