My thoughts on today's consolidation announcement from Bauer.
Localness & USP
For starters, don't arrogantly assume you’ll attract an audience by default simply because of where your studios are located.
Listeners don’t care about this - they want an engaging station with character that is interesting, makes them smile or think and extends the hand of friendship.
Targeted national brands are successful because they achieve these aims - and community radio also has to, as well as embrace its USP at every opportunity with relevant content that could only have been produced where its audience lives.
Targeting
Have a music policy and target audience - you cannot serve everyone or “the whole family” in 2020. Calvin Harris will not appeal to fans of The Everly Brothers and vice versa.
Define your audience, understand their lives and identify their needs. Specialist shows are appointment listening for niche audiences but you should never lose focus on whoever the product caters for.
Be consistent in standard programming - light and shade with a mix of different genres and energy levels is refreshing, but someone tuning in should know what kind of sound or mood to expect.
When a station sells itself on variety, it's not about quantity, it's about not sounding predictable. A listener doesn't care how many tunes you have in rotation - they just want to hear music they love, often including pleasant, familiar surprises ("spice" tracks).
For operators who might be looking at Greatest Hits Radio and thinking they need to go for an entirely different demographic: you should be aware of the risk - younger listeners are well served and harder to attract, particularly for local radio.
Don’t stop playing the songs your core audience loves just because a new competitor will also be playing them. Lots of stations overlap to an extent because it’s music that’s popular.
Of course, a key point of difference could be your inclusion of suitable new tunes/hits from the last couple of decades as not everyone wants pure nostalgia.
Fundamentally, it's not the songs you don't play that hurt you.
Marketing & Distribution
Don't expect listeners to find you - you need to find them. Get your station onto as many aggregators as possible (e.g. TuneIn or, if Ofcom-licenced, Radioplayer).
Build a social media presence and share your best content (e.g. audiograms are effective visualisation to engage followers or potential followers).
Be visible locally (e.g. attend events or buy/seek permission to display banner ads).
Regulation
While not all broadcasters are serious contenders for revenue, for reasons outlined above, those that are deserve a level playing field and I believe restricting any income above £15k, demanding it is balanced with other sources, is no longer justified where a small commercial station is no longer threatened.
Aaron makes an interesting suggestion:
I think there's an argument to be made for BBC to contribute financially from licence fee to community radio and in return the community radio enhances the connection with communities and provides a proving/learning ground for the personnel of tomorrow.
Given BBC Local Radio covers its own defined regions - most of which, even if producing engaging output, are too large to be considered local in the literal sense of the word - it would make sense for the licence fee payer to subsidise quality hyperlocal public service content and ensure community projects that benefit are providing it supported by professional training.
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