Molasses Flood
Almost everyone in radio agrees on the value of localization.
But I disagree with the way some programmers define “local.”
Once I witnessed a graphic, ghastly presentation of this misguided definition at a station staff meeting.
The program director was addressing his troops, who sat nervously as the PD picked up a marking pen and purposefully approached a white board.
The PD drew a large circle on the board, pointed to it, and announced to the staff:
“This — (indicating the interior of the circle) — “is our Total Service Area. This is where our audience lives. If something happens inside this circle, you can talk about it on the air. If it happens outside the circle, you may not talk about it, because we are a local radio station!”
That particular program director defined “local” as “occurring within our market.”
With all due respect, the guy was…Um, misguided.
“Local” means anything that is of interest to your listeners.
Example:
For 15 years I wrote & published a radio comedy service called O’LINERS.
One of the regular features of this service was our “O’Calendar,” which featured interesting, offbeat items that happened “on this day in history.”
One day I received a phone call from a subscriber in Texas, complaining about a calendar item that had appeared in that month’s issue. The item concerned an event that had occurred in Massachusetts in 1919.
A factory exploded.
It was a molasses factory, and an entire community was swept away in a 2.3 million gallon, 30-foot tidal wave of molasses.
What a striking image that creates in the listener’s mind!
Well, this PD was upset. As he put it:
“People in Texas don’t care about something that happened in Massachusetts!”
I think he missed the point.
Please understand, I was not offended that he dared to criticize something I had published. I realized that not every item I printed was right for every subscriber.
In fact, if you subscribe to any kind of show prep service and you can use as much as 20% of each issue, you’re getting real value for your money.
But if this guy couldn’t use the image of 2.3 million gallon, 30-foot tidal wave of molasses to create a vibrant, compelling image in his listeners’ minds, then I had to wonder if he really had chosen the right profession.
“Local” is anything that is of interest to your listeners.
If your listeners already are taking about it — or if you can talk about it in a way that interests and involves them — then it’s local.
If you could talk about it at the corner bar or at the dinner table or around the coffee machine at work, it’s local.
We all live in one huge, global community.
Not everything that happens within that community is “local.”
Neither is everything that happens within your Primary Coverage Area or Total Service Area.
But if you can present a topic — any topic — in a manner causes your audience to listen, then it’s local.
If they care — or you can make them care — it’s local.
Comments on this entry are closed.
Dan,
I’ve always described ‘local’ as anything you come into contact involving your 5 senses…if you can touch it, see it, smell it, hear it or taste it, then you can potentially relate it in a local manner to the audience. I always considered myself ‘average’, which is an advantage in this scenario…here’s how: there are more ‘average’ people in your listening audience…by it’s very definition, that’s what makes them average…anyway, if you consider yourself ‘average’, then anything that impacts you positively or negatively via touch, sight, smell, sound or taste probably impacts a majority of your audience. If you’ve experienced it, chances are, in some way, so has your audience.
Great article! Another way to find out what is of relevance to your audience is to do a twitter search on the name of your town with and without the hashtag. Do the same thing for the mayor’s name, the local schools, any area of interest. Some searches will come up empty but others may be a goldmine!
But Dan , doesn’t that mean an announcer from 500 miles away can also do a “local ” show for your station,based on what you said via the computer, why have a local announcer at the station if he’s not gonna talk about things in the area,when the boss can hire a cheaper automated announcer to do the same job, we’ve had the Owner say , so and so was on for 3 hours and you wouldn’t even know he lived here,never mentioned a local story once as in , name drop a n area etc etc i can get an automated guy to do the same thing for half the price
While I agree with the simple premise that local is “anything that is in the interest of our listeners” , I think in today’s world that is almost undefinable.
I mean that in an instant, a listener can hop on their computer or phone and getinformation on just about anything nearly as easily as hearing it on air. And anything brought up on air, with live streaming for many stations and social networks that connect communities in all sorts of ways, is likely to pique interest with your “local” audience.
My question for the program director that took exception to an incident far away from his market would be, why would he care or use it?
I think it’s difficult to define an audience, period. If I read a story about an historic event in Gary, Indiana, or a current event, I can pretty much take it to the bank that SOMEONE in my audience will hear it, and be more interested than most others tunred in.
So where does one draw the line as to the content of their show? Some PD’s run off talent for essentially taking away all creativity. I think an air personality today needs to stay as locally focused as possible TOPICALLY. And Peter, maybe another time in another post, but there are many ways to localize your station even with 24/7 delivered formats with jocks thousands of miles away.
@Peter: I didn’t suggest you shouldn’t talk about things that do happen within your local community, and that isa potential advantage that local personalities should take advantage of.
Hi, Dan! I was once one of your O’Liner subscribers. You and I, via email, used to mix it up politically in a very friendly way from time to time. Anyhow, I totally agree with your take on “local.” The listener’s concerns, opinions, likes and dislikes are not limited to his neighborhood. They may well be shaded or colored by that neighborhood and its prevailing points of view. But, if the guy digs something, or is or could be interested in something that is a world away, local enough!
@ Randy, how if hes’ broadcasting to 20 stations in 20 differemt parts of the country
Dan, perhaps the PD should have written on the board ‘The World Around Me’. He should have said within this circle are you potential ’home’ or ‘base’ listeners, who are they, understand their wants and needs. Understand the world they live in. What makes them tick and why do they listen.
I’m in the UK and it is true that when I wake up in the morning I don’t say – right let’s just listen to some local news and information from my local radio station. I want to hear a mixture of the things that are happening now that relate to me and the world around me. When I say ‘The World Around Me’, I mean everything that affects me locally.
I turn on the radio and see what’s happening, to get a sense of the day ahead. I turn the radio on for social armoury to arm me for the banter ahead with colleagues. I turn the radio on to understand what the weather is doing. I turn the radio on to find out what the roads and motorways are doing. I keep the radio with me throughout my journey into work, and throughout as my locality changes as do the radio stations I’m listening to.
My neighbour on the other hand works from home; and she doesn’t work in radio. Pat listens to her local BBC radio station and flicks to the local commercial station every so often to hear a more of an up to date mix of music. Pat tells me she prefers the local BBC station because it talks about where she lives as well as giving her the information from the ‘World Around Her’.
Pat used to listen to the commercial station a fair bit; she no longer listens as much because the station no longer talks about her locality as much. He talks about the world but not the ‘World Around Her’.
My feeling from this is the commercial station hasn’t identified with its listener, hasn’t created ‘local’ in a way that relates to the listener in a way that is ‘The World Around Me’ kind of way.
I understand what your saying but from a guy who was a one time small market radio PD, LOCAL is your listening area! “Local” doesn NOT mean anything that is of interest to your listeners. Great it, when I was PD, I talked about a few things that were OUTSIDE our listening area, but close enough so that people could relate. For example, when I worked in Findlay, OH…they didn’t really care what was going on in Dayton or Cleveland. Unless a Findlay sports team was playing Dayton or Cleveland. If you can make a national story sound local, that’s GREAT! But your listeners (some could be on line listeners many of miles away!) are NOT your LOCAL listeners. Your local listeners are in that circle! That’s your target audience!