Broader, Deeper, Younger

A curous thing happened on the way to higher ratings…All Classical FM’s audience started getting younger. Clearly, we’re seeing a trend over the past year. Is it Portland, the decline of the alternatives on the radio dial, a strategy or just dumb luck?

With 12 months of PPM data to analyze, it appears that All Classical FM here in Portland, Oregon is doing something right with the programming. The station is enjoying historically high ratings and revenue. Over the past year, considerable time has been spent broadening and deepening the playlist: more vocal music, more early music, more modern music, more Americana.

We’ve talked some here at Scanning the Dial about various programming techniques or elements, including playlist changes, that seem to resonate and work with a contemporary, classical music, radio audience, not the least of which is humor. For some classical stations humor is the equivalent to Kryptonite, dangerous and likely to produce the opposite effect if not used judiciously. Authenticity is of course the key. Not talking about knee-slapping guffaws as part of the host presentation style, but rather the full personalty of the announcer being allowed to shine.

Another critical factor in achieving success with long-term programming changes, (actually the x -factor) is somewhat of a lost art: dayparting

We’re all dayparters by nature. It’s a human condition. Think about it. Our natural inclination when, say, entertaining guests in our homes or even something simple like planning a road trip, any occasion that requires picking just the right music for the activity at hand, we use the concept of dayparting – to craft the sound best sound for the mood and activity of the moment. In radio this means playing just about anything from the Canon but at just the right time of day. An effective and disciplined music director will know and love the music passionately, yet use discernment to carefully craft a sound that is perfect for each and every daypart, morning drive, mid-days, late evening, or Saturday matinee, taking into account, period, instrumentation, duration, energy, recording quality, flow and momentum, juxtaposition or context – all the while visualizing what the person on the receiving end is most likely doing.

Folks come to radio as part of their day. We don’t change their activities with our programming. Weekends are a little different, but for the most part, those days of planning one’s routine around radio shows are over. We must try and match the rhythms of our programming with the rhythms of life. It’s one of those pesky radio realities. Radio, thankfully, is still the accompaniment to life.

Dayparting. Get it right and your playlist can sparkle and contain many surprises, stretching the ears and experience of your audience.

Got audience? Great. Got youth? It’s the future. Get it, too…with a consistent, cohesive, and appealing playlist that is at the same time, broad and deep.

Dayparting. Get it right and you’ll even see your TSL (time spent listening) go up.

Onward!

About Jack Allen

Jack Allen is a self-proclaimed dreamer, raconteur, rapscallion and radio guy. He got his start in radio, a second career, in 1992 at WMRA in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The broadcasting ethers have carried him through stints in St. Paul and Austin. He can now be found leading the team at All Classical Public Media, KQAC in Portland, Oregon.

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4 thoughts on “Broader, Deeper, Younger”

  1. So, we know what is “dayparting” for the listener. But what about for stations?

    Stations need to create focused “destinations’, a time when the listener wants to hear what that station is doing. In talk, WNYC, New York Public Radio it a while ago on Sundays at 4:00PM. Special projects got an hour and ran in that hour uninterupted:”American Maavericks” from what? PRI? Really from Minnesota Public radio. 13 weeks. From Steve Rowland’s Aristowned, three series – “Leonard Bernstein: An American Life”, I think eleven weeks. “Tell Me How Long ‘Trane’s Been Gone” five weeks on the life of John Coltrane, and the eponymous eight week “The Miles Davis Radio Project”.

    In music, I don’t know if it is still running, but KUSC did it with Alan Chapman’s “Modern Masterpieces” at 10:00PM Saturday nights, admittedly a radio graveyard, but not to those who love New Music.

    And, of course, there is the opera broadcast on so many stations on Saturday afternoons.

    PubRadio produces lots of programs like – not my taste but O.K. – “Pipe Dreams”.

    But, what about just good old local scheduling? Dayparting? How about – again, not my taste – a two hour shot of Early Music every week day or evening, or even once a week. 11:00AM-1:00PM, or 10:00PM-midnight, whatever, just something people can count on.

    WPRB, Princeton, NJ, has Marvin Rosen’s “Classical Discoveries” and “Classical Discoveries Goes Avantgarde” every Wednesday 6:30AM ( or earlier if Marvin gets there) 10 11:00AM. WPRB really cool destinations in Jazz are Dan Buskirk spinning Jazz Monday 11:00AM-1:00PM; and Will Constantine Jr’s “Blues, Bop, and Beyond”, Thursday’s in the same time slot.

    How about a weekly shot of “Music From the Hearts of Space”, a classic PubRadio program if ever there was one.

    So, stations can do some dayparting. I have in the past called it modularity. Modules of programming. Try a theme. If it gets good response, keep it going. If not, try something else.

    Nadia Sirota, at Q2, the 24 hour New Music stream on line from WQXR, New York Public radio, has done a lot of this, with “Hope Springs Atonal” the theme here being obvious, and “Hammered”, the theme here being an all inclusive look at keyboard music, piano, harpsichord, clavichord, etc. These all started as one week specials for the four hour “Nadia Sirota on Q2”. Among others, these have been kept as one hour shots, each day. What works becomes a destination. I know I am going to get hammered every week day at 11:00AM and it’s not even time for lunch.

    So, stations can do some dayparting.

    Reply

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