In the movie business, the marketing and studio folks understand that – with the exception of blockbusters – no movie can be aimed at everybody.
As a result they use a matrix with four boxes or “quadrants.” Each box represents younger or older men and younger or older women. The rule essentially is this: Every movie must target at least one of these boxes. That’s why you see an action movie and a chick flick coexisting at the cinema with both movies doing reasonably well – they target different audiences.
In radio, our problem is somewhat different.
In many cases we have morning shows that appeal across the demographic spectrum, age and sex. That means it’s important to balance the content to appeal to multiple segments. It does NOT mean that everything must appeal to everybody. It means that everything must appeal to at least ONE of the sements and all segments must be serviced by SOMETHING.
The implications of this depend on what your format and your morning show is. If you’re a Rock morning show then you may have only two quadrants: Younger and older – both male. If you’re a JACK station or a Country station, however, you have four.
As you build out the content for your morning show, how much of it fits snugly within each quadrant? Is one quadrant being ignored?
This is a process I call “content mapping,” and it’s a handy tool to assess whether you’re maximizing the appeal of your show.