Do radio stations do live radio giveaways anymore

[K.M. Richards]

98.7 Simon in Greensboro NC is frequently number one or close to it.

Proves my point. No station with a playlist of "outlier favorites" is ever the top station in a market.

"Outlier", by its very definition, is someone who doesn't listen to stations programmed for a mass audience.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Top 25 songs on WSMW (98.7 Simon) year-to-date. Doesn't sound like it's programmed for anything other than a mass appeal "consensus favorites" audience:

1	A-HA	Take On Me
2	OUTFIELD	Your Love
3	NAKED EYES	Always Something There To...
4	SURVIVOR	Eye Of The Tiger
5	EDDIE MONEY	Take Me Home Tonight
6	WHITESNAKE	Here I Go Again
7	RICK JAMES	Super Freak (Part 1)
8	CUTTING CREW	(I Just) Died In Your Arms
9	JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP	Small Town
10	KENNY LOGGINS	Danger Zone
11	CYNDI LAUPER	Girls Just Want To Have Fun
12	PHIL COLLINS	In The Air Tonight
13	UB40	Red Red Wine
14	BEE GEES	Stayin' Alive
15	BON JOVI	Wanted Dead Or Alive
16	JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP	Jack & Diane
17	JOURNEY	Don't Stop Believin'
18	BRYAN ADAMS	Summer Of '69
19	QUEEN	Another One Bites The Dust
20	WAR	Low Rider
21	MARSHALL TUCKER BAND	Can't You See
22	EURYTHMICS	Sweet Dreams(Are Made Of This)
23	MARVIN GAYE	Sexual Healing
24	POLICE	Every Breath You Take
25	COMMODORES	Brick House

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Top 25 songs on WSMW (98.7 Simon) year-to-date. Doesn't sound like it's programmed for anything other than a mass appeal "consensus favorites" audience:

1	A-HA	Take On Me
2	OUTFIELD	Your Love
3	NAKED EYES	Always Something There To...
4	SURVIVOR	Eye Of The Tiger
5	EDDIE MONEY	Take Me Home Tonight
6	WHITESNAKE	Here I Go Again
7	RICK JAMES	Super Freak (Part 1)
8	CUTTING CREW	(I Just) Died In Your Arms
9	JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP	Small Town
10	KENNY LOGGINS	Danger Zone
11	CYNDI LAUPER	Girls Just Want To Have Fun
12	PHIL COLLINS	In The Air Tonight
13	UB40	Red Red Wine
14	BEE GEES	Stayin' Alive
15	BON JOVI	Wanted Dead Or Alive
16	JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP	Jack & Diane
17	JOURNEY	Don't Stop Believin'
18	BRYAN ADAMS	Summer Of '69
19	QUEEN	Another One Bites The Dust
20	WAR	Low Rider
21	MARSHALL TUCKER BAND	Can't You See
22	EURYTHMICS	Sweet Dreams(Are Made Of This)
23	MARVIN GAYE	Sexual Healing
24	POLICE	Every Breath You Take
25	COMMODORES	Brick House

This sounds like an all hit pop version of what we do.... i recognzie alot of the songs from our playlist but we go deeper

 

[K.M. Richards]

This sounds like an all hit pop version of what we do.... i recognzie alot of the songs from our playlist but we go deeper

I went down as far as 1500 songs and sorted by year. No surprises ... most of the songs with the heaviest spin count were Classic Hits compatible. The lesser-played songs tended to be Classic Rock songs that aren't already part of the CH format, and the sheer number of titles post-1990 was a fairly small percentage of the entire library (I'm guessing somewhere around 6% to 8% ... maybe.)

 

[kevtronics]

I went down as far as 1500 songs and sorted by year. No surprises ... most of the songs with the heaviest spin count were Classic Hits compatible.

The question is how often the top 200 or so of those songs are played versus the rest of them.

Plenty of people do like "Take On Me", but hearing it played three or four times a day, every day, is more than they can take on.

 

[vw86]

But even P1s aren't hearing the three or four plays per day, assuming the music scheduling is done properly. They might hear it once every week or ten days.

 

[K.M. Richards]

The question is how often the top 200 or so of those songs are played versus the rest of them.

By asking that question, you make it obvious that you have never seen a Mediabase report on song airplay. The ranking is based on total airplay, and by the time I get to #1500 (which doesn't even cover the really non-consensus titles) the spin count is down to five. For the entire year to date.

Plenty of people do like "Take On Me", but hearing it played three or four times a day, every day, is more than they can take on.

More conclusions based on a common misconception.

Building on what @vw86 posted while I was composing this response, people do not listen continuously throughout the day. They tune in and out multiple times each day, listening for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, and if a programmer is doing their job right, they have the scheduling software set up with rules to prevent a song repeating in the same daypart -- and the same hour as the last time it played in that daypart ... and even a different quarter-hour from when it last played in that hour -- so the typical listener (as in, non-outlier) won't hear all of the plays.

To use your own example, here is the last 30 days' airplay of "Take On Me" on KRKE, direct from my scheduling log:
07/12/2026 Sun 5:43pm
07/11/2026 Sat 6:25am
07/10/2026 Fri 12:08am
07/09/2026 Thu 12:54pm
07/08/2026 Wed 9:43am
07/07/2026 Tue 8:29pm
07/07/2026 Tue 7:25am
07/06/2026 Mon 6:15pm
07/06/2026 Mon 4:21am
07/05/2026 Sun 4:43pm
07/04/2026 Sat 10:32am
07/03/2026 Fri 2:44am
07/02/2026 Thu 3:32pm
07/01/2026 Wed 1:21am
06/30/2026 Tue 2:08pm
06/29/2026 Mon 5:09am
06/28/2026 Sun 2:16am
06/27/2026 Sat 1:24pm
06/26/2026 Fri 7:43am
06/25/2026 Thu 1:54am
06/24/2026 Wed 2:54pm
06/22/2026 Mon 10:00am
06/21/2026 Sun 10:43am
06/20/2026 Sat 5:42am
06/19/2026 Fri 4:54pm
06/18/2026 Thu 8:42am
06/17/2026 Wed 6:44pm
06/17/2026 Wed 2:43am
06/16/2026 Tue 3:44pm
06/15/2026 Mon 10:14am
06/14/2026 Sun 11:24am
06/13/2026 Sat 1:17am
06/12/2026 Fri 1:08pm

I am certain that I am not the only one here who tires of being challenged about established and agreed upon programming strategies and policies, based on anecdotal or emotional POVs. I strongly suggest that everyone who relies on that debating tactic stop doing so, because sooner or later each and every one of you will cross a line that I do not believe you would want to.

As I have said many times before: Repeating the same tired arguments that have been disproved every time they were posted in the past is not going to get agreement from anyone but your fellow outliers (who, honestly, are guilty of the same behavior). And it's not going to change anything, except to make people tired of hearing the person repeat himself ... and we all know what that leads to, do we not?

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

To use your own example, here is the last 30 days' airplay of "Take On Me" on KRKE, direct from my scheduling log:
07/12/2026 Sun 5:43pm
07/11/2026 Sat 6:25am
07/10/2026 Fri 12:08am
07/09/2026 Thu 12:54pm
07/08/2026 Wed 9:43am
07/07/2026 Tue 8:29pm
07/07/2026 Tue 7:25am
07/06/2026 Mon 6:15pm
07/06/2026 Mon 4:21am
07/05/2026 Sun 4:43pm
07/04/2026 Sat 10:32am
07/03/2026 Fri 2:44am
07/02/2026 Thu 3:32pm
07/01/2026 Wed 1:21am
06/30/2026 Tue 2:08pm
06/29/2026 Mon 5:09am
06/28/2026 Sun 2:16am
06/27/2026 Sat 1:24pm
06/26/2026 Fri 7:43am
06/25/2026 Thu 1:54am
06/24/2026 Wed 2:54pm
06/22/2026 Mon 10:00am
06/21/2026 Sun 10:43am
06/20/2026 Sat 5:42am
06/19/2026 Fri 4:54pm
06/18/2026 Thu 8:42am
06/17/2026 Wed 6:44pm
06/17/2026 Wed 2:43am
06/16/2026 Tue 3:44pm
06/15/2026 Mon 10:14am
06/14/2026 Sun 11:24am
06/13/2026 Sat 1:17am
06/12/2026 Fri 1:08pm

that is a good song and going to be a p1 song for a p1 audience member..... but i liek that its never scheduled in the same time again for at least a few days, so everyone gets to hear that song

 

[K.M. Richards]

that is a good song and going to be a p1 song for a p1 audience member..... but i liek that its never scheduled in the same time again for at least a few days, so everyone gets to hear that song

As you might guess, Paul, that is deliberate on my part.

Even with literally every other song on the hot clock being a Power, there are enough of those (based on the combined airplay of 19 stations in top-40 markets who are still doing active ongoing testing and research of their active libraries) for me to routinely keep 125 titles in the category, which serves the P1s without overdoing it.

And that leads to higher TSL and more frequent tune ins.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

As you might guess, Paul, that is deliberate on my part.

Even with literally every other song on the hot clock being a Power, there are enough of those (based on the combined airplay of 19 stations in top-40 markets who are still doing active ongoing testing and research of their active libraries) for me to routinely keep 125 titles in the category, which serves the P1s without overdoing it.

And that leads to higher TSL and more frequent tune ins.

i totally get it.. people are continually jamming out.. not quite stopping or changing the channel

 

[vw86]

So needless to say
I'm odds and ends
But I'll be stumblin' away
Slowly learnin' that life is okay
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry
Take on me

 

[408listener]

God im not sure what I hate more...the generation who perpetuates this impression of radio, or the overall impression corporate radio gives anyone who knows "just a little bit" about the business. Radio stations ALL over the country still do call in contests all the time. Just because 2 big companies who own 1100 of the 15,000 radio stations in the country "seem" to not do call in contests anymore, doesn't mean the rest of us aren't. You could also ask "Do radio stations do Tradio anymore?" or "Do radio stations still run news, local sports and obituaries anymore". Just because you either live in one large area of the country, that is only served by big companies, or you hear from websites and message boards that "radio is dead", doesn't mean the overwhelming majority aren't still doing something resembling real radio anymore. It might not be 24/7 like it used to be. It might pivot between call ins and online contesting. But it's still being done. In thousands of small to medium markets all over the country. Just because Z100 or KISS FM don't do call in contests anymore (and I don't honestly know if they do) doesnt mean EVERYONE isn't.

Well said...and do you listen to Van McCoy by any chance?

 

[The Hustle]

Well said...and do you listen to Van McCoy by any chance?

I might rabbit...I might....

 

[Kent]

I learned many years ago from some of the best in the business, only a small percentage of listeners actually participate in contests.

My experience has always been, at least with music stations, only a small percentage of listeners call in for any reason, unless it's a call-in program, like love songs and dedications, or a contemporary-based format, like CHR/Top-40 or hot country. Even 25 years ago, when I was at the number one station in a small market, I rarely got more than a couple calls over the course of a four hour shift.

The whole point is (or was) not just to hand out a prize to an anonymous listener that the rest of the audience doesn't care about, it's to generate entertainment value on the air and hopefully capture great audio to be used in station promos. To that end, we always turned the contests into very entertaining features and put the contestants on the air, either live or recorded, edited as necessary, and quickly played back. It's yet another formerly great part of radio that has fallen by the wayside thanks to empty studios and out-of-market voicetracks prerecorded hours or days in advance.

While the aim of contests from the jock's perspective was always to do something like that, the actual purpose of contests was to determine who our listeners were and whether we were reaching the people we were targeting. Granted, it wasn't a scientific study, but we knew exactly who every winner was and what their demographics were. If we wanted to do music testing or some other research, we could pull a list of winners within the target demographic and see what they wanted to hear.

What's the point of today's text or email-to-win radio contests? There's no entertainment value to be had from them.

Much like the other contests, it's about finding out who's actually listening. Those of us on the programming side don't like thinking about it, but marketing, not entertainment, comes first at every radio station. Even if you work for a company that invests tons in programming every year, it's not putting that money into programming that doesn't sell. If it is doing that, you won't be airing that programming for long.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I learned many years ago from some of the best in the business, only a small percentage of listeners actually participate in contests. The whole point is (or was) not just to hand out a prize to an anonymous listener that the rest of the audience doesn't care about, it's to generate entertainment value on the air and hopefully capture great audio to be used in station promos. To that end, we always turned the contests into very entertaining features and put the contestants on the air, either live or recorded, edited as necessary, and quickly played back. It's yet another formerly great part of radio that has fallen by the wayside thanks to empty studios and out-of-market voicetracks prerecorded hours or days in advance.

What's the point of today's text or email-to-win radio contests? There's no entertainment value to be had from them. You're not capturing good audio to be used on the radio which is an audio-only medium. A lot of stations don't even follow up to announce the winner's name. You might increase TSL by a very few contest pigs who are unlikely to be Nielsen panelists, but for everyone else they're just clutter with no payoff.

Much like the other contests, it's about finding out who's actually listening. Those of us on the programming side don't like thinking about it, but marketing, not entertainment, comes first at every radio station. Even if you work for a company that invests tons in programming every year, it's not putting that money into programming that doesn't sell. If it is doing that, you won't be airing that programming for long.

I think you have hit upon the main fallacy in thinking that @Theater of My Mind -- among others -- rely upon in forming their opinions. (I highlighted the key parts his post that you were addressing for everyone's convenience.)

Radio is not in the entertainment business. We are in the advertising business, and the programming is there to attract a sufficient number of listeners to be able to get ad dollars.

Since this has been the case since August 28, 1922 -- the date WEAF aired the first radio commercial -- either he misunderstood what the business is, or he chooses to believe that the programming takes precedence over the advertising. I'm not really sure which is the case.

 

[radiofan2023]

I wasn't going to look, but your comment made it necessary.

Holy crap, what a mess. I particularly noted that two of the sidebar ads promote weekly programs by state elected officials "starting January 2025".

The schedule for the local team whose games they apparently broadcast hasn't been updated since 2022.

The video stream is "unavailable". The podcasts are repeats of paid infomercials from a single advertiser.

They use the radio-locator map (which appears to be outdated) on their page aimed at potential advertisers, squeezed it down to near-illegibility, and then claiming by their "map legend" underneath as the translator going out farther than the AM.

Not to mention the columns of ads on the left and right sides are cut off, at least on my tablet.

As I have said many times before: Repeating the same tired arguments that have been disproved every time they were posted in the past is not going to get agreement from anyone but your fellow outliers (who, honestly, are guilty of the same behavior). And it's not going to change anything, except to make people tired of hearing the person repeat himself ... and we all know what that leads to, do we not?

Is it this?

 

[K.M. Richards]

Not to mention the columns of ads on the left and right sides are cut off, at least on my tablet.

Oh, you noticed that too? I had to take my browser down to around 80% to see the whole thing. I don't even want to consider what it looks like on a smartphone ... if their listeners even have such things.

 

[radiofan2023]

Doowop has been dead as a commercial viable format for 20 to 30 years

You just put the whomp in the “whomp whomp, whomp whomp whomp”!

 

[ChrisBungo]

You probably should have asked whether they still do them "live live" or "live on tape."

I would suspect most do them live on tape, like this:

As @Theater of My Mind said, hearing contestants on-air was meant to create excitement and entertainment. But having truly live callers also meant the risk of listeners calling into, say, KIIS-FM, and when asked "Who's your favorite music station?!", hearing them shout "KPWR!" To that add listeners who drop constant F-bombs, who sound like they're on quaaludes, who think the station's transmitter is sending secret signals to the KGB, and who lock up like Windows 95 the second they know everyone can hear them. Prerecording callers "live to tape" lets jocks circumvent all that. If the "first" caller #20 doesn't work out, they can dump the call, answer another 19 lines, and congratulate the "next" caller #20. (Notice how the talent in the video above didn't answer the remaining lines to dismiss everybody still on hold until he was certain the "first" caller #20 had worked out perfectly.)

What a nice surprise to see my software, PromoSuite, running on the computer all the way on the right. This is an OLD video though, as that's the "local version running at the station" and PromoSuite went "cloud" at least 10 years ago!

As for contesting, here in Miami, the Cox stations do on-air contests, complete with playback of the winner a few minutes later. Possibly one of the reasons they consistently rank at the top of the ratings in the market? A solid LOCAL connection and this is just one example of it.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Radio is not in the entertainment business. We are in the advertising business, and the programming is there to attract a sufficient number of listeners to be able to get ad dollars.

The broadcasting industry is full of people like yourself who don't believe they're in the entertainment business and it shows if you listen to their stations.

Since this has been the case since August 28, 1922 -- the date WEAF aired the first radio commercial -- either he misunderstood what the business is, or he chooses to believe that the programming takes precedence over the advertising. I'm not really sure which is the case.

People don't tune in to hear commercials. They tune in to hear quality programming, so yes it takes precedence, or at least holds equal importance to the advertising. If you execute the entertainment part correctly, you'll attract the audience advertisers want to reach and that's when you can start selling your ads. It's amazing how you keep demonstrating in your posts that you don't understand this, or at least have total contempt for it.

If all you care about is selling ads and utterly dismiss the entertainment in between the commercial breaks as something that is not your business -- which you just did -- then you might as well get out of broadcasting and sell insurance.