Are there are CHR stations that even try to appeal 18-24 by any means? Sure, they play current hits, but I am referring to the content. Has radio given up trying to win any listening from the under 35s? I am not saying CHR radio doesn't have under 35. I know they do. I am asking if radio has stopped trying to really win the attention of teens and young adults? If not, what are some stations that appear to be trying? I would love to listen to them.
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Any Young-Targeted CHRs Anymore?
- Thread starter finallyescaped
- Start date
What makes you say that?
I don't have proof on the radio side though but on the side of the labels and concert promoters they are trying to lower the demos for an under 35 crowd. Also the labels now have to consider other venues such as Tik Tok, Twitch, YouTube, Spotify and other music apps to attract an audience in these places.
Those are sales demos, not programming demos. Just because a stations says "we target 18-44" doesn't mean they're actually trying to win younger audience with their content. Programming usually focuses on a narrower age cell in an effort to do well enough in that segment that they win the entire sales demo. And I wouldn't say 18-24 is "covered fairly well." They're aiming older (18-44) because the 18-24 cume and TSL are shrinking. Rather than trying to grow the younger appeal, they're skewing older and claiming that 18 and 49 year olds are somehow one in the same. Silly. They're playing defense instead of playing offense. In another decade, should they claim CHR is 18-54? They could, but that doesn't mean 18 year olds are listening in any meaningful manner.
CHRs research and target young adult women. The typical music test will do 25-34 as the recruit specification, knowing that pleasing that group will yield 18-44. Or they might do 20 to 32 or some other demo, but it is going to be young adult women.
Since a target is usually shaped in a bell curve, the important thing in testing and targeting is the median age... likely in the later 20's and all female.
It's been that way since before the Internet, before streaming, before iPads, iPods, iPhone and other easily portable music devices. The reason is that, beginning at least in the later '70s, advertising for teens dried up.
Yes, teens can be used as a way to launch a station. Randy Michaels destroyed WRBQ with the Power Pig by going first after teens and making 'RBQ do all the wrong moves to defend itself. But even back then... around 1990... teens could not sustain a station economically so later the Power Pig became less of a porker and more of a young adult station.
First, don't just look at CHRs. Look at Urban stations, Churbans, Regional Mexican, Reggaetón and even country stations today; all of them target young adults. They all consider 18-34 a primary demo, and the ethnic ones don't look at 25-54... they go overall for 18-49 because that is what covers most of the Black and Hispanic buys.
Radio stopped worrying about teens thirty to forty years ago. No $$$.
I'm aware of those other formats as well, but was staying on topic since this is the CHR board. Radio doesn't need to "be worried" about teens, but it needs to connect with them like it used to. Teens eventually turn 18, 25, 34, 44, and 54. Those 25-54 numbers will see cume and TSL dropping as the teens of 2020 become middle-age. It's a terrible long-term outcome.
I've been hearing this for a very long time. What I've seen is that as teens age into their 20s and take on responsibilities, their spare time starts to disappear, and they have less time to create personal playlists. So they start looking for curated playlists, and FM radio becomes an option. There are a lot of things people do in their 20s and 30s that they'd never consider doing in their teens.
Teen TSL has been dropping for over 30 years. The first cause was video games. So none of this is new.
Bravo. Well said.
This is nothing like video games nor MTV nor anything before this time, so the comparison is misplaced. Those things don't provide music at the push of a button no matter where you are. CHR radio has hung its hat on providing hit music (shut up and play the hits!) and has the value of being convenient. Well now we have a generation growing up with music being even more convenient than radio, so how is CHR radio going to compete moving forward? My original question still stands: Are there CHR stations who are even trying to appeal to young adults by any means with their content? Or is the format still just hanging its hat on the music?
We now have tweens who have had zero reason to turn on the radio at any point in their lives, and that very likely means radio won't even occur to them when they're 23 or 24 starting adulthood, working fulltime, etc. They'll just tell their music app to play a playlist or station if they're too busy to keep one updated. If radio gives up appealing to those consumers, why should radio expect to have them when they're older? People who are 40 today grew up with radio around them, so even though radio didn't target them, they were exposed to it. With each passing year, that is less and less the case as millennial parents (the oldest of whom are now 40) are even increasing use of music apps. And their kids have phones and think of apps for music, not radio. 15 years from now, today's tweens will be entering the 25-34 cell. We're supposed to just assume "they'll be busy being adults so they'll magically think of radio even though they never had reason to use it previously"? Sounds dangerous to those of us who still work in radio and hope for its long-term success. I understand those who are retired, or nearing retirement, prefer to bang on the drum of "radio is fine." That's because they don't need to be concerned for the long-term success, so the Nielsen press releases are on repeat in their brains.
You are still thinking of "radio" as meaning "AM & FM". It does not; it means a programmed, one-for-many offering that can be distributed on any system existing or to be invented. When people have more to do, as adults, than spend time building and modifying playlists, they may well find a "radio" station that gives them what they want. And if they don't want to pay for it, it may be ad supported.
It wasn't a comparison. I was giving the factual reason why radio TSL began to drop for teens 30 years ago. That realization led to record labels pitching video game manufacturers with music in order to reach that young male demographic. That's why you have original music in video games today.
But sure, a video game is not a radio. However a person can really only do one thing at a time. Time spent playing Donkey Kong is time NOT spent listening to the radio, watching TV, or dating girls. When that last thing becomes important, then a choice gets made.
Here's what our research has found: They have zero loyalty to any specific device or brand. They will go with whatever is cheapest and easiest. If that's Pandora now, then that's what they do. But they aren't exclusive to Pandora or Spotify or anything. That means they go from device to device. It might be the phone, it might be the radio in the dashboard, or it might be the boss's radio at work. As I said, no loyalty, so they may still use radio because it's there. That's the reason. It's free and it's there and it doesn't require membership, user name or password.
You are still making false assumptions. My original question on this post was about CHR stations trying to appeal to young adults. I made no mention of AM or FM or streaming. They are one in the same, to which you allude. But that does not matter if radio is not putting out content people care about. Music is not unique to radio, and that will become more and more of a challenge as years go on. I am not denying what you are saying about music, apps, lifestyle, etc. I am stating that hanging our hat on music is not the unique proposition it was for decades.
Also, your comments are very presumptuous and based on today's 20-something. I keep referring to the future, which we need to be thinking about now. "People become busy as adults and will abandon the music apps they grew up with and magically start listening to a radio station's app" is a bizarre "everything is fine" claim. If radio is not producing content people want, we won't magically win them over later in life simply because we have a free app with lots of music. Thousands of those apps already exist.
Soooooo back to my original question for the 4th time: Are there any CHR stations out there truly trying to connect with young adults from a content standpoint? Or are we still pretending like just having a bunch of music is unique to us? I know the answer for those who have already replied, but perhaps other people are able to answer the question. Or maybe the answer is no.
I get your point of view. Don't need it worded yet another way because that implies you're not reading and/or understanding what I'm asking.
Really? So content that appeals to them has no impact on what they choose? If it plays a bunch of music and is free and easy, everyone will listen? I'd ask for a refund from your research company.
This is not an "all or nothing" situation. There are many outlets for content. All are competing for the same ears. Nobody has an exclusive. People in that age use multiple devices, and one is an FM radio. There is no one type of content that appeals to all people 18-24. Not everyone in that group is looking for music, or is as passionate for certain genres and artists as others. There is a chunk of that group that doesn't care about music at all. For some people, price is no object. $20 a month or $100 a year is a small price to pay. For others, they want free & easy.
Didn't Radio Disney and Disney Country face an issue like this over "Young Targeted CHR's" and they got out of OTA radio and even radio Disney app due to issues over the median audience being too young to have any purchasing power to advertisers for now. I knew 1110 KRDC Los Angeles was flipped recently to be a secondary feed for ESPN Radio Los Angeles just in case 710 AM Los Angeles has to air a game because Sports/talk Radio is a factor for generating revenue in some markets.
There's a difference between 12-24 and 2-11!
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