Radio Morning Show Host Analysis

Introduction

In Summer 2023, a national radio brand noticed their weekday morning show ratings in a major market had slipped. They decided to work with Crowd React Media to choose the new hosts of the show, aiming to please specific demographics that are known to be drivers of the station’s performance.

Objective

The objective was to choose the best pair of hosts using data-driven insights from real radio listeners in the relevant market. The hosts needed be viewed exceptionally well by the target demographics while maintaining widespread appeal.

Challenge

In the ever-changing modern media landscape, a station’s popularity can rapidly shift. The poor performance of the morning show had caused the station to lose ground to its competitors. They needed to evaluate their pool of potential new hosts quantitatively and cost-effectively without over-exposing them.

Solution

Crowd React Media worked with the station to identify key performance indicators for evaluating a host pair’s effectiveness. KPIs included favorability, listener retention, chemistry, fit, and family-friendliness. We then exposed listeners to sample morning show clips and gathered data on the KPIs for each host pair. Using a sample of respondents similar to the station’s listenership, we segmented our data by target demographics.

Key Findings

• Segmenting respondents revealed valuable insights into different host pair’s strengths and weaknesses
• Open ended responses allowed us to capture insights that were not directly asked in the quantitative portion of the research, and helped to drive decisions around host pairings.
• Radio contests were determined to be added to the morning show as well to boost listener engagement

Results

One host pair stood out when considering the most important demographics. This host pair was popular among the station’s core listeners (those who regularly listen to the station) and adult women, who drive the station’s success.

Conclusions

This study highlights the value of host relatability and interaction quality in radio programming. Implementing host pairings and scheduling based on these insights can enhance listener loyalty and broaden reach across target demographics. The findings provide actionable recommendations for improving listener engagement and optimizing programming.