The Rodney Dangerfield of Radio

Adult Contemporary is the Rodney Dangerfield of radio. The now-deceased comic who was famous in the '70s and '80s had a signature line, "I get no respect." The line was usually delivered while he pulled on his shirt collar. It was a great line that mirrored the disheveled comic's appearance. It was always delivered with a certain pattern and style that had audiences anticipating the delivery of the line. The same goes for Adult Contemporary.

The format for the longest time has been the media buyer's darling. Media buyers continue to look for 25-54-year-old listeners despite the fact there are bigger populous cells of 18-49 listeners ... an echo boom that post-war baby boomers have left behind. These heirs to the buying demos are not yet receiving the respect they deserve, but yet it is a savings ignored in radio circles. A large number of non-AC broadcasters tend to think that AC is the format you stick in the closet, and as long as you play hits, without a lot of talk, it can be successful. Nothing can be further from the truth. Adult Contemporary is a difficult format to program. It requires a lot of time and attention in the scheduling of the music ... and the marketing. Because of their background nature, AC stations have to be seen in the community and promoted to remain top-of-mind. AC is a format that has to cleverly jump out of the speakers without being so intrusive that it gets turned off in the at-work arena.

When the PPM was first announced, it brought fear into the hearts of AC programmers. Most of us, myself included, thought the PPM from Arbitron would herald the death of AC. After all, we knew that we were receiving more than we deserved. The diary enabled listeners to draw a line with a pencil from 9a-5p and show that they were listening from 9 to 5, whether they actually listened or not. I thought sure we'd see at-work fall off and TSL go through the floor. The People Meter proved that theory wrong. Cume went through the ceiling, and despite TSL growing at a lesser degree, there is greater listening in the AC format than was noted in the paper diary.

The cume numbers of AC grow as the PPM picks up the P-3, P-4, and P-5 listeners. It's simple arithmetic ... if a lot more people are listening for shorter periods of time, it stands to reason that you'll see TSL drop as a whole.

Does that mean you should market for cume because it's now a cume game? I believe that external marketing has always been to build cume. That's nothing new. The difference is that you should program for TSL and try to turn the P-3 individuals into P-1 and P-2 listeners by doing a better job of presenting compelling programming, or enticing the audience with great contests. Get the people coming in your store and get them to stay there and shop for long periods of time because that equals more money spent on your merchandise.

No one should have been surprised that WBEB/Philadelphia, KODA/Houston, WLTW/New York and other such ACs went through the ceiling with the PPM. The People Meter proved what we always knew was correct: More people use Adult Contemporary and write it down, hence the need for the format to have marketing and promotion as well as being involved in the community and being seen everywhere so that we receive top-of-mind awareness.

A simple rule of the thumb for AC: 1) Competing in the diary world means driving top-of-mind awareness. 2) Competing in the PPM world means that you should market for cume and program for TSL. The AC format deserves respect. Don't make it the "Rodney Dangerfield of Radio." Make it what it is ... a low-maintenance way to generate great big gobs of cash.