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How much do parent companies control the playlists?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
All the large radio companies have corporate level PDs for essentially all their formats. So, quite a lot. The amount of autonomy at the local level varies by company -- and probably with the local PD's track record.
That's not necessarily a new development, either. It's just that 30 years ago the "corporate PD" role was often filled by a consultant rather than an employee of a large broadcasting corporation.
One smaller broadcaster, Summit Media, recently networked all their classic rock stations to have exactly the same playlist and personalities, so corporate has total control.
That's not necessarily a new development, either. It's just that 30 years ago the "corporate PD" role was often filled by a consultant rather than an employee of a large broadcasting corporation.
One smaller broadcaster, Summit Media, recently networked all their classic rock stations to have exactly the same playlist and personalities, so corporate has total control.
Goes much further back than that. By 1967, Bill Drake could insist on a record being added to KHJ, Los Angeles, KFRC, San Francisco, KGB, San Diego, KYNO, Fresno, WHBQ, Memphis, WOR-FM, New York, CKLW, Windsor/Detroit and WRKO, Boston.
In the 1970s, Paul Drew, as RKO’s National PD, could dictate corporate adds for those stations (minus San Diego and Fresno, which weren’t RKO, and Windsor/Detroit, which RKO sold), plus the RKO FMs in all those markets, plus WAXY, Fort Lauderdale and WFYR, Chicago, which RKO had recently acquired.
By the mid-late 70s almost all the chains had National PDs who exercised some degree of influence and/or control over the music in all their markets.
It depends on the companies and the stations. Also depends on the format. You've heard me say this before, and I'm not lying: In order to be a trade chart reporter, and get the respect and support from major record labels, radio stations have to demonstrate a certain amount of autonomy with respect to playlist. They must have locally based music directors who can take calls from record labels who want to promote their new music. If a station simply uses a corporate playlist, that station will not be included in the data used to compile music charts, and consequently, those stations will not receive promotional support from record labels. It will instead go to the corporate programmers. This is what happened to Cumulus a few years ago when they tried to take away local music decisions. They quickly changed their ways.
This is not to say that even having local music staffs will mean they make all the decisions. Depending on the companies, there are usually weekly conference calls with the station format captains, who will report the latest music research. They'll share stories and reactions to new songs. But if you read thee trades, you'll read quotes from local stations talking about new songs. Inside Radio and Billboard are constantly talking to stations about local decisions. So we're not making this up.
Here's one story about an Audacy country station playing new singles:
WPAW Gets In Early On New Jelly Roll, Dustin Lynch.
As Jelly Roll’s “Son of a Sinner” peaks on the Mediabase chart, Audacy “93.1 The Wolf” WPAW Greensboro, NC, is introducing the singer and rapper’s “she” to its listeners, increasing
In formats that don't play currents, such as classic hits or classic rock, there are no trade charts, thus no requirement for local music decisions. Sweet Home Alabama gets played as much in Seattle as it does in Birmingham. It doesn't matter. So if the playlist comes from the home office, nobody cares. It's a very different situation if you're a top rated station that plays currents in a major market.
Last year, I compared the playlists of the iHeart Christmas stations around the country, and they were all playing the same songs at the same time, as though it was a satellite feed. It may have been. Because it was all Gold, it didn't matter. In fact, some charts will shut down for the two weeks before Christmas because they know stations will replace their currents with Bing Crosby and Gene Autry.
While essentially a semi-local company, when steel city took over the kc cluster back in 2014, they implemented changes in sound in all four stations as part of the cluster noticeably weeks after they gained control of them, most which didn't last. There was an article about how for the country stations (which saw ratings dip) that a "steel city consultant wrecked havoc" on their playlist. I wonder if the pds were on board in such a scenario.
FYI The two people who were PDs back then are still in those same roles today. Which leads me to believe they were not on board and led the charge to return to local control. This is typical for new ownership. I gave the Cumulus example, but something similar happened at Audacy. They think they're in control, until they're shown that they're not.
But wasnt audacy just entercom renamed after the merger with cbs? I never listened to their country stations but I remember kmxv (mix 93.3) in late 2014 from those changes taking on a very cutting-edge sound with a strong rhythmic lean for about 6 to 8 months, when before it was a mainstream chr which itself had evolved from being an adult chr years before. I remember though during their brief rhythmic phase that 6+ numbers were good though, so not sure why they changed back.
Entercom renamed themselves long after the CBS merger. I'd say the two things were unrelated. Audacy was an effort to "modernize" the group name and to distance themselves from an older image.
Yes, but not long after the renaming, the company sought to centralize some music decisions. They changed their minds shortly thereafter.
I only remember that with "alt" though.
But of course.
Okay, that can't possibly be true.
Sure it can. Maybe it couldn't have when it was new, but in....dear God, 49 years..."Sweet Home Alabama" has transcended regionality. It's a Classic Rock staple. Seattle probably plays it as often as you could play it anywhere, as would most markets.
But Birmingham?
That's where it first played... on WERC-FM.
If you are playing it as often as you can play it without causing burnout, then that's as much as you should play it.
At this point, about two generations after it first played in Birmin'ham, it is universal and not particularly local any more.
And Alabama is more than Birmingham... Huntsville, Montgomery, Dothan, Tuscaloosa and more.
David Gleason
Once-Upon-A-Time-PD-WERC (FM) Birmingham
As some of the others have mentioned, it depends on the company. When it comes to CHR, most CHR's will sound similar regardless of ownership. Simply put, the hits are the hits, and all the stations that play the hits are going to be similar. I can remember traveling in the 80's when growing up, and I generally looked for stations that sounded the most like the ones at home. Whether it was a larger or smaller market, the CHR/Top-40 stations I liked at the time sounded mostly the same, even down to the jingles. Very few of those stations were co-owned at the time.
I can tell you, when I worked for Cumulus, the playlists were very top-down. We were expected to send our adds and rotations to the corporate brand managers at least weekly. We didn't get a lot of freedom in what we played. If our brand managers told us to play something, we were expected to play it. If the brand manager said move a song from one category to another, we'd better move it. I seem to remember some brand managers being more autocratic than others, but the company didn't leave too much alone after it came in. I may have mentioned this in another conversation with you, but my understanding is that Cumulus no longer has the top-down playlists. Local management can make its own decisions on which songs it wants to add. Cumulus does, however, still have brand managers, and it has a group deal with a consulting firm or two. So, if you're a local PD or MD trying to determine whether or not to add a song, you get the same data most everyone else does, which means you're probably going to make the same decisions. Once-in-awhile, two PD's or MD's might look at the same data and draw different conclusions, but that's uncommon. What I don't know is whether Cumulus allows individual stations and/or markets to use consultants outside of the brand managers and consulting firms it typically uses. I can't imagine the small market Cumulus stations have the budget to afford that, but, if it's permitted, the larger markets might.
I don't know that means corporate has total control, but it certainly means corporate could control the playlist if it wanted. SummitMedia is a programming focused operator, and it might be letting one of those local PD's make the playlist decisions for all of those stations without interference. The release I saw didn't say who the PD of the classic rock format was. From what I can tell from the company's website, it doesn't seem to have a format leader for rock formats at the present time.
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