The Coming Boom; “BOOMER Radio”
 

We are on the cusp of a generational tsunami, If you personally are anticipating that wave, Rejoice! You are about to catch the ride of your life.” If you are already 40-64 years old, you are officially a “Boomer.” Say it…..“Boomer.!” It comes exploding out of the mouth.

Being a “Boomer” is more of a rush than being a “Pepper” any day. Sing it!….

“I’m a Boomer, He’s a Boomer, They’re a Boomer, She’s a Boomer.

Wouldn’t you like to be a Boomer, too?”

Boomers, since exploding onto the scene, are no longer restricted to 1-Dimensional Radio “Music of the 70’s, Music of 80’s” ad nauseum. Those formats, in time, grew ever more vertical and unstable, collapsing in a heap, like pick-up sticks, and brushed off the media table. One can’t sliver time. Ask Einstein.

The era of snubbing 50+ Boomers by media strategists is virtually over, because it is dawning on them that you buy more expensive electronic toys, cars, homes, medicine, and major stuff than that measly 18-34 bunch. The clincher: Seniors have begun buying video games.

Marketers! A new challenge is coming your way, how to cope with this coming wave. Perhaps, I can help. I’ve been playing to Boomers much of my professional career.

Boomers were imprinted by Radio. Imprints are insidious, stay with you all your life

Even now, we are discussing 48% of the households, 78 million people, about to explode exponentially in numbers. and spending power. The kids are gone, and now is the time for them to be kids again. The man who dies with most toys wins. And you planners are the ones who can keep them up on the latest toys…on radio..

The question is, How do you impress them, the Boomers/?.” For the purposes of this exercise, think of Boomers as ……..THEM.

Like all consumers.” THEM” ask, “What’s in it for me?.” To do a show for THEM, I often asked myself, “What’s in it for THEM.” Now that they are Boomers, and the kids are raised, they begin to devote themselves more to…..themselves.

THEM…T-H- E-M………Here are their core interests..

T= TRAVEL If you want to reach them, you have to be up on travel bargains. Radio hosts even take cruises and trips with their listeners

H= Health They want to hear health tips, the latest on diets, information about ailments nothing too serious unless there is a cure or a good treatment.. I got a lot of mileage out of the true, but silly sounding tip: that a daily handful of raw pumpkin seeds shrink the prostrate. Women like tips like this, to care for their men.

E = Entertainment. Information about Shows, Concerts, Sports, Movies, mammoth TV, Screens, High Tech Toys., Hobbies. The new IPhones and other high priced wonders beyond the financial reach of kids.

M = Money Tips on making money and keeping it, everything about money.

Programmers! Show that you sincerely care and they will make you their most important medium, with all that spending power.

I have compiled a list of hundreds of songs that would make the play list for two reasons. Boomers, your core 35-54+ audience, remember them warmly. They sound good and they are non-tuneoutable.The standard would be; even if they don’t quite know the song it is so catchy, listenable and familiar-sounding that they are going to stay tuned.

These are songs that were hot at one time, then discarded, but now would be welcomed back like old friends. Here is an hour + of music.

 

These and hundreds more.………..Next week, I put it all together.

 

“Blasts from the Past”

I am grateful to the San Diego Press Club for honoring me and other San Diego media players in a magical Sunday afternoon, the 6^th of May at 2pm, where we will be feted in a style that is the stuff of fantasy.

Imagine! Print people saluting radio. In most cities, if a morning radio jock found the cure for cancer, it would be in a back page story, “Local radio personality finds cure for cancer.” Not here. Our names would be in bold print. San Diego is America’s finest city.

That festive May 6^th afternoon, hundreds of fans and prominent media players will congregate at a grassy sun-drenched outdoor venue at San Diego State surrounded by food stations manned by nationally renowned local chefs serving their favorite four star recipes to the celebrants. Hundreds attend these annual San Diego Press Club events.

Radio stars such as Ernie Myers, a formidable M.O.R morning competitor, the bane of my professional existence, Charlie and Harrigan who did a star turn at KCBQ after I left, Reid Carroll a gifted radio newsman, the late morning radio genius, Perry Allen, revered in San Diego and in major markets around the country, Bill Gordon, now in Cleveland, but who left a wake that is still felt here, Jerry G Bishop, who scored big in morning television, and Mel Hall, a richly talented PD. who cut a broad swath at KQV in Pittsburgh, KRLA in L.A. and here.

The event is titled “Blasts from the Past.”

(In the San Diego Press Club “Salutes.” Series.)

One of the largest press clubs west of the Rockies, The San Diego Press Club is composed of prominent retirees, working media professionals, prominent PR people, all successful in their careers, and dedicated to nurturing gifted young talents, paving their way toward a career in media with scholarships and guidance. Their goals are professional fulfillment and social enjoyment……like on May 6^th.

 

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, our Satellites, our HDs’s, our Internets, but in ourselves. Julius Caesar, Act 2 Scene 2, sort of