How to Narrowcast a Radio Show

Video Transcript

"Hi, there. This is Eddie Matthews on behalf of Expert Village. A few tips for announcers trying to get a career in radio. In this segment, we're going to talk a little bit about the history of radio and the future and the formats that have become very popular over the last few years. Let's face it, years ago, there was just a few radio stations in each community. Maybe a TV station along with a newspaper. Now you have formats for every demographic. You've got rock, you've got soft rock, hard rock, classic rock, talk, news and information, sports, all sports channels, I'm sure sometime down the road we'll have a classic talk format as well, too. The one thing to remember as an announcer, is be a conversationalist. The term broadcasting now can be referred to as narrowcasting, because you are really going after a specific audience these days. In many cases, with music formats, the audience is the icing on the cake and the gravy on the fries. You want to give the public what they want. And then add something a little extra to it. That's the announcer, and that's a good announcer. The station will play a certain music for one demographic and then they want to combine it with an announcer that fits with that age group. And it's awkward for a station, and especially for announcers without knowing the format fully. Because if you get someone that's a senior announcer that's trying to play kid rock, then you may have some problems. The same when you get someone that's fresh and new out of college that is supposed to go to a classic rock format, where you're playing music that you are not familiar with whatsoever. Could be an oldies, could be a classic format. That's why we get a lot of youngsters now that don't know the difference between Bruce Cockburn and Bruce "Cock-burn". Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) to LO. "Inks" to INXS. You've got to know what you're going to be playing. Connect with the listener. Knowing the format is one thing. But knowing your audience, that's just as important."