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How often do djs hate what they play?

Some years ago, there was an incident on a station close to where I was living at the time, where the format was flipped overnight from Alternative to AC due to terrible ratings, but the Alternative DJs (most of whom were musicians and comedians rather than radio careerists) were left on the air. It didn't go well, and there were a few days of sarcastic on-air comments about the music before the plug was pulled:

www.theguardian.com

The Revolution: how not to relaunch a radio station?

Listeners - and presenters - are still coming to terms with Oldham local commercial radio station The Revolution's sudden relaunch
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

This is the exception to the rule, though. The job of the DJ is to sell the music, regardless of whether or not it's a personal favorite of theirs. As for the moronic comments made semi-regularly by dinosaur DJs about non-binary artists such as Demi Lovato or Sam Smith, it shows a staggering lack of awareness of the cultural and social mores of the young audience.
 
Does anyone think this needs airplay? Just an old dog here trying to be open minded!
 
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michael hagerty said:
Don’t the listeners ultimately decide that?
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An online only broadcaster could play it with only streaming fees due. An FCC licensed station might get a large fine. Maybe a big corporation would see paying the fine as just part of the cost of doing business.

Better ratings! The uncultured American masses want to hear only about sex and the toilet? Really?

I have no interest in playing G.. D..., the S word, or the F word here.
 
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The radio edit of Skin of my Teeth is well done and doesn't have the clumsy blanks or edits you often hear on clean versions of tracks. I've heard it on a couple of stations, although it hasn't had heavy airplay here. The song isn't about sex or the toilet, but is about the artist's addiction and mental health issues.
 
Miss Tuned said:
The radio edit of Skin of my Teeth is well done and doesn't have the clumsy blanks or edits you often hear on clean versions of tracks. I've heard it on a couple of stations, although it hasn't had heavy airplay here. The song isn't about sex or the toilet, but is about the artist's addiction and mental health issues.
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I understood the meaning of the song. Then I went on a tangent about the state of sleazy USA, not UK broadcasting. Radio in the UK has more class.
 
Harvey_Dogg said:
An online only broadcaster could play it with only streaming fees due. An FCC licensed station might get a large fine. Maybe a big corporation would see paying the fine as just part of the cost of doing business.

Better ratings! The uncultured American masses want to hear only about sex and the toilet? Really?

I have no interest in playing G.. D..., the S word, or the F word here.
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Miss Tuned beat me to it, but this is the reason radio edits exist.
 
Looking at Demi Lovato's chart history, this song didn't chart in their Hot 100, even though most of her previous songs had. Not likely that this received airplay at CHR radio. This was an attempt to cross over as a rock or alternative artist, perhaps in the wake of Billie Eilish's success.


To be clear, Matty wasn't commenting on Demi Lovato's music at all. It was about her personal decisions. Pretty much off topic for a CHR DJ as far as I'm concerned. It ultimately led to Matty's retirement.
 
I remember a dj back in the '70s on a small local station not far from me at the time who said (direct quote, the best that I can remember it 40+ years later!), "I hate this song, but you asked for it." If I can still recall it correctly, it was "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers. Didn't bother me that he so directly commented on the song (even though I liked it, although it wasn't an all-time fave of mine, or anything like that). I appreciated his honesty. If it is the same guy that I remember, he may still be working, although at another nearby station now.
 
Demi Lovato's personal life is not a good reason to dislike a song. An artist's personal life doesn't make a song good or bad.
 
NYC's Lite FM used to have liners poking fun at how often they play Adele. And Q-104.3 joked about how "Stairway to Heaven" is always guaranteed to be #1 on any list of the best Classic Rock songs.

And back when a short edit of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was released, cutting off her long acapella intro, DJs would introduce it by saying "We now join Whitney Houston, already in progress."
 
Some songs have been worn out by radio and listeners don't want to hear them again for 30 years.
 
Growing up I listened to every station on the dial, at least for a few hours, to understand their execution of the format. I could not stand some of the music. I went to work for a country station in 1980. I was not a fan of country but I liked the formatics and management philosophy so much I went to work there. I used to joke I wanted to cry in my beer until the foam went away after all the tearjerkers I played. My boss, the owner, hated country music even more than me but he had a great little country station. I only wish I understood more of what he was trying to teach me.

The owner of the station took a shift each weekend and the on air style he hoped to teach us was what seemed like a one sided conversation with songs interrupting. The 'patter' always had something to do with the community whether it be a person, a place, an event or observation and when a song ended he would tie in the prior break to the new one making you feel you missed something. That and a maximum of 7 spots an hour with no-double spot breaks and news only at peak times created a rather different presentation for country radio in 1980, especially a small market.

I left after 6 months and the reason was my boss insisted I call someone at 7:05am and put them on the air for a couple of minutes at 7:20am. Every call I made, people asked if I could do this later because they were sitting down to breakfast or trying to get the kids ready for school. I began calling after my shift and that went well until I got caught and was told it must be live and spontaneous. It just bothered me having to do that to people.
 
I worked at one station with "REMEMBER! YOU LOVE EVERY SONG WE PLAY! Get excited about the great music!" on a whiteboard in the studio. I didn't love every song we played, the format was way off my own personal tastes, but I did my best to sell the listener on every song, because that was my job.

College kids get to play their favorite songs on the radio, and they don't have an audience. DJs on commercial radio stations are salespeople, selling the format, selling the songs and selling the station and its advertising clients. That's commercial radio.
 
Once there was an FM station in a small rated county. They were number one. The ad agencies bought for McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's and a gas station. The local businesses wanted something different like AC.

So the station went AC. The ratings dropped and the local businesses now bought. Sales wen up by 400%.

Being popular doesn't always equal money. He who has the gold makes the rules. That's the golden rule in this business.
 
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