Is It Possible to be All Things to All People?

 

Not on the Radio

Bonnie Gillespie Quote: “When you try to be everything to everyone, you accomplish being nothing to anyone.”

It's a lesson learned a long time ago in public radio. The phenomenal growth of the system in the 90's and early 2000's was because we knew our audience and we served them with programming strategies aimed at that specific audience.

If we want to diversify our audience, we have to think about who that audience might be. And it is likely, people from that demographic will be running the show.

Thinking in terms of programming for one big diverse audience is foolishness. There are many audiences left unserved, and to serve them will take consistency in appeal of the programming.

Remember Afropop Worldwide? The original effort was to seek a more diverse audience for public radio. Did it work? Not really. Afropop brings African pop music to a mostly white audience. The idea that a one hour program is going to serve an African American audience is wishful thinking. It can't even come close to covering the cultural diversity of Africa. One hour a week is not going to make difference.

John Sutton's recent essay in Current has it right. Choose your demographic, and serve that demographic with consistent appeal and programs that resonates with your targeted core audience. (Why Public Radio's Efforts to Reach New Audiences Aren't Moving the Needle)

Public radio's audience is driven by two programs, Morning Edition and All Things Considered. To reach another audience means another programming stream.

This does not have to be a one or the other proposition. Stations have found work arounds before by finding different streams for different formats. The same could be done in this instance. Would something like the differing formats of the streaming services be a viable option?

So, why are we learning this again?