So what does music mean to the Radio business??
We all know the terms “Its 70% of the product” or “its 80% of the product”
Well… what do we understand from that?
Hmmm.. in simple words if we see commercial radio as a product that sells like any other commodity, the ingredients list would be as below.
And that is true.
In case of radio in India, the advertising space allocated is a minimum of 12 minutes per hour.. That means 20% . all other stuff is the same... So music is 70%
Yes the presenter plays a big role too.. If you carefully see, the presenter always talks before the ad break starts. It’s a universal format. But did anyone ever think why only at this place?
Well a synonym for a presenter is “Host” similarly it is “Anchor”. What does an anchor do for a ship?
It holds the ship in place… Just like that the presenter needs to hold the listeners through the ad break.
Anyways.. Back to the topic… Music is the main ingredient.
We all know the terms “Its 70% of the product” or “its 80% of the product”
Well… what do we understand from that?
Hmmm.. in simple words if we see commercial radio as a product that sells like any other commodity, the ingredients list would be as below.- Music:- 82%
- Humor:- 1.5%
- Presenter’s Talk:- 1.5%
- Interstitial:- 1.5%
- Branding (Station Elements):- 1.5%
- Others (Value adds):- 2%
- Advertising:- 10%
And that is true.
In case of radio in India, the advertising space allocated is a minimum of 12 minutes per hour.. That means 20% . all other stuff is the same... So music is 70%
Yes the presenter plays a big role too.. If you carefully see, the presenter always talks before the ad break starts. It’s a universal format. But did anyone ever think why only at this place?
Well a synonym for a presenter is “Host” similarly it is “Anchor”. What does an anchor do for a ship?
It holds the ship in place… Just like that the presenter needs to hold the listeners through the ad break.
Anyways.. Back to the topic… Music is the main ingredient.
Lately…
The management teams of any and every radio station in India are usually found saying this one sentence to the programming teams..
“Lets tweak our music in this city if we really want to beat the competition. Afterall its 80% of the product.”
So they end up looking at what the competition is playing and try to make their playlist similar, with a little tweaks to make it sound a bit different than the other station.
Now… The competition station comes to know that station X has changed their music.
They end up tweaking their own sound with regards to the little differentiator that station X had kept to ensure they do not sound like station Y completely.
And now the 3rd competitor comes to know that X & Y both changed… They look at their playlists…. Change accordingly and here again a differentiator is applied.
And so the station X now changes again looking at station Z change…. And then station Y does… and the cycle goes on… and on… and on…!! Well… competition you see.. ;)
Another of my mentors Kartik Kalla just gave me two rules to keep in mind when programming music for a station:-
Let competition follow you… You started it… You gain the first mover’s advantage always.
The key to successful radio programming is consistency, not constant change based on competition.
Baba Ranchod Daas keh gaye the.. “beta kaabil bano… kaamyaabi to jhak maar ke peechhe aayegi”
The management teams of any and every radio station in India are usually found saying this one sentence to the programming teams..
“Lets tweak our music in this city if we really want to beat the competition. Afterall its 80% of the product.”
So they end up looking at what the competition is playing and try to make their playlist similar, with a little tweaks to make it sound a bit different than the other station.
Now… The competition station comes to know that station X has changed their music.
They end up tweaking their own sound with regards to the little differentiator that station X had kept to ensure they do not sound like station Y completely.
And now the 3rd competitor comes to know that X & Y both changed… They look at their playlists…. Change accordingly and here again a differentiator is applied.
And so the station X now changes again looking at station Z change…. And then station Y does… and the cycle goes on… and on… and on…!! Well… competition you see.. ;)
Another of my mentors Kartik Kalla just gave me two rules to keep in mind when programming music for a station:-
- Pulse of the city
- Sound of the station
Let competition follow you… You started it… You gain the first mover’s advantage always.
The key to successful radio programming is consistency, not constant change based on competition.
Baba Ranchod Daas keh gaye the.. “beta kaabil bano… kaamyaabi to jhak maar ke peechhe aayegi”
But yahaan to race lagi hai… otherwise you will be a “Broken Anda”.
In our industry today, everyone is running their station based on Trial & Error.
Stations change formats every few months.
Well.. tell me something.. If a guest at your function did not like the Italian menu how can you be sure that he would like Thai food? Or vice a versa… If he liked Italian that you served, How can you be sure that he probably liked the Thai your competitor served more than your Italian food.???
The trouble is there is no conviction.
Managements do not trust the judgments of their employees. Well if you don’t trust them.. you don’t trust yourself… coz you hired them right??
Well you want numbers in a research that is done by a third party right? Trust your first party employees to work on it. They have to justify their salaries too.. so they will. But then there is no time.. so simply copy the competition. The competition is no less… they are doing the same.. copy you!
Who’s copying whom, god knows..
Who’s at loss, is the big question!
Any change no matter how small or big takes a minimum of 3 months to register into a listeners mind.
It would take an average human another month after that to react to it.
And organizations today nullify a change based on a research conducted 3 weeks after it was effected.
Any research with regards to any change in the music (or anything that relates to the station’s sound) should be done post 5 months after the change.
Here’s the maths.
• 1 month: for your own teams to digest and perfect it.
• 3 months: for the listeners to register it.
• 1 Month: for the listeners to actually come to a point where they can react to it.
Station’s loyalty is not built overnight. Check out the stations abroad.
Most of them probably have not changed formats for years.
Didn’t want to name stations in India, but Fever (Delhi) and City (Mumbai) are examples of having gained leads due to only one reason… Consistency & Patience.
Its not rocket science.
After six months, if you don’t see results.. Trust me you never followed the steps my mentor gave and I shared here.
In india.. we still remember Aamin Sayani’s show that started way back when AIR was Radio Cylon and lasted until the first few private radio stations came to existence. Why? Because it was consistent.
There is no good or bad music strategy. There are good or bad music policies. Keep your strategy alive for at least 6 months. It sure would be a great policy.
A clear, straight and structured approach is the most easiest and effective way.
The only thing to remember is that you will NEVER see results overnight.
Rome was not built overnight… nor was the BBC or the other top radio stations.
Would be posting about the second “M” soon.
Stay tuned :)
Stations change formats every few months.
Well.. tell me something.. If a guest at your function did not like the Italian menu how can you be sure that he would like Thai food? Or vice a versa… If he liked Italian that you served, How can you be sure that he probably liked the Thai your competitor served more than your Italian food.???
The trouble is there is no conviction.
Managements do not trust the judgments of their employees. Well if you don’t trust them.. you don’t trust yourself… coz you hired them right??
Well you want numbers in a research that is done by a third party right? Trust your first party employees to work on it. They have to justify their salaries too.. so they will. But then there is no time.. so simply copy the competition. The competition is no less… they are doing the same.. copy you!
Who’s copying whom, god knows..
Who’s at loss, is the big question!
Any change no matter how small or big takes a minimum of 3 months to register into a listeners mind.
It would take an average human another month after that to react to it.
And organizations today nullify a change based on a research conducted 3 weeks after it was effected.
Any research with regards to any change in the music (or anything that relates to the station’s sound) should be done post 5 months after the change.
Here’s the maths.
• 1 month: for your own teams to digest and perfect it.
• 3 months: for the listeners to register it.
• 1 Month: for the listeners to actually come to a point where they can react to it.
Station’s loyalty is not built overnight. Check out the stations abroad.
Most of them probably have not changed formats for years.
Didn’t want to name stations in India, but Fever (Delhi) and City (Mumbai) are examples of having gained leads due to only one reason… Consistency & Patience.
Its not rocket science.
- Decide upon your stations sound.
- Pick music accordingly keeping the pulse of the city in mind.
- And stay put… Wait… Wait for 5-6 months for the results to show up.
- Yes… tweak your stationality/ Humor capsules/ Jack-talk.. Everything as fine as possible to support the sound.
After six months, if you don’t see results.. Trust me you never followed the steps my mentor gave and I shared here.
In india.. we still remember Aamin Sayani’s show that started way back when AIR was Radio Cylon and lasted until the first few private radio stations came to existence. Why? Because it was consistent.
There is no good or bad music strategy. There are good or bad music policies. Keep your strategy alive for at least 6 months. It sure would be a great policy.
A clear, straight and structured approach is the most easiest and effective way.
The only thing to remember is that you will NEVER see results overnight.
Rome was not built overnight… nor was the BBC or the other top radio stations.
Would be posting about the second “M” soon.
Stay tuned :)
Thats too much of knowledge baba. Nicely written and described. Strong one.
ReplyDeleteAmazing... you taught me (A lay-person regarding Radio) so much about it... actually these funda's work equally well in all Broadcast media.
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