The Tyranny of the Target Audience

I cringe every time I hear a well-meaning PD or GM instruct a personality to focus everything they create and present on "our target audience." It often goes something like this:

"Our target audience is a woman 25-44. I want everything you create or put on the radio to appeal to her. Figure out what she cares about. Find out what she's talking about. Imagine what she's thinking about. Find out what she likes to do. Everything on your show should be about her. Just to remind you, I've put a big picture of her on the control room wall so you'll see her every time you open the mic."

These instructions are debilitating and dehumanizing. Without saying it, they strongly imply that the life the radio personality is living has little in common with the "target audience" and doesn't really matter when it comes to creating stuff to put on the radio. The effect is corrosive. When radio personalities are constantly told, subtly or directly, to look outside themselves for ideas for their shows, they suffer a loss of self-awareness and self-esteem. Their individuality and even their humanity are diminished. They gravitate to safe stereotypes about the "target audience." They rely on trending topics on social media and syndicated prep services. They begin doing a show to please their bosses and not themselves. They end up doing a show that excites almost no one, including themselves. It's not distinctive. It's not personal. It's not intimate. It's not memorable. It's not important. The lack of energy, enthusiasm, and passion is palpable. And sadly, the show sounds just like every other morning radio show. For example, when was the last time you heard a morning radio show with a female "target audience" that didn't have a woman reporting celebrity news and gossip each day. The exact same celebrity news and gossip heard up and down the radio dial and widely available on Facebook and other social media. You know, the ever present trending topics.

The tyranny of the "target audience" instruction has created countless victims within the radio business. It's also caused many really talented and interesting personalities to flee traditional AM and FM radio for places like the world of podcasting that allow more creative freedom and encourage innovation and experimentation. I've talked to many of the victims over the years.  Regrettably, what they all seem to have in common is a loss of their individuality and personal identity. When I ask them what kind of show they want to do, they always tell me, "I can do whatever kind of show you want me to do." They often ask me, "What is your target audience?" If I give them an answer, no matter what it is, they nearly always tell me, "I can do a show for that audience."

There are other big problems with the "target audience" instructions. They assume every woman or man is living their life as part of a homogenous demographic group. Like every woman 25-44 has the exact same life with the same interests, wants and needs. They also assume that it's possible to predict, with some certainty, what every man or woman wants to hear on the radio because they belong to a demographic group. That's a myth. If it were true, every song would be a hit, every movie a blockbuster, every book a bestseller, and every radio show would be killing it in PPM.

So why not forget the mythical "target audience" and instead encourage personalities to focus their creative efforts on the one thing they all have in common with their listeners? Male or female, no matter our age, we all share the same set of emotions. Joy and sadness. Love and hate. Doubt and fear. Emotion is the universal human connector. The surest way for a radio personality to create the most distinctive, appealing, and relevant content and attract the largest and most loyal audience possible is to pay attention to what rings their emotional bell in every event and circumstance of their lives. What makes them laugh, cry, or marvel. What generates a sense of wonder and awe. What causes them to think or feel differently or completely change their mood. What inspires them. What gets them truly excited and arouses their curiosity. This is the source of great content because it springs from what we all have in common. Not our age, sex or demographic group, but our humanity, our human emotions.

Don't let the tyranny of the "target audience" claim another victim, produce another bland and disposable radio show, or chase another talented artist from AM and FM radio.

Lessons from Rebuilding a Struggling Radio News Station

Competition, ownership and on-air personnel changes, misguided attempts to attract a younger audience and location on the AM band combined to reduce a former major market-leading news station to an also-ran. There was hope that moving the station from AM to FM might help things. Nope. That’s when the rebuild began.

Here are some lessons learned from the rebuilding process that influenced changes in the station’s content, presentation style and relationship with its listeners that helped the station return to consistent ratings prominence – top 5 AQH share for adults 25-54 in all dayparts 6A-7P Monday through Friday:

• News is what a news station does, but not why it does it. News stations are actually in the life enrichment business. News merely provides the vehicle and fuel for helping to make listeners’ lives more interesting, meaningful and fun.
• Listeners highly value stories that provide meaningful emotional experiences that challenge them to think, feel and grow.
• Listeners prefer stories about people and their behavior over stories about stuff and things; stories about life's struggles and triumphs, joys and sorrows, mysteries and big questions.
• Human behavior is a subject with universal appeal. Why do people think and feel the way they do? Why do people do what they do? These real-life questions and mysteries are things every human being seeks to answer and solve.
• Complex and controversial stories are ideal fuel for providing life enrichment.
• Listeners want more than a quick superficial headline summary of stories, particularly those that are complex or controversial. The main facts of these stories and opposing soundbites are available on demand on every smart phone and computer from multiple sources.
• The ideal length of a story should be determined by the time it takes to tell a complete story that is meaningful to listeners.
• Listeners enjoy and prefer an informal, intimate, authentic conversation style presentation of the news.
• Hosts and reporters that fully engage intellectually and emotionally with the stories they present, sharing relevant personal experiences and feelings about how the stories are effecting them.
• Hosts and reporters that have a sense of humor and fun.
• Hosts and reporters that provide context and blend analysis and informed commentary with the facts of the stories to help further the listeners’ understanding of what’s really going on.
• Listeners love participating in the journalistic process and the search for truth. When hosts and reporters share their questions, theories, suspicions, speculations, doubts, frustrations, conclusions, successes and failures it makes storytelling more interesting and allows listeners to follow along and contribute if they so desire.
• News people tend to view news reporting in terms of events rather than stories. This causes them to miss stories contained in events and drop stories prematurely when events end. Events are obvious and easy to report. Stories not so much. The execution of a criminal is an event. Not much life enrichment in the details of the event. The criminal’s life story and what inspired his or her crime or life of crime as well as the victim or victims’ stories are often loaded with life enriching possibilities.
• Reporters and journalists are frequently trapped in the current "news cycle" when determining what is news. If it didn't happen in the last 24 to 48 hours somehow it's no longer news.
• The best stories don’t expire. Their themes and messages are timeless, always relevant.
• Story relevance to listeners is not necessarily related to the geographic proximity of the story.
• Traditional radio and television news contains far too much common crime, ordinary human misfortune, politics, and political process events. Convenience store robberies, house fires and car crashes don’t offer much in the way of life enrichment.
• It’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract a loyal audience that can be monetized being a news generalist. “News” is available everywhere. If a news program or station doesn’t have a distinctive and identifiable news specialty or point of view its likely to get lost in a world of smart phones, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and countless “news” websites delivering all kinds of “news” on demand 24/7.

We're All Born Creative

From a very young age we all have a quiet little voice in our heads that comes from somewhere deep inside. It whispers unique and amazing thoughts and ideas to us. In the beginning, we all hear these ideas, get excited, and do something about them. Unfortunately, the bigger and more unusual the ideas, the more resistance we encounter when we try to bring them to life. Eventually, most of us stop listening to that quiet little voice, dismiss its thoughts and ideas, and just try to fit in because it's too damn hard to do otherwise.

The most successful radio personalities and great artists of all kinds never stop listening to that quiet little voice in their heads no matter how tough it gets. I just watched an interview Charlie Rose did with James Taylor a couple of years ago. He talked about how hard it was for him early on in his life.

"I was born with a difficulty of being in my own skin. Living in human society I just ran into trouble. I think everybody does to a greater or lesser extent. I did feel as though I was born on the dark side of the Moon and that I didn't have a place in this world when I was 15."

James Taylor's troubles living in this world inspired that quiet little voice in his head to help him write some amazing songs. Here's how James described the process to Charlie:

"I don't really feel as though I write songs. I feel as though I hear them first and remember them and get them down. It's such a mysterious and subconscious process that I couldn't really say that I wrote those songs. I just channeled them or they happened to me first. There is a sort of lightning bolt kind of moment when you're visited by a song and you get, hopefully, as much as you can. Sometimes it's a whole song, but sometimes it's just a fragment. Then you have to collect those fragments and often later on you sequester yourself and hide away somewhere and work 'em."

That little voice in James Taylor’s head reacting to the suicide of a childhood friend named Suzanne, the failure of his early band “Flying Machine” and his struggles to overcome drug addiction helped him write “Fire and Rain”. James paid attention to the thoughts and feelings that flowed from these experiences that rang his emotional bell. He listened to that little voice in his head expressing his joys and sorrows. It helped him create a song that produces a powerful and memorable emotional experience.

The best radio is all about creating meaningful emotional experiences for listeners. If you’re a radio personality or anyone involved in creating radio content, don't stop listening to that quiet little voice in your head. It's your genius. It will provide the material that will cause your listeners to laugh, marvel, or understand something meaningful and important and help develop a lasting emotional connection with you. Write down everything it says no matter how weird, nonsensical, or fragmentary it may seem at the time. If you don't write it down you'll forget it. Then, like James Taylor, spend time with the stuff you collect. Work it and shape it. Figure out what you were born to create. Build it. Publish it. The world is waiting for you to make a difference like James Taylor has with his songs.

What Radio Personalities Want and Need Most

It’s not easy being a radio personality. They work in relative isolation far from their listeners. They can’t see or hear them. Most radio studios don’t even have an outside window. The only immediate feedback personalities get on their performance is from those working with them in the studio. If they work alone, there is no feedback in the moment.

Oh, radio personalities get plenty of delayed reaction to their work, but it often does more harm than good. The phone lines light up or they don’t. Texts, Tweets, Facebook posts, and emails deliver all kinds of mixed messages. Some are glowing with praise and love. Others state clearly and unequivocally, “you suck!” After the show, the confusion continues. An enthusiastic PD might proclaim he loves a bit the personality hated, usually without offering specifics about what made it so good. Later, the GM weighs in saying, “I didn’t get that phone segment you did in the 8 o’clock hour and I don’t think it was relevant to our listeners.” Problem is the personality thinks it’s the best thing he did all morning and his followers on Twitter and Facebook seem to agree. This is the real world of a radio personality where everyone has an opinion on what they do and the opinions are anything but unanimous.

It’s no wonder even the most successful radio personalities with consistently high ratings can be very insecure. I’ll never forget a conversation I had with a personality in Los Angeles 25 years ago. It was shortly after I began consulting his station. It was our second or third meeting. We were still in the “getting to know you” stage, sizing each other up. He had just signed a five-year no cut $850,000 per year contract. A well-deserved reward for his talk show being number one in its time period. Yet, he seemed as anxious and insecure as a guy with no ratings or track record of success. 

I had to know where his fear was coming from. It was incomprehensible to me. I asked him if he ever imagined the success he was experiencing. In a moment of complete candor he told me, “I had no idea I’d ever achieve this kind of success on the radio. I don’t know how it happened. I don’t really understand why people listen to me.” So then I asked him how he felt about the future. He answered, “I’m worried I could lose it all just the way I got it, without knowing how or why or when it might happen.” Wow! Talk about an epiphany.

My experience in Los Angeles that day and with hundreds of radio personalities ever since has made me realize that good coaching is not only hugely important to a personality’s development, but also vital to their well-being. It’s not easy being a radio personality. 

Every radio personality I’ve ever met wants to get better, no matter what their level of talent or stage of development. They’re hungry for constructive feedback and ideas that will help them learn how to be the best they can be. Deep down, every radio personality wants a coach. Here are the things they want and need most from that coach:

·         Someone who “gets me” and “believes in me.” This is the foundation of a coaching relationship. The coach must be able to regularly and consistently recognize and articulate what makes the personality special and appealing to listeners. Most importantly, he must be able to demonstrate why he believes the personality will succeed. Nothing inspires and motivates a personality more than a coach who believes in him and can explain why. Nothing helps a personality overcome their doubts and fears and set aside all the confusing and conflicting opinions about their work more than recognizing their own strengths and fully understanding what makes them appealing to listeners.

·         Someone “I can trust and respect”. Trust is a function of genuine concern about the well-being and best interests of the radio personality. It’s about being honest at all times. Radio personalities can spot BS and manipulation a mile away. They hate it. There is no relationship without trust. Respect is earned by demonstrating an ability to help the radio personality recognize, refine, and more effectively present their best ideas on the radio. In other words, by helping them acquire the skills and techniques that will make them better. Trust and respect flow from showing that you truly care and can help them be the best they can be.

It’s not easy being a radio personality, but a good coach can make it much less difficult and far more satisfying.

What inspires and motivates successful radio personalities and great artists of all kinds?

I've been coaching radio personalities and studying gifted artists for over 25 years.  I've been privileged to work with some remarkable performers like Kidd Kraddick, Jeff of Jeff and Jer, Rush Limbaugh, and Dr. Laura.  I've observed successful songwriters, authors, screenwriters, and creators of TV shows.  I've learned a lot about where great artists get their inspiration and how they create.

I've discovered successful artists across the media spectrum -- those who've created hit songs, blockbuster movies, best selling books, top-rated TV shows, and the most listened to radio shows -- are guided by a common force I've come to call "The Artist's Secret".  It has three elements.

1. Instinctive Reactions.  The source of their ideas.  The inspiration for what they create comes from inside.  It begins with the artist's instinctive reactions to what they experience in their own lives -- spontaneous, raw, uncensored thoughts and feelings triggered by what they see, hear, taste, touch, or smell.   
   
2. Audience of One.  Everything these artists create is designed to appeal to and satisfy an audience of one -- themselves.  It's all about what makes them laugh or cry, marvel and understand.  They create stuff that they truly enjoy, stuff that turns them on and rings their emotional bell.    
   
3. "I Matter".  The artist's belief that their thoughts and feelings matter.  The belief that creating stuff that reflects how they think and feel matters and can make a difference in the lives of others.  These beliefs fuel the courage and passion to create and provide the creative juice that produces original ideas.  They also supply performance energy, enthusiasm, and excitement.

I've collected many examples over the years to illustrate how "The Artist's Secret" has influenced extraordinary artists and their works.  Here are three of my favorites.  As you read these stories about Mel Gibson, John Lasseter, and Howard Stern, look for the Instinctive Reactions, the Audience of One, and "I Matter".

Mel Gibson

We all know by now that Mel has battled addiction and obsessive behavior most of his life.  What you might not know is that he is a devout Catholic Christian. When Mel was 34 or 35 he arrived at one of many difficult turning points in his life, struggling to live his faith. It inspired him to create the blockbuster movie "The Passion of the Christ".  Here's how he described the process in an interview conducted two weeks before the movie was released.

"Every seven years you change pretty profoundly.  I wondered, what's my life about?  I started looking into things that I had knowledge of, but really hadn't fully explored.  I read all the Gospels, read the New Testament, read the Old Testament.  I started to go through all that just trying to maintain myself.  I would imagine what was that like, really?  You're talking about the single event that probably influenced civilization as we know it now.  It’s created our laws, behavior, and the knowledge of good and evil.  It's influenced art and literature.  It's affected every possible aspect of anyone's life, whether they know it or not, it has.  This is big stuff you're dealing with.  It's absolutely everything.  I don't think it's ever been told as it should be.  It suffers in accuracy, accuracy as far as the Gospels go, accuracy as far as the extent of the sacrifice and the torture involved.  Make no mistake about it, this (movie) is graphic and my aim is to profoundly change people with it.  I know it's not gonna be everybody's cup of tea, but it's the way I want to present it.  It speaks to me that way and that's all I know.  My hope is that anyone who goes in and can manage to stay through it and can suffer through with it, that they are changed when they leave."

Mel was experiencing a "profound" change in his life, "just trying to maintain myself".  The Instinctive Reactions started to flow.  He began to wonder, "What's my life about?"  Searching for answers he read the Gospels, the New Testament, the Old Testament.  The descriptions of Christ's suffering and death generated strong thoughts and feelings.  "What was that like, really?... You're talking about the single event that probably influenced civilization as we know it... It's created our laws, behavior, and the knowledge of good and evil... It's absolutely everything... I don't think it's ever been told as it should be.  It suffers in accuracy, accuracy as far as the Gospels go, accuracy as far as the extent of the sacrifice and the torture involved."  Then he began to create a movie for an Audience of One.  A movie that reveals what Mel learned from this time in his life because of a belief that "I Matter" -- a belief that his thoughts and feelings can make a difference in the lives of others.  "Make no mistake about it, this (movie) is graphic and my aim is to profoundly change people with it.  I know it's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but it's the way I want to present it.  It speaks to me that way and that's all I know."

John Lasseter

John is Chief Creative Officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios and DisneyToon Studios.  He’s the principal creative advisor to Walt Disney Imagineering. Many consider him the present-day Walt Disney. John is the creative force behind the growth and unparalleled success of Pixar.  He's also the creator of "Cars" the movie.  Here's how he describes his creative process on the "Cars" DVD.

"Cars is a very personal story to me.  Not only is it inspired by my love of cars, not only is it inspired by my dad, who is a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership, but it's inspired by something that happened to me in my life.  I directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Toy Story 2.  By the time I was done with Toy Story 2, it was 1999.  Nine years had passed.  We had had four boys and my wife said, 'John we've supported you in making all these films and the building of Pixar and all like that, but you better be careful because one day you're gonna wake up and your boys are going off to college and you will have missed it.'  So, I took the summer off.  My wife and I bought a used motorhome.  I wanted to stay off the interstate highway system and travel America.  And you know what happened, we got so close as a family.  It changed my life.  I came back knowing what I wanted this movie to be about is a character discovering what I discovered -- that the journey in life is the reward.  I started thinking and all of a sudden the story just started coming out.  It's got to be about a race car.  I imagined this being the personality of a character -- it's like nothing else matters but achieving it as fast as you can.  Winning.  Getting that championship.  I thought this is the perfect character to all of a sudden be forced to slow down.  That's what this character needs to discover.  And so we started taking and merging the two worlds of the automobile that we loved so much -- racing and Route 66.  We all discovered something we weren't expecting.  You know, it's just like life.  You start down the path not knowing where it's going to lead you, but you enjoy the ride."

Did you recognize the elements of "The Artist's Secret" in John Lasseter's story?  They're all there.  Instinctive Reactions to a life experience.  "My wife said, 'John we've supported you in making all these films and in the building of Pixar and all like that, but you better be careful because one day you're gonna wake up and your boys are going off to college and you will have missed it'.  So, I took the summer off.  My wife and I bought a used motorhome.  I wanted to stay off the interstate highway system and travel America.  And you know what happened, we got so close as a family.  It changed my life."  Audience of One and "I Matter".  "I came back knowing what I wanted this movie to be about is a character discovering what I discovered -- that the journey in life is the reward... It's got to be about a race car.  I imagined this being the personality of a character -- it's like nothing else matters but achieving it as fast as you can.  Winning.  Getting that championship.  I thought this is the perfect character to all of a sudden be forced to slow down.  That's what this character needs to discover."

If you want to experience and truly understand "The Artist's Secret" get the "Cars" DVD and watch the "Inspiration for Cars".  It's amazing and powerful.

Howard Stern

Howard is widely known to have more than a passing interest in sex. Some years ago, actor Mickey Rooney was on the interview circuit.  I don't remember why, probably a book or movie promotional tour.  Howard wasn't interested in the book, movie or whatever.  He wasn't concerned that most of his audience would not know Mickey Rooney.  Howard creates his show for an Audience of One with a belief that "I Matter".  Somehow he learned Mickey had slept with many gorgeous starlets of his time.  Howard's Instinctive Reaction to this revelation, "How did that ugly little runt seduce all those gorgeous women?"  Howard had to find out for himself.  He invited Mickey to come on the show.  There was an obligatory reference to the movie or book at the end of the interview, but the vast majority of the conversation was devoted to finding out how that “ugly little runt" made it with women Howard couldn't imagine being with.  It was extraordinary guy radio whether you knew Mickey Rooney or not.

Radio personalities who embrace "The Artist's Secret" distinguish themselves from everyone else on the radio.

When they start to notice and record their Instinctive Reactions to all their personal life experiences the magic begins.  An abundance of original ideas that reflect the full range of human emotion comes into view.

Fearlessly creating and presenting content for an Audience of One -- the stuff that turns them on, the stuff that rings their emotional bell -- gives them the best chance to relate to their listeners.  Human beings share the same set of emotions no matter what their status in life.  We all feel love and hate, fear and anxiety, joy and sadness.  Emotion is the universal human connector.

When radio personalities come to believe, "I Matter", they become originals like Mel Gibson, John Lasseter, and Howard Stern.  They acquire the courage and unlock the passion to create fresh and new ideas that reflect their own thoughts and feelings.  Their performance energy, enthusiasm and excitement seemingly have no bounds.  They establish an emotional connection and bond with their listeners that is nearly impossible to break.  They become the best they can be.