There is so much chatter in the radio business about content being ‘king’ and the importance of generating content, but it is important to know what IS good content and what motivates listeners to tune-in?

We went back and studied hundreds of content research projects, evaluated thousands of pieces of content voted on by tens of thousands of radio listeners and the result is our Content Superhero project done with radio consultant Tracy Johnson. Click here to check out the Content Superhero website for lots of content, analysis and inspiration.

In Chapter 2, which we presented to a sold-out webinar audience on Tuesday, we share what causes audiences to tune IN. (Click here to register for tomorrow’s Chapter 2 Encore at 1pm ET.) So often the emphasis when coaching talent is avoiding things that cause tune out, and while that is important, we need to also learn what causes listeners to respond positively?

We go into a lot of detail on this in the webinar this week. I’d like to share a few of the key points:

  1. It has become clear to us that more than ever before, establishing features is critical. Find one that is right for you – one that really showcases your personality or the personality of your show. Tracy Johnson pointed out this week that the average P1 listener MISSES 95% of your morning show, so keep things easy and become famous for one thing.
  2. Give your feature a name. You can even put the time it airs in the feature’s name. Naming the content makes it easier to burn it into the listener’s mind. A critical element in many competitive situations is having “fusion forces” that bring a wide swath of listeners together at one moment in time. This is particularly important if you are in a head-to-head format battle.
  3. You don’t need a million features – start by focusing on building one really good one. Naturally, if you have a couple of excellent ones, great, but I’ve seen morning shows ride one really good feature to #1 in their market, because the show was able to maximize the value of that feature throughout their show. If you have a feature you can do DAILY, you’re going to have a much easier time becoming a daily habit for your listeners, and in PPM markets, daily cume is an important factor to winning. And by the way, it is just as important in a recall methodology – stickiness is important in every ratings methodology.
  4. If the feature develops into a “lightning rod” type of feature and you’ve got a hit, expand it as much as you can without airing sub-par content. Very often, we’ll suggest running that feature every hour (“Phone Tap on the :10s”) so it is totally clear on where the find the feature.
  5. Keep your promises and meet expectations. Never air content that doesn’t measure up. If your feature is promised at a specific time, don’t be late. We’ve had listeners tell us that they sit in their cars to hear the end of a bit. If a feature is late, the listener needs to decide if they should sprint into the office or wait in the car and risk being late to work. Being early is just as bad: Imagine a fan of the bit tuning in and missing it! No good.

Building “Brand Pillars” is a critical step in building a “best-in-class” brand, and a lightning-rod feature can be one of those pillars.

In this week’s Content Superheros webinar, we discuss the importance of establishing features as well as five other discoveries about what causes tune-in. See you in the webinar. You can also request group-level custom presentations of Content Superhero. Contact us today.