From an engineering board

[ZAX Double J]

On an engineering board I'm on the duscussion came up about the constant liners in between songs came up and how some disliked them. I for one dislike using them after every freakin song. Someone posted the following as a response that I thought all here ought to read. The end results is the way a station SHOULD be programmed. Feel free to comment. ;D

Here in Nowhereville, We have conducted a study on how to "properly" program a radio station. We then made a written list of unbreakable rules:
1. The playlist may contain no fewer than 150 nor more than 400 titles,
2. The entire playlist must contain only those titles that test as safe.
3. The entire hour's commercial inventory must be lumped into two six minute clumps to be played strictly at 16 and 45 past.
4. There must be a liner/sweeper/jingle between each title played in a music sweep
5. News/weather reports must be packaged in 60 second bullet form.
6. Requests are to be ignored and the carefully researched playlist be strictlly adhered to.
7. Birthdays, Anniversaries etc are of no interest to anyone other than those celebrating the Birthday/Anniversary etc and should not be used to clutter the airwaves.

Then after having studied these rules carefully we threw them all away and did the following:

1. The playlist contains more than 2,000 titles. Obviously some rotate more heavily than others.
2. We have no access to that expensive research so an unofficial committee has been established consisting of station personnel, callers, anyone we happen to bump into in town etc.
3. We do actually maintain regularly scheduled spot set times so long as the total length doesn't exceed 3 minutes (This rule is extremely variable-sometimes the breaks are shorter. Sometimes longer) and competitors are not run in the same set.
4. Liners are to be used sparingly as we don't subscribe to a ratings service and it just sounds better to either open the mic and throw the calls in along with the current weather or something going on in town and we are certinaly not bashful about letting two songs play back to back with nothing in between.
5. We blew this one out bigtime! We have regularly scheduled longform (Hour) newscasts in the morning noon and at 5.
6. There's a regularly scheduled two hour block just for requests by phone, email fax and sometimes listeners traveleing through will stop by and make a request in person. These are part of the committee in broken rule 2.
7. Our coverage area is primarily small towns so the "degree of Separation" is about a magnitude 3. The average listener who hears said birthday will know someone who know the Birthday-ee.

The end result of the broken rules has been: Ad sales are up, the rates went up with'em. Although we don't subscribe to a ratings service, the freebie 12 plus (not our demo) numbers you see online have increased. We follow our own beat and do anything we can think of to make the broadcasts interesting, right down to taking guesses last August during a stifling heatwave as to how long it would take to fry an egg in the parking lot with a small prize for the closest guess. This won't fly for every market but it sure is working here.

 

[allenv]

That's classic and correct.... Great find John....

Allen

 

[ZAX Double J]

Yeah and the poster was from I believe Kentucky. So if they can do it there why can't eastern North Carolina radio do it?

 

[allenv]

ENC radio can do it but some would rather put a half hearted effort together using mostly someone else's resources that have already been bought and paid for instead of coming up with new and refreshing ideas that might actually set them apart from others.Its the old idea that everyone is drinking the grape cool-aid so instead of choosing another flavor that might set me apart I'll have grape too, that way I can just follow the norm and not have to worry about anything.

Allen

 

[surfdude]

Actually, the first part of that post IS the correct way to get RATINGS.
(there are other factors; signal, morning show, marketing)
I've seen that formula win, first hand, time and time again my 30 years
of radio in Top 50 markets.

That formula began in 1965 with KHJ in Los Angeles, and it still works today.
(in Raleigh see ratings for G105, WQDR, WRAL, etc...)

It is not the kind of format that will please radio DJs and radio forum addicts,
but a large enough number of LISTENERS like it.

 

[allenv]

I see where you're coming from but I still think setting yourself apart from others
is also a great way to get ratings and revenue in an extermely oversaturated radio market.Its not just DJ's and radio forum addicts as you call us who feel the way I do. I talk to alot of listeners who are longing for something different but hey are forced to settle for what they are forcefed or find other alternatives
like satellite radio.If I'm a smaller signal trying to compete in the land of the giants I'd better sure carve out an identity or it will be an endless cycle of format and ownership changes which with the exception of the top 5 or 6 stations is what we see in this market.The top 5 or six have the signal and the identity and the rest root around for their piece of the pie.That is why Beasley has done well, they don't change format when the wind blows.They stuck with oldies for 107.9 when everyone was screaming for them to go Country and now
107.9 sits 4th overall and is nipping at WSFL's heels for 3rd.I guess those who were trying to bury oldies as a format now realize what the listener was saying all along,Oldies is fine.Internally a station could be in chaos but if it has a percieved stability to the listener it usually does well.So many stations around here give the average listener the impression they change format every year
and weather they do or not, those are the ones that usually struggle.That's just another hopeless opinion from me, a radio forum addict

Allen

 

[ZAX Double J]

Well put Allen I agree 1000...%! I too am not just a radio forum addict, but I have seen this industry destroy itself by simply doing what the bean counters want the PDs and GMs to do. I to am a listener who wandts to hear more variety than the same 200 "safe" songs that the consultants make everyone think that everyone "wants" to hear. Dare to be different and the revenue and ratings will follow. On our stations the most popular shows are the equest shows. That shows you right there that the listener wants to hear something different than the "safe" playlists. But who am I just another radio forum addict.

 

[Lhsh]

I am just a radio listener and am really sick and tired of the cookie cutter crap that I have to put up with and here in Columbiaa, SC where I live, the better sounding and run stations are the Citadel properties that let their stations have their own identites and they sound more like locally owned stations.
I think that deregulation by the FCC was one of the worst things that has happened to radio in quite some time and definitely miss the local town sounding formats instead of hearing sweepers after every other song and hearing the same old worn out play lists.

 

[ZAX Double J]

I think that deregulation by the FCC was one of the worst things that has happened to radio in quite some time and definitely miss the local town sounding formats instead of hearing sweepers after every other song and hearing the same old worn out play lists.

You hit the nail on the head there soo true!

If corporate would just let the stations do their thing then it would sound like that, but no corporate wants every station sound the exact same so one or two people can program and voice track them all. Saves money on "the bottom line" which is all they really care about. They say they want ratings and they do, but they really don't care as long as the shareholders and upper managemnt are filling their own back pockets and getting fatter in the process. Putting compelling content on their stations "OH NO!" they exlaim "the listener doesn't want that! they want the same safe songs we've force fed them for the last 30 years our research tells us that". But at the end of the day they're wrong. The listeners DO CARE and DO WANT more than the "safe songs" and cookie cutter radio that has prevailed in this country for three decades. The execs worry about satellite radio, the internet and iPods and they should because these are the alternative sources that the listeners are going to becasue they cannot get the compelling content on traditional radio. But what management really needs to do is be focusing on their stations and making them better not sounding like everyone else and try to win back those that have gone to alternative outlets.

 

[allenv]

This is good stuff from a bunch of radio forum addicts.... I had to post... my mouth was getting dry,I was sweating and I was shaking... but now that i've posted I'm 10lbs lighter, 2 inches taller, aand a better dancer and my sex life has tripled(from once a year to now three times a year)..

Allen

 

[w00t]

but now that i've posted I'm 10lbs lighter, 2 inches taller, aand a better dancer

That Brad Paisley song came to my mind when I read this.

"I'm so much cooler online..."

 

[Melrose]

Surfdude, Please don't trace the "train wreck" of modern radio to 93KHJ of 1965. They didn't have "sweepers" or "liners", they had jingles, creative contesting and an airstaff of some of the best "personalities" of all time. All put together by Ron Jacobs and Bill Drake. As for a playlist, the were playing currents....the BOSS 30.
Today's mindless radio can be traced to the consultant take over in the late 70's to early 80's. Only to have the final nails driven into it's head by the corporate greed monsters!! Please, leave BOSS Radio & KHJ out of this!

 

[surfdude]

Drake streamlined pop radio. Radio has taken that original concept, but has gradually
taken away the good things that made KHJ great - personality and contesting.
So, we agree Melrose.

But, the streamlined approach, a reasonably tight music list, and a jock with brief "content"
still works today.

 

[VODood]

Drake streamlined pop radio. Radio has taken that original concept, but has gradually
taken away the good things that made KHJ great - personality and contesting.
So, we agree Melrose.

But, the streamlined approach, a reasonably tight music list, and a jock with brief "content"
still works today.

"Brief", meaning 10sec over an intro? I disagree. That's not personality radio.

Now, if a jock is talking just to hear he/she talk, then that's another issue.

BIG market imaging - none of this dry rollover stuff, Personality, THE RIGHT songs, and promotions that reach the people and matter.

AND NO DEAD SEGS. Can't stand dead segs! Horrible radio. Missing an oppty to ID the station, or promote horizontally or vertically. It's wasted space. Especially in today's tightly formatted era with multiple signals having similar formats.

Wanna read a great book on radio and how it used to be? Former WMMS/Cleveland OM/PD John Gorman has written a book about the beginnings of one of the greatest rock stations in America, and how it became a cultural icon, not only in Cleveland, but the country.

There's a blog to support the book too...
http://buzzardbook.wordpress.com/

I'm from "C-Town", and am lucky enough to have grown up in the 70s/80s when WMMS was king. Later I was fortunate to work there as well as at oldies powerhouse WMJI/"Majic 105.7".

I worked with Gorman, as well as 3 Rock & Roll Hall of Famers. I learned what made great radio - and it's not easy. Most times it's very hard work, and some luck.

As I read Gorman's book, I was highlighting and bookmarking ideas that can still be implemented today; from imaging to promotions, and even talent coaching. Something that rarely goes on these days.


Unfortunately it's true... a tight playlist will increase cume. But if not massaged properly, and often, that tight list will kill TSL.

A music test, especially for a library format, is only good for 90 days, tops. Gotta keep it fresh without new product. That means massaging the library. Most PD's don't do that. You can have a list of 800 songs, but maybe only 350 "active" at any one time.

Just having 350 songs, no more, and trying to make that work for a library format (oldies, classic rock).... your toast. That will burn in 3 months, maybe less. It's all 30-40 years old. Nothing new. Big promotions won't save you. Music is the primary reason listeners use music radio. If that ain't right, they go elsewhere.

 

[surfdude]

The Buzzard was great! Now, there's a format that needs to make
a comeback - AOR!

 

[VODood]

The Buzzard was great! Now, there's a format that needs to make
a comeback - AOR!

WMMS, under Gorman and Denny Sanders, technically was never an "AOR" station.

Even under under first time PD Billy Bass (1968-71) WMMS was a "progressive" rocker. WMMS actually influenced KSAN and WNEW. Not the other way around.


WMMS and Z100 are linked as well.

Read the book. Gorman explains it all.

 

[ZAX Double J]

Great points. If you have an 800 song library why not play all 800 rather than 350? With today's technology it can be done. Selector (and other music scheduling software) is quite powerful, if the data put in it is correct and there's only one copy of each song in the system. I believe it can be done. You are right so many PDs don't massage the playlist as they should so to that end the software needs to be looked at or the size of the "active" library needs to be enlarged. There is no excuse for playing only 350 songs out of an 800 or more song library.It's this lack of variety that the listner gets tired of.

As to jock personality well anyone can say "this is, that was" but to actually know the music they're playing, detail things about the song or artist. These are the things the listener wants to hear. Or even a brief story about an experience at the artist's concert that the jock may have attended. These things "relate" the song to the listener I think sometimes that some people make this job harder than it really is. It's not rocket science.

 

[VODood]

Great points. If you have an 800 song library why not play all 800 rather than 350? With today's technology it can be done. Selector (and other music scheduling software) is quite powerful, if the data put in it is correct and there's only one copy of each song in the system. I believe it can be done. You are right so many PDs don't massage the playlist as they should so to that end the software needs to be looked at or the size of the "active" library needs to be enlarged. There is no excuse for playing only 350 songs out of an 800 or more song library.It's this lack of variety that the listner gets tired of.

As to jock personality well anyone can say "this is, that was" but to actually know the music they're playing, detail things about the song or artist. These are the things the listener wants to hear. Or even a brief story about an experience at the artist's concert that the jock may have attended. These things "relate" the song to the listener I think sometimes that some people make this job harder than it really is. It's not rocket science.

Jocks on library formats gotta be careful not to be "Mr. Music Historian". That can sound old and dated. Use that info, as well as present pop culture, new of the day, etc and weave into the rap.

One thing many jocks (pd's) don't do well enough it vertical and horizontal promotion.

I'm also a firm believer in Quarter Hour Maintenance. It works.

As I said, a tight playlist, 350-400 titles (the right ones) does increase Cume. It's a fact.

However, that tight playlist will burn, quickly.

You can have 800 songs, but you can't rotate them all actively. Not in today's environment on a library format.

In Cleveland at WMJI, circa 1997-8 we had over 1200 active songs. Today, ten years later, I believe WMJI rotates no more than 400, not including theme weekends, specialty shows, etc.

The format has evolved....horribly : and the fight for market share is more intense than ever.

And you can't play too many "oh wows" or "payola" records. Sure the song might've been a hit at one time. But was it a "paid" hit.

I'm not a big believer in research for library formats (oldies, classic rock). It's useful, but not the final say. The music is old and has been tested over and over and over and over and over again.

Radio isn't difficult. I hear a lot of programmers, researchers, SVP's etc use big words in relation to radio. Being a doctor is hard. Radio is not.