Radio, as curator…

Someone, somewhere, heard Adele for the first time a few years ago and said, “Wow! I have to play her on my station.”

Someone had to be excited to be the very first, and a real star was born.

Would your station have been the very first, anywhere, to play Adele?

Radio used to do this, to act as curator — of hits, of great new artists, of music discovery — and (I know I’ve said this before) I think, somehow, we have to start doing that again.

We’ve all tried Pandora and Spotify and we know the algorhythms they use to “introduce” us to songs and artists we should like is not very accurate.

It may get better over time, but I don’t think it will ever work as well as our own ears, because there’s an emotional component to the songs we like, and math formulae can never replicate that.

Right now, there are more options than ever before for your listeners’ ears, which is precisely why finding the Adeles before your competition can only work to your advantage.

Acting as a music curator can be your most potent weapon of differentiation.

Your air talent plays a role in local curation too. Check out this video…

What is Curation? from Percolate on Vimeo.

When I learn I can count on your station to introduce me to cool new places to eat and shop and visit, when I trust your air talent to tell me things they know I want to know, that’s where true loyalty begins.