Listen to your talents execute a talk set and time when they start talking. How long does it take before they express interesting content? If it’s over 8-seconds, you are losing listeners.
Depending on their daypart and format, talents typically have two to four breaks an hour. How personalities execute their talk segments can enhance or hurt their ratings. Each talk segment is “show content,” and it should start fast and be fulfilling and fascinating for the entire time.
PPM data tells us you have eight seconds to get the audience engaged at the segment’s start. After that, if you succeed, the audience will give you more time. If not, people switch away. So your mission is to always start with fascinating content or deliver an effective tease to sink the hook in fast as you crack the mic. And that hook must be very sharp!
The eight-second attention span is no different in a diary world, but PPM makes it easier to measure. Radio talents augment diary recall by starting each segment out of music with the station name, dial position, positioning phrase, back-sell of the title and artist, a time check, and their name. Unfortunately, that takes eight seconds (or more). So instead of coming out of a song with these formatics, talents should immediately do the content hook followed by the station business.
Nielsen radio respondents will stick around to hear a talk segment if it is set up quickly and correctly. The best setups are clean, precise, with no wasted words, and they have a compelling hook that grabs attention in 8 seconds or less. No one will leave if this hook is enticing.
This opening is best done with a dramatic statement but can also be compelling audio, a listener voice, or asking a question. If you succeed, you live for another segment! Lund Media calls this momentum-driving action “tease and please.” Here are examples of the Question Tease:
> “NY Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers has signed with a new NFL team. We’ll tell you who coming up.”
> “A country star is honored as a Rock and Roll legend. I won’t pardon the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, would you?”
> “When Tom Brady retired from football, some said he was the second-best quarterback of all time. I’ll tell you who’s the first and why in a moment.”
The 8-second rule also applies to News-Talk, Sports-Talk, and All News. While some national talk talents don’t live by this rule, our local talk hosts can and should apply this science. Coming out of the commercial break, play a quick produced “go back” liner that states the station name and slogan, and introduces the talk talent by name – all in five seconds. Now, the personality can be compelling with the station business out of the way!
Provide an enticing eight-second hook of the upcoming topic. In spoken word formats, all programming is talk, so the programming “begins” after the produced liner. The talent may also use a compelling piece of audio to begin a segment, like Brian Flores’ comment, “NFL owners are like plantation owners.”
When ending a segment, promote ahead a new topic, guest, or twist before the commercial break. This tease contributes to longer listening. It extends TSL and sets another listening appointment for the next topic. When promoting an event over ten minutes away, say the exact time with a Time Stamp. Listening spans are always short.
Pic by stockking for Freepik.com.
John Lund is President of the Lund Media Group, a radio programming consulting firm with specialists in all mainstream radio formats. Did you find this article useful? You can leave a comment below or email John at John@Lundradio.com.