A couple of points regarding play list size: yes, there are stations doing well with large play lists – for instance, those consulted by E. Alvin Davis, one of the only consultants in the business who actually knows what he’s doing and is not just good at corporate speak. In the 70s, my play list at CAU-FM was in excess of 1400 titles. Now before someone jumps in with a maniacal look on his face and gleefully shouts ‘See – I told you that’s why they tanked’ – let me elaborate on that whole situation. We had done extremely well for an FM of the period. WPEN had success when they went oldies for a couple of reasons – first, any new ball game in town usually gets initial attention – staying power is the key, of course. In our case then, we had virtually no promotional budget and WPEN came in with a blitz. It is true also, as was noted in a couple of the posts that FM was still the stepchild in those days. The fact is that after the initial book in which they beat us, we bounced back well and probably would have continued that trend had not Jim Keating wanted to be the hippest GM on the block and go disco.
I did extensive research at that time and found that most of the listeners gained by WPEN had come from sources other than CAU-FM – clear evidence that there were many oldies listeners out there that we hadn’t reached with our meager promotional efforts - they didn't know about us.
Ironically, but not unusual for this business, we had all been assured just two weeks before the format change at CAU-FM by none other than Bob Cole, then VP of CBS, that, and I quote, “If you think CBS is going to let Greater Media come in here and take our oldies format from us, you're very mistaken.” This had been precipitated by me, after telling Jim Keating that our staff deserved better than to have their lives played with in the wake of the very credible rumors circulating at that time.
So play list size had nothing to do with all that. Now, as regards the WPEN recent oldies debacle – all of us were thoroughly deceived by that situation. Initially, the station manager at the time wanted me to program it – we had several meetings prior to the format change, in which I pointed out to them what was needed for an AM with a crappy signal to actually attract listeners for a music format, especially in this town. It didn’t work out, of course, and WPEN wound up playing roughly 40% of what WOGL was playing, a sure recipe for disaster. They also, of course, refused to give up their weekend programming and other albatrosses they suffered with. So it became a part time oldies station saddled with a miserable signal and inadequate internal vision - then again, maybe they really wanted to go sports all along.
Let’s go back to the original point – contributors say, ‘show me a station…….’ – does it ever occur to those folk that the reason the number of stations with large play lists are few is because management today falls victim to the propaganda and doesn’t even try? They are told by the ever-present consultants everything from A to Z and happily accept the advice because – GOD FORBID they should make an independent decision – then, they might have to take responsibility for it. Much easier to point at the research and say, ‘see, they told me – I was only following their advice – it’s not my fault.’ As I mentioned in a previous post, if you are an adult over 40 who has even only casually listened to radio during your life and you can honestly tell me that you only like 250-300 songs, then I submit you are severely audio-challenged, or have spent most of your adult life in a Tibetan Monastery.
Oldies stations settle on such absurdly tight play lists as a result of self-serving research – as we all know, hooks are played for an audience of less than absorbed folk, who must respond in 6 seconds or less not only to whether they like the song (if they can even recognize it) but how often they’d like to hear it. They are asked to make both a qualitative and quantitative analysis that many of us could not make, in the snap of a finger. And the list of songs they’re exposed to gets shorter and shorter – so research fulfills its own prophecy. Ever attend one of those sessions and observed that as time goes on, participant’s answers become more hasty and less disciplined? They just want to get out of there and collect their checks. Yet we base all of our programming decisions on this. Curious, isn't it, that with all that research going on, every station isn't #1?
And once again – those people that continually say that stations like WOGL are successful because they ‘play the hits’ – please – as mentioned before, they were hits – they aren’t now.
And also again – a few years back, when I was still at WOGL and it actually played a good, varied list and actually did legitimate specialty shows, not contrived imitations, the station had double digit numbers on the weekend, was #1 weekends and #2 during the week – a position they haven’t remotely approached since with the ‘successful’ formula of pounding the same, tired songs over and over again. Entertainment is all about unpredictability – you must have that surprise factor, the ‘Oh wow’, if you will, to keep interest. Only Cozy Morley could succeed doing the same act for decades. Most comedians need a variety of material to keep an audience’s attention.
One thing I’ve learned over more than 40 years of doing clubs, dances, and special events of all kinds around the Delaware Valley is that the musical tastes of the people in this region are wide and deep. And I know they aren’t satisfied with what they hear on today’s stale, stultified radio stations. As E. Alvin Davis says, financial success of an oldies station isn’t a format problem, it’s a sales problem. Find people who can actually sell, and not be content merely to accept an order, and the problem could go away. After all, they’re dealing with a demographic that has a commanding amount of expendable income – but today’s sales folk don’t seem to think that someone 55-60 actually buys cars, appliances, clothes, goes on trips and stays at hotels, eats out at restaurants, etc. And today’s merchants are believing their pitch that all advertising MUST be directed to 20 and 30 somethings.
Just one more thing about extensive play lists – RadioPhillyStyle.com, with virtually no publicity push to date, has listeners in 90 cities in the US and 34 countries worldwide. Not one has complained of hearing too many songs.
Have a good night, all.
Jim Nettleton
