Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

The new Nielsen/Coleman study of People Meter listening revealed that radio listening now consists of two-thirds of listeners turning on and then turning off a station – and that’s the end of their radio listening.

While 11.3% are so-called Turn-On/Switch Outs and 14.5% are Switch-In/Switch Outs.

Wait.

Who gives a damn?

Answer me this.

Why is a People Meter picking up my listening when I am sitting in a crowded restaurant picking up an encoded radio signal from a station the owner picked?

And I am not listening?

I mean if you can sell that snake oil to radio groups who pay millions and hundreds of millions for this tripe, fine.

But don’t expect to make programming decisions based on PPM in any way, shape or form.

I get that the “Turn-On, Turn-Offs” study is supposed to underscore the importance of branding to a radio station but I hate to tell you this – branding is bullshit today.

Branding what?

18-34’s are primarily Millennials who have no meaningful relationship with a radio and you’re going to tell me that by expanding that listening just five minutes more means something.

And that’s what’s wrong with radio.

Want to get 18-34’s to listen – do something compelling instead of voice tracking.

When CBS all-news stations in New York can fire people at the end of the year (by phone, no less) how is that making me want to give 1010 WINS 22 minutes so they will give me the world as their branding promises?

18-34’s don’t want their world.

It’s about the listener’s world today.

They have phones.

That’s all that is needed.

So unless or until radio owners start thinking of ways to do a Millennial Radio Makeover, you can stuff this meaningless research.

I hope someone made a fee on this study because it’s useless – not inaccurate, just useless.

When I get together with radio stations and groups April 6^th in Philly who actually want to keep operating instead of downsizing and losing, one of the things we are going to do is make a stream of consciousness list of ways to give radio a Millennial Makeover.

I’m bringing in the bright, young programmer Dan Mason from CBS and Cox to sit with me and generate useable ideas.

You can jump in and drill down.

Now this will give you something that is more useful than doubling down on meaningless branding.

Millennials to radio: we don’t believe branding anyway. If you’d ask us, we’d tell you.

Radio has too many people trying to guess what Millennials want in order to be addicted to radio.

Note I said addicted not just listening.

Among the things you will come away with are:

1. How to do a morning show that Millennials will actually listen to in real time.
2. How to handle social media in a meaningful way – Millennials don’t take what radio does seriously because it’s just hype. That’s why audiences continue to erode.
3. How do they want to be spoken to.
4. What are the core things they care about most this year that stations should be doing.
5. How to handle the uncomfortable situation of commercials, which they hate, and income, which you love.  

If you’re in radio to stay, see you in Philly.

Another group just took advantage of our group discount.

More details on the conference plus the rest of the topics we will cover here.