The pandemic has created the biggest economic crisis of our time. Of course, radio has not been spared, even though the advertising market has recovered faster than the television sector, for example.
To survive, our media must do what it has been doing since the beginning of its history: reinventing itself!
On air, off air and from a commercial point of view.
Here are a few ideas that can be considered to achieve this transformation.

First of all, internally. We know the constraints linked to the crisis: budget cuts, no new hires or investments… Let’s turn these weaknesses into strengths and take advantage of them to be creative in the back office.
For example, by extending the length of morning shows: if your show is good, why not take advantage of it? Moreover, listeners have not yet picked up all their habits, so we might as well make the most of the show’s potential.

Why not take advantage of this to give the morning hosts an additional recorded program? The weekend comeback, for example. This allows them to establish their notoriety among listeners (and to discover a little more about who they are), provides premium content, develops their own brands and allows them to relaunch areas that have been little promoted until now (added value in this period when habits, schedules and ways of consuming media are changing).

Finally, why not develop talent internally rather than looking for names who cost a lot of money? Creating a pre-morning led by part of the morning team before the arrival of the leaders would not be a big risk and would motivate the team while creating a link with the premium listeners.

From an advertising point of view, the idea is to bring in even more money to make up for the losses incurred in recent months. Why not rethink the format of the ads? Shorter spots, adapted to current consumption (e.g. YouTube ads usually last 5 seconds) would make it possible to place a little more spots per screen.

We can also save time on on-air promos: no more spots with a 1min extension, it was already outdated, it’s now another time. Creating special operations during shows can help develop the advertiser’s brand awareness as well as its image. For example, during a Heroes special, the advertiser can offer each listener caught on the air a gift and make a donation to an association at the end of the show? It is also possible to sell off-air events that will develop the link between the listener, the hosts and the advertiser: a team-listener lunch, a sports afternoon… Advertisers are starting to implement some of these initiatives directly via their social networks, it is up to us to show them that radio would strongly reinforce these actions.

And on air, what do we change? For me the answer is the same as during the period of confinement. We strengthen ourselves in what we know how to do: news or entertainment or proximity. Whatever happens, the only obsession must be the listener! The last few months have taught us to work differently: reduced teams, working at home, changed listening habits, fewer gifts… despite all these constraints, this has allowed us to develop a lot of opportunities: live broadcasts from apartments, digital interaction between listeners, hosts and artists, highlighting everyday heroes… Let’s continue in this direction and show the positive side of a gradual “normal” return to our lives.

Perhaps we can replace lives in apartments by lives in unusual and intimate places, thank with a little hindsight the people who were on the front line, relocate at lower cost, highlight the industries that were hard hit during the crisis (restaurants, shows…), accentuate the positive and sincere sequences… The important thing is to transform the trial of the virtual link created during the confinement by a real and even more sincere link with our listeners! We need authenticity in our relationships with others.

In recent months, many “passive” listeners have come to realize that radio is a real social link. By creating programmes during the confinement, we have questioned ourselves. Let’s not lose this idea: it is thanks to this daily work that we will be able to continue to develop radio.
The main objective remains the same: at each microphone opening, we owe it to ourselves to give the best to our listener. On the other hand, the methods are evolving: more flexibility, optimization, less expensive solutions, constructive partnerships, development of new talents…
Radio and morning shows have a unique bond with the listener and have been able to maintain and even develop it in recent months.

At a time when everything is just social distancing, let’s take advantage of this chance to have reached our listeners and stay as connected as possible with them. This is how our media has always been able to evolve and how it will continue to do so in the future.