DJ’s & Hosts: The Country Radio Perspective

One of the points we’re showing in the first NuVoodoo webinar for 2021, “How to Get Your Ratings From Here to Vaccinated,” is a fresh look at the relationship listeners have with DJ’s and hosts on FM music stations. Overall, it’s more positive than negative – but there is a sharp generational shift. Gen Xers – raised on radio and now 40-plus – are largely positive, with a 43% plurality giving DJ’s a thumbs up. Gen Z are tougher customers, worthy of attention from programmers.

The webinar also includes our latest data on: Smart speakers, national and local contests, marketing messages, social media, advertising channels, podcasts & streaming and more. We cover the information in less than 40 minutes and stay on as long as needed to answer questions. Livestreams of the webinar continue this and next week (so you can get answers to your questions on the spot). Register at nuvoodoo.com/webinars.

Meanwhile, Carolyn Gilbert and I are also set to appear at the virtual Country Radio Seminar, CRS 2021, this Thursday (2/18) at 10:55 Central. We’re showing the results of a monster study we completed for CRS, sponsored by Big Machine Label Group. We began that process interviewing dozens of Country fans using Zoom. We wanted their experiences and emotions to help develop the questionnaire for a study of over 3,000 Country music fans nationwide. Get more information about this year’s CRS at crsvirtual2021.com.

The reactions of Country music fans to radio hosts is more positive than the wider sample in our Ratings Prospects Study. Among Country fans asked about listening to Country FM’s, a 57% majority say most of the DJ’s and hosts they hear make listening more enjoyable – and another 15% say at least some of them make listening more enjoyable. Only 8% think Country stations would be better off without DJ’s and hosts.

It’s an ambitious presentation incorporating clips from our online focus groups (to give faces to the research data). In just under an hour Carolyn and I will cover:

• The impact of the pandemic on the lives of these fans (and their listening)
• The devices and services they’re using to connect to Country music
• How they feel about Country music
• Where they’re finding new Country songs
• Country FM playlists – in terms of era balance and gender balance

We’ll stay on afterward in the CRS virtual networking lounge to answer questions in depth. It promises to be a strong session parked in the midst of a truly great event. All the information about this year’s CRS is available at crsvirtual2021.com.