Traffic is not only becoming endangered content, it is also a tune-out threat, especially for stations known for playing music. A couple of traffic reports on a Classic Rock or Hot AC station in the morning may retain sponsorship dollars, but will increasingly fail to provide added value to most commuters in the listening audience. There’s no reason to wait for the 8s or randomly scheduled traffic reports when even better, customized road and commuting info is available on a smartphone that is Bluetoothed into the dash.This is a subject I battled with management about for years when I did a daily midday show. My argument was that, 99% of the time outside of rush hour in St. Louis, there aren't enough problems to require those updates, so they serve no purpose. And that was on a talk station. If you're a music station battling for consumers' ears against Pandora and Spotify, you might think you're offering a compelling reason for listeners to tune in, but you aren't. It's like a newspaper that continues to print huge daily stock price listings (from the previous day!), when you can check the current value for your entire portfolio on your smartphone at any time.
Labels: radio business