OK! I originally retired from this and all radio sites some time ago because I found it pointless to continue publicly posting about the same crap when it will not lead to any other result other than receiving responses.
HOWEVER!
I have to say something about this particular post. I will try and keep it extremely simple.
Taking more risks, having broad playlists / more open-mindedness or being more innovative with musical playlists, etc. will NEVER work in mainstream radio. Why? Because the majority of people in mainstream society are too simple minded to handle such a thing, and most people create businesses to profit off of the majority simple minded folks who all follow what everyone else says is "cool." They are very easy to target and keep hooked for a variety of reasons.
People always like to use business reasoning to explain why things are as they are with radio and marketing, but there is also a counterintuitive, but valid psychological reason behind why things are the way they are... However, to conserve time, I will not get into that. Just look at everything from politics to radio to... almost anything that has to do with sales or profit. The masses with simple minds are an easy target to make money off of, plain and simple.
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I've come to the final conclusion that anyone who is not happy with current state of radio has pretty much three choices:
1. Stop listening.
2. Get used to it.
3. Settle.
As far as Settling goes, I have a few friends who have settled in my town. I found out when a lot of people expressed their hate for a certain type of music, but the ONLY station(s) they had preset in their car were 50% (or some high percentage of) the music they claimed to hate - because that was the closest they could come to something they liked. Therefore, the longer they listen, the more they get used to it and the more they kept tuning in, the more it will be believed that they truly do enjoy and want to listen to that station. I know a lot of people in towns without certain formats settle with another format that is as close as possible to the format they desire most, and needless to say, they contribute to the ratings to the station they settle for. A good example of this is my female friend who turned to presetting an urban station because that was the closest to pop she thought she could get, although, she hated rap.
Me, personally, I've pretty much learned to accept things for what they are. It took a while and some convincing from certain folks, but the town I moved to in the east coast was pretty much what finally forced me to accept things for what they are now in radio. Yes, as someone who still has some interest in radio, I've settled to listening to the urbans and top 40's and various styles of hot ac's available where I am from time to time since it is the quickest thing to tune into in the car. I am guilty of being a settler who contributes ratings to stations I don't really care for, like many of my coworkers, friends, family, etc. However, I spend a majority of my time now getting my music from other sources.
As far as DJ'ing goes, well.... that's when I'm forced to cater to the small minded, unoriginal majority of mainstream society who follow what everyone else says is supposed to be cool, which, in turn, forces me to also have to unfortunately follow and keep up to a degree. As a result, I'm also forced to turn around and feed the audience the same songs that we've been conditioned to accept and like.
Maybe this is just an American thing because I see many other countries are (often times) way more diverse with their radio and musical knowledge.
I used to dream about working or doing radio, but nowadays, at this point, I'd rather pursue a degree in Psychology instead.
That's all I have to say.
Enjoy your day!
