I wonder if there are some lower ranking tracks from bigger artists that test okay? On Mix 93.3, I heard (probably as a "lunar" rotation) Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons which was number 21 on mainstream pop in 2018.
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B96 WBBM-FM Rhythmic Gold-Leaning Top 40?
- Thread starter Gregg.
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The rank "in the day" of songs is irrelevant now. What matters is how they did in your most recent test.
Do some stations test individually? A lot of stations seem to play the same songs and that one isn't on there.
Some do. Some don't do any testing at all. In major markets, I'm pretty sure most of them do. Smaller markets, likely not as much. In smaller markets iHeart for example will just put a national playlist on. Same playlist running on numerous stations across the country. Smaller town stations sometimes do formats without any research. Playlists can get interesting. These are usually your small town mom and pops. Others hire consultants or syndication services and run pre packaged logs that are probably also tested on a more national level. Some just plug in a satellite feed. That allows smaller town stations to sound more big market.
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It depends. Smaller markets might use testing services or have the work done by a consultant. Smaller markets are where you're also likely to see stations using satellite formats, so the music testing is done there.
I tend to see more consultant programmed stations in smaller markets or towns. Sometimes they'll use Westwood One or Local Radio Networks depending on what format they do. But there are others where there is absolutely no testing done at all. They might check the charts, but otherwise it's just the local PD putting it together. This is usually in cases where they can't afford a consultant and it's not a priority.
Not everything everywhere is decided by a consultant or research. Some PDs at some stations might have the ability to make certain decisions on their own. This is not as common in rated markets obviously. But in your small middle of nowhere towns, it's normal.
That's why I say 'it depends.' I'm reading stories about Bob Bittner who ran WJIB, and I doubt he used consultants or research.
In the past, all stations in major markets (meaning, at least, the top 100 MSAs) did individual tests in their market. Today, a lot of groups test in one market and share for similar markets; they rotate the one market that is tested. In the largest markets, each station tests locally.
There are regional differences but after consolidation we found commonalities in many markets, allowing shared testing or rotating market testing. And now that most is done online, one can even do a test that has a percentage of participants in each of several markets.
In smaller markets, stations owned by groups use consensus lists from similar stations in the group that do test. In the past, pre-consolidation, stations in nearby smaller rated markets might share test costs and rotate the location. When I supervised our group's WTNT in Tallahassee, we shared tests with country stations in Albany, GA, and Dothan, AL, which all had the same consultant but different owners.
Consultants don't do tests themselves... they would recommend one of the companies that specialize in such services. Of course, the radio research companies don't just deliver a ranked list of songs, they do a presentation that indicates findings and their experience interpretation of problem areas such as big differences in male vs. female scores or younger vs. older scores.
In the past, companies like Clear Channel and Hispanic Broadcasting had in-house research divisions. Today, the high costs have reduced the amount of testing so companies prefer to use outside resarchers ranging from Coleman and Edison to Harker and others.
To some extent, yes. But since "national research" is done online using an assortment of "source markets" they can do breaks depending on the market... Southern, Northeastern, West Coast, etc.
Since most testing is no longer done "on site - in market" but online today, there are ways of getting regional breaks, running the data against different target age groups, and lots of other alternatives.
As was said before, testing is mostly done by significant stations. Bob's stations are not ratings-competitive, but I´ll bet he liked to talk with his listeners and had a "ground zero" feel for what they liked. Every listener you talk to is, in a sense, "research".
Do some songs get tested only by some stations? Some songs I only hear on certain stations.
Depends on who owns it, what their format is, and what they want to test. If you only hear a certain song on a certain station, there could be many reasons. It fits their format, it tested well with their audience, or the programming staff decided it fits the format or is something worth playing for their audience.
Way back in the 2000s there was WIFC and WIXX here in Wisconsin. Still top rated CHRs. They didn't really do much music testing in Wausau assuming they did at all. WIFC would often get handed down songs to play from WIXX (Which is the company's main CHR station) A lot of songs would be unique to these stations, even if they had competition in the market from another CHR station owned by a different company. Some of the songs would be unique to the market (Nobody else anywhere was playing them) or in some cases the entire country (They could often resort to Canadian content for songs) I don't know how they are doing things today, but they still sound similar.
Stations test all their library and then lots of songs they might play and even some "what if" ones. They also test songs that seem to have burnt out in past tests to see if they have recovered.
Remember, a limiting factor is the cost of full library tests... over $20,000 and often as high as $40,000. Big expense is recruiting and paying participants.
Every station has a different market and set of competitors, so there will be some stations and markets where specific songs work and where they do not work. Mostly, those are songs that are right around the play/don't play border.
For example, I heard the Matchbox 20 song How Far We've Come on WNNK owned by Cumulus (Harrisburg, PA), while most stations simply play their more high charting hits (Unwell, 3 a.m., Push, ect.) I would guess that song might be more "on the border" most places.
A lot of it is inappropriate but there are some good titles from artists like Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa etc.
No station is "forced" to add any songs or play the ones they have added in a specific rotation.
You keep asking about specific songs on specific stations and many of us keep telling you that larger market stations do research and base their play lists on the results. So the answer is always "it did not pass the test" or "the Program Director did not think it fit the station's feel".
You don't need to ask about every song a station plays or does not play.
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