• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Songs not looked at for testing anymore?

Kent said:
That song doesn't ring a bell to me at all. Maybe if I heard it, I'd know it, but I don't know it by name. At least for classic hits, familiarity is important. Part of the idea behind playing older music is that the target audience knows every song you play. Relatively obscure or regional hit songs don't pass that test.



All but a couple of the most popular Fleetwood Mac songs today were relative stiffs in their time. So, the simple answer to your question is yes. I don't know, however, if it was a matter of people not liking those Fleetwood Mac songs when they were new so much as it was a general lack of exposure at the time. Fleetwood Mac tended to be released by the album rather than by the single, which prevented it from getting the airplay on hit music stations it might otherwise have gotten.

Grand Funk Railroad is an example of a group that was hated by critics but developed a loyal following. In the 1970’s, it was the only group to ever outsell The Beatles at Madison Square Garden, and that record held at least 10 years. Over time, critics became less harsh on the group, and it remains popular with rock fans all over the country, including some who probably were unfamiliar with the band when it was new. You don’t hear Grand Funk too often on classic hits, but you can still hear the group all over classic rock.
Click to expand...
Grand Funk, however, went more pop as the 70s moved on.
 
Greg Strickland said:
I don't mean special programming; I mean a mention. If you were programming an adult R&B or Urban station in Philadelphia and had someone on live now, Saturday mid-day, would you approve if they mentioned the passing of Thom Bell, his contribution to the Philly sound, followed by playing one song from Bell's list of notable songs? Is there a song on the Wikipedia page list that would work?

en.wikipedia.org

Thom Bell - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Perhaps it is the threshold. I acknowledge a producer may not qualify for mention. I presume Stevie Wonder would qualify.
Click to expand...
I would have probably mentioned Bell's passing
 
Reading the comments and thinking about it, I am incorrect. That's what I get for posting a comment about programming.

Because WDAS was mentioned, I looked at the recently played songs on the website. It appears to exclude syndicated shows. On the website list, the oldest songs they recently played are "That's the way of the world", "Me and Mrs. Jones", "Always and forever", "Let's stay together" "Got to be real", "Could it be I'm falling in love" etc.

Indeed, song testing is very important.

And with that, I leave you with this one :)
Given the late Thurl Ravenscroft's vocal pipes, can you imagine hearing an argument between Thurl and his wife June?

 
Last edited:
I'd be more willing to accept the traditional research and testing with no questions if radio as a medium wasn't losing listeners and becoming irrelevant to younger people. I'm not saying there's no basis to it, but it shouldn't be the answer to everything. Don't play stuff that has obviously aged poorly that very few people want to hear, but don't keep the playlist so tight that you end up sounding repetitive.
 
rduradio said:
I'd be more willing to accept the traditional research and testing with no questions if radio as a medium wasn't losing listeners and becoming irrelevant to younger people.
Click to expand...

The reason radio does what it does is because of advertisers. If you go to non-com radio, they're typically not aiming for young people. If radio was a subscription service, it would be very different.
rduradio said:
Don't play stuff that has obviously aged poorly that very few people want to hear, but don't keep the playlist so tight that you end up sounding repetitive.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that Top 40 radio was based on playing the same 40 songs over & over. By the 1970s, they cut it down from 40 to 30.

If you look at streaming charts, which are based on what "young people" stream, the list is very short and repetitive.

This interest in larger playlists is all coming from people over the age of 50.
 
Greg Strickland said:
Reading the comments and thinking about it, I am incorrect. That's what I get for posting a comment about programming.

Because WDAS was mentioned, I looked at the recently played songs on the website. It appears to exclude syndicated shows. On the website list, the oldest songs they recently played are "That's the way of the world", "Me and Mrs. Jones", "Always and forever", "Let's stay together" "Got to be real", "Could it be I'm falling in love" etc.

Indeed, song testing is very important.

And with that, I leave you with this one :)
Given the late Thurl Ravenscroft's vocal pipes, can you imagine hearing an argument between Thurl and his wife June?

Click to expand...
The most interesting thing about Thurl Ravenscroft: That's his given name!
 
rduradio said:
Don't play stuff that has obviously aged poorly that very few people want to hear, but don't keep the playlist so tight that you end up sounding repetitive.
Click to expand...
Playlists are not kept intentionally tight. Stations consistently research lots more songs than they end up playing. The ones that are not played have strong defects that would cause significant portions of the audience to leave the station.
 
TheBigA said:
The reason radio does what it does is because of advertisers. If you go to non-com radio, they're typically not aiming for young people. If radio was a subscription service, it would be very different.


Keep in mind that Top 40 radio was based on playing the same 40 songs over & over. By the 1970s, they cut it down from 40 to 30.

If you look at streaming charts, which are based on what "young people" stream, the list is very short and repetitive.

This interest in larger playlists is all coming from people over the age of 50.
Click to expand...
Even then, it doesn't appear to be as much "I have 10000 songs that I like equally", but "I have a particular favorite song that doesn't get played on the radio". I volunteered at an LPFM that claimed to play everything that was ever recorded in the 60s and 70s, and the regular callers all called for the same forgotten oldie every day.
 
tall_guy1 said:
where a listener can donate money and hear any song thats ok'd by the staff.
Click to expand...
Even in these situations there are still plenty of barriers in place to make sure you don't go any further than a few "oh wow" selections.

It's the same reason why even true "all request" hours still have 4-5 scheduled well known songs to offset any offbeat requests that are played.
 
rduradio said:
I'd be more willing to accept the traditional research and testing with no questions if radio as a medium wasn't losing listeners and becoming irrelevant to younger people. I'm not saying there's no basis to it, but it shouldn't be the answer to everything. Don't play stuff that has obviously aged poorly that very few people want to hear, but don't keep the playlist so tight that you end up sounding repetitive.
Click to expand...
When new technologies are introduced and become ubiquitous, of course the pieces of the pie get smaller for the existing players in the space. That is not an issue with research.
 
rduradio said:
I'd be more willing to accept the traditional research and testing with no questions if radio as a medium wasn't losing listeners and becoming irrelevant to younger people.
Click to expand...
Research is simply talking to people and asking them how they feel. If we are talking about music, it is how much or how little they like each song, irrespective of where they might hear it. There is no tradition in the formula; talk with people and ask for an opinion .
 
Last edited:
gr8oldies said:
Even then, it doesn't appear to be as much "I have 10000 songs that I like equally", but "I have a particular favorite song that doesn't get played on the radio". I volunteered at an LPFM that claimed to play everything that was ever recorded in the 60s and 70s, and the regular callers all called for the same forgotten oldie every day.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that KISN will play your song.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom