They say all politics is local and the same should be said for radio, writes Stephen Cenatiempo – 981 2NM presenter and recent AFTRS graduate.
As regional broadcasters in talk formats, our daily struggle is to produce compelling content of relevance to our listeners.
Often we can fall into one of two traps; the first, a belief that unless it happens within the boundaries of our primary listening area it’s not local and the second is lazily retreating to the comfort of self-indulgent content when we can’t find something “local” to talk about.
There’s only one way to avoid both of these traps – KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!
“Know your audience” may be easy to say, but what does it mean? We all know what our target demographic is, or at least we should, but do we know who our target demographic is?
In my limited experience, it has become apparent that two basic types of announcer exist in regional radio; those that desire to “make it in the metros” and those that are content to stay in a small town for the duration of their careers.
Both are problematic. I’m the first to admit that my desire is to work in commercial talkback in Sydney. Many of my peers also covet a capital city gig. However, sometimes we lose sight of our responsibility to our current audience as we strive for the Holy Grail.
Sometimes editing whatever content we have produced into a slick air check in the hope of duping some big city content director into thinking we’re the bee’s knees is the focus.
Unfortunately, capital city programmers are smarter than that. I remember making contact with Peter Brennan, the then program director at 2UE and asking for advice on how to make it to the big time.
Peter was kind enough to invite me to send him an air check and subsequently meet with him to discuss his thoughts on my work. But he insisted that I send him a CD with an unedited hour of my program because “any idiot can come up with three good minutes”.
The lesson was that I had to be on my game all the time. Too often I see my contemporaries neglect the daily requirement to make better radio than they did yesterday.
Aside from those that are shooting or the stars, there are those of us that are content seeing out our careers in a smaller market.
I sometimes think there’s a certain nobility to that, but only as long as that desire to constantly improve is there.
The reality is that the best broadcasters are in capital city markets, and it’s behoven on all of us to strive for that level of excellence, regardless of where our listeners live – and that’s where knowing who they are becomes imperative.
Radio has to be organic. Broadcasters, especially in smaller markets, can’t be content with sitting in a studio and talking to a microphone for a few hours per day. We have to get amongst it!
This belief isn’t altruistic, it’s largely selfish. Why? Because it makes creating local content easier.
If you’re out and about rubbing shoulders with your listeners, you’re learning what makes them tick. What they’re talking about and what keeps them up at night. Most importantly, you’re getting a feel for which national and global issues they’re interested in.
You’re getting a feel for local issues that might be happening outside your broadcast area. Finessing a relevant local angle – The problem is, too often we lazily fall into the habit of cranking out content that might be interesting to us, but doesn’t rate a mention with our listeners.
Self-indulgent content won’t make us local and it certainly won’t make us relevant.
Stephen Cenatiempo is the host of Hunter Valley Today, weekdays 9am – 1pm on 981 2NM in the Hunter Valley. He graduated from AFTRS in 2010 with a Graduate Diploma in Radio Broadcasting and was named Best Newcomer On-Air – Country at the 2011 ACRAs.
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