The other day a fellow talent coach invited me to listen to one of the morning shows he coaches. It plays lots of music. More than 50% of the total program time, including commercials, is devoted to music. The morning team has just 8 to 12 minutes per hour to present content it creates. I’m thinking to myself, wow, that’s not much time to make a connection and establish a relationship with listeners. I started feeling sorry for the morning team until I realized the big opportunity it completely ignores. The music.
This morning team is totally disconnected from the music in its show. When the music was on the morning team was gone. All I heard in and around the music was station and show imaging, mostly prerecorded. It was like two separate shows all morning. There was the “music show” (more than 30 minutes per hour) and the much shorter “personality show” (8 to 10 minutes per hour). The two shows weren’t connected in any way. There was nothing distinctive about the “music show”. It sounded much like what you’d hear on Pandora.
The big attraction to music is how it makes you feel. The sound and the lyrics create a vibe. Music is mind altering, heart penetrating, mood changing, and memory making.
Music creates a huge opportunity for radio personalities to connect with their listeners. It’s all about the shared experience. Listening to the music with your listeners. Immersing yourself in the songs. Doing a little research. Reading the lyrics. Paying attention to how songs make you feel and sharing the vibes.
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I’ll bet you won’t forget this song or the vibe Johnny Vaughan shared with his listeners on the “Capital Breakfast”. It’s no wonder it was the number one morning show in London and the audience loved the experience of listening to music with Johnny.
