Exclusive Content

Our high-tech society is becoming overwhelmed with instant gratification. People want what they want and they want it now - NOW - because, more often than not, they can have it now. The digital revolution brought us this change, and there's no going back.

So be it.

If somebody wants to hear the new song by The Killers, can a radio station really deliver it *NOW*? Not really - but too many other sources can. So much for radio winning the battle for satisfying a listener's need for instant gratification.

What can a radio station deliver that is unique to it?

...A *MIX* of music? Sure, more or less... until somebody signs on with an identical playlist - if not a better one. Then what? Countless heritage stations have been wiped off the map that way.

When your radio station turns itself into nothing more than a means of delivering music, your station will lose. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But sooner than later, someone will come along and say "Y'know what? I can do that better and turn a profit." And then you're done.

Think again.

When I was working my way through the ranks, a popular programming catch phrase was "exclusivity." Programmers talked about creating promotions based on giving away something the listener couldn't even buy. I worked at a station years ago where we'd figure out what the artists liked to do in their spare time, and we'd arrange for them to do that with a winner. Play pool with Tim McGraw... that sort of thing.

Exclusivity.

And now I wonder why those same programmers aren't trying to take that approach with their radio stations' programming...

Create content listeners can only get on your station. "Exclusivity."

Here's a hint: Music ain't it.

Am I saying don't play music? Not at all.

What I'm saying is - commit to the radio station as a whole rather than to the radio station as a god damn playlist.

I've never thrown a punch in my life, but I swear that the next PD of an overproduced zero personality liner card robot radio station who says "it's what comes between the records that wins" would be worthy of my first. These power-playlist pukers are sucking the life out of radio.

If your station is little more than songs, sweepers, and spots, you've no business talking to anybody about the importance of what comes between the records. NONE.

How many songs have been sung about radio sweepers? How many movies have been made about jingle packages? How many people have called in to say that a promo helped them get through a sleepless night?

I hate to use a TV analogy, but it fits. Decades of Starsearch don't compare to a single season of American Idol. Why? Simon, Paula, Randy, and, to a lesser extent, Searcrest. They are the content. They're as much the reason to watch Idol as are the singer wannabes. Maybe more.

Howard Stern is a hit.

Alan Freed was a hit.

Wolfman Jack was a hit.

Radio needs content that is unique to it. That's how we reinvent this medium. That's how we put the excitement back.

The answer is air talent.

Less shift. More show.