The Edge has a new PD & APD

[DN14224]

And like at a lot of clusters, the duties are added to existing staff.
WHTT PD Joe Siragusa is WEDG PD
WEDG PM Driver Tiffany Bentley adds APD stripes

https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...103-3-the-edge-buffalo-appoints-joe-siragusa-

 

[ckg279]

And like at a lot of clusters, the duties are added to existing staff.
WHTT PD Joe Siragusa is WEDG PD
WEDG PM Driver Tiffany Bentley adds APD stripes

https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...103-3-the-edge-buffalo-appoints-joe-siragusa-

Bentley is also the Edge's MD.

 

[tbolt909]

Programming is just a clerical position these days anyway. Schedule the same songs over and over, rinse and repeat. Most stations don't really need a PD anymore. Plugging in a corporate playlist isn't very difficult and takes no creativity.

This move is just more consolidation. Let the Classic Hits guy oversee the Alternative format, but delegate the clerical tasks(loading the playlist) to the MD...

 

[davideduardo]

Programming is just a clerical position these days anyway. Schedule the same songs over and over, rinse and repeat. Most stations don't really need a PD anymore. Plugging in a corporate playlist isn't very difficult and takes no creativity.

This move is just more consolidation. Let the Classic Hits guy oversee the Alternative format, but delegate the clerical tasks(loading the playlist) to the MD...

If you think doing the daily music log is just an automatic, automated task you are wrong.

Do you actually know how Music Master or RCS scheduling software work?

 

[DN14224]

Bentley is also the Edge's MD.

Precisely. Hence my use of "adds APD stripes", not "named APD".

If you think doing the daily music log is just an automatic, automated task you are wrong.

Do you actually know how Music Master or RCS scheduling software work?

I do, and today's versions of said products do make the log generation a lot less laborious than 30 years ago with the DOS versions. But you're right - the log should be looked at before shipping it to the automation system.

 

[davideduardo]

I do, and today's versions of said products do make the log generation a lot less laborious than 30 years ago with the DOS versions. But you're right - the log should be looked at before shipping it to the automation system.

I am reminded of when Jhanie Kaye was PD of KOST in LA. He had cassettes of the tips and tails of every library song. If he had doubts about the segue between two songs on the long, he would play the tapes and decide whether to leave it or look for an alternate song.

 

[SirRoxalot]

I am reminded of when Jhanie Kaye was PD of KOST in LA. He had cassettes of the tips and tails of every library song. If he had doubts about the segue between two songs on the long, he would play the tapes and decide whether to leave it or look for an alternate song.

You guys who think being a PD is easy should have to answer the daily calls generated by Shredd and Ragan. Admittedly, they've become more acutely aware of "the line", and less likely to cross it these days, but they still require attention. Riding herd on them may be why Bentley got the APD stripes instead of the job itself. With Covid cuts and furloughs a lot more jobs are falling to the few managers left, particularly promotions, where the staff is already thin.

There's also the issue of acting as the go-between the local staff and corporate. The song list is more negotiable with Cumulus than iHeart and some other groups. Unfortunately, there isn't nearly as much music research done locally these days, but there are ways of gathering and parsing data, especially with online listening. It's not a computer in a closet.

 

[tbolt909]

If you think doing the daily music log is just an automatic, automated task you are wrong.

Do you actually know how Music Master or RCS scheduling software work?

Yes. It's not like 30 years ago. PDs used to be responsible for one station(maybe 2). Attention to detail mattered. I knew people who did Music Logs by hand. If the format was AAA or Album Rock, craft was involved. Song flow and the mood of the station mattered.

The scheduling software you are referring to today is not the same. The PD or MD just loads what corporate tells them. Not that difficult...

 

[Buddy Shula]

Yes. It's not like 30 years ago. PDs used to be responsible for one station(maybe 2). Attention to detail mattered. I knew people who did Music Logs by hand. If the format was AAA or Album Rock, craft was involved. Song flow and the mood of the station mattered.

The scheduling software you are referring to today is not the same. The PD or MD just loads what corporate tells them. Not that difficult...

Holy crap Bolt. We actually agree again! Research killed radio. The entire industry.

 

[DN14224]

I am reminded of when Jhanie Kaye was PD of KOST in LA. He had cassettes of the tips and tails of every library song. If he had doubts about the segue between two songs on the long, he would play the tapes and decide whether to leave it or look for an alternate song.

That must have been the inspiration for RCS's "Selector With Sound" that came out in the mid-90s. Was available only if you had the MASTER CONTROL automation system as it used that library to pull the segues.

 

[davideduardo]

That must have been the inspiration for RCS's "Selector With Sound" that came out in the mid-90s. Was available only if you had the MASTER CONTROL automation system as it used that library to pull the segues.

For many years in the early 2000's at KRCD and its network we used Music Master's ability to attach audio clips. We did only tips and tails, and used the playback ability (lower quality MP3s) to check doubtful segues. Fortunately, the PD I named for the stations could pretty much hum or sing every song, so you' hear her doing that while editing logs!

 

[davideduardo]

Yes. It's not like 30 years ago. PDs used to be responsible for one station(maybe 2). Attention to detail mattered. I knew people who did Music Logs by hand. If the format was AAA or Album Rock, craft was involved. Song flow and the mood of the station mattered.

Everyone does music logs by hand. Music scheduling requires setting up the library, clocks, rules, day-parting and much more. Then it requires editing, changing category balance as new songs are input, and much more.

I first used computer generated logs in 1980 at Rhythmic CHR WDOY in San Juan; briefly (until Metroplex called me) we shot to #1 due to the better rotations, improved music flow and lack of DJ manual manipulation of the list. That was 40 years ago!

Every place I've installed music scheduling software, the PD has been able to generate far more consistent hours and we got feedback from personal listener interviews that we "never had a bad hour".

There is no better way to control flow and texture than using coding about songs that goes beyond tempo and intensity and the more common denominators.

On some formats, it took me as much as a week to adjust the scheduling software to get the flow and feel the PD and I wanted.

The scheduling software you are referring to today is not the same. The PD or MD just loads what corporate tells them. Not that difficult...

Very, very wrong. It takes great skill to get the library flowing right in each station's structure... and it changes with every test and as new songs are added to current list.

While the songs may come from a shared music test (smaller markets have been doing that for 30 or more years) making them fit the specific local station requires time and attention... and, of course, daily log editing.

 

[davideduardo]

Holy crap Bolt. We actually agree again! Research killed radio. The entire industry.

Then you are both wrong.

Research lets good PDs be better.

One time I did an amateur music test for an AC station that had CHR formatics and I had, for fun, jotted down my score to about the first 100 songs out of 600 in the test.

Now, that station was #1 in 18-49 women and #2 in men. It was highly successful. The test was not to fix anything... it was to stay ahead. But we thought we were so good that it hurt!

To my surprise and major embarrassment, my scores were off by more than 25% on over 2/3 of the songs. There were a lot of songs I liked that the audience hated. And more that I enjoyed that did not make the listener's collective passing grade. With the test's results, we became better and stronger. And we learned what kinds of songs were just poison.

Later, with a low rated (last place FM in what is a top 20 market) station in a rhythmic format, we did a low budget test and cut 900 songs off the playlist and reduced currents form 70 to about 20. Next book: #1.

Another example: I was on the team at KLVE in LA in'95. With a test and call out, went from about 15th to #1. And it was very #1, not just a close win. Knowing what not to play, the list went from nearly 1000 songs to 300. And the station stayed #1 until our own second FM, KSCA; knocked us to #2 with the AC format.

And the best example of building one of America's great stations around more research than any other station has ever done was Jerry Lee's FM in Philadelphia. Music research. Perceptual research. Commercial spot research. And the moment the station was sold, they cut the research and lost half the audience. Brilliant.

But research is only as good as those who interpret and implement it. In many cases, all a music test does is the equivalent of giving a machine gun to a chimpanzee and then expecting something good to happen.

The Edsel: unresearched product.
The Mustang: highly researched product.
Same company, different decades.

 

[TheBigA]

Plugging in a corporate playlist isn't very difficult and takes no creativity.

That hasn't been the approach at Cumulus since Mary Berner took over. This format is becoming harder to program regardless who does it.

The trick will be to find the right music mix to attract the largest in-demo audience. That's always the trick.

 

[tbolt909]

Then you are both wrong.

Research lets good PDs be better.

One time I did an amateur music test for an AC station that had CHR formatics and I had, for fun, jotted down my score to about the first 100 songs out of 600 in the test.

Now, that station was #1 in 18-49 women and #2 in men. It was highly successful. The test was not to fix anything... it was to stay ahead. But we thought we were so good that it hurt!

To my surprise and major embarrassment, my scores were off by more than 25% on over 2/3 of the songs. There were a lot of songs I liked that the audience hated. And more that I enjoyed that did not make the listener's collective passing grade. With the test's results, we became better and stronger. And we learned what kinds of songs were just poison.

Later, with a low rated (last place FM in what is a top 20 market) station in a rhythmic format, we did a low budget test and cut 900 songs off the playlist and reduced currents form 70 to about 20. Next book: #1.

Another example: I was on the team at KLVE in LA in'95. With a test and call out, went from about 15th to #1. And it was very #1, not just a close win. Knowing what not to play, the list went from nearly 1000 songs to 300. And the station stayed #1 until our own second FM, KSCA; knocked us to #2 with the AC format.

And the best example of building one of America's great stations around more research than any other station has ever done was Jerry Lee's FM in Philadelphia. Music research. Perceptual research. Commercial spot research. And the moment the station was sold, they cut the research and lost half the audience. Brilliant.

But research is only as good as those who interpret and implement it. In many cases, all a music test does is the equivalent of giving a machine gun to a chimpanzee and then expecting something good to happen.

The Edsel: unresearched product.
The Mustang: highly researched product.
Same company, different decades.

These examples that you provide are from Yesteryear. PDs working for corporate stations these days have "Format Captains" and upper management. The local PD doesn't have much input into the playlist on one of the "Money" stations. They just follow the mandates and hope the ratings and sales remain viable. They'll still get blamed when it fails, but that's Show Biz.

Even the stations websites follow the corporate blueprint with little local input. I doubt that any PD is spending more than an hour a day generating a playlist anymore...

 

[TheBigA]

These examples that you provide are from Yesteryear. PDs working for corporate stations these days have "Format Captains" and upper management. The local PD doesn't have much input into the playlist on one of the "Money" stations.

What does this have to do with The Edge?

 

[davideduardo]

These examples that you provide are from Yesteryear. PDs working for corporate stations these days have "Format Captains" and upper management. The local PD doesn't have much input into the playlist on one of the "Money" stations. They just follow the mandates and hope the ratings and sales remain viable. They'll still get blamed when it fails, but that's Show Biz.

Even the stations websites follow the corporate blueprint with little local input. I doubt that any PD is spending more than an hour a day generating a playlist anymore...

Groups have always had corporate format or program heads. It's just that with bigger groups, instead of outside consultants on each format, we have in-house format chiefs.

The major influence on the playlists at all major formats for the last 30 years or so has been the music test. Whether done in a similar market and shared or done locally, it is still research driven.

While I think that the end game is single national formats (just like most of Europe and the Americas and much of SE Asia and even many African nations), for the moment the same work parts are still locally assembled in American radio. Of course, what we find is that with so much streaming... which is national... there is not much difference in what the hits are in any market any more.

 

[tbolt909]

What does this have to do with The Edge?

The Edge is corporate owned. They use the national playlist for the format. They may not be the "Money" station in the group, but they still follow the playbook...

 

[TheBigA]

The Edge is corporate owned. They use the national playlist for the format. They may not be the "Money" station in the group, but they still follow the playbook...

Do you have specifics? Cumulus doesn't have a playbook, especially in this format. Sounds like you're lumping all corporate radio in one basket.

While I think that the end game is single national formats (just like most of Europe and the Americas and much of SE Asia and even many African nations), for the moment the same work parts are still locally assembled in American radio.

The only company that seems to have figured this out is iHeart, and they don't own stations in Buffalo.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The Edge is corporate owned. They use the national playlist for the format. They may not be the "Money" station in the group, but they still follow the playbook...

You simply don't know what you're talking about. That may have been the case under the Dickey regime, where everything was top down. It's no longer the case at Cumulus stations. Check the playlists at different stations in the same region programming the same format and you'll find significant differences.