Bloomberg interview with Delilah

[davideduardo]

What most in radio have been drilled in is "content". Seriously, this has been the buzzword for atleast the last decade+. And it still may be somewhat valid. But PPM is showing, slowly but surely, that content is not critical especially if it is boring, long, unfocused, and/or not relevant. Radio will be forced to go back to an earlier style, and that is simply staying focused and saying it in as few words as possible. Hmm, kind of like 1980? Wow. Perhaps some of us were right about this 36 years ago. Disclaimer: I certainly don't think this "content" argument hurt radio, in fact, in many cases made radio more entertaining. However, it also promoted many to mistake "content" for simply more inane talk. You can hear it in all size markets today, and it isn't pretty. The point is that this type of radio is not PPM friendly, nor should it be.

You are misunderstanding what is meant by the term "content". It simply means that whatever is on the air has to be well done, whether it be mixes, a music sweep, talk, a morning show or whatever.

Content is critical. But that just means that whatever is programmed has to be good. If it is AC music, the flow has to be perfect, the songs the best testing ones and the format mechanics conducive to continued listening. And "content" does not mean "talk". It means good programming.

 

[seatownmedia]

You are misunderstanding what is meant by the term "content". It simply means that whatever is on the air has to be well done, whether it be mixes, a music sweep, talk, a morning show or whatever.

Content is critical. But that just means that whatever is programmed has to be good. If it is AC music, the flow has to be perfect, the songs the best testing ones and the format mechanics conducive to continued listening. And "content" does not mean "talk". It means good programming.

I think you are misunderstanding what I meant by "content", but that is probably my fault. Like I said, content is important, but it has been misunderstood as just "more talk" by many. This is my only argument. "content" can indeed mean many things, but my only point is some have interpreted it as just talking more, and that is wrong. I agree with you in concept, but the term should be expanded to "important" or "critical" content, IMO.

 

[fordranger797]

I'm curious as to why the show can't be tweaked to maintain appeal to stations that are trying to move away from soft AC. Eliminate older and slower tracks, add modern tracks such as "All Of Me" from John Legend or "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" from Meaghan Trainor, and it seems like it could work with the current direction of AC radio. But I assume it isn't that simple.

Bill - I have no idea if KRWM is live in the evening or not, but they now have a local show with a Seattle-based host. KAFE also added local talent in the evening hours, eliminating Deliliah.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm curious as to why the show can't be tweaked to maintain appeal to stations that are trying to move away from soft AC.

Because the host doesn't want to. She's the one with the contract.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm curious as to why the show can't be tweaked to maintain appeal to stations that are trying to move away from soft AC. Eliminate older and slower tracks, add modern tracks such as "All Of Me" from John Legend or "Like I'm Gonna Lose You" from Meaghan Trainor, and it seems like it could work with the current direction of AC radio. But I assume it isn't that simple.

I have not looked lately, but the show has several versions with different textures of AC. And there was one version that consisted of workparts, which stations would put together with a local music log.

Going back more than a decade, I spoke with a producer for the show who told me the show was not "live" but rather Delilah took calls which were recorded and sometimes edited, and these were dropped into the actual shows. Again, this is older information so it may have changed.

In an interview with Inside Radio, she says it's all done from a home studio. But it sounds like she is simplifying the technical aspects....

http://www.insideradio.com/features...cle_75ec103e-99ec-11e5-adfc-6740d5ae7016.html

 

[TheBigA]

Again, this is older information so it may have changed.

I bet that's still true.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I think you are misunderstanding what I meant by "content", but that is probably my fault. Like I said, content is important, but it has been misunderstood as just "more talk" by many. This is my only argument. "content" can indeed mean many things, but my only point is some have interpreted it as just talking more, and that is wrong. I agree with you in concept, but the term should be expanded to "important" or "critical" content, IMO.

That's one thing that is not clear about Delilah's show. Whether lots of baby boomer women liked hearing the callers and advice, or if they liked the music and tolerated the calls, or if the show was never that popular, but the diary made it appear so by turning 15 minutes of listening into an hour or two.

There were lots of copycats doing love songs and dedications at nights or on weekends, so a lot of PDs felt the concept had legs.

 

[johndavis]

There were lots of copycats doing love songs and dedications at nights or on weekends, so a lot of PDs felt the concept had legs.

AC radio had been doing the night time love songs show for years before Delilah came along. What Delilah offered was a way to do the show on the cheap.

One of her early affiliates had done a love songs/relationship advice show with a local psychologist to compete with the long-running dedication show on its competition next door on the dial before going to voice tracks at night to save money. When they started offering Delilah the GM jumped on it because he could get the dedication/advice element without paying for more than the board op he was already paying for. That station, which is owned by I Heart today, dropped her for Mario Lopez and she's now carried by a rimshot that struggles to crack a 2 share.

Even if you take the workparts version of the show, 9 times out of 10 the callers all sound like they're from Alabama, and it really sticks out like a sore thumb.

It comes back to the evolution of the format. The rest of the day doesn't sound like it did 25-30 years ago on AC radio. What does today's audience really want?

 

[Kelly A]

I remember even back in the 80's and 90's, when diary and call out research were the only games in town, AC stations trying to do phone dedications never really lit the world on fire. I always saw Delilah sort of in the same orbit like John Tesh... Inexpensive after drive time hours-content.

 

[bobdavcav]

This has turned out to be an interesting discussion. My question to those that blame PPM for the demise of Smooth Jazz or Delilah, is if it's that bad, then why isn't the format still thriving in smaller markets? The PPM is only in the top 48 markets, but there was a time when just about every market had a Smooth Jazz station. Now they've pretty much all flipped formats.

 

[davideduardo]

That's one thing that is not clear about Delilah's show. Whether lots of baby boomer women liked hearing the callers and advice, or if they liked the music and tolerated the calls, or if the show was never that popular, but the diary made it appear so by turning 15 minutes of listening into an hour or two.

There were lots of copycats doing love songs and dedications at nights or on weekends, so a lot of PDs felt the concept had legs.

Generally, Delilah outperformed the rest of the day on AC stations in the Diary. Managers did not care if it was due to the memorable benchmarking or the actual content.

The PPM reduced the TSL in the electronically measured markets, so stations had to decide if giving up inventory was worth it.

Another factor is that when Delilah started, there was no Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. No texting. The show represented the same "need to communicate" forces that social media do better today. So the Gen X and Millennial listeners may not find it particularly unique.

 

[davideduardo]

This has turned out to be an interesting discussion. My question to those that blame PPM for the demise of Smooth Jazz or Delilah, is if it's that bad, then why isn't the format still thriving in smaller markets? The PPM is only in the top 48 markets, but there was a time when just about every market had a Smooth Jazz station. Now they've pretty much all flipped formats.

Smooth Jazzhas died because the listener base is now too old to appeal to advertisers. The PPM revealed the format had fewer listeners who actually listened less than they stated in the diary, which hastened the format's demise.

Delilah, as I mentioned in the previous post, has been affected somewhat by the PPM, but mostly by social media which removes the uniqueness of her communication; the same "contact with another person" is so easy today on Facebook & Friends that the attraction of that show is lessened.

 

[AQH]

Delilah was "reality radio", a chance for people (mostly women) hear about the problems of other people. About the same time Delilah peaked, reality television came around. Then social media and the onslaught of even more reality television came around. Then people thought twice about sitting by the radio every evening when even more options were born.

 

[AQH]

This has turned out to be an interesting discussion. My question to those that blame PPM for the demise of Smooth Jazz or Delilah, is if it's that bad, then why isn't the format still thriving in smaller markets? The PPM is only in the top 48 markets, but there was a time when just about every market had a Smooth Jazz station. Now they've pretty much all flipped formats.

Jazz was an attractive format because the diary method had everyone believing its listenership was high TSL and were wealthy. When PPM came in, its true some wealthy people were listening, but not nearly as much of them and not nearly as long. PPM revealed a lower listenership to a format that was not mass appeal in the first place.

 

[TheBigA]

The show represented the same "need to communicate" forces that social media do better today. So the Gen X and Millennial listeners may not find it particularly unique.

Part of what is hurting talk radio and a lot of DJ shows. Today a DJ is cheap wedding entertainment, not the host of a show.

At one time, people got comfort from a radio voice. Today, they use message boards like this one.

 

[Rob Piotrowski]

At one time, people got comfort from a radio voice. Today, they use message boards like this one.

Message boards are so 2000s. It's social media that's today's comfort delivery system. Thing is, radio hasn't figured out how to leverage it to improve listenership. Posting contest info and snips from morning show bits ain't cutting it.

 

[KMan]

Message boards are so 2000s. It's social media that's today's comfort delivery system. Thing is, radio hasn't figured out how to leverage it to improve listenership. Posting contest info and snips from morning show bits ain't cutting it.

Someone, somewhere, must be doing it well. The question is, who?

I suspect the evening anchor at News 1130 in Vancouver reading his twitter handle on the air and saying "send me a tweet I'll tweet you right back" every fifteen minutes is an above average but still inadequate effort.

 

[davideduardo]

Message boards are so 2000s. It's social media that's today's comfort delivery system. Thing is, radio hasn't figured out how to leverage it to improve listenership. Posting contest info and snips from morning show bits ain't cutting it.

Message boards are really more 80's than 2000's. Think of usenet and CIS. The forums ("fora" to Latin purists) like rec.radio.broadcasting and the broadcast professionals group on CIS were among the earliest in our area.

If you think about the broadcast related groups on Facebook, they are very much like message boards, but with more icons and pics and graphics. However, on many the content is as banal as the regular "I had this for lunch" posts.

 

[gr8oldies]

I follow a few of those "old radio guy" groups and one lost pop hit group. The conversation is a lot the same as here, "I wish I could go back and play carts and 45s", and "why doesn't radio play every song that was ever recorder?". I wouldn't have known there were people who refurbish old reel-to-reel automation systems, but there are.

Message boards are really more 80's than 2000's. Think of usenet and CIS. The forums ("fora" to Latin purists) like rec.radio.broadcasting and the broadcast professionals group on CIS were among the earliest in our area.

If you think about the broadcast related groups on Facebook, they are very much like message boards, but with more icons and pics and graphics. However, on many the content is as banal as the regular "I had this for lunch" posts.

 

[Bongwater]

Delilah's program worked because it was exactly what you wanted when you needed a soundtrack for sobbing in a corner (which was fashionable in the '80s.)