3-23-2014
By Orlando Davis
There is an unwritten rule that programmers should get outside the office, away from ringing phones, incessant e-mail, and staff sessions, to actually listen to the station. There?s something about hearing the station as the listeners do. I had the luxury of doing that a week ago ? and after hearing our expensively partnered ?Black History? vignette, the real lesson began to set in.
As we?ve identified clutter, long-winded personalities, and lengthy production elements as enemies to our evolved radio world, so too are labels like ?Black History? a neon sign that identifies radio as antiquated and out of touch. When record stores were a part of the culture, there were separate sections for each genre, with very little shared space on the shelves. Good luck finding a record store today ? but at music sources such as Best Buy, Target, and iTunes, music is blended together. Music enthusiasts cross from Jay-Z and Beyonce to Imagine
Dragons, Taylor Swift, and Kendrick Lamar with ease. Yet radio still sees it as appropriate to segregate artists into their respective boxes.
At my station, we find our strength in the diversity of the format. While Drake and Eminem are riding high in the high-performing research areas, Katy Perry and
Pharrell?s ?Happy? are equally sharing our space. The balance of such staples in our music log is a delicate dance that our programming team sweats over weekly. Why? Because we believe in the ?offer the world in 15 minutes? adage. This is important.
Yet right after a carefully selected title plays into the meticulously edited production piece, and that segues into the perfectly placed song, we air another ?Little Known Black History Fact.? Doesn?t that seem counterproductive, after all the detail we go into to remain broad, full-service, and diverse? It actually seems as though a quarter-hour of reaching 100 percent of the audience is being rotely followed by an educational moment that is specifically geared toward only 20 percent of our listeners.
Might I add that these are black history facts that the average black listener can?t reference? I?m an educated black CHR program director, and I can?t function comfortably past George Washington Carver and the peanut, and Martin Luther King Jr. However, this special programming is paramount to (insert label). Why
would we allow this deviation from an agreed-upon plan? What is the majority
of our audience doing while we talk to the ?secret circle?? Oh, no!
As brand builders, along with our traditionalist advertising sponsors, we are missing the mark. This time of separating our audience is driving a wedge between us and some of our most loyal customers. We spend countless hours creating new and exciting plays to take our team to the championship, but we allow those working from Vince Lombardi?s old playbook into our huddle. How can we expect to hoist the trophy this way?
This lesson is bigger than just February; it applies to every part of our formatic spectrum. All the coolest clubs play a constant stream of music that touches all in
attendance. I strongly believe that we are much cooler than those clubs. I also believe that we should adopt an approach that reflects talking to our audience instead of at them. Separatist labels were the standard in the very distant past, but fortunately, they started to die toward the end of the ?Me Generation? ?80s. The Fresh Prince, C+C Music Factory, Hammer, and the like brought people from
elsewhere to the party. Duran Duran, George Michael, Eurythmics, and the like delivered new listeners to other formats as well.
This began, then, over two decades ago, and no matter how much we try to stomp it, cripple it, and kill it dead, that diversity thrives. Our ideas, promotions, and presentation should embody that.
Labeling a white kid from French Lick, Indiana, as a ?white boy who probably can?t play ball? got many NBA warriors an education from Larry Bird. In 2013, the biggest R&B songs were delivered by Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake, while the top hip hop chart position and awards went to Macklemore. All of these are simply great artists, and that?s how the digital download-purchasing public considers them. Shouldn?t we follow suit (and tie)?
Orlando (Orlando Davis) is the program director and morning show host at WLLD (Wild 94.1)/Tampa, ?The Bay?s Party Station.?
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