FAQ, Guest posts

Fresh Thinking! - by Geoff Lloyd

June 24th, 2008

Posted By admin

You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about expressing an opinion, it’s what the new gaffers say they’ve set this ‘blog up for, and that (unless they’re hoodwinking us, and it’s really a giant Stasi trap to weed out dissenters) has to be a good thing.

It’s very common in commercial radio workplaces to feel like your opinion doesn’t matter. If you offer your opinion on the output, you’re dismissed out of hand and told that you’re not like a “real listener”. Yes, you might be listening to the radio station in question for your entire working week, but your comments are worthless because (this old chestnut) you’re too close to it. The prevailing wisdom in the industry is that if you care enough about radio to actually devote your working life to it, then your thoughts and feelings on the medium are null and void.

If you pass on anecdotal comments from friends, acquaintances etc, these are also disregarded, once again, because they’re supposedly not representative of the real audience either. Never mind that they are real people who listen to the radio, in an age and social demographic that programmers and advertisers covet. We’re told they’re not like the fabled “real listeners”.

As for real feedback, on the website, or through texts/email/calls to the studio, this is often ignored too. And why? Because those people aren’t “real listeners”. That’s right. The people who are actually listening. We’re told they’re the weirdos, the obsessives, the anoraks. Any opinions they have are written off, glibly rejected as a self-selecting sample.

So who are these “real listeners”, whose insight is so invaluable? The focus group members who’ll go and sit in front of a frosted mirror for a whole evening for £30 and a slice of pizza? The people at an auditorium test, listening to a small selection of music and ticking boxes for a baseball cap and some HMV vouchers? These people aren’t representative of the wider general public, they’re just representative of the kind of person who’ll take part in market research. Which, as anyone who’s ever stood in a shopping precinct with a clipboard will tell you, is a small and often peculiar subsection of people in general. Are these people’s thoughts really that much more valuable than those of passionate radio professionals, or anecdotal comments, or the opinions of our own, engaged, listeners?

It’s a good sign that TIML/Absolute are encouraging an open dialogue. There are a huge amount of talented, bright people working within commercial radio who have been transformed into robotic drones, weathered down and browbeaten into repeating the same old mantras and formulae on music and programming, even though these are so obviously outdated and failing. The division between the BBC and commercial radio is getting to the stage where the former stands almost exclusively for quality and content, and the latter for low-rent background noise. Pumping out lowest common denominator s**t to the masses may have been a good business model ten years ago, but not any more. The proliferation of media has put paid to that. It is broadcasting unique and compelling content that will now make the difference.

We in commercial radio need to stop boo-hooing about the BBC and look at the real reason they are doing so well. It’s simply because they offer really good radio stations. Yes, part of the reason they are able do this is money, and the thought of us adjusting profit margins to compete is probably too horrific to even contemplate. But the other, far more important thing that the BBC fill their radio stations with is imagination. Original and creative programming across their schedules. We can do this, too. There are armies of brilliant, imaginative people working throughout commercial radio, but they’re frustrated, withering away, crunching numbers and following obsolete dogma. Commercial radio needs to stop suppressing, and start listening to and encouraging the talents of its own people.

I’m in my tenth year here at One Golden Square, but I’m not a great one for heydays. There’s as much talent, creativity and potential here as there ever was; from Llia who’s in her first week proper, to Fiona who was here before they opened the doors. Will TIML/Absolute carry on as they’ve begun, and encourage an open environment where this bunch of brilliant oddballs can speak freely and passionately, and share fresh thinking.

Geoff

16 Comments

  1. Ben,
    June 24th, 2008 at 11:39 am:

    Geoff, I could not agree more with your comments on ‘real listeners’ and the fact that being passionate about the music and content of the station means we are ‘too close to it’ to have a valid opinion. Sitting in a studio for 3-4 hours a day you’d be amazed at the number of comments, good and bad on the output and product of the company. Surely that is a type of research, these people are in fact listening right now!!?? I appreciate though that those comments can’t be the basis for programming a station, but they are worth taking close attention to. It makes a refreshing change to have a forum for sensible discussion and debate here. I actually believe that some of commercial radio and the vast majority of golden square has an untapped source of talent and creativity that is just waiting to be fired up. Exciting times.


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  2. Niko,
    June 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm:

    I perfectly agree. At least where I am - halfway around the world - those who give serious comments about radio stations are usually called anoraks, but we’re the only ones perhaps to really give a fuss about these things. The fact that we’re giving our feedback speaks a lot about our dedication and passion for the medium.

    I’ve been following this blog for a week, and I am amazed.


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  3. ed,
    June 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm:

    hey, does really sound like these new owners will change UK commercial radio industry making Virgin Radio da best in the UK? That could be awesome.


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  4. Geoff,
    June 24th, 2008 at 5:20 pm:

    Hey Niko,

    I’m not for one second advocating mob rule, or suggesting that we programme radio stations according to the whims of our friends or listener interaction; just that they shouldn’t be nonchalantly written off.

    My point was twofold: a) That market research is just as inherently flawed, so why value it above other forms of feedback? and b) Our greatest resource is the creativity and imagination of the people who love radio so much that they’ve devoted their career to it, we could be making much better use of it.

    Clive quoted Henry Ford in an earlier posting. The founder of the motor company was speaking of the idiocy in trying to find your innovation from the masses, instead of your own talent;

    “If I had asked my customers what they wanted,” Ford said, “they would have said a faster horse.”

    Don’t ask the man in the street what he wants, because he most likely doesn’t know that he wants it yet. Use your own talent and experience to innovate, and then seek feedback.


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  5. Don’t ignore free radio research - blog - James Cridland,
    June 24th, 2008 at 10:38 pm:

    [...] Lloyd posts a wonderful piece on the TIML Golden Square blog (that’s the company that’s taken over Virgin Radio). In [...]


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  6. James Cridland,
    June 24th, 2008 at 10:40 pm:

    …and use the free radio research that your future-media team (at whatever radio station) can give you. (Yes, they still call it ‘future media’ here. But then, they call it ‘audio’ and not radio, much to my profound irritation.)

    You’ve spurred me to write a blog posting, Lloyd, explaining what I mean… http://james.cridland.net/blog/2008/06/24/dont-ignore-free-radio-research/


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  7. Links for 2008-06-25 - tonyscott.org.uk,
    June 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am:

    [...] Fresh Thinking! [One Golden Square] [...]


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  8. Paul S,
    June 25th, 2008 at 11:39 am:

    Widen the playlist for gods sake, for example, Simple Minds have done more decent tracks than Alive and Kicking but you wouldn’t think so listening to Virgin over the last 10 years.


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  9. MARK LEVY,
    June 25th, 2008 at 2:50 pm:

    I’ve already tried to email ABSOLUTE via the VIRGIN website. If the name has to go then the new national radio brand SHOULD be JACK!!!


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  10. James,
    June 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm:

    Who cares what it’s called… As long as there’s exciting, innovative content on the way. A fantastic post from Geoff Lloyd. I really hope that his voice is heard.


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  11. A trawl around the web, June 4th to June 25th - blog - James Cridland,
    June 26th, 2008 at 1:56 am:

    [...] things Fresh Thinking! - by Geoff Lloyd [One Golden Square]"There are armies of brilliant, imaginative people working throughout commercial radio, but [...]


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  12. Mike Blunt,
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:29 am:

    Couldn’t agree more with these comments. If commercial stations begin to give the listeners ‘what they want’ through the matra of interactivity then how are they different from a person’s i-pod? Commercial pressures make it harder to innovate, but why doesn’t radio use the digital stations in the same way as TV? (i.e. try something out and if it flies then move it onto a mainstream channel)


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  13. Graham Kirk,
    June 27th, 2008 at 6:31 pm:

    As someone who has spent 6 years on a community station in East London I know professionals who have moved onto both BBC and commercial radio, many who want to come back and produce shows they have can have a creative input into. There are people out there who openly say the stations they work on are s**t and the mangement useless. They are not malicious spirits, but seasoned professionals.

    The observations Geoff makes hits the nail spot on. The industry is using a outdated business model that has past its self by date. The model itself is not too complex and falls within the limited creative intellectual capacity of most commercial radio management teams(with a few exceptions). The real challage is identifying not the failings of commercial radio, they are too numerous to mention, but developing a successful new approach.

    The industry needs a radical shape up. It may end up doing something weird like listening to its creative resources presenters/producers and might even by brave enougth again to listen to you the listener- You Freak.


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  14. freeringtonesundemange,
    July 29th, 2008 at 11:37 pm:

    Your site- onegoldensquare.com is excellent site, tnks, webmaster.


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  15. mirluki,
    September 4th, 2008 at 12:04 pm:

    Be Optimistic SALUTE - ABSOLUTE RADIO- good Luck.


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  16. Howard,
    September 10th, 2008 at 11:26 pm:

    Totally agree with Geoff’s thinking. My employment means I am on the road most of the day, and my only choice of entertainment is the radio.
    Once, I could pre-set 12 stations, and be entertained by most of them, commercial or BBC.
    Gradually, the number of stations I have on the pre-sets has been reduced to 2, Radio 5 and Radio Manchester. And, no, I’m not an old fuddy-duddy; I can tell you more than you need to know about vocal trance.
    What’s turned me off is that dreaded word “playlist”. The same tunes over and over and over again.
    Please, Geoff, I DON’T WANT to hear a tune I know backwards. Virgin are as culpable as anyone.
    Nowadays, with YouTube, Imeem, and a (thankfully) massive choice of web stations, the listeners (ie, the people who are listening, and hearing the adverts, which pays the presenters) have a darned good idea of ehat a good tune is, and if they suggest that to a radio station, they should play it.
    I’m sick to death of tedium, bring on something new. P-L-E-E-Z-E!!!


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