Is Local Content Surging?
Randy Lane • April 7, 2019
The importance of radio’s local orientation has surged since 2016 according to Jacobs Media’s 2019 tech survey. You don’t want to be local just to be local. Be sure local content is relevant
to your audience. It must be A or at least B-level content for listeners to care.
9 Key Ways to be Local:
- Hit relevant trending stories in features/benchmarks or lace them throughout the show.
- Become known for one cause or charity locally.
- Create local interactive features like Bailey & Southside’s Smarta Marta / at Rock 100.5 Atlanta and Edgar, Brian & Chelsea’s Freeway Battles at AMP Radio LA.
- Identify callers and texts with the part of town they’re from (e.g. Angela from Naperville).
- Find local quirky and colorful people who can become recurring characters. The best local characters reflect the community – a cowboy in Denver, a surfer in San Diego for example.
- Develop a local panel of expert contributors like personal trainers, doctors, relationship experts, film critics, lawyers, etc.
- Reference specific local places. Rather than, “The hostess at this restaurant last night…”, say, “The hostess at Seasons 52 on Poplar…”
- Conduct a character definition exercise on your market for new shows or a new player. Identify the most prominent market characteristics: the biggest positives and negatives, key neighborhoods, hangouts, big local events, hot button issues, etc.
- Take the show on a local tour. Do the show live or go out to key areas in the metro and record audio with listeners. The Morning Bull (George, Mo & Cowboy Dave) recently did their regular feature Fiesta Friday Live at several hot zip locations around Houston. They are a newer show and credit part of their recent Nielsen boost to the local tour.
Photo Credit: flickr.com/MarkMorgan
Recent Posts

By Randy Lane
•
September 29, 2026
When I start coaching a show, talents often say:“Nobody calls anymore.” Or: “Listeners in this market don’t call radio shows.” My response is, “That’s interesting, because several of our shows get more calls than they need.” The difference isn’t necessarily the market. It’s often how the show invites people into the conversation. Airing callers and text […]

By Randy Lane
•
September 21, 2026
Jerry Seinfeld wrote every episode of Seinfeld longhand, on a yellow legal pad, with a blue Bic pen. He still writes that way. He’s said the flashing cursor on a screen makes him anxious, like it’s asking, “So, whaddaya got?” Why Start With Pen and Paper?Writing by hand slows you down just enough for ideas to […]

By Randy Lane
•
September 15, 2026
In the era of loud, fast-talking announcer DJs, my radio mentor, Todd Wallace, asked my fellow DJs and me, “Would you talk to your neighbor over the back fence like a pukey DJ or just in natural conversation?” Of course we all said we’d talk to them conversationally. Todd concluded, “Talk to listeners on air like […]
