Inside Music MediaJerry Del Colliano

Selling ice to the Eskimos might be easier, but there is a ray of hope to tempt the 80 million members of Gen Y to give a second listen to radio.

How not to do it:  keep doing what you’re doing now.

It’s dated, contrived, disrespectful (15 unit stop sets, etc.), not compelling – not local, not live and not authentic.

It’s the losing formula most radio companies – even the good ones – follow every day that is driving the essential next generation away from radio.

And even if every smartphone was personally blessed by Jeff Smulyan and activated with an FM chip, Millennials still wouldn’t listen. 

I’ve written courses and taught generational media at The University of Southern California. 

My background is radio, television, publishing and digital media.

And still I’m here to tell you that broadcasting in and of itself is not necessary to this generation and increasingly to older listeners but there are proven ways and innovative new approaches to win them back.

You supply the guts.  Here are the ideas:

1.  The one thing a Millennial cannot resist on the radio – one thing and it’s powerful if you play it up.

2.  How to program a Millennial-positive broadcast day from 5am until 7pm with key attractions they cannot and will not ignore.

3.  No traffic, no weather and none of this radio staple either.

4.  Finally!  How to do great youth-oriented radio and innovative digital content all at the same time.  And it’s very inexpensive, but shrewd if you know the plan.

5.  The new rules on formatics – the total makeover I’m about to describe will be necessary first.

6.  Six keys that are worth their weight in gold.  And, they’ll even work wonders with older listeners.  Hey, older people buy iPhones, iPods and iPads, don’t they? 

7.  How long to make the content to maximize results in attracting Millennials.

8.  No radio station has even a small chance of winning back Millennials if they don’t have this feature.  Steal it now before your local competitor does.

Plus …  One more thing!  You’re going to have to reinvent radio commercials.  The current way will no longer work with young audiences.  Peek at the radio commercial that definitely will.

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