Jill Casagrande: Radio Disney Puts Kids in ‘Control’

The motto for Radio Disney is “Your Music, Your Way,” and according to Senior Vice President and General Manager Jill Casagrande that’s exactly what the pre-teen and teen listening audience gets. “They know they are in control,” said Casagrande, who took on her position just over a year ago after spending 20 years in television, including at the Disney Channel. Casagrande oversees the programming and marketing for the entire radio network, made up of 42 stations across the country. Radio Disney is also streamed online. Like other business units within the media conglomerate, Radio Disney places an emphasis on promoting Disney branded music and performers songs from the hit cable show “High School Musical 2” are in heavy rotation and Miley Cyrus of “Hannah Montana” took part in a DJ “takeover.” But the programming does extend into non-Disney artists considered appropriate for the target audience of 6 years old to 14 years old. “They value the fact we respect their taste and not being a mouthpiece for Disney projects,” Casagrande said. Q: Describe the role Radio Disney has within the larger Disney corporation. A: Radio within the context of the bigger organization is the point of entry for music for kids and families. When we launched initially there was a gap in the market in terms of people targeting kids. Just as Disney Channel fulfilled a real need with kids television there was a need in the radio landscape to be filled with a kid audience. When you think of the equities of the Disney brand certainly music is one of the core values and one of thing that resonates with people. Q: What were the challenges for you going from television to radio? A: The difference in the mediums for us is that the Disney Channel is very story driven. This platform is day-to-day music. Going from a story environment to a music environment is a little bit different. There are remarkably similarities and given the role Disney Channel has played in recent years in breaking new pop stars it really fit together quite nicely. From a life of watching “Lizzie McGuire” grow and “Hannah Montana” grow coming here to the radio business was a natural outgrowth. Q: Another story in this special report looks at whether music still matters on the radio. Obviously that’s the case at Radio Disney? A: Music plays a big role in how kids identify themselves, how they build out their personality and how they relate to one another. They can relate to their parents; they can start a conversation with them. Music is one of the early topics that kids really take up. You can have with a 10 year old a really deeply meaningful conversation about Hannah Montana. The role that music plays in their lives is so significant. Q: Is the music the station plays only from Disney artists? A: We play all labels but the challenge is making sure it fits within the brand definition. For example in terms of today’s pop charts we’re playing Rihanna, who is really quite popular with our audience; we play “Umbrella” and a couple of her older songs. We do play outside artists but the reality is not all of them record lyrics that are appropriate for us. For our audience, they go far deeper than the music. They get deeply into the artist. There may be a Black Eyed Peas song that’s okay but then you have to look at Black Eyed Peas as artists and ask are they okay. We face that challenge a lot with artists so we have to do a deeper dive beyond just the appropriateness of the song but it’s also what does the artist stand for. Q: How important is it to have the online component? A: It’s really important. For example, in most markets we are on the AM dial so when you are sitting in your room the signal may not come in as well. So when you get there you can listen to it online. Let’s face it, in today’s media world kids are Internet savvy and you have to be there. Q: Can you say anything about new programming? A: It’s really driven by the artists that we have. The DJ takeovers is a relatively new thing, which we’re finding is really fun and compelling. We have one coming up with the Cheetah Girls, who are internal artists, and with Keke Palmer. It really drives our call volume up. It’s really, as in traditional radio, pretty consistent. We’ll evolve over time and it’s consistent with what you would hear on other radio stations only for a different age group.