The rules have changed back to where we started from and the "single" philosophy is no longer valid. It will be interesting to see how long it takes some artists and promoters to understand that it's now working just a bit differently. The P1's who are again our primary listeners, the only ones we have left and those who pay the bills are now our main concern. The P2's, who were the main target of BA are no longer in the house. They treated us like a toaster or any other appliance that they had no emotional equity in. Our P1's want true variety and lots of new music. Listeners don't keep listening to one song for months on end. It just doesn't work that way. When I get my stream up and running around the 1st of May, there will be lots of new music and multiple cuts from different releases. In fact artists don't get more mileage on singles. The first thing they need is airplay and some airplay is better than none. Multiple cuts will give an artist more exposure during any given day. My philosophy is that you want to release a single, that's ok with me but don't be disappointed if I don't play it because it doesn't fit what I'm doing and there could be better stuff on the full CD. I will play something for 4 or maybe 5 months and that's it. I believe that's the endurance level my audience will stand for and then it's time to move on. I'm going to play 40+ new instrumentals and a handfull of new vocals and it's to the benefit of the artist to have more than one good track on the CD. I also don't care about the charts...from anyone. If it helps me get better service then maybe but for the most part they are not worth the time to report my "spins". My audience does not care if you need two more spins on the chart to get to number one. I do care enough to play your product correctly to get the exposure you need that will not only sell product (what a concept) but also keep my listeners coming back for more. When you get into the trenches, the late, great Bill Gavin said it best. He stated that there are two kinds of PD's. The first one can pick the hits and if you one of those, give yourself a pat on the back. The second one can't pick his nose but if he's smart enough, he'll find a guy who's like the first one. This is a brave new world and for the most part, the music is dead on terrestial radio. It's not going to work on AM and you still have to pay for satellite, so let's cut to the chase and move to the new platform which is the web. Some artists are getting the message by producing new and exciting music while others are still giving us the same old same old. Some labels are sending the entire CD as a download so we can pick and choose what we feel is the best music for our audience. We are at a time of great change, not only in our format but in our society also so let's see who adapts and who becomes the dinosaur. Change is the only constant so let's embrace it to color a new world.
