"GOING FOR ADS"

[notlob]

New CD's arriving at my station's processing station invariably have a label or insert with the words "going for ads (date) track x,y,z".
Being a child of free form, not top 40, radio can someone explain to me who is served when a radio station restricts airplay to the same song or few songs, to the exclusion of the rest?

 

[raccoonradio]

I don't think they're restricting airplay. These are suggestions perhaps to help guide the DJ.
Maybe it's an artist who's on the cusp of blues and "Americana". These songs are the most
blues-sounding, or maybe the best songs of all. With major labels/artists they may be the
songs chosen to be "singles".

In some cases certain songs may contain profanity and there may be a sticker mentioning that
as a guide to DJs.

The songs they're highlighting may be chosen as part of a music chart so they'd like you to play them and report them to this chart, etc. I'd think in most cases they'd like the whole album to be
mentioned on an album chart, and the songs they mention are, they feel, the strongest ones.

I've been blues dir. of WMWM for many years and way back in 81-82 I was music director of
the whole station. We used to have to report our top albums to College Media Journal
(prob. still do). In my own case whenever I'm on (I share the blues show with other DJs) I keep
a running list of what I play on one comp. then cut and paste it to my facebook group and
also New Eng Blues Society yahoo group; a list of all songs I played.

example from 9/30:
Buddy Guy--Feels Like Rain
Zac Harmon--Blue Pill Thrill

(Boston Blues Works) Racky Thomas--Rock Lil' Baby
Sonny Landreth--U.S.S. Zydecoldsmobile
Boogaloo Swamis--Big Bayou/Zydeco Lady
Terry Davison and the Gears--Damnation Blues
Chick Willis--the Gas is Too High/What'd I Say
Robert Cray--Phone Booth/Playin' in the Dirt
Love Dogs--Big & Hot/I'm Yo Dog
Rev Gary Davis--Cocaine Blues

 

[Signpost]

It helps the artist cultivate a "hit" if stations all concentrate their airplay on specific songs. On the other hand. if enough stations like yours are playing a different track that's not "Going for Adds" (not Ads), the record company would do well to adjust their strategy, since the actual "hit" track may have eluded them.

Best example I can think of is the Romantics . Record company pushed "When I Look in Your Eyes", while WBCN defiantly played "What I Like About You". I'm sure you all remember "When I Look in Your Eyes" right?

 

[raccoonradio]

Yes, you never know. Sometimes a B side of a single becomes the hit, not the one they intended. Steam's Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye for example

 

[WNTIRadio]

[/New CD's arriving at my station's processing station invariably have a label or insert with the words "going for ads (date) track x,y,z".
Being a child of free form, not top 40, radio can someone explain to me who is served when a radio station restricts airplay to the same song or few songs, to the exclusion of the rest?quote]

The audience that doesn't know the music yet. If you play each song on an album once, once per day, only a tiny fraction of your audience will hear it. Sure, your "Super P1's", all 5 of them will complain if you repeat a song, but new music needs to be played repeatedly for all of a station's audience to hear it. Also, most people don't hear a song once and say "well, that's it for that!".

Granted, there is abuse of it, playing currents 47 times a week, but that's gone on for ages.

Even "free form" BCN or WNEW wasn't completely "free form". There were currents selected by the MD that the jocks had to stick to. Sometimes they could stray, but not as often as you might think.