To a couple of posters:
Jake: there's some validity in what you say about radio's reluctance to jump on songs that come out of commercials. But...it depends on how big the commercial gets. Cases in point:
In the 1960's, Alka Seltzer did a TV spot featuring (ugh!) shots of people's stomachs with a catchy little instrumental tune behind it. "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" by the T-Bones became a big hit.
Perhaps the most famous: The Coca-Cola ad with all the kids standing on a hillside in 1970 or 71, which
produced a huge hit with "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)". The ad sang "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company".
There's been a few of such type stories of songs becoming hits from being exposed in TV ads. I can't remember them all off the top of my head, but they do happen. But, to get it to happen, the commercial...and the song...needs to generate a "buzz". So, in today's interactive world: if a TV ad has a catchy song and the TV spot gets a viral "buzz" and begins flying around You Tube and the like, it's quite possible radio will pick it up.
To Dawg:
In order to answer question 1, you'd have to do the cluster analysis. In that case, you get a "test audience" (about 100 people or so) in a room. You would have pre-screened these people to make sure they represent the approximate demographic attribute you're aiming for with your format. Then, you play these people song hooks of the types of "clusters" of songs they might hear on this "new" format. (By the way, you also throw in clusters of songs that don't match what you're going to play, so you have some baseline for comparison.) The question you ask the test audience with each cluster is: Would you enjoy hearing a radio station that plays these types of songs all the time?
If the majority of people in the test audience (I'd say 66% or better) score your "jammin" clusters positively, you might have a format. (Because you've now identifed a potential audience that seems positive about listening to your format.) The next step is to do an actual music test, where you then test about 700 or so songs that you think you might want to play. You do it the same way. The songs that test at least 66% or better positively with your test audience are the ones you consider for airplay. (There's a couple of other factors you have to also consider - a song can be liked well, but people can be tired of it. That's why when you have them "score" the songs, you have a score that says "like it, but I'm tired of it". That's how you figure whether a song has what's called a high "burn factor" with the audience.)
But, that's how it's done by radio. And, when it's done right, it works about 98% of the time. (There are occasions when you get bad music tests. It does happen.)
I know there are posters on this board who disagree with the notion of research. But, it ain't just radio that does it...TV does it...Magazines do it...so, too do national advertisers (which also explains why many commercials feature music from the 60's/70's and 80's.)
Jake: there's some validity in what you say about radio's reluctance to jump on songs that come out of commercials. But...it depends on how big the commercial gets. Cases in point:
In the 1960's, Alka Seltzer did a TV spot featuring (ugh!) shots of people's stomachs with a catchy little instrumental tune behind it. "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" by the T-Bones became a big hit.
Perhaps the most famous: The Coca-Cola ad with all the kids standing on a hillside in 1970 or 71, which
produced a huge hit with "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony)". The ad sang "I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company".
There's been a few of such type stories of songs becoming hits from being exposed in TV ads. I can't remember them all off the top of my head, but they do happen. But, to get it to happen, the commercial...and the song...needs to generate a "buzz". So, in today's interactive world: if a TV ad has a catchy song and the TV spot gets a viral "buzz" and begins flying around You Tube and the like, it's quite possible radio will pick it up.
To Dawg:
In order to answer question 1, you'd have to do the cluster analysis. In that case, you get a "test audience" (about 100 people or so) in a room. You would have pre-screened these people to make sure they represent the approximate demographic attribute you're aiming for with your format. Then, you play these people song hooks of the types of "clusters" of songs they might hear on this "new" format. (By the way, you also throw in clusters of songs that don't match what you're going to play, so you have some baseline for comparison.) The question you ask the test audience with each cluster is: Would you enjoy hearing a radio station that plays these types of songs all the time?
If the majority of people in the test audience (I'd say 66% or better) score your "jammin" clusters positively, you might have a format. (Because you've now identifed a potential audience that seems positive about listening to your format.) The next step is to do an actual music test, where you then test about 700 or so songs that you think you might want to play. You do it the same way. The songs that test at least 66% or better positively with your test audience are the ones you consider for airplay. (There's a couple of other factors you have to also consider - a song can be liked well, but people can be tired of it. That's why when you have them "score" the songs, you have a score that says "like it, but I'm tired of it". That's how you figure whether a song has what's called a high "burn factor" with the audience.)
But, that's how it's done by radio. And, when it's done right, it works about 98% of the time. (There are occasions when you get bad music tests. It does happen.)
I know there are posters on this board who disagree with the notion of research. But, it ain't just radio that does it...TV does it...Magazines do it...so, too do national advertisers (which also explains why many commercials feature music from the 60's/70's and 80's.)