Who Do You Work For?
This is a question we are all asked. If you work in media, the answer is easy: The audience. It is the consumer of the content that is being produced on a daily basis for the platforms that your presentation is available on.
Over the years I have had many different bosses, and what I always found was important is to understand what they want. Each person I worked for had a different set of priorities that they felt were important. Understanding what that person needed, made it easier to do my job.
In terms of producing content it is critical that we understand what the listener/viewer is looking for. The options for content have resulted in a saturation for what is available. With technology, the consumer is clearly in charge of whether or not your organization is successful. For radio there is a lot of conversation about the challenges that the industry is facing. Much of that centers around the fact that the audience has never had as many choices.
While technology has changed, some of the fundamentals have not. One of the best lessons I was taught early on was the importance of “playing to the broadest set of the audience.” Even though most of my career has been in spoken word radio, I became aware of this when I was a music DJ back in the 80s. That is where I learned about the importance of “playing the hits.”
The Program Director I was working for put together a weekly list of the most popular songs specifically targeted to our audience. The most popular songs got played the most. There were times I wanted to play a different selection, but that was not allowed as it was about what the audience wants instead of what I would like to present.
Through all the changes over the years, this is still one of the most valuable lessons I learned early on. I was fascinated by the Billboard Hot 100 and the hottest songs of the week. It was always about what song was number one. At times a song could be number one for long periods of time. At other times, it might be for only a week. This was all about what the audience was looking for.
The premise of music radio was give the listener what they are looking for as soon as they decide to listen. Regardless of the format, that fundamental remains in place today. In spoken word formats such as news or sports, that is just as important.
The consumer of content behaves differently in 2026 than the past. With so many ways to get content, and with all the various platforms there is no margin for error. Every brand has an audience that they want to serve. This all comes down to understanding who you are working for. This is all about super serving the primary listener/viewer of your content and understanding what they want and how they want it.
Five Fundamentals for Serving Your Audience in Spoken Word Radio
- Play to the broadest set of the audience — Understand what topics and conversation points are most relevant to the biggest piece of the pie.
- Play the Hits! — Sounds simple, however in spoken word it is important to stay focused on what people are looking for as soon as they decide to listen/watch.
- Be smart with detours — There is time to go off the main topic periodically, however there needs to be a strategy. Some days the content is so urgent that the process is easy. There are other days where there is room to be creative.
- Never Assume — Simple, but impactful — Tell the audience what you are talking about and make sure they understand the content you are presenting. In the days of Top 40 Radio we always told the listener who the artist was and the name of the song.
- Respect Short Attention Spans — Failure to adjust to the change in how the listener/viewer reviews content. The talent has less than 10 seconds to connect with the audience.
The more you understand what your audience wants, the better the opportunity to be successful and build a relationship with the brand you are presenting.
