Not long ago, I was talking to a friend of mine who was interested in getting into radio. Interestingly, I’ve always been a late-night radio listener over the years, and I wouldn’t mind doing something like that myself. As we got to talking, we wondered if radio is dead, and if these days people’s time is so divided between the internet, social media and TV that not many people are listening anymore.
That’s not exactly the case, though, and the major late-night syndicated radio stations seem to have a strong following, and there’s less competition at night. Maybe that’s because there’s a limited audience and the best shows win while everyone else is vying for prime time during commutes. Regardless of why things are the way they are, I know that I am primarily a night person, and I think and work best in the evening hours.
This is more common than you might think, as many people interested in technology, innovation, science fiction, and intellectual discourse are also night people. So how about a late night radio show specializing in tech topics? Tech talk: would that be a decent radio talk show format? Well, it turns out there are a few tech talk stations, but only a few of them are syndicated and run late at night. I’m pretty surprised more people aren’t doing this because that’s when their audiences are listening.
Of course, if the tech talk radio personality becomes quite popular and syndicated, they can probably move to daytime hours, which will allow for more listeners. Still, if you’re a newbie trying to get into radio, there’s a good chance a well-listened local radio station will give you the time of day, but they might just give you a night spot. It’s worth a try? Well, that’s where our conversation led as we were at the local Starbucks discussing late night radio show opportunities.
Personally, if there was a station broadcasting late-night tech talk in my area, I would definitely listen to it. And I’m sure others would, especially those who work the night shift. If you’re thinking of getting into radio you’re going to have to work hard to get things going, why not start at night where there’s little or no competition until you reach the level of quality needed to get into prime time. commuter audience? In fact, I hope you will please consider all of this and think about it.