Under The Influence

Or don't trust your audience. Ask yourself a question are the listeners that phone in, text, tweet and email, - your audience?  If you answered  yes I am afraid you're a bit wrong, not totally but you really haven't grasped just what phone-in shows are all about.

The kind of engaged listener who calls or uses social media to contribute to the show is an active member of your audience, in percentage terms about 10% of a Talkback radio format station audience will fall into this category which means a massive 90% are passive - content to listen to Dora from Penge who thinks she's just met Elvis serving behind the till at her local Londis store.

It is important that you don't, for want of a better saying, let the lunatics take over the asylum. You are falling into a deadly trap if you just pick topics and produce material that will appeal to the active 10% of your audience.  By all means tempt them to call with a juicy little morsel that will make them call, but never think that tiny majority are actually all that are listening.