“Driveway moments” are radio segments so compelling that listeners will stay in their cars to finish listening. They can be intentional or accidental and are used to attract and retain listeners, increase advertising revenue, and create loyal listeners. Music stations also use songs to inspire driveway moments and keep listeners engaged.
In the world of radio, a “road moment” is a radio segment so compelling that people will leave their speeding cars in the driveway to finish listening to it. The term is often heard on National Public Radio, an American radio production company that makes a number of widely syndicated radio programs, especially during pledge drives, as a motivator to get people to donate. For radio manufacturers, achieving driveable momentum is a major achievement.
Driveway moments can take many different forms. For example, a segment of a show may just be so interesting that people want to hear what’s going on, especially in the case of radio serials, where people can closely follow the fates of the characters. In other cases, a driveway moment may be purely accidental, as in the case of an interruption of a regular broadcast to announce a news flash. Careful segment editing and composition is used to keep the material interesting enough that you don’t want to touch the dial, with the aim of giving listeners a passing moment.
Many broadcasters try to create moments of transition in the afternoon hours, when they know people will come home from work and listen to the radio. If they can get a captive audience to continue listening to the radio after the trip is over, they can increase advertising revenue, showing advertisers that they have a large listener base. Stations that often create momentum also tend to attract loyal listeners, with people recommending stations with good content to each other and thus increasing the station’s listenership.
Many people who drive and listen to the radio have experienced at least one driveway moment in their lives, and some people may even specifically remember important driveway moments. Memorable driveway moments often include life-changing news announcements on the radio or a segment about an issue that becomes important to the listener as a result of the driveway moment.
People also use this term to refer to a particularly good song, referring to the idea that they feel driven to listen to the song through to the end and that they can’t bear to turn off the radio midway. Music stations usually try to air songs that will inspire driveway moments to keep people listening, and they can use such songs as an incentive to sit through a commercial break. For example, listeners regularly hear “we’ll be right back with (hit song) in a moment.”
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