The car is freezing, your backpack is comically heavy, and you tune into the pop station with the jingle you memorized at ten and never forgot. The car next to you is playing the same song at the same time. Across the city, a radio host settles behind their microphone. They pull headphones over their ears and queue the day’s playlist. As the radio host welcomes an unseen audience, they wonder how many are tuned in. Who is on the other side?  

“The unique thing is that you’re not listening alone. There are also other people who are listening to the exact same thing at the exact same time,” said KALW Director of Programming David Boyer, who also hosts and produces shows on the Bay Area radio station. 

Sophomore Alex Martinez sees radio as a compromise: the favorite niche track for the popular one that has already played four times. She prefers online streaming like Spotify. Online streaming is one potential competitor for Americans’ daily listening time that’s on the rise. The potential pros of streaming prove attractive to millions, as 91% of internet users stream music, according to MusicWatch. Podcasts are also gaining traction; listenership increased from 27% to 64% in the last decade, according to Pew Research Center.  

Yet radio remains tied into everyday routines. The radio soundtracks freshman Kayla Huang’s drive to school, a small reprieve to clear her mind before the day begins. Huang is one of many; radio’s audience grew in 2023 and is used by 69% of listeners in the car, according to MusicWatch. In an increasingly online world, radio isn’t going silent. 

Most times there’s a real person behind the microphone. Radio stations employ music programmers; what plays in the car begins with them.

“They have been selected because of their specific interest and niche musical tastes. Most have two-hour slots that they get to program how they want,” Boyer said. 

Music programming is more nuanced than creating a playlist, according to Boyer. Programmers also think about how their show sounds on air. 

“You may be great at selecting and curating a show, but you also have to be able to present it on air and maybe tell a little story. Maybe be able to interview a guest, a musician, or host an actual show,” Boyer said.

A radio station’s mission is reflected in its programming, which is reflected through the music programmers. The focus of the playlists differs between stations: some focus on diversity, others on familiarity. A music programmer for a pop station will choose a playlist full of big hits, whereas one for a classics station will select exclusively from past decades. 

At KCSM, a jazz station in the Bay Area, the programming is focused on diverse and high-quality jazz music. KCSM plays a variety of jazz subgenres thanks to a variety of music programmers.

“They are all individual; they’re different. They select their music based on the genre of jazz that they want to reflect. It’s their decision to choose what music and artists they want to feature,” said KCSM Station Manager Robert Franklin, PhD.

As a public radio station, the programming at KALW caters to the Bay Area’s diversity. According to Boyer, music programmers choose eclectically, so there’s something for everyone.

“Every listener on some level can see or hear themselves in our music, in our stories,” Boyer said. “That’s the goal, for people to feel like they’re part of something and that they belong in the Bay Area.” 

KALW music programmer Juan “Wonway Posibul” Amador closes the gap between different and diverse genres. 

“My goal is to introduce people to new music and maybe older music that they may not be familiar with, or they haven’t heard in a long time,” Amador said.

Each music programmer approaches their allocated time differently. Amador spins through genres to keep things diverse. 

“I’m gonna play six 20-minute sets, and every 20 minutes is a little different than the last 20 minutes. So there’s 20 minutes of jazz, and then there’ll be 20 minutes of indie rock. There might be 20 minutes of hip-hop or electronic music,” Amador said. “I try to keep it varied and eclectic. That’s my goal, every night.”

In addition to the radio station’s mission, music selection is also impacted by the programmer’s individuality, according to Amador. 

“Most of the time the DJ is really giving you a slice of his personality. Even though I’m keeping it eclectic, I’m showing you what I like in those genres or what I’m excited about,” Amador said.

Amador isn’t at the main station while he’s on air; his music gets sent live to the station, where it gets broadcast by Damien “D Minor” Minor. Minor then controls the soundboard and all the audio frequencies sent to it, ensuring Amador has the right timing through a FaceTime call.

Minor is one of multiple announcers at KALW. He engineers live shows and speaks between music sets, introducing the program and delivering public service announcements to the studio’s log. 

“I’m what they call the liaison to all the programs. So I’m making sure that Juan’s on the air. I’m his eyes and ears,” Minor said.

Minor has worked at public and commercial radio stations, which differ in key ways. Individual music programmers decide the programming at KALW and KCSM because both are public stations. 

“Juan curates his own playlist; he does his own thing. The same goes with KCSM. In the commercial stations, the music director will pick a few hours of music, and then that will play throughout the day. (The program log) is what they call the music master. They curate all the songs for that day,” Minor said. 

Both commercial and public radio stations have a lot of people behind the scenes with unique work to bring the station to life. Program directors at commercial stations have slightly different responsibilities. 

“The program director deals with the day-to-day operation of the station. They’re dealing with the overall sound of the station. They’re dealing with radio personalities. They’re dealing with dealing with sales. They’re dealing with the promotions people, and they’re also working closely with their music director,” Minor said.

The objective of commercial stations is to win the public’s affection, according to Minor.

“The difference between commercial and public stations is that commercial stations kind of live and die by ratings,” Minor said.  “(They) sometimes compete for ratings. They play similar records, and their radio personalities are similar in style, so it’s about ratings. Whoever has ratings that are high gets commercials.”

The corporate aspect of commercial stations didn’t take away from the passion that goes into the work for Minor.

“I love music, so it’s not like I’m selling you on it. I just love to talk about it. And people like to talk about their favorite things; they can talk about it so much that it doesn’t feel like you’re selling because if it comes off as sincere,” Minor said.

Music programmers create their programs before anything is broadcast, putting playlists together when they’re not on air. Amador’s approach to music programming reaches beyond the hours he’s live. 

“I’m constantly looking for music to work on my playlist for the night,” Amador said.

Broadcasting the program can be done either live or on a recorded basis. If broadcasting is live, music programmers air their playlists at the radio station over live commentary during their time slot.

“The announcers who are live at the station then bring their particular musical selections to the station with them, and then they play their musical programming live for that time that they’re on the air,” Franklin said.

Pre-recorded broadcasting is done entirely away from the station. According to Franklin, music programmers edit out unnecessary sounds to produce a smoother recording. 

“They produce the program away from the station, and then they upload their particular programming via the cloud, and it’s pulled down and played at a specific time,” Franklin said.

Radio talk shows and podcasts are different. According to Boyer, music choices are heavily steered by the show’s mood and topic. After considering the show itself, Boyer presents show hosts with a few options.

“When I add the host narration over it, it changes what it sounds like. You want something that fits with the host’s voice. You want something that’s kind of is a bit of an earworm, and that is distinctive and feels like it’s ownable for a show, but at the same time doesn’t overpower,” Boyer said.

Additionally, contrary to music shows, talk shows are rarely live.

“A lot of it is actually produced in advance if it’s an hour before or a week before,” Boyer said.

Alternative options like streaming audio and podcasts are one potential correlate with a general decrease in radio listenership, according to Forbes. Competition for listeners goes beyond listening time as streaming services improve playlist curation. Spotify introduced an AI DJ and daylists in 2023, curated by AI algorithms. Commercial radio stations use promotions and sales to minimize the gap.

“As playlists get more and more developed, there’s a promotional aspect,” said COO at Sony-owned RCA John Fleckenstein in a press release. “What we have found is that it’s wrong to apply our structure to the world. As playlisting and curation evolves on these platforms, so will our teams.”

On top of rising radio alternatives, radio listenership increasingly skews towards older groups. According to Edison Research, the average radio listener is 46, while the average streaming audio listener is 34. 

“Younger generations are definitely used to streaming and on-demand, and that’s what’s going to be popular. So reaching younger generations is an uphill battle,” Amador said.

Without a way to gauge live listeners, in terms of age or otherwise, radio stations look to research companies such as Nielsen and Edison Research to gather insight about their audience. Their joint effort, “The Record,” revealed Americans spend four hours a day listening to audio across ad-supported and ad-free platforms. 

Radio holds onto at least half of this time, even looking at those aged 18-34 alone, according to Nielson and Edison Research. This outpaces podcasts, holding 35% of daily listening time, and streaming audio, holding 15%.

Huang listens to the radio every morning as she eats breakfast. The 10-minute reports fit with her time commitment. Tuning into NPR has become part of her daily routine. But Huang is slightly unique in the time and place she tunes in. Among those aged 13 and older, 46% will only ever listen to the radio while in the car, according to Edison Research. 

“I know a lot of friends and their parents who just turn on the radio station when we’re driving,” Huang said. “It helps clear my mind.” 

Beyond the accessibility listening to the radio at the same time as others means communing with them in that moment, according to Amador.

“Last night it started raining a lot. So I did a whole set about rain. That’s not going to happen on your algorithm; it’s happening at the moment, and I think there are still people that really cherish that,” Amador said. “I think what we have is the human connection, and to me, that’s what brings people to radio.” 

Beyond impromptu midnight rain, radio programmers and radio stations have to connect with their audiences uniquely. 

“The majority of your audience is not going to reach out to you. It could be five people, could be 500, it could be 5,000, and I’ll probably never know,” Amador said. “We have to just make peace with that, even though all of us are super curious and think about it all the time.”

Amid this, most radio journalists feel highly connected to their audience, according to Pew Research Center. 

“I wonder sometimes if anybody’s listening because I’ll say things to get people to reach out, and sometimes you get no response at all. Then weeks or months later, someone will think about that night, like, ‘I remember two months ago, you played that song and did this,’ and you’ll have no idea, and it’s kind of really a kind of a strange and delayed gratification,” Amador said.

The audience is more than a statistic gathered by a research company, even if radio programmers can’t see them. And the audience listens, even if they don’t respond.

“I take solace in that when I’m out in the community, almost every time that I’m at an event, I meet somebody who’s a listener,” Amador said. “So that’s my way of knowing.”