Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

It doesn’t seem like the media are learning its lessons from writing off Bernie Sanders and Trump for their favored candidate, Hillary Clinton.

New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. sent an apology letter to subscribers and vowed fairer reporting.

But go to the site and see if anything has changed.

Same with cable news.

This is a wake up call that the news media are not getting but I believe radio executives should get.

Radio needs to spend some time learning about an audience that has always made them uneasy – 86 million Millennials between 18-34.  

• Is there any kind of radio that Millennials will listen to – and let’s be honest here?  I can name several things.
• How to deal with their shorter attention spans while still appealing to older Gen X and possibility younger baby boomers.  Actually, there is a path that will not offend current listeners.
• Music repetition is a problem and PPM is helping to blindside otherwise very smart radio people.  Here’s a workaround that deserves discussion:  Millennials love playlists – just not station playlists.  I can imagine a brilliant purveyor of music such as Michael Tearson, John Sebastian or young Dan Mason creating addictive, personal playlists.  After all, look at the inroads streaming music service Spotify has made in offering and helping subscribers create playlists.  Radio PDs don’t want to give up all that control, but I’ll bet you’d love some creative ideas in this area.
• Millennials despise rules and what are radio station formats – a bunch of rules.  Without opting for total chaos or disorganization, an alternative throws out the rulebook and replaces it with the one thing 18-34 Millennials are addicted to.

More at my April radio executive briefing.

2017 Radio Conference