Recently I demonstrated how to take an apparently mundane piece of “trivia” and turn it into an audience-pleasing feature.
The key was to put the information into a fresh, provocative context.
Some radio hosts think that any topic or trivia question is appropriate as long as it’s “topical.”
But not all topical features are relevant.
I’m writing this on Thursday, August 11, 2011. I could ask, “When is the last year that August 11 occurred on a Thursday?”
That would be topical, but who cares?
And not all relevant features are topical.
More importantly, although I have been preaching the virtues of “relevant” programming for my entire career, there is one factor that is even more important than relevance:
Entertainment.
But it’s important to note the definition I assign to “entertainment” in the context of radio:
“Worth listening to (as determined by the listener).”
Relevance is so important only because the more relevant a feature is to someone’s life, the more likely it is that person will listen.
But relevance alone isn’t enough.
If you don’t believe me, try airing a 30-minute lecture on cholesterol levels in 35+ males on a highly rated News/Talk station.
Lots of adult males in that audience, with a topic that’s highly relevant to their lives. But darn few will listen.
The listener judges whether or not something is worth listening to based on a combination of Relevance and Presentation.
The more immediately relevant the information, the less important the presentation.
“Someone is coming to your house right now to try to kill you” — You don’t need much of a fancy set-up there; you’ve got the listener’s attention.
High cholesterol levels are very relevant to the lives of many adult listeners. But few of them perceive it as immediately relevant.
That’s where topicality becomes a factor. “Cholesterol levels in 35+ males” suddenly becomes much more relevant to that target audience when some famous 36-year old athlete drops dead of a heart attack.
Summing Up
Relevant does not always = Interesting.
Topical does not always = Relevant.
But when the two meet and you find an interesting way to share the experience with your listeners, your radio program soars.
