Of all the media, radio has the strongest claim to being the most local of media, and it's worked hard at it, sending DJs and other personalities to beauty pageants and pie-eating contests and openings of all sorts.
The radio station of old had to be more than just call letters and a number on the dial; it had to be names and faces, and names and faces that evoked a sense of community whenever they were mentioned.
But with times as tough as they are, that localness is under challenge.
Many music radio stations, faced with reduced budgets, are turning to nationally syndicated shows hosted by well-known personalities like Donny Osmond, Ryan Seacrest, John Tesh and Alice Cooper to fill primetime slots traditionally hosted by local talent.
While syndication isn’t new to radio, it has traditionally been utilized primarily in mornings or on talk radio. The invasion of nationally produced shows into midday, afternoon and evening timeslots on music stations is new, and it's been gaining momentum, especially over the past 18 months as budgets have tightened.
Money, of course, is the main driver of this trend. The big-name syndicated shows cost a fraction of what stations must pay local talent.
But what's really enabled it to take off is advances in technology.
Through technology, it's possible for the celebrity DJs to localize content to each affiliate.
In the case of Tesh, who refined this new celebrity DJ model, he not only provides local content for most every affiliate but also makes regular visits to many of his markets, takes part in stations' promotions and frequently calls in to other shows on the station for interviews. He can be every bit as much an active part of the station as any local talent might be.
Tesh has more than 250 U.S, affiliates, plus stations in Canada, England and Australia. Osmond launched in January with some 60 stations.
New technologies also make it possible for syndicators to deliver the voice of their celebrity DJ, whether Tesh or Cooper, along with their content, while enabling the affiliate stations to stick with their chosen music format, be it easy listening or oldies or Hot AC.
That knocks down a big barrier to syndicating celebrity DJ shows. Music stations traditionally shied away from syndicated shows because it would have meant switching formats for that time period from what the station played the rest of the day to the syndicator's format.
Osmond's program can be customized to nearly any music format, for example.
Producers at the stations are provided an audio bank of Osmond reading artist names and song titles that can be spliced together enabling the host to backsell almost any song in any format.
In the end, stations get the best of all worlds: the draw of famous personalities and yet shows that talk to and about the local community while airing the music that's identified with the station.
“The best affiliates of our shows are the ones that put effort into maximizing what our hosts do for them,” says Andy Denmark, executive vice president of programming at United Stations Radio Networks, which syndicates “Nights with Alice Cooper.”
These shows also provide opportunities for advertisers. Local clients can add star power to their marketing with live reads and sponsor mentions while national brands can reach multiple markets through endorsements and more in-depth sponsorship programs.
What this trend means for the future of local broadcasting remains to be seen.
Having Seacrest read a liner about the local county fair isn’t the same as having a talent who actually attends. But in reality people generally gather at the water cooler to talk about “Avatar” not what happened at the fair, and Donny Osmond can add more to that discussion that most local hosts.
“You are giving up something,” says Mike McVay, president of McVay Media, a radio consulting firm that helped launch Osmond’s new show. “But when it’s all said and done, it’s about the most ratings and best product.”
