"Heads Carolina," old and new

[CTListener]

This afternoon I heard a local country station here in Vermont, WXXK, play Jo Dee Messina's "Heads Carolina, Tails California" and Cole Swindell's "She Had Me at 'Heads Carolina' " in the same music sweep, with only Thomas Rhett's "16" and Priscilla Block's "My Bar" between them. As the Swindell hit is not only based on the Messina hit but melodically identical through much of it, shouldn't stations that are using the Messina song as gold be trying to keep it as far away from Swindell as possible?

 

[TheBigA]

shouldn't stations that are using the Messina song as gold be trying to keep it as far away from Swindell as possible?

Au contraire I would find a way to edit them together into a mash.

BTW Swindell credits the original songwriters, so they get royalties from his song, and he features both writers and JoDee in the video. It wouldn't totally surprise me if she makes an appearance with him during this year's CMA Awards.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Yes, I'd say you'd want them to at least be in separate hours.

However, this wouldn't be something the music scheduling software would know intrinsically. The PD/MD has to set up a specific rule. Similar to how they would need to set up a rule to separate Kix Brooks solo records from Brooks & Dunn, or that Lady A and Lady Antebellum should not be scheduled together.

While music scheduling software is very powerful, the PD/MD has to make the effort to learn and use its functionality, and anticipate when conflicts might occur.

 

[CTListener]

Yes, I'd say you'd want them to at least be in separate hours.

They were, but barely. Swindell played at 1:00, right after the TOH ID and jingle. Messina and the others played at the start of the sweep, which began around 12:50 and extended two songs beyond Swindell to a long set of commercials/promos/weather around 1:10.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

While music scheduling software is very powerful, the PD/MD has to make the effort to learn and use its functionality, and anticipate when conflicts might occur.

If, that is, they have the time. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the PD/MD of the station is also wearing multiple other hats, and the opportunity to sit down and comb through the day's music log to find things the software missed is limited.

 

[davideduardo]

Yes, I'd say you'd want them to at least be in separate hours.

However, this wouldn't be something the music scheduling software would know intrinsically. The PD/MD has to set up a specific rule. Similar to how they would need to set up a rule to separate Kix Brooks solo records from Brooks & Dunn, or that Lady A and Lady Antebellum should not be scheduled together.

The artist rules allow for you to have multiple artist names all protected from each other. In the past, many would protect Lennon, McCartney, Starr and Harrison from Beatles, as an example.

Setting up a protection for a song that plays against another would require protecting the second version from the original version's artist, but that would affect all songs by the second artist. Best is to look out for the songs in log editing. Another way to do that would be to put the two in a "packet" (MusicMaster term) where on one category rotation it plays the first song, and the second time around it plays the other. That guarantees a lot of separation.

In this case, I'd do a two-fer and back-to-back them. But not often.

While music scheduling software is very powerful, the PD/MD has to make the effort to learn and use its functionality, and anticipate when conflicts might occur.

Ain't that the truth. This is not the same as an old iPod on shuffle.

 

[davideduardo]

If, that is, they have the time. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the PD/MD of the station is also wearing multiple other hats, and the opportunity to sit down and comb through the day's music log to find things the software missed is limited.

Then make a rule protecting such things and they won't happen.

 

[Deus Ex Machiato]

Then make a rule protecting such things and they won't happen.

Of course. Just make a few more rules and the small market station can eliminate the PD/MD altogether! Have the music scheduled from corporate HQ. This will save radio!

 

[TheBigA]

Of course. Just make a few more rules and the small market station can eliminate the PD/MD altogether! Have the music scheduled from corporate HQ. This will save radio!

In this case, there is no "corporate HQ." WXXK is owned by a small local owner in New Hampshire.

 

[CTListener]

In this case, there is no "corporate HQ." WXXK is owned by a small local owner in New Hampshire.

Yes, I drive past it just about every day. Great Eastern Radio consists of one floor of a building whose main tenant is a bank, in West Lebanon, NH. I believe they have a similar location in Concord.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I have posted on this site about hearing two songs by the same artist together, but I think I have it figured out. There's no way a station would have a commercial and then a song and then another commercial unless the song in the middle was local rather than from the satellite. I've never confirmed that WSAT is doing this but the songs in the middle tend to be more conservative than what is typical for Good Time Oldies.

 

[CTListener]

I have posted on this site about hearing two songs by the same artist together, but I think I have it figured out. There's no way a station would have a commercial and then a song and then another commercial unless the song in the middle was local rather than from the satellite. I've never confirmed that WSAT is doing this but the songs in the middle tend to be more conservative than what is typical for Good Time Oldies.

Why, exactly, did you post this here? The songs in question aren't by the same artist, and no one mentioned anything about commercial/song/commercial at all.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Why, exactly, did you post this here? The songs in question aren't by the same artist, and no one mentioned anything about commercial/song/commercial at all.

I mentioned commercial/song/commercial because it is a hint that the satellite format didn't play two songs by the same artist together. Still, the local station shouldn't do that either.