4 Truths From a 4 Year Old Part 1

4 Truths From a 4 Year Old 

Part 1
By Ace McKay

 Music 101, the first radio wisdom that may have been shared to you from a program or music director:

Only play the songs your listeners like!

 A very simple thought, but a trivial thought for many PD’s when they have a different agenda or want to knee jerk to a listener’s angry email or call about the same songs being played. After seeing this in play for so many stations, who apply it and those who don’t, I started to notice that a listeners behavior pattern is not taught; it’s embedded into their DNA.

 I use to look to the women around me and their behavior when they listen to the radio until they got sucked into the vortex of listening with me and now they no longer listen like a normal listener. That’s when I started watching my daughter who was 4 years old at the time. Her behavior has confirmed the truth we’ve known for years.

 Now I know none of us are targeting a 4 year old demo, but the simple truth about our listener’s behavior as it pertains to the music we play, starts at an early age.

1)      She Only Want To Hear The Songs “She” Loves & Wants To Hear Them OVER & OVER Again!

Whether we’re listening to Pandora, streaming stations or our iPod, my daughter dictates from the backseat, “Daddy, put on The Wiggles, put on Veggie Tales, put on Barlow Girl, Put on Beatles” (yes she’s very diverse even at 4. She’s named after a Beatle after all.) She’s not asking for albums of these artist but the tunes from them that she likes. If I hear them once, I hear them 100 times a day. She never gets tired of them, much like our listeners. By asking our listeners what they want to hear and actually playing just those songs, we not only find out the songs they are passionate about but they will listen and they’ll tell you when their tired of them. Like a 4 year old, you will hear, “Daddy Change it.”My daughter never gets tired of the songs she likes. Your listeners want the songs they love and when you play a song they don’t, they might not complain like a 4 year old fussing from the backseat but the tune out factor is the same. They’ve disconnected from your station or turned you off all together.

Next Week:  She’ll Only Listen TO “New Music” if it fits the type of Music She Already Likes