Radio's Strength: Personalities

This past week Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media Strategies made his first presentation of the soon-to-be-released Techsurvey 2022.

In a blog posting Jacobs states it's difficult to point to one specific data point because the study offers much to learn from the mountain of spreadsheets and charts.   But, according to Jacobs the one eyebrow raiser in the study that makes an impact is less an answer to a question, and more about the continuation of a trend.  If there was a surprise, it happened in 2019.  This year's study simply confirmed what many have known all along:

Radio's ultimate strength as a medium is dependent on the power and popularity of its personalities.

Jacobs writes every respondent (30,000+ this year) was given more than 20 possible attributes, and asked to tell the main reasons they listen to AM/FM radio.

Two of them are “DJs/shows/hosts” and “To hear favorite songs/artists.”

That's right – it's the classic faceoff between music and talk, Jacobs claims.  And over the past four years, the tables have turned.  Over time, broadcast radio's appeal is less about the music it plays, and more about its personality lineup.

This chart trending nine consecutive years of Techsurvey's paints a clear and compelling picture of what core radio listeners care about:

Says Jacobs: Music has become commoditized.  Music listeners can get every song ever recorded on their phone – commercial-free.  Music on the radio simply isn't all that exclusive.  But personality?  They can only hear your morning show on your station.  Talent is your exclusive, proprietary content.

📻Read his complete blog entry here