The “Super Gesture” and Your Station’s Content Filters

Yesterday my partner Jaye Albright wrote a timely piece about the M.I.A. “Super Gesture” on Sunday and the number of country songs with PG13 lyrics (20+ according to her Google search).

A number of readers weighted in (accurately) on “the way it used to be” in country.

But Country’s cume composition is dramatically different than in our not too distant past. Anecdotally A&O sees many markets where 18-24 or 25-34 is the top cume cell – even if 45-54 is still the top AQH cell.

The “safe for the whole family” position belongs to Contemporary Christian radio and has for years now. If you’re trying to “out-safe” that format, you really need a new filter.

Filters (‘tests’ that content has to ‘pass through’ before getting on the air) will vary by station of course, but one you might consider is, “Would this make it to network TV before 9pm?” Or maybe you prefer multiple demographic filters like “What’s the appeal for both 18-34 and 35-54?”

And of course one of my favorites, “Who will care about this?”

What are your filters?