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Classic Hits: Evolution or Revolution?

oldies76 said:
and she's not even 1/4 into the oldies that I am. :D

She's also, from what you posted, not in the demo. The station does not care whether she likes it or not.
 
DavidEduardo said:
oldies76 said:
and she's not even 1/4 into the oldies that I am. :D

She's also, from what you posted, not in the demo. The station does not care whether she likes it or not.

???

Well of course she is...late 30's is between 35-54. Yes the song is liked, but it's played frequently, that the button is hit if it aires repeatedly in this area.
 
firepoint525 said:
michael hagerty said:
13 different songs by The Beatles were played, including three LP cuts, a B side that peaked at #95 in Billboard, and a B side that made #14.
I'd be curious to know what those are. The #14 was probably "I Saw Her Standing There," and if this were a classic rock station, I would guess that one of the LP cuts would have been "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." "Michelle" would be an obvious LP choice, and maybe "Good Day Sunshine." I don't know that "All My Loving" was ever released as a single.

Fairly obvious that "Revolution #9" was NOT played! ;D

Okay, got the spreadsheet....

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (LP cut)
Eight Days A Week (#1)
I Want To Hold Your Hand (#1)
A Hard Day's Night (#1)
I'm Happy Just To Dance With You (B-side #95)
She's A Woman (#4...technically B-Side to the #1 "I Feel Fine", but at #4, I count it as a two-sided hit, not a B-side)
I Saw Her Standing There (B-side to "I Want To Hold Your Hand" #14)
Help! (#1)
Day Tripper (#5...technically the B-side to "We Can Work It Out", but again, at #5, I count it as a two-sided hit)
Please Please Me (#3)
I'll Follow The Sun (LP cut)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (LP cut)
All My Loving (#45)
 
oldies76 said:
DavidEduardo said:
oldies76 said:
and she's not even 1/4 into the oldies that I am. :D

She's also, from what you posted, not in the demo. The station does not care whether she likes it or not.

???

Well of course she is...late 30's is between 35-54. Yes the song is liked, but it's played frequently, that the button is hit if it aires repeatedly in this area.

The true target of a classic hits station is more like 40-54, and they tend to research the ultra-core of 42-52.

It's quite common for stations to have targets that straddle two Census-based demo cells. The fact is, the station neither has to target one of those cells or research against the entire cell they have some of the target in.

Of course, the elephant in the room is the fact that as much as half the audience of classic hits stations is over 55... and of no sales value.

So, "late 30's" is way outside the demos that this format attracts in any significant numbers.

For example, using a couple of books from last year, in 50-59 KRTH is #4, it is 9th in 40-54 and in 35-39 it is 15th! So you can see how using non-standard demos gives us a clearer picture of a station's appeal and target.
 
michael hagerty said:
I can't believe I'm doing this, and I don't know quite how long it will take, but I'm logging what KRTH played Monday through Friday of the past week.

According to the KRTH Playlist history log for yesterday (Saturday 1/26), did you happen to notice what played throughout Southern California at 4:52am?? You might wanna take a peak!
 
OK, too much to quote individually so here:

Michael- No you COULD NOT slide bars without hearing the clip once through first. It did not say anything about the title or artist on the page. You had to recognize it.

-Your couple of things to remember didn't advance much of the argument. You said you'd expect PD's to test about 100 songs in one session, well that's a far cry from David's nearly 1000, or the 600/700 I experienced. Even if 100 is desirable, then there is people out there not doing it like that.

David- I think it's terrific you're finding all the flaws in the testing I talked about - THAT'S MY POINT. I don't care how you say it SHOULD be done, but fact of the matter is, stations are doing things like this as legitimate - and IT IS WRONG! Who's gonna pay you multiple thousands when they can do things on the cheap - flawed results sure - but don't get defensive on music testing as a whole as if the all results come from heaven itself. Flawed methods are out there, and programmers will use them.

As for Oldies' wife (a younger listener) you've just dismissed her as nothing - another problem. Radio is too fixated on how they've been treating things like this.
 
oldies76 said:
michael hagerty said:
I can't believe I'm doing this, and I don't know quite how long it will take, but I'm logging what KRTH played Monday through Friday of the past week.

According to the KRTH Playlist history log for yesterday (Saturday 1/26), did you happen to notice what played throughout Southern California at 4:52am?? You might wanna take a peak!

Oh no, do you think they "tested" it?!!?!?!?!? How much "tune-out" did it have?
 
DavidEduardo said:
For example, using a couple of books from last year, in 50-59 KRTH is #4, it is 9th in 40-54 and in 35-39 it is 15th! So you can see how using non-standard demos gives us a clearer picture of a station's appeal and target.

OK, but classic hits stations overall target people 35-54, no matter what they may actually rank within that demo. And according to you guys, classic hit stations have been targeting more in the 35-45 group, with the addition of more 80's and early 90's music.
 
Biondi4Mayor said:
As for Oldies' wife (a younger listener) you've just dismissed her as nothing - another problem. Radio is too fixated on how they've been treating things like this.

Actually with the 80's and early 90's becoming a bit more common, she's in the perfect demo for classic hits. :D
 
Biondi4Mayor said:
Oh no, do you think they "tested" it?!!?!?!?!? How much "tune-out" did it have?

Well, let's see, for a mega-station like KRTH to play this classic from 1976, it must have tested very well at a testing session, with mostly positive reviews, which strengthens the point that any song is playable today, even if it's at 4:52am.
 
Classic Hits is 45-54! Someone turning 35 this year was born in 1978. How can that possibly be the demo for 60s, 70s and maybe some early to mid 80s? Put another way, that's the same demo for Katy Perry and the like.
 
oldies76 said:
michael hagerty said:
I can't believe I'm doing this, and I don't know quite how long it will take, but I'm logging what KRTH played Monday through Friday of the past week.

According to the KRTH Playlist history log for yesterday (Saturday 1/26), did you happen to notice what played throughout Southern California at 4:52am?? You might wanna take a peak!

Can't get it to work on my mobile. What was it?
 
Semoochie,

If a 40 year old who was born in 1973, would appeal to the hits of the mid-late 80's into the 90's. If that's the direction classic hits stations are moving now, then it's just about right.

But yes, the 60's to the early 80's would be more 45-55+
 
Biondi4Mayor said:
OK, too much to quote individually so here:

Michael- No you COULD NOT slide bars without hearing the clip once through first. It did not say anything about the title or artist on the page. You had to recognize it.

-Your couple of things to remember didn't advance much of the argument. You said you'd expect PD's to test about 100 songs in one session, well that's a far cry from David's nearly 1000, or the 600/700 I experienced. Even if 100 is desirable, then there is people out there not doing it like that.

David- I think it's terrific you're finding all the flaws in the testing I talked about - THAT'S MY POINT. I don't care how you say it SHOULD be done, but fact of the matter is, stations are doing things like this as legitimate - and IT IS WRONG! Who's gonna pay you multiple thousands when they can do things on the cheap - flawed results sure - but don't get defensive on music testing as a whole as if the all results come from heaven itself. Flawed methods are out there, and programmers will use them.

As for Oldies' wife (a younger listener) you've just dismissed her as nothing - another problem. Radio is too fixated on how they've been treating things like this.

Biondi:

I have to plead brain cramp and mild sleep deprivation. A typical auditorium test is 600 titles. My brain was thinking percentages (15% new, 15% retests) and somehow I screwed the rest up. Fatigue would certainly become a concern much past 600 titles. Apologies for the confusion.

And if you and David don't mind, I'm going to respond to one of the points you directed at him. In a competitive situation in a single market, buying cheap research is seen as throwing away money...like cheaping out on a crash helmet. Better to budget and spend the money than to buy flawed research that destroys your station.

True Oldies was in the position of trying to do research for a national format. Auditorium testing that was statistically sound would have been prohibitively expensive and the parent company was on the brink of bankruptcy. Sounds like they did the best they could, but no programmer in a large or major market would go down that path.
 
oldies76 said:
michael hagerty said:
Can't get it to work on my mobile. What was it?

"Afternoon Delight"

Two possibilities:

1) It tested.

2) Jhani's playing Russian roulette with a station in the #2 market that bills tens of millions of dollars a year and is owned by a publicly traded company that has a fiduciary responsibility to its stockholders.



I'll go with #1.

Which says two things.

1) Songs sometimes regain respectability.

2) You find that out...by testing them.
 
michael hagerty said:
Biondi4Mayor said:
OK, too much to quote individually so here:

Michael- No you COULD NOT slide bars without hearing the clip once through first. It did not say anything about the title or artist on the page. You had to recognize it.

-Your couple of things to remember didn't advance much of the argument. You said you'd expect PD's to test about 100 songs in one session, well that's a far cry from David's nearly 1000, or the 600/700 I experienced. Even if 100 is desirable, then there is people out there not doing it like that.

David- I think it's terrific you're finding all the flaws in the testing I talked about - THAT'S MY POINT. I don't care how you say it SHOULD be done, but fact of the matter is, stations are doing things like this as legitimate - and IT IS WRONG! Who's gonna pay you multiple thousands when they can do things on the cheap - flawed results sure - but don't get defensive on music testing as a whole as if the all results come from heaven itself. Flawed methods are out there, and programmers will use them.

As for Oldies' wife (a younger listener) you've just dismissed her as nothing - another problem. Radio is too fixated on how they've been treating things like this.

Biondi:

I have to plead brain cramp and mild sleep deprivation. A typical auditorium test is 600 titles. My brain was thinking percentages (15% new, 15% retests) and somehow I screwed the rest up. Fatigue would certainly become a concern much past 600 titles. Apologies for the confusion.

And if you and David don't mind, I'm going to respond to one of the points you directed at him. In a competitive situation in a single market, buying cheap research is seen as throwing away money...like cheaping out on a crash helmet. Better to budget and spend the money than to buy flawed research that destroys your station.

True Oldies was in the position of trying to do research for a national format. Auditorium testing that was statistically sound would have been prohibitively expensive and the parent company was on the brink of bankruptcy. Sounds like they did the best they could, but no programmer in a large or major market would go down that path.

LOL, you're forgiven! I know the research is flawed, but for True Oldies to use it, WLS to use it, and a host of big and small stations to use methods similar in tight budget situations - it's deadly. This is my big problem with testing. So the argument still stands that due to budget constraints, classic hits stations playlists are limited and flawed at times.
 
oldies76 said:
michael hagerty said:
Can't get it to work on my mobile. What was it?

"Afternoon Delight"

What time zone? That was 6:56am. Why Can't We Live Together was played at 4:52am. The question asked about 4:52am. "Why..." has been in my library for more than nine years, BTW.
 
Biondi4Mayor said:
LOL, you're forgiven! I know the research is flawed, but for True Oldies to use it, WLS to use it, and a host of big and small stations to use methods similar in tight budget situations - it's deadly. This is my big problem with testing. So the argument still stands that due to budget constraints, classic hits stations playlists are limited and flawed at times.

Well, it's more extreme than budget constraints. Citadel's the only major I've ever heard of that cheaped out on research...and that was for a national format when they were about to enter bankruptcy. Most other groups would find every other possible way to economize and continue to do the testing because time and again it's been proven to work and so much is at stake.
 
PirateJohnny said:
What time zone? That was 6:56am. Why Can't We Live Together was played at 4:52am. The question asked about 4:52am. "Why..." has been in my library for more than nine years, BTW.

Pacific Standard Time (KRTH Los Angeles).

By chance, did you check out the KRTH playlist log?
 
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