Opinion: Radio as it is Does Not Work for Today’s Tech World

Many journalists and legacy media outlets like to say the phrase “journalism isn’t dead, it is transforming.” With the implementation of social media accounts dedicated to news, freelance journalists doing guerrilla news, and online newspapers, there is definitely still journalists doing the work that they’ve always done.

However, where does that leave radio, one of the oldest forms of digital media? Of course, there are podcasts and streaming services, each filling the gap of music journalism and music distribution in the place of radio programs, but there is no mainstream replacement that has a host entertaining and explaining music between songs.

The Verge released an article recently stating that streaming now makes up 80% of the music industry’s revenue.

The article states “Revenue made from streaming services in the United States grew by 26 percent in the first six months of the year…” and “…the report also found that paid subscriptions grew by 31 percent, accounting for 62 percent of the industry’s total revenue.” Those are extreme numbers showing that more and more people are turning to online listening and cultivated playlists for their music enjoyment.

That same article states that just between Apple Music and Spotify, there are more than 150 million people paying to listen to their service. The Verge also reports that Spotify has 217 million active listeners when you include unpaid users.

The Nielsen Q2 2018 Total Audience Report says that the U.S. had 227 million weekly adult listeners tuning into an AM or FM stations. That is only 10 million above just one streaming service. Now include Apple Music, Amazon Music, Samsung’s Milk Music, Pandora, and others.

More and more people are turning to streaming instead of listening to a radio station.

Radio’s Audience is Getting Old

This is also affected by demographics. Radio’s listeners are getting older and older with each generation. Edison Research found in their April 2018 Heavy Radio Listeners Report that people aged 55 to 65 are the most likely to listen to the radio.

Edison Research says that this is merely because employment effects whether or not someone listens to radio monthly and the older you are, the more likely you are to have a job. However, according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the age demographic that is the most likely to have a job is 35 to 44, the third-largest demographic of radio listeners.

In fact, ages 20 to 54 are all more likely to have a job than the demographic that is the most likely to have weekly radio listens, so the age of radio listeners is not because of employment in the way that Edison Research is suggesting.

Radio has lost the interest of many young listeners because frankly, there are better options out there to get the music that you want. Radio is limited in how it can present the music by format, frequency of plays, customization, and selection. We live in a world that wants stuff as quick as possible and radio’s current system of music playing is just too slow to appease young audiences.

Radio Isn’t Good Enough for Young People

With streaming services such as Spotify, a user can listen to the songs they want to hear as soon as they want. They can create their own playlist of music that they are into, play it how they want, and skip the ads by paying a little extra. With radio, they would have to turn it on and just hope that the automation has picked a few songs that they enjoy to play in succession.

Then with radio, a listener is forced to listen to ads and a DJ that they might not want to have to sit through just to get the music that they want.

But, many Programming Directors in radio will tell you that people come for the DJ talent and not just the music. This is partially true. DJs with audiences do draw in listeners that come just to hear them and their show. However, a casual listener doesn’t care about the DJ breaks. They just want the music.

Some radio stations have started implementing non-stop music at different times during the day to help counteract this audience dissatisfaction. KMKF 101.5 (K-Rock) in Manhattan, Kansas has a section of its morning dedicated to “101 minutes of ad-free music.” Mornings are usually the most heavily listened to section of radio programming, so it is telling that K-Rock would add this section to that time frame. But, ads, something else commonly complained about, are impossible to get rid of.

Ad revenue is still the main source of income that radio’s use to make their money and millennials and gen Z hate them. That is why so many online services have an option to pay for the service to opt-out of ads and why browser extensions like Adblocker are so common.

Ads are seen as an inconvenience to the young listener because it cuts out the time spent listening to music. It adds to the slow feeling of radio that doesn’t match our fast-paced media world.

It is the same reason that social media is becoming one of the most popular spaces to receive news. It is fast-paced with instant updates and isn’t gunked up with unskippable ads.

Radio Programming Is Outdated and Annoying

As the story goes, which you can read in more detail here, the famous Top 40s format was created after a radio operator and programming director noticed that people were paying the jukebox to play the same 30 (later upped to 40) songs all night at a bar they were at. The two would then shift their radio station to only play the top 40 songs and would skyrocket in ratings. A lot of radio formats today are based on this initial top 40 format.

This was successful because people could turn on that radio station whenever they wanted and here a song they liked. The radio station was consistently playing what the people wanted to hear.

While when it started, Top 40 radio was the easiest way to consume the most popular music, today it is far too slow. The general population has access to music almost instantly as it is released, so by the time the radio stations have worked it into a schedule of playing it regularly, the listeners are already getting tired of it.

In other words, “The radio just plays the same ten songs over and over again.” At least, that is how it sounds when the music the radio station is playing the most is the music you have been hearing for months already.

How can radio save itself?

As stated, radio cannot stay the way it currently is and survive. It is currently a form of radio that is too slow, too annoying, and not accessible to a young audience in a way that they will enjoy.

So, how does radio progress to the fastpaced world that we live in? First things first, all radio stations need to offer an online stream that is easily found in different places including on the web, in an app, and on smart speakers. This will provide a readily available source of the station to listeners on a global scale.

Next, the station needs to upload shows into an archive and trim the show down into a podcast-like format. This can be seen with the Elvis Duran show from Z100 in New York which provides the show on iHeartRadio’s streaming service. Uploading these shows onto streaming services that are recognizable is also a good practice. This allows listeners to hear the show whenever they want and to share it more easily.

The programming on radio stations also needs to change. It needs to be local, unique, live, and new.

Since radios need to have a stronger online presence, they cannot rely on national syndication to provide content for the radio station. The stations need to provide local, unique, and live content to drive people to their broadcasts and recordings.

When the programming is local, it forces unique content to be produced and also provides a service to local listeners. Local news, bands, and events can all be used to make local-focused content that will drive listeners from your area to your broadcast. It also prevents too much competition while on an online market.

Live content also helps make a broadcast unique. This includes live DJs, personalities, and bands that all can be used on air to differentiate what you are providing. Every live broadcast is different from the next, and creates a reason for listeners to keep coming back.

All of this helps drive unique content that cannot be found in different places and gives audiences a reason to listen to radio. However, the way the music is played can still annoy listeners.

Radio stations need to rethink how they are programming their music to be played. There needs to be a heavier focus on new music and less of a focus on already established music (for radio stations who play current music). Obviously stations that only play 80’s music or other specialized playlists can continue to play those songs. However, stations that have their song rotation based on the Top 40 model need an update.

Instead of playing songs that have been released for a while be the ones heard the most, radio stations should play new songs about the same amount as established ones (or even more than that). Introducing a stronger presence of new music decreases the pressure of a fast-paced online world that can provide music as soon as it's released.

All of these avenues of change also offer new ways to create ads. There could be online ads, ads for the podcast uploads, ads for each unique broadcast, and ads that play before your stream boots up. This allows the gunk of ads to be cleaned out and placed around different places. If the station has a strong social media presence and creates content elsewhere (online posts, videos, other online content), ads can also be placed there as well.

Conclusion

Radio needs a change. It is, as many will tell you, dying. This is because the people who work in radio are too stubborn to change what they are doing. They make long stretches of ad-free music without thinking too much about why they would do that. They are saying no to internet streams, and they are saying no to creating archives of their work for people to listen to in their free time.

Radio can evolve just like every other type of media is doing but it has a lot of catching up to do. As long as radio starts making unique, local, and live content that is readily accessible, it can start to thrive online. It can once again become something that people look to for information and entertainment instead of just being an annoyance.

This drop in radio popularity isn’t a problem with the consumer. It is a problem with the stations themselves. But, it can change.