Each day, at exactly six in the morning, while newscasters on the AM band are trumpeting the previous day’s troubles, Chico and Delamar are announcing their top 10 theme for the day. Today, the theme is “Will you go for the one you love, or the one who loves you?”
In the next three hours, the pair is deluged with an average of 300–400 text messages. Each message sent to their text hotline costs P2.50—more than double the usual rate for sending text messages. It doesn’t matter that most of these texters are actually on the road, dealing with traffic and pollution. They simply want to be heard.
Listeners Talk Back
Welcome to the interactive world that radio and all other media outlets have invariably found themselves to be a part of. In this age when consumers’ attention spans are getting shorter and advertisers are demanding more, interactivity has allowed both media outlets and advertisers new ways to excite and keep their audiences. For radio stations, in particular, interactivity has catapulted competition to a higher level.
Chico Garcia and Delamar Arias, who have entertained audiences for more than a decade at Monster Radio RX 93.1, readily admit that today’s radio listeners have changed from what they were 10 to 15 years ago. “Today’s audience is harder to please, shock, and excite,” says Delamar, noting how “radio was so much simpler back then and DJs were mere voices.” Today, interactivity is expected as a minimum offering of every radio station.
RX 93.1 takes pride in being first to bring interactivity to the market. This was back in 1999 when the Internet was inaccessible to most, when cell phones were still oversized contraptions, and texting was an exercise reserved for the mute (as the running Globe Telecom commercial then depicted), and the most helpful of communication gadgets was the unreliable pager. RX 93.1, a maverick and trendsetter, laid down its strategy—let the listeners talk back.
Though hobbled by a decrepit communications system, the audience found a way to talk back. RX 93.1 hit on the audience’s need to express themselves, unleashing a torrent of answers from their listeners and, in the process, keeping their listeners glued to their stations. Pretty soon, other radio stations followed suit, aided by advancements in technology.
Talk and Music
Challenging the entrenched all-music format, RX 93.1 was also the first to introduce talk radio through Chico and Delamar’s program back in 1996. Although the two would admit that the format was discovered by chance, and that all RX 93.1 intended was to have a tandem anchor the program, it would forever change the way things are done.
Fresh acquaintances then, Chico and Delamar practically went through the getting-to-know-you stage on the air. Chico was already a DJ, while Delle was a newscaster. Almost oblivious to their audience, and thinking that half the world was asleep, the two talked about things and enjoyed themselves. “We had no idea that kids were listening,” Delle recalled. In fact, the two often fought on air, and these, Delle recalled, were “real fights.” They were very surprised when their ratings soared. Apparently, “people were listening and they liked listening to our conversations because they were natural and honest,” she says.
Chico and Delamar’s phenomenal success would usher in talk radio. Delivery styles changed, too. While before, big and sexy voices were expected of male and female DJs, respectively, Chico and Delamar showed that the audience actually took to real people using their real voices talking about everyday fun things. “Before, nobody even laughed on air,” recalled Delle. If DJs did, it was always done in a certain self-conscious way. Today, however, people enjoy hearing their DJs laugh on air, apparently sharing in their fun.
More Than Voices
These changes would eventually lead to the transformation of DJs from being mere voices to much more. With their faces and personalities revealed, it goes without saying that so much more is expected of today’s DJs. At the minimum, says Chico, “they have to look good.” DJs have now become the ambassadors of the stations. They have to represent the radio station in parties, product launchings, live shows, TV programs, even the movies. “DJs have become personalities. In fact, we would always say that if we were just trying to apply now, we might not even be taken in,” says Delamar.
Chico attributes much of this to competition. “Now there is glamour involved, with the likes of Brad Turvey, a celebrity, now being a DJ,” he says.
Also as a result of competition, formats are changing. Today, there are games and gimmicks that were nonexistent before. The whole concept of radio has been revolutionized, with advertisers taking advantage of its distinct features for their below-the-line marketing activities. Products, for instance, are launched at parties hosted by DJs of a radio station. Bands and gigs also mount events with radio stations, and weekends come alive with these various shindigs.
That’s Entertainment
Despite this, the fact still remains that radio exists primarily for one of two things—to inform or to entertain, and for those on the FM band, it’s the latter.
RX 93.1 is immensely popular among kids—16- to 28-year-olds, usually students and young workers, who want something upbeat to perk them up in the morning. Chico and Delamar, with their light themes, provide just that to the market that they already understand. As with most radio listeners at this time of day, these people are on their way to school or work. “The car market is a captive audience,” states Chico, and when they’re stuck in traffic, there’s not much for many to do but text their thoughts away.
For this market, the most popular themes are largely those that focus on relationships, or, in the words of both Chico and Delamar, “anything funny, something very in, anything irreverent—as in ‘top 10 things your soap would say.’” Their most popular themes, those that had the text line beeping the whole day, include etiquette on texting, tips on kissing, favorite movie lines, best OPM lyrics, and acronyms of anything.
Ears on the Ground
Light as it seems, being able to dish out the right things to this audience does not come easy. Chico points out the need “to keep our eyes open to what kids are taking to.” These may be trends, such as the Friendster craze, the latest shows, the coolest gadgets.
The same is true with the kind of music they play. Although RX 93.1’s basic format is mainstream pop, the DJs are quick to recognize the phases in music, be it R and B, hip hop, jazzy music, and others.
For Chico and Delamar, the relationship with their audience is two-way. On one hand, “we guess what they like, say something fresh, or put a twist to something,” says Delle. On the other hand, she continues, “it’s not just about giving them what they want, but what they might want. We also introduce new things to them.”
Audience response is very important to the pair, which is why they do look at how they are faring in the ratings game. They continually ask themselves, “Is this the right thing to do? Has this position run its course?” These, points out Delle, “are the things that drive you to do a good show.”
For Chico and Delamar, staying with the audience comes not just from the spirit of fun but also from a sense of discipline and responsibility. “Consistency is something young jocks don’t seem to understand,” laments Delle, who realizes she cannot be entertaining just half of the time she’s on air because people are out there listening to her. Their loyalty is borne from years of dedication, from coming to work even when indisposed. Delle explains, “I always say, this is a marathon, not a sprint.”
For the two to have lasted this long, with the loyalty of their audience not wavering, this could only come from “years of being there” to grow with their listeners.
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