Reiteration in radio kills the fun

A joke on-air can be funny the first time, ok the second and annoying the third.

It was very revealing when I saw this phenomenon in data collected by Voizzup for first time:

The male host of one of the most popular morning shows in an European market played a clip from YouTube. I don’t remember very well the content, but there was a crying baby involved. It was funny, very. We immediately saw hundreds of listeners on the mobile app of the station significantly increasing the audio volume at the same time.

The piece of audio was so funny that the host decided to play it again right after. This time the reaction from listeners was much more moderate.

After one song, the host proceeded to repeat the funny audio once again. It turned to be not that funny anymore. In this occasion, it didn’t generate positive reactions. Listeners lowered the volume this time, a percentage of them even tuned-out.

Humor is usually engaging. Reiteration can turn it disengaging.