AI in Radio – Audience Expectations and More

Audiences Expect Radio to Use AI

1 in 5 radio listeners think they’ve encountered AI-generated content on the air. 21% say they currently listen to a radio station that is powered by AI. The truth is that not nearly that many stations are using ai – at least not yet. But because AI is being integrated more and more into every aspect of your audience’s daily life, it makes sense that they expect radio and broadcast companies to be leveraging this new technology as well.

As AI technology evolves, more and more listeners expect it to play a bigger role in crafting and delivering the daily content they consume. And the quality is already broadcast-ready.

Realistic AI Voice Technology is Here

AI voices are often indistinguishable from human voices. In Futuri’s AI in Media Study, there was a 60% chance that respondents actually identified the AI voice as human and the human voice as AI, making the voices interchangeable. This level of realism in AI-generated audio continues to improve and presents opportunities and challenges in maintaining audience transparency and trust.

Can you tell the difference? Click here to find out.

Audiences Trust Local Media

Audiences trust local media sources over social media platforms for AI-generated content, but they don’t want to be tricked. Trust and credibility is a big advantage local broadcast companies have over other platforms, and you never want to risk damaging that reputation with your audience. This doesn’t mean putting a warning label on any AI content. There are many creative ways to acknowledge that it is an AI voice or DJ that are honest as well as entertaining for your audience, like how Live 95.5 presented AI Ashley.

A Syndicated Daypart Strategy that Sounds Local

We have discussed how AI can be an efficient and economical tool to provide your listeners with up-to-date content outside of live dayparts, but what about delivering more personalized local content to listeners of syndicated shows?

Mid-West Family stations Live 99.9 and Z94.3 have embraced AI for the late-night hours (weekdays between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.) to host unmanned shifts and provide real-time local content to their listeners every time they tune in. These AI DJs are not designed to replace but to supplement these stations’ talent. Both are identified as AI hosts — known as AI Alley on Live 99.9 and AI Liam Jones on Z94.3.

Real-Time Content After Hours Retains Listeners

Local news and critical events don’t stop when your talent is off the air, so why should your real-time coverage end? Futuri’s AI in Media Study revealed this breakdown of radio listener habits in a typical week:

• 65% listen to morning radio
• 40% listen to middays
• 52% afternoons
• 41% evenings
• 20% late nights
• 37% weekends

As you can see by this data, if you do not deliver engaging live and local content to your listeners in the evenings, late nights, and weekends, you risk them migrating to other platforms to fill that void.

The AI Radio Advantage

Futuri VoiceAI helps balance your station’s limited resources and keep content up-to-date and localized to your audience – every hour of the day. It is a fully AI-driven automation system that can be used to:

• Create Live and Local AI DJs
• Add Live Service Elements, like weather, 24/7
• Instantly Product Audio Commercials and Spec Spots
• Automatically Produce Podcasts

Make every on-air moment an opportunity to engage your audience – even during unstaffed dayparts. Maximize the strength of your local station and deliver more of the real-time, local content your listeners expect from radio.

The Radio Pros at Futuri Media Also Help with Content

TopicPulse®, the world’s first 100% AI-driven local content system, scans the major social platforms and over 250,000 news sources to uncover and deliver the real-time trending content and topics your audience cares about most.

Futuri’s POST® helps easily transform your live broadcast into a podcast and automatically publishes it to all the platforms, including social media and YouTube, where listeners go to catch up on content on their own schedule.