Cold Segs on CHR

[editthis]

No imaging/talk in between just song 1 segin' into song 2...good or bad Idea?

 

[LostInTheShuffle]

B-A-D!

Although, I understand the line of thinking... A listener playing CDs / MP3s doesn't hear liners between the songs, so let's make our product familiar to what they're hearing if they're NOT listening to us.

Eh, perhaps saying that I "understand the line of thinking" is the wrong phrase... I know what they're thinking, but I DON'T understand why someone thinks it makes sense.

 

[WhiteBoy13]

96-5 Kiss FM in Cleveland just starting doing that.

 

[jcolletta275]

Completely kills the momentum of a broadcast. Bad idea.

 

[spongebag7890]

No imaging/talk in between just song 1 segin' into song 2...good or bad Idea?

Sounds boring and stale. And is a god awful idea when entering a song that is new to the playlist. At least when a new song is playing and I like it, I damn well wanna know who it's by.

 

[hair]

Three words.

Listeners.
Don't.
Care.

 

[ricoontheradio]

PPM will change this. Listeners don't care, and it won't matter (AS MUCH) to have that ID between every song. If you're playing hits that you listeners want from your format, they'll stick around. Diary recall won't matter, so playing the hits will be a bigger factor to your success.

Just my opinion...

 

[jpcgonebig]

Yea, a handful of CC stations are testing this through research,, Jacksonville, Albany, Cleveland..and some others.....

Yea, listeners dont care, although if your in a market with heavy competition, why WOULDN'T you ID yourself between EVERY song? When there is lots of competition, there is so much more cume floating around...why risk it?

I know here, where I am.... we've been runing VERY short, minimally produced sweepers and such. No pause between songs. Imaging up ramps and such. But I have been doing this type of IMAGING for years....I guess it pays off if done right

 

[JeremyAndrews]

During jockless automation, sure why not.

When DJs are on the air, maybe not.


In the 80s and 90s it was common to hear stations segue songs into each other without liners.

 

[spongebag7890]

Yea, a handful of CC stations are testing this through research,, Jacksonville, Albany, Cleveland..and some others.....

Yea, listeners dont care, although if your in a market with heavy competition, why WOULDN'T you ID yourself between EVERY song? When there is lots of competition, there is so much more cume floating around...why risk it?

I know here, where I am.... we've been runing VERY short, minimally produced sweepers and such. No pause between songs. Imaging up ramps and such. But I have been doing this type of IMAGING for years....I guess it pays off if done right

Oh, I thought you all meant mentioning song IDs, not yourself.

But still, ID-ing yourself/inserting talks after as many songs as possible makes you:

1. More indentifiable.
2. Have a known personality that will only come on when you are on.
3. A stronger connection with your audience.

It's not terribly important, and I'd say a good 90-something% of listeners careless and focus on the music, but (especially females) if you want to connect with your audience more, it wouldn't hurt to mention who you are/insert talk in between songs. It makes you sound more indentifiable/like a person is behind the speakers.

 

[jpcgonebig]

Yea, a handful of CC stations are testing this through research,, Jacksonville, Albany, Cleveland..and some others.....

Yea, listeners dont care, although if your in a market with heavy competition, why WOULDN'T you ID yourself between EVERY song? When there is lots of competition, there is so much more cume floating around...why risk it?

I know here, where I am.... we've been runing VERY short, minimally produced sweepers and such. No pause between songs. Imaging up ramps and such. But I have been doing this type of IMAGING for years....I guess it pays off if done right

Oh, I thought you all meant mentioning song IDs, not yourself.

But still, ID-ing yourself/inserting talks after as many songs as possible makes you:

1. More indentifiable.
2. Have a known personality that will only come on when you are on.
3. A stronger connection with your audience.

It's not terribly important, and I'd say a good 90-something% of listeners careless and focus on the music, but (especially females) if you want to connect with your audience more, it wouldn't hurt to mention who you are/insert talk in between songs. It makes you sound more indentifiable/like a person is behind the speakers.

No, what I meant was, ID yourself....meaning your station, via imaging.

 

[JetBlack1015]

Yea, a handful of CC stations are testing this through research,, Jacksonville, Albany, Cleveland..and some others.....

Yea, listeners dont care, although if your in a market with heavy competition, why WOULDN'T you ID yourself between EVERY song? When there is lots of competition, there is so much more cume floating around...why risk it?

I know here, where I am.... we've been runing VERY short, minimally produced sweepers and such. No pause between songs. Imaging up ramps and such. But I have been doing this type of IMAGING for years....I guess it pays off if done right

Oh, I thought you all meant mentioning song IDs, not yourself.

But still, ID-ing yourself/inserting talks after as many songs as possible makes you:

1. More indentifiable.
2. Have a known personality that will only come on when you are on.
3. A stronger connection with your audience.

It's not terribly important, and I'd say a good 90-something% of listeners careless and focus on the music, but (especially females) if you want to connect with your audience more, it wouldn't hurt to mention who you are/insert talk in between songs. It makes you sound more indentifiable/like a person is behind the speakers.

No, what I meant was, ID yourself....meaning your station, via imaging.

At the end of the day it's still a group of people trying WAAY too hard to re-invent the wheel. While I think it's a great idea to try and re-approach HOW we segue, i.e.: Dry or minimally produced sweepers up the ramps of songs, but to eliminate it is a blatent disreguard of branding principles.

Yes, I-Pod users don't hear liners between songs that say "I-Pod on shuffle," but a radio station's image is the product and without proper branding people will lose you in the "shuffle" of life. Why do you think the biggest brands in America (McDonald's, Coca Cola, etc.) continue to POUND their names into your head?

The number one complaint of the format is the repetition, while I think it will be hard for us to move too far away from the current power rotation formula, we can do more to give the perception that we aren't "playing the same 10 songs over and over." It's just going to take these "re-inventing" PDs to realize what we HAVE to do instead of thinking of something they think we SHOULD do.

 

[ricoontheradio]

At the end of the day it's still a group of people trying WAAY too hard to re-invent the wheel. While I think it's a great idea to try and re-approach HOW we segue, i.e.: Dry or minimally produced sweepers up the ramps of songs, but to eliminate it is a blatent disreguard of branding principles.

Yes, I-Pod users don't hear liners between songs that say "I-Pod on shuffle," but a radio station's image is the product and without proper branding people will lose you in the "shuffle" of life. Why do you think the biggest brands in America (McDonald's, Coca Cola, etc.) continue to POUND their names into your head?

The number one complaint of the format is the repetition, while I think it will be hard for us to move too far away from the current power rotation formula, we can do more to give the perception that we aren't "playing the same 10 songs over and over." It's just going to take these "re-inventing" PDs to realize what we HAVE to do instead of thinking of something they think we SHOULD do.

Good post.

 

[jpcgonebig]

CC is getting ready for PPM...thats my conclusion. Cause it wont matter who you are listening to, but only if they stick WITH us....thats my only guess.

 

[thatradioguy]

PPM is coming, yes; however, each station still needs to promote and keep up their branding.

For example, in my market, we have a CHR and a rhythmic station. Sometimes the dry segues on the CHR are a rhythmic song flowing into another rhythmic. Now, if anyone tries to remember what station they were listening to, they're going to first think of the rhythmic station because that's what they're used to hearing on that station.

Sure I like the idea of dry segues, it could be passed off as a mixshow if the songs blend together right, but, it's not going to help our brand.

There are so many ways this industry could go, if they are willing to take a risk and try. How about a new form of spots? Having two or three spotsets an hour is outdated... we need to re-invent everything if we're going to compete for the average listener today.

 

[spongebag7890]

PPM is coming, yes; however, each station still needs to promote and keep up their branding.

For example, in my market, we have a CHR and a rhythmic station. Sometimes the dry segues on the CHR are a rhythmic song flowing into another rhythmic. Now, if anyone tries to remember what station they were listening to, they're going to first think of the rhythmic station because that's what they're used to hearing on that station.

Sure I like the idea of dry segues, it could be passed off as a mixshow if the songs blend together right, but, it's not going to help our brand.

There are so many ways this industry could go, if they are willing to take a risk and try. How about a new form of spots? Having two or three spotsets an hour is outdated... we need to re-invent everything if we're going to compete for the average listener today.

.

Kiss in Phoenix is doing it (very smart--do it in a top 15 market). They only say Kiss FM before commercials and every hour where they have to input the call letters. The DJs also talk less and rarely mention song IDs.

Yes, I like how the songs run together, but agreeing with thatradioguy, you should leave that for your Friday/Saturday late nights when you're spinning mixing shows, not during your mid-day and afternoons where people want song IDs & the DJ talking as much as he/she can. And not to mention saying your brand name every two or three songs promotes it. It's not so much that the listeners care, its that the music will just sound "there" and that there is nothing special about the station.

 

[CanadianCHR]

We've been dropping in what we call "natual sweeps" into our mixes, every couple of hours a day... We believe that indeed cold segs or natural sweeps are a breath of fresh air for listeners... Sure, some listeners don't notice it, but it makes a difference for those who do.