Why Radio Is Still Important To The Next Generation

Yesterday I went to a local High School Career Day. I was assigned 4 thirty minute sessions. In each group there was between 10 and 20 students each. What is encouraging about this is that the students signed up for the sessions they wanted to know about. There were sessions about the medical profession, military, retail, education, mental health and more.

Before I arrived, I had a preconceived notion that my sessions would have low attendance with 9th through 12th graders who hated traditional radio. Boy was I wrong. Most of the sessions the students paid attention and were engaged.

I started every session on who I was an where I worked, then I explained my history in the business and many of them found it interesting, mostly because I have experienced so many places across the country. I then explained what radio was, were it is today and where it is headed.

I then asked the $64,000 question: How many people listen to radio? Almost every hand in the room went up. Then I held my breath and I asked where they listened to their favorite music most. (Not to pat myself on the back too hard) Most of the students mentioned the stations I oversee, which is Hot AC and Country.

I asked about Pandora...and these students all said Pandora was for people like their parents. If they want music outside of radio, they all go to Spotify first and then YouTube next...Oh, and the iHeartRadio app (which to them was just an app, not a radio owner) that was on the list of apps to avoid.

What formats did they NOT care for? CHR. That was a shocker. With the proliferation of CHR stations across the nation and the emphasis on the music from that format, I fully expecting that format to be one the younger generation would be attracted to. Of course, there is a trend for CHR, lately where there is a fatigue and many of the stations are slowly eroding due to lack of strong product.

Now I asked what kinds of music they liked most. Answers were strongest for Hip Hop, Country and Classic Rock. It sounded a lot like the music cycle from the late 90s.

These students have a great interest in traditional radio and in Podcasting. Specifically content that was funny and lifestyle oriented. I have always felt that Podcasting was coming up like the early days of FM radio and internet websites. It is a new frontier, undeveloped and untainted by formatics.

I ended each session with the encouragement that they follow their dreams and to let me know if they wanted a summer job or internship (the High Schools here allow for internships), as we will train them for what they want to do next....and who knows, it could lead to a job at some point.

There is a lot of information out there from a lot of radio professionals and consultant that reinforced my findings. While the traditional media (TV and Newspaper) has spread the word that radio is going the way of newspaper, I learned it was quite the opposite...that dubious honor is being bestowed upon TV by this generation. (Previous generations took care of eliminating newspaper, decades ago)

At the end of the 2 1/2 hours I was leading the Career Day sessions, I was very encouraged about where radio is headed with the next generation. The key is to not lose sight of what their interests are and what they want from radio.

We hear all the time that Pandora is the radio killer...hardly.

However, we can do our own damage, if we don't keep our eyes on the prize. The Millenials and Generation Z are going to be the largest generations that will overtake the Baby Boomer generation. The kids of today are the adults of tomorrow. Let's not blow them off.