The Radio Version of the DVR

We already know that a vast majority of those with the technology choose to delay watching favorite TV shows until the time is convenient for them, 78% in this poll.

ON DEMAND movies have finally begun to affect movie theater attendance. Whether it’s ticket prices, popcorn extortion, buzzing cellphones inside the theater, or just cocooning, more and more of us are choosing to watch current movies offered on demand by our cable or satellite service, or streamed by Netflix or Amazon or HBO.

So how would a radio version of a DVR affect listening to your show?

By that I mean, is your show good enough so that if I no longer had to commute, I would choose to record and listen to it when I’m working out, or walking the dog, or whatever?

Chances are, if your show is 99% music, the other 1% being you reading liners, I’ll choose my iPod, or Pandora, or some other pure music stream — or another radio show with emotional content.

The only chance I think you have of being valued enough to be recorded and time-shifted, listened to when I have other good choices, is if you shine through and offer me something no other person I can hear does.

You can be funny.
You can make me cry.
You can just make me feel better each time I hear you.
You can find interesting things I don’t find by myself.
You can introduce me to new songs and artists every time I tune in.

But you’d better be more the just songs and titles and liners or your time on my stage is probably limited.

And it’s not too early to offer listeners something they can download and time shift now, to start that habit of hearing your voice, your content, every single day — outside of the car or the office.

I’m interested: What are you offering? Surely, there’s a “Best of today” worth producing, and if there isn’t, that should tell you something…