Radio station playlists songs 300 or less?

[vchimpanzee]

Sean Ross just wrote a column about song repetition in radio.

https://radioinsight.com/blogs/220767/is-it-still-groundhog-day-at-radio/

Sean's column is more about song scheduling than playlist size. But he notes that some recurrents are "burned to a crisp" by the time they move out of the current rotation. My view is some of that is because some currents in heavy rotation weren't actually hits.

I've had to quit listening to KTUC as often because certain songs get played every single time I listen. I like the songs, but at some point too much is too much. And there are lots of songs a station like that should be playing that I haven't heard. Maybe I should go back to WERT periodically even if they play some songs I don't like.

But the Facebook group I belong to has YouTube videos that last all day.

 

[Mido3737]

All I know is in the 70s when "Happy Days" was a big hit series, I kept seeing commercials for records with those songs.

63 Big WAYS suburban Charlotte NC and KTUC Tucson play a lot of 50s music. KTUC has plenty of advertising. WAYS has an owner who doesn't care about making a lot of money and each hour has a sponsor.

Good for them last thing anyone want another iheart playing those 300 tired songs over and over .

 

[Mido3737]

Can I just say that online station Carolina classic hits always sound fresh anytime I listen.its no surprise the station has over 2000 songs on their data base.The way radio should run .For online station it has over 50000 listeners not a threat to the IHearts of this world but a great listen .

 

[KilowattKat]

Lots of spots does not mean lots of money. Those AMs playing 50’s and 60’s dinosaurs are generally getting a “dollar a holler” or less.

A friend of mine is a business owner in Tucson, and he's been advertising on KTUC since 2005, and was the one who turned me on to this station. He definitely pays MORE than a dollar for his holler. They have a slate of local businesses that have been loyal advertisers for many years, a lot of the owners are big fans of the station and the music. KTUC is owned by Cumulus, so you also hear a number of their national ad buys to clear in Tucson. I'm going to assume they are making money for Cumulus as the station and it's music has stayed the same since 2011 when KTUC owner Citadel merged with Cumulus.

 

[davideduardo]

Good for them last thing anyone want another iheart playing those 300 tired songs over and over .

You know that it's the listeners who pick the songs, don't you?

If a station's playlist is 300 songs, it means that everything beyond 300 is a stiff.

And if listeners give high scores to songs, they are not tired.

 

[davideduardo]

A friend of mine is a business owner in Tucson, and he's been advertising on KTUC since 2005, and was the one who turned me on to this station. He definitely pays MORE than a dollar for his holler.

He's paying too much. There are 40 stations in the Tucson survey area, and this one is 28th with zero listeners under 55. 70% are over 65.

They have a slate of local businesses that have been loyal advertisers for many years, a lot of the owners are big fans of the station and the music.

That is why the bill less than $20,000 a month. The #1 biller does about $400,000 a month.

KTUC is owned by Cumulus, so you also hear a number of their national ad buys to clear in Tucson.

Probably bonus spots. There are few if any national buys that are not in the 18-54 age range as target.

I'm going to assume they are making money for Cumulus as the station and it's music has stayed the same since 2011 when KTUC owner Citadel merged with Cumulus.

There is not much else you can do with an AM at 1400 with 1kw that does not even cover the whole market with a usable signal. It's not as if they could sell it for much.

 

[Mido3737]

You know that it's the listeners who pick the songs, don't you?

If a station's playlist is 300 songs, it means that everything beyond 300 is a stiff.

And if listeners give high scores to songs, they are not tired.

Don't buy I to that 300 songs at all.Those songs get repetitive and listeners are not fools and will walk away elsewhere to to get their fix

 

[b-turner]

Mido3737 - you state you are not buying David's statements. Do you honestly believe businesses interested in generating a profit and sticking around in the market intentionally provide a product their customers (listeners) do not want? Does that sound like a business plan for any business that is trying to produce a profit or a dividend for their stockholders?

I'm a music lover myself and I am part of that minority that wants more than the consensus hits although I like the safe ones too, Because I am a music explorer doesn't mean the safe playlist is wrong. It means the vast majority of music listeners don't share my interest in music but use music as a mood enhancer and bond with friends so they want to hear familiar songs they know and love.

This is really not directly related but I'm enough of a radio nut that a strange thing happened. In 1969 my family went to Nashville for Christmas. I carried my transistor radio and a notebook with me. I'd listen to stations and log everything they did. Then I'd practice pretending to be a DJ on the station. I was listening to WKDA 1240, a top 40 powerhouse that always duked it out with WMAK 1300 for the king of top 40 crown.

Here's the strange thing. I found an aircheck of the station online from the very hour I was listening as a kid in 1969. It was a very strange realization. My takeaway from hearing the aircheck: the jock was sure not very good...having fun but not a very tight board and stumbled a lot in live reads. Very seat of the pants, mostly reacting rather than planned and executed step by step. Musically, about half the songs would have me changing the station in mere seconds these days. Certainly these were not the monster hits we recall from back in the day because they weren't the ones that topped the charts but likely those that had a brief appearance on the top 40 or was a 'give me an add' request from a record rep. These were stiffs. WKDA was pretty legendary. Funny, my memory is it sounded much, much better than that tape recording from Christmas 1969. It was hard to listen to because of all those stiffs.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Don't buy I to that 300 songs at all.Those songs get repetitive and listeners are not fools and will walk away elsewhere to to get their fix

A little quick math. 12 songs per hour, 300 song playlist. If you played each song in order, that's ~25 hours worth.
But no one listens 24/7. In fact, the average American spends around than one hour with music radio per day.

So if you play your top titles 4x a day, or even 6x, very few listeners will notice, because they were not tuned in for more than one play.

 

[TheBigA]

Don't buy I to that 300 songs at all.Those songs get repetitive and listeners are not fools and will walk away elsewhere to to get their fix

They might go to streaming sites, and do you know what most people stream? The same small group of favorite songs over and over. How do we know? We can see it in the streaming charts. People like repetition when it's their favorites. That's why they call them "favorites."

 

[davideduardo]

Don't buy I to that 300 songs at all.Those songs get repetitive and listeners are not fools and will walk away elsewhere to to get their fix

How many randomly picked listeners have you talked to about each song, one by one? My own personal count is in the low six figures.

When songs get "burn" they are eliminated or rested. New songs are tried out, and the ones that pass are rotated in a pattern appropriate with their scores.

With each kind of format, there is a basic library size that is just about the same anywhere in the country. Some formats can only tolerate 70 to 90 songs, others find 600 to 800 usable ones.

 

[Mido3737]

I hear what all of you are saying Couple points worth noting here in Europe people listen to radio longer some up to 4 hours per day.As ex jock from top AC top ten market I can tell you a tight playlist may work short term but not long term as your listeners will leave .Online the way to go I think .It may not rake in tons cash but those who do have carved out real niche that has listeners flocking to hear them.

 

[Mido3737]

How many randomly picked listeners have you talked to about each song, one by one? My own personal count is in the low six figures.

When songs get "burn" they are eliminated or rested. New songs are tried out, and the ones that pass are rotated in a pattern appropriate with their scores.

With each kind of format, there is a basic library size that is just about the same anywhere in the country. Some formats can only tolerate 70 to 90 songs, others find 600 to 800 usable ones.

I'm glad you posed that question we go out in our target area and poll listeners for fav songs and reason why and we play them .We also put their audio to air and find figure have been going up on monthly basis .We talk to our audience both on and off air . I don't see too many other stations online or on Fm doing the same Room in market for everyone but you get stale and you are toast.

 

[Mido3737]

They might go to streaming sites, and do you know what most people stream? The same small group of favorite songs over and over. How do we know? We can see it in the streaming charts. People like repetition when it's their favorites. That's why they call them "favorites."

But the problem is everyone has a favourite or two but by time you get to five it's like opening up a pandoras box .

 

[TheBigA]

But the problem is everyone has a favourite or two but by time you get to five it's like opening up a pandoras box .

One difference between a radio station and a personal playlist is most radio stations cycle songs into an out of the playlist on a regular basis. In other words, it should be an active playlist, and there's a difference between the playlist and the library. We may be talking about 500 song playlists, but the library is larger. Hopefully they're also adding currents.

Plus it's not unusual to have other stations in the market drawing on a similar era of music but with a different emphasis. So if one approach becomes recognizable, just change the station to another in the format with a different approach to the same music. This is even happening within stations owned by the same company.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I don't listen to WBRF (classic country) Galax VA very often but I don't hear a lot of repetition. Every time I listen I seem to hear something new, especially on what used to be called "Outlaw Drive at Five". Now it's just "Drive at Five" but that's an opportunity for some usual songs I wouldn't likely have heard before. Most of the time I like the new songs.