KOLA FM

[ChannelFlipper]

But generally speaking, those who complain about repetition have listening patterns which are atypical of the vast majority. They listen for longer periods and therefore notice repetition that the typical listener never will. And those of us who are programmers know this and never consider the criticism to be valid.

"We will never consider the needs of the listeners who use the station the most."

There are very few industries that so willfully ignore the needs of their most ardent customers. (I know, the listener is not the customer, yada, yada,...)

 

[K.M. Richards]

"We will never consider the needs of the listeners who use the station the most."

Prove to me that the cumulative total listening of the longer-period listeners is significantly greater than the cumulative total of all the shorter-period listeners, and you would have a valid point. It is not, because the vast majority of listening is with the second group and there are many, many fewer listeners in the first. You therefore used a faulty definition of "most" and the argument fails on that basis.

There are very few industries that so willfully ignore the needs of their most ardent customers. (I know, the listener is not the customer, yada, yada,...)

Your parenthesized comment is correct. The preceding sentence, based on your faulty argument, is not.

 

[davideduardo]

"We will never consider the needs of the listeners who use the station the most."

There are very few industries that so willfully ignore the needs of their most ardent customers. (I know, the listener is not the customer, yada, yada,...)

There are few if any multi-hour listeners. The idea that someone listened "all day" came from diarykeepers who wrote "9 AM" to "5 PM" on the start and end spaces. The PPM showed us that the 8 hour listener was really a 3 hour listener who had bits and pieces of 10, 15, 20 minutes with loads of interruptions.

So we program for the 95% of people who listen 10 to 20 minutes at a time. What we want is to have those people return to us after being away from the radio.

A station I constructed formatically was used by Arbitron in the early years of PPM to demonstrate that a winning station had a dozen or more daily incidents, and that every time the listener was back near a radio they stayed with us.

We don't program to satisfy long listening spans because there are none of those.

 

[K.M. Richards]

For smaller stations, it's not uncommon for me to use a power rotation of 175, a secondary of 125, and another 100 in tertiary (songs I schedule but which will not air during most hours, presuming the station is making ad sales). And I also have a couple of accent categories which have lots of titles and can be added to the clock to stretch out the rotations as needed.

In light of the challenge made, and responses from myself and David in rebuttal, I feel I should clarify the above.

While I do sometimes do create a clock where there the above ratio of power to secondary makes sense -- usually because I don't use the accent categories on those and tend to slot more powers per hour than I would otherwise -- I tend more to have clocks that support about 125 powers and 185 secondaries, which results in weekly totals of around 12 spins per power title. That's about 1¾ spins per day of the most-played titles (1.71, if you want precise math), which really shouldn't be anyone's idea of "repetitive" unless you want to drive listeners away by playing their big favorites so infrequently they're rarely tuned in when one plays.

 

[ragazzo-pazzo]

While I do sometimes do create a clock where there the above ratio of power to secondary makes sense -- usually because I don't use the accent categories on those and tend to slot more powers per hour than I would otherwise -- I tend more to have clocks that support about 125 powers and 185 secondaries, which results in weekly totals of around 12 spins per power title. That's about 1¾ spins per day of the most-played titles (1.71, if you want precise math), which really shouldn't be anyone's idea of "repetitive" unless you want to drive listeners away by playing their big favorites so infrequently they're rarely tuned in when one plays.

One of the smartest men I ever worked with (yes, he was a consultant) characterized the "repetition" complaint as being an indicator that the person complaining is hearing something they don't like. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. All the testing and plotting of rotations will never eliminate it altogether, but the smart programmers know how to minimize it.

 

[K.M. Richards]

One of the smartest men I ever worked with (yes, he was a consultant) characterized the "repetition" complaint as being an indicator that the person complaining is hearing something they don't like. It makes perfect sense if you think about it. All the testing and plotting of rotations will never eliminate it altogether, but the smart programmers know how to minimize it.

I've said many, many, many times that any music programmer who does not know how to set scheduling rules to minimize the number of times a regular listener hears any song in a given period of time has no business being in the business. Even at the very first station I programmed -- an AC in my hometown market, back in 1978 -- which I ran using a Schafer 903 automation system, I concocted a method of staggering the repeating of any gold reel across all dayparts, and had the current and recurrent reels deliberately begin a new start sequence every morning at 3:00am, specifying different reels each day and starting at a different track number.

I find it infinitely easier to make rotations work with present automated music playback systems and computerized scheduling software to create that minimization.

I'll let David tell his experience about how "repetition" doesn't necessarily mean what everyone thinks it does (too tight a rotation), but is rather an indication that the complaining listener is hearing non-favorites too often and favorites not often enough. That has a lot to do with why the best consultants understand not only how to properly choose the right songs, but how to properly schedule them. I think that fits pretty well with what your friend said.

 

[30james]

I'm surprised janet jackson does not do well with testing so far as KOLA is concerned. She defined the 90's.

 

[davideduardo]

I'll let David tell his experience about how "repetition" doesn't necessarily mean what everyone thinks it does (too tight a rotation), but is rather an indication that the complaining listener is hearing non-favorites too often and favorites not often enough. That has a lot to do with why the best consultants understand not only how to properly choose the right songs, but how to properly schedule them. I think that fits pretty well with what your friend said.

You said it perfectly. "Repetition" complaints have to do with songs that the listener does not like. The tighter and better researched the list, the fewer repetition complaints you get.

"Variety" means "all the songs I like and none of the ones I do not like". The format that gets the highest variety positives in research is CHR, and the best performing ones have around 70 or so songs in rotation outside of mix and specialty shows. When they get too much higher in song count, the variety score goes way down.

I'm surprised janet jackson does not do well with testing so far as KOLA is concerned. She defined the 90's.

Probably does not test well any longer.

 

[dr.luke]

I wouldn't say WCBS-FM is as repetitive as KRTH (or even the exact same in terms of playlist titles). But each owner has a quirk, repetitive or otherwise. Many Cumulus Classic Hits stations, for instance, lean towards Classic Rock. And I'm not sure if one could say that iHeart Classic Hits stations are substantially less repetitive than those of Audacy.

But, there's a reason why Audacy has several strong Classic Hits stations. Classic Hits, along with News/Talk/Sports, is Audacy's forte, with respect to ratings.

A station like WLTW doesn't appear repetitive to my ears. Why? (WAXQ, on the other hand, is repetitive, especially in certain time slots)

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm surprised janet jackson does not do well with testing so far as KOLA is concerned. She defined the 90's.

Probably does not test well any longer.

Actually, her 80's hits don't test all that well anymore either. Not one of her songs from either decade appeared on the list of the 500 most played songs in 2021 for the Classic Rock format.

And David has already mentioned that KOLA cannot afford to do testing because ad revenue in the IE is so low, so I suspect they are following national airplay more than anything.

As for "she defined the 90's": Once again, it does not matter how popular an artist or title was when that music was current. What matters is what the listeners want to hear now.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Actually, her 80's hits don't test all that well anymore either. Not one of her songs from either decade appeared on the list of the 500 most played songs in 2021 for the Classic Rock format.

Probably because she is not a classic rock artist.

 

[KilowattKat]

Actually, her 80's hits don't test all that well anymore either. Not one of her songs from either decade appeared on the list of the 500 most played songs in 2021 for the Classic Rock format.

And David has already mentioned that KOLA cannot afford to do testing because ad revenue in the IE is so low, so I suspect they are following national airplay more than anything.

As for "she defined the 90's": Once again, it does not matter how popular an artist or title was when that music was current. What matters is what the listeners want to hear now.

Was it "Classic Hits" you meant to say? Instead of Classic Rock

 

[K.M. Richards]

Was it "Classic Hits" you meant to say? Instead of Classic Rock

Yes, but Flipper loves to catch me making typos. He hopes it deflects attention from the facts David and I have to post in rebuttal to his posts.

 

[Mido3737]

Kola is a good listen and I was listening online yesterday from here in Ireland and surprised to hear Linkin Park .Kola's stack of cash is clearly a winner for both Kola and listener ,but it's a mechanic that has worked well elsewhere.Here in Ireland so many radio station were and some are doing hourly 1000 Euro 💶 cash all. Top of the hour you hear cash call amount and someone gets a call to win 1000 Euro 💶 if they know the cash call amount.Its a good way and cheap way to drive listeners up during day time.🌟👍

 

[KilowattKat]

Actually, her 80's hits don't test all that well anymore either. Not one of her songs from either decade appeared on the list of the 500 most played songs in 2021 for the Classic Rock format.

And David has already mentioned that KOLA cannot afford to do testing because ad revenue in the IE is so low, so I suspect they are following national airplay more than anything.

As for "she defined the 90's": Once again, it does not matter how popular an artist or title was when that music was current. What matters is what the listeners want to hear now.

Do you happen to know what song was played the MOST on Classic Hits radio in 2021? My guess would be Journey " Don't Stop Believing".

And what artist got the most airplay in 2021? My guess would be Michael Jackson, considering how huge he was in the 80's.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Do you happen to know what song was played the MOST on Classic Hits radio in 2021? My guess would be Journey " Don't Stop Believing".

Well done, Kat. #1 in 2021, and in 2020, and in 2019, et cetera, ad nauseum ...

In fact, that song's total spin count increased by over 1500 from 2020 to 2021.

And what artist got the most airplay in 2021? My guess would be Michael Jackson, considering how huge he was in the 80's.

The late Mr. Jackson holds positions 27, 37, 138, 207, 211, 227, 279, 281, 291, 381 and 402 for a total of just under 126,000 spins. That's roughly 3½ times the number of plays the Journey song received, as a point of reference.

In addition, one of his songs from 1990 ("Black And White") was at #356.

 

[victorres43]

In fact, that song's total spin count increased by over 1500 from 2020 to 2021.

Even more airplay than the previous year, which was already a lot? Indeed, a true anthem for people eager to end the pandemic.

The late Mr. Jackson holds positions 27, 37, 138, 207, 211, 227, 279, 281, 291, 381 and 402 for a total of just under 126,000 spins. That's roughly 3½ times the number of plays the Journey song received, as a point of reference.

In addition, one of his songs from 1990 ("Black And White") was at #356.

And to think that Michael Jackson was taboo to listen to in the early 2000s.

A station like WLTW doesn't appear repetitive to my ears. Why? (WAXQ, on the other hand, is repetitive, especially in certain time slots)

Different song selections between WLTW and WCBS-FM could give air to that perception. But, WLTW is background music in many workplaces and businesses, so some listeners may not anticipate hearing their favorite song upon tuning.

Same situation between KOST and KRTH (and KCBS-FM, for that matter).

 

[KilowattKat]

Well done, Kat. #1 in 2021, and in 2020, and in 2019, et cetera, ad nauseum ...

In fact, that song's total spin count increased by over 1500 from 2020 to 2021.


The late Mr. Jackson holds positions 27, 37, 138, 207, 211, 227, 279, 281, 291, 381 and 402 for a total of just under 126,000 spins. That's roughly 3½ times the number of plays the Journey song received, as a point of reference.

In addition, one of his songs from 1990 ("Black And White") was at #356.

What's fascinating is that song only reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it came out in 1981, and there were two bigger hits on that Escape album. Not only has it endured, but is more popular today. For quite awhile, it was the #1 digital song of the 20th century. I have no idea why this is, with a song that is 41 years old. Despite a listeners different perception than reality, I can tell you that it does get played a lot on KXSN.

 

[K.M. Richards]

What's fascinating is that song only reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it came out in 1981, and there were two bigger hits on that Escape album. Not only has it endured, but is more popular today. For quite awhile, it was the #1 digital song of the 20th century. I have no idea why this is, with a song that is 41 years old.

Two words: The Sopranos.

 

[KilowattKat]

Two words: The Sopranos.

Oh yes! That last scene when the series ended. A popular movie or TV show does have the power to bring a song back to life