Sing Like Nobody’s Listening

As I write these words, it's Friday morning, and I'm thinking about how nobody will be reading this. That's not precisely true -- you, for one, happen to be an exception -- but it's the precipice of a holiday weekend in the U.S. and most people, even radio and podcasting professionals, are not hanging on every word about the state of the industry. No, everyone's thinking about a three-day weekend, about the beginning of a summer with fewer restrictions, about barbecues and vacations and, I hope, the people this holiday are meant to honor.

Somehow, this realization reminded me about something I'd like to see everyone in radio do, and I'll keep it brief because I don't want to keep you from your burgers and beer. It's what to do when you know nobody's listening: try out something new, something totally different from anything you'd do on a typical weekday.

First, I do understand that management looks at fallow radio time as time that can be sold for infomercials. Fine, I lost that battle decades ago. Sell away. But not all air time on a weekend gets sold, especially on a holiday weekend. There are also other places where you can be fairly certain there's little or no danger of anyone happening on your station: many HD Radio channels, or a lot of largely-brokered AM stations. You're going to be on the air but the time will be unsold and the potential audience might be in the dozens. Tens, even.

The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to experiment. It's too late for this weekend, but not for next weekend, or the next holiday when you know usage rates will be low. Think of things you'd like to hear on the radio and do them. Radio drama? Hey, why not? Fiction podcasts are red hot. Give high schoolers (or elementary school kids) the mic and let them talk about whatever's on their minds? Or putting the behind-the-scenes people at your station on the mic, front and center? Sure. An hour of nothing but talk about one particular TV show you like? That's been a staple of podcasts for ages, so we know it works. Doing shows as fictional characters? Record yourself doing commentary while doing ordinary tasks and play it back? (Shout out to the legendary Tommy Mischke and the times he started his show from his car, not narrating but just playing the sound of his driving to work, listening to the radio, stopping at stores, making small talk with cashiers, and eventually walking into the building.) Play-by-play of your kids playing Wiffle Ball in the yard?

Why not?

Look, I know some PDs will insist that stations be consistent, that people have an expectation of certain content at all times and that if even one listener tunes in and gets something unexpected, they'll leave and never come back. Yet the same stations will air infomercials and "specialty programming" all weekend, so that argument failed a while ago. It's also possible that if you do something REALLY weird, anyone who happens upon it might text friends with "you gotta hear this" messages. Or not, but so what? You're trying out new ideas, and here's the reason:

Something might just work.

An idea that seems outlandish might sound good on the air. You might start with a ridiculous premise and, just by doing it, stumble upon talk radio gold. Conversely, you might think something is a great idea but when you actually do it, you hear fatal flaws. Those school kids might show talent and aptitude, or maybe they won't. This is how research and development works, something radio has poorly implemented but growth industries do all the time. Yes, radio sees podcasting as a form of R&D (though how many talented podcasters are being hired by radio stations?), but you know that radio and podcasting are different media and developing radio talent is different from what you need to do with podcast talent. Developing radio talent requires letting them do radio, over and over until things click.

Your Holiday TL;DR: Use radio time to experiment when you know there's little or no audience. Like this weekend.

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Oh, so, you expect me to have a joke or glib comment to close this out? What part of "my mind started the long weekend on Thursday" is unclear to you?

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
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