iHeartMedia clusters that have zero local personalities

[ScottBurns]

Not when you look at Mediabase. Because certain songs get more spins in the morning or evening. That affects weighting. WLDI has five songs in heavy, while WHYI only has three. There's a big drop from heavy (131 spins) to the next category (61 spins) on WLDI. Not so on WHYI.

Also, WLDI is playing Morgan Wallen 61 times a week, and WHYI is not. There are several other songs among the most played that are different.

Ultimately all of these numbers are then incorporated into the national Mediabase or Billboard chart, where these songs are listed together, as has been the case since national charts began. The most played songs are organized by spins and weights, and someone is awarded a #1 song. That #1 song is likely played on every station in that format. As was the case 30 years ago.

The real issue here though is should two stations in the same format play the same or different songs? What makes a format a format? Don't listeners expect to hear the latest from their favorite stars on a Top 40 station? When I look at the streaming charts, I see ten songs in a row by Harry Styles. Is that what Top 40 stations should do? You tell me. I'll be waiting.

Two stations in the same format should be tailored to their markets. WLDI and WHYI might be 45 minutes apart, but they serve vastly different populations. There’s no reason for their playlists to be so similar. Back when WLDI had more than two on-air employees, the station was programmed to the day part. Those days are long gone.

 

[TheBigA]

Two stations in the same format should be tailored to their markets. WLDI and WHYI might be 45 minutes apart, but they serve vastly different populations. There’s no reason for their playlists to be so similar. Back when WLDI had more than two on-air employees, the station was programmed to the day part. Those days are long gone.

May I respectfully remind you what you said:

Yes, sir. This will be my last response to The Big A. Thank you.

 

[ScottBurns]

May I respectfully remind you what you said:

I thought I was replying to David. My sincere apologies. This will be my last reply.

 

[vchimpanzee]

"Here's a Quarter" is Tritt's signature hit, equivalent to Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job and Shove It." I'm surprised you're open to "T-R-O-U-B-L-E," which is a full-speed-ahead, electric-guitar-heavy remake of a minor Elvis hit. I wonder if you're thinking of the right song here.

I'm also surprised. I hated it way back then.

 

[Kent]

Thank you for your response. What about the evidence that radio is losing listeners that are under 50, and especially under 30?

I had not heard that, though David says it's true. He probably knows more than I do since I've been out of the business for almost 14 years now. My memory isn't as good with time and space as it is with numbers, but I thought I had last heard, when defined as hearing a radio at least once a week, radio reached more than 90% of the population. Whatever the case, I suspect engagement is down. I also suspect the numbers are a lot worse for the last couple years because people were driving less during COVID, and, even though it's only about 1/3 of radio listening, the in-car listening is still significant. How do you fix that? I don't know. 18-34 targeting stations going to the college campuses, bars, and career fairs isn't likely to have the same benefit it did 20 years ago. Even then, one could argue it didn't have much allure. Clear Channel's KISS FM CHR's with all virtual jocks from out of town often beat the local top-40 despite not having that presence. One place where I would start would be to put my people and my station where my listeners are. As we're moving to more of a virtual world and people prefer more of a push medium than a pull medium, I'd have my personalities sharing their personal playlists either on my site or one of the content aggregators and on the social media platforms my listeners use. Using the website and social media to promote new music we were playing and, maybe, even break new music that might or might not get played would be something I'd think about, too. What radio needs to see itself as is a content and entertainment provider, and that has to go beyond just a studio and a transmitter. There are some signs the bigger operators are starting to understand that, but the problem remains monetizing it. The bandwidth and royalties of hosting those channels can be expensive, and $35 buys 1,000 spots on the web while it buys one on the station. In other words, if you thought the margins on radio were small, they're a lot smaller on the internet!

I am for expanding playlists and decreasing repetition, not adding songs that people don't like. Some of the "Jack" stations successfully model how this can be done.

Expanding playlists often means adding songs the listeners don't know or don't like. Decreasing repetition means more time before the listeners hear their favorite songs. Getting the right mix and balancing those factors can often be difficult. Granted, this probably wouldn't be the case for classic hits, but, when I worked CHR, almost all my requests were for about the 10-20 most popular songs that week. A couple reasons stations tend not to play requests are because, if the requests were any indication, the roughly 90 minute separation between the most popular songs was too long and, despite what listeners may have said when calling, they really didn't want to hear the same 20 songs on repeat. You're correct that Jack stations have been successful with larger playlists and lower repetition. Jack, however, isn't designed to make you listen longer. It builds its audience on short bursts and large cume. Listeners tune out quickly but come back fairly often. I also seem to remember that Jack has few P1 listeners and tends to builds its audience on being an alternative to everyone's favorite station. If somebody's favorite station plays a song they don't like, they can flip to Jack, and, by the time they're sick of Jack, their favorite station is back to sounding the way they expected.

That is true. But let me ask you this: Do you ever pay attention to what Broadway Bill Lee is saying? Or whether what he said - even if you don't remember it - entertained you? There's a reason he is still employed and probably making a good salary.

It was actually Race Taylor I was listening to. He's a friend, but that has little bearing on how long I listen to CBS-FM or whether I listen to classic hits while I work that day. If CBS-FM plays a song I don't like before he goes on-air or during his shift, I'll still change the station. If I'm a little tired and need harder music or am tired of the same songs, I'll listen to something else. He occasionally does a segment called "Kenny Logins," which I do pay attention to because I work in the IT field. It's usually something I already know, but I can message him more information for the next time he does the segment if it's something important, like cybersecurity. How much attention I pay to what he's saying depends more on how busy I am at work than anything else. Some days, I'm constantly busy while, others, the IT department gets out the Nerf guns. More than anything, I find him easy to listen to while working. He has that style and presentation that isn't distracting when I'm busy while still being entertaining when I'm not. I also don't have to worry about him saying anything offensive or jarring should anyone walk into my office.

 

[seatownmedia]

Ok, we all can agree radio has changed. Like it has for the past 100 years.

Some of these discussions about having live or Vt’d jocks is useless. Bottom line is useful. Radio stations need to turn a profit. Yes, we sure miss our golden years of radio but the new reality has changed the scene. I am a former radio jock and programmer but understand how the industry has changed. The evening jock at hot hits is not necessary any more. Get over it. Things change. Can you still make a living n radio? Yes, if you understand the changes.

 

[gr8oldies]

Of course, I would. The problem is there's no evidence radio is losing listeners. It reaches roughly the same percentage of people it reached 50 years ago.

Now, what is true is that those people are spending less time with radio. I would agree that needs to be addressed. What I don't understand is how adding songs most listeners don't like or don't know would increase that. I agree with you that talk about the iHeartRadio Music Festival is boring to me, but, in listening to WCBS-FM since 8:00 AM Central this morning, I can't tell you one thing the jock has said. Something I learned early on in my long since over radio career is that sounding comfortable, fluid, and like you're enjoying what you're doing is far more important than what you actually say going into breaks. Almost no one is really listening to what you're actually saying, but people will notice if your presentation doesn't feel right.

Personally, I think the biggest problem plaguing radio today is the number of commercials. I've been working from home lately (broken foot). When I drive to work, however, my commute averages about 14 minutes. If a song starts on a local radio station while I'm backing out of my driveway and the station goes to commercial immediately afterward, there's a good chance I'll never hear another song for the rest of my drive. That's a problem, and, if I don't hear at least two songs after I turn a station on, I usually change stations.

What's more complex and something I don't know is how to fix that. If no one were willing to buy the last two spots in a 10 minute stopset, we wouldn't have 10 minute stopsets. Efforts to cut the number of avails, though, have not been shown to raise the prices on the remaining ones. Stations that have more but shorter breaks suffer increased tune out and a lower likelihood of those people coming back. Before it sold to private equity, Clear Channel had the "Less Is More" initiative where the longest spot would be 30, instead of 60, seconds, and it would sell 15 second spots as well in its breaks. It also offered 5 to 10 second "blinks" in the middle of music sweeps and allowed sponsors to purchase exclusive hours where only their businesses would receive any mentions and spots. That effort only lasted about a year and resulted in lower revenue while failing to increase the average audience share per station. Listeners particularly hated the blinks, which they found intrusive during the music sweeps.

I no longer have a job pondering how to solve that problem, but I do remember people trying. Finding something that works is the problem. If that's ever found, you can be certain everyone else will be doing it.

Thoughts for quick healing, Kent. (WLW still runs a spot that only says "Wyler ---dot com".for the Jeff Wyler dealerships.). I don't believe playing more songs is any answer. Managing your library is.
There is this guy---Mason on "Party Liveline", on a handful of CHR station (produced by the long-time host of "Open House Party". I'm interested to see how that does.

I listened to Laugh USA on SiriusXM for a couple of hours today. I laughed at many of the segments. I don't remember a single one of them now.

But...I tuned into 80s on 8 and there was "Dancing in the Dark" which seems to be in heavy rotation there.

 

[Marcos_C]

I listened to Laugh USA on SiriusXM for a couple of hours today. I laughed at many of the segments. I don't remember a single one of them now.

In 2003 and early 2004, I listened to numerous song parodies on XM's Special X. I laughed at many of those songs, and I still remember at least some of them. Usually, song parodies do a much better job of making me laugh than stand-up comedy, and the melodies really help me remember them. Unforuntately, XM eliminated Special X in February 2004 to make room for new programming. The weird novelty music channel was fun while it lasted.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Before it sold to private equity, Clear Channel had the "Less Is More" initiative where the longest spot would be 30, instead of 60, seconds, and it would sell 15 second spots as well in its breaks. It also offered 5 to 10 second "blinks" in the middle of music sweeps and allowed sponsors to purchase exclusive hours where only their businesses would receive any mentions and spots. That effort only lasted about a year and resulted in lower revenue while failing to increase the average audience share per station. Listeners particularly hated the blinks, which they found intrusive during the music sweeps.

One of the stations I worked for, outside of the Clear Channel/iHeart universe, did this much more recently, and it failed there too. The idea was the "blinks" could be sold for more money than a traditional spot, because they were one-ad breaks. The reality was we sold very few "blinks."

One of our biggest problems was major clients being unwilling to entertain the idea of producing 10" or 15" creative. The local Chrysler/Jeep/Ram and Ford dealers, who had been two of our most reliable advertisers, stopped buying this station because we wouldn't run their 60" spots.

Management backed down and started running regular spots pretty quickly.

 

[gr8oldies]

In 2003 and early 2004, I listened to numerous song parodies on XM's Special X. I laughed at many of those songs, and I still remember at least some of them. Usually, song parodies do a much better job of making me laugh than stand-up comedy, and the melodies really help me remember them. Unforuntately, XM eliminated Special X in February 2004 to make room for new programming. The weird novelty music channel was fun while it lasted.

That sounds like it would have been fun!

 

[davideduardo]

Not when you look at Mediabase. Because certain songs get more spins in the morning or evening. That affects weighting. WLDI has five songs in heavy, while WHYI only has three. There's a big drop from heavy (131 spins) to the next category (61 spins) on WLDI. Not so on WHYI.

Also, WLDI is playing Morgan Wallen 61 times a week, and WHYI is not. There are several other songs among the most played that are different.

But they are playing about 90% or better the same songs, and within each station while categories may have different rotations, the big hits are the big hits and the lesser ones are just that. If you have considerably similar playlists and approximately proportional rotations, the it is hard to say that the stations are much different.

To the listener, if they can hear two different stations for 15 or 20 minutes... the length of the average PPM incidence... they will generally hear the same songs and in, probably, all cases they will think the two play the "same music."

 

[davideduardo]

One of the stations I worked for, outside of the Clear Channel/iHeart universe, did this much more recently, and it failed there too. The idea was the "blinks" could be sold for more money than a traditional spot, because they were one-ad breaks. The reality was we sold very few "blinks."

One of our biggest problems was major clients being unwilling to entertain the idea of producing 10" or 15" creative. The local Chrysler/Jeep/Ram and Ford dealers, who had been two of our most reliable advertisers, stopped buying this station because we wouldn't run their 60" spots.

Management backed down and started running regular spots pretty quickly.

But you have to give them credit for trying a different idea.

 

[TheBigA]

But they are playing about 90% or better the same songs, and within each station while categories may have different rotations, the big hits are the big hits and the lesser ones are just that. If you have considerably similar playlists and approximately proportional rotations, the it is hard to say that the stations are much different.

Looking at Mediabase, it's less than 90%. More like 75%. Especially among the heavies. Very distinct differences. As I said, you have a country artist, Morgan Wallen, getting played in WPB, while you have Bad Bunny in Miami. No duplication between stations there. More songs getting more spins in WPB, while only 3 songs getting 100 spins, then a huge dropoff. Miami is more conservative. Big variation in the dayparts too.

I looked at old R&R playlists, and saw that WLDI was a country station in 1995. So I can't compare their playlists to WHYI. But the station flipped to Top 40 in 1998, and the playlists had a lot of similarities, including at #1. Both stations had Christina Aguilera as most-played.

The last thing I want to say about station playlists is that both WHYI and WLDI are CHR chart reporters. The charts have very strict rules about which stations can be reporters. According to Mediabase, each reporting station must have its own music director. They can't use a centralized playlist from corporate. The playlists must reflect local decisions and can't be a duplicate of a co-owned station. If the chart editor spots any infraction, he will give the station a warning, and if the warning isn't heeded, that station will be dropped as a reporter. It's one thing for people on this board to look at station playlists and say they're the same. It's quite another for a chart editor to make that determination. As far as I know, neither of these stations is operating outside of the chart rules. So that's good enough for me.

To the listener, if they can hear two different stations for 15 or 20 minutes... the length of the average PPM incidence... they will generally hear the same songs and in, probably, all cases they will think the two play the "same music."

But isn't that a characteristic of a format and not those stations? Don't you expect to hear a lot of the same songs in Palm Springs that you hear in LA? Wasn't that also the case in the 60s? There are only so many current hits at any one time, and they're all competing to become #1. That's more a function of the record labels than radio stations. They release the songs and oversee promotion.

Similarly, when an artist is on tour, doesn't he basically do the same exact set in city after city? I've compared online setlists for major artists, and that appears to be true. Do the fans do this as well? Are they disappointed when they pay to see a concert in one city, and discover the artist performed the same setlist the night before? Or are they satisfied with the show they see?

 

[davideduardo]

Looking at Mediabase, it's less than 90%. More like 75%. Especially among the heavies. Very distinct differences. As I said, you have a country artist, Morgan Wallen, getting played in WPB, while you have Bad Bunny in Miami. No duplication between stations there. More songs getting more spins in WPB, while only 3 songs getting 100 spins, then a huge dropoff. Miami is more conservative. Big variation in the dayparts too.

But, and I've no looked at this for all formats, if you do a 3 to 4 week average you see higher coincidence because of the way some stations are faster on adds than other stations are. That puts you up higher in percentage due to the flattening of the peaks over time.

And if you look at the average 12-week lifespan of currents, the cuts that did not make it and got brief play in some markets fall out of the average and are not in the top positions.

I looked at old R&R playlists, and saw that WLDI was a country station in 1995. So I can't compare their playlists to WHYI. But the station flipped to Top 40 in 1998, and the playlists had a lot of similarities, including at #1. Both stations had Christina Aguilera as most-played.

I also looked at some spans of Hamilton in the 70's and found that the songs above #25 were very uniform in national airplay. We of course know by listening to those old AT40 recordings that more than half the songs below that level are totally irrelevant. The label threw them against the wall but they did not stick.

The last thing I want to say about station playlists is that both WHYI and WLDI are CHR chart reporters. The charts have very strict rules about which stations can be reporters. According to Mediabase, each reporting station must have its own music director. They can't use a centralized playlist from corporate. The playlists must reflect local decisions and can't be a duplicate of a co-owned station. If the chart editor spots any infraction, he will give the station a warning, and if the warning isn't heeded, that station will be dropped as a reporter. It's one thing for people on this board to look at station playlists and say they're the same. It's quite another for a chart editor to make that determination. As far as I know, neither of these stations is operating outside of the chart rules. So that's good enough for me.

But again the point not being understood is that nearly all the same songs are getting played, but with wide variation in two factors: first, the category each station has each song in and, second, the rotation each station gives to its own categories. So there are two kinds of variable that affect the total spins at each stations, but neither necessarily makes a song more or less a hit in its market.

But isn't that a characteristic of a format and not those stations? Don't you expect to hear a lot of the same songs in Palm Springs that you hear in LA? Wasn't that also the case in the 60s? There are only so many current hits at any one time, and they're all competing to become #1. That's more a function of the record labels than radio stations. They release the songs and oversee promotion.

No, it's a function of popularity. In the 60's there must have been 10 to 20 releases for every song a station actually added to the playlist. The quantity of new releases was enormous, complicated by the big labels continuing to release further cuts from each album after the "biggies" had run their course.

Similarly, when an artist is on tour, doesn't he basically do the same exact set in city after city? I've compared online setlists for major artists, and that appears to be true. Do the fans do this as well? Are they disappointed when they pay to see a concert in one city, and discover the artist performed the same setlist the night before? Or are they satisfied with the show they see?

Good point. No matter where they go, the set is pretty much pre-established before the tour begins. I've seen some tours that do some adjustments in the song list and order of play after the first concert or two of a tour, but you are right: they do the same songs in every venue, every night.

 

[ScottBurns]

I had not heard that, though David says it's true. He probably knows more than I do since I've been out of the business for almost 14 years now. My memory isn't as good with time and space as it is with numbers, but I thought I had last heard, when defined as hearing a radio at least once a week, radio reached more than 90% of the population. Whatever the case, I suspect engagement is down. I also suspect the numbers are a lot worse for the last couple years because people were driving less during COVID, and, even though it's only about 1/3 of radio listening, the in-car listening is still significant. How do you fix that? I don't know. 18-34 targeting stations going to the college campuses, bars, and career fairs isn't likely to have the same benefit it did 20 years ago. Even then, one could argue it didn't have much allure. Clear Channel's KISS FM CHR's with all virtual jocks from out of town often beat the local top-40 despite not having that presence. One place where I would start would be to put my people and my station where my listeners are. As we're moving to more of a virtual world and people prefer more of a push medium than a pull medium, I'd have my personalities sharing their personal playlists either on my site or one of the content aggregators and on the social media platforms my listeners use. Using the website and social media to promote new music we were playing and, maybe, even break new music that might or might not get played would be something I'd think about, too. What radio needs to see itself as is a content and entertainment provider, and that has to go beyond just a studio and a transmitter. There are some signs the bigger operators are starting to understand that, but the problem remains monetizing it. The bandwidth and royalties of hosting those channels can be expensive, and $35 buys 1,000 spots on the web while it buys one on the station. In other words, if you thought the margins on radio were small, they're a lot smaller on the internet!

I think your ideas are solid and at least a good start. Your best quote is this: "What radio needs to see itself as is a content and entertainment provider, and that has to go beyond just a studio and a transmitter." If we can get back to that, then radio can start being creative and compelling again.

Expanding playlists often means adding songs the listeners don't know or don't like. Decreasing repetition means more time before the listeners hear their favorite songs. Getting the right mix and balancing those factors can often be difficult. Granted, this probably wouldn't be the case for classic hits, but, when I worked CHR, almost all my requests were for about the 10-20 most popular songs that week. A couple reasons stations tend not to play requests are because, if the requests were any indication, the roughly 90 minute separation between the most popular songs was too long and, despite what listeners may have said when calling, they really didn't want to hear the same 20 songs on repeat. You're correct that Jack stations have been successful with larger playlists and lower repetition. Jack, however, isn't designed to make you listen longer. It builds its audience on short bursts and large cume. Listeners tune out quickly but come back fairly often. I also seem to remember that Jack has few P1 listeners and tends to builds its audience on being an alternative to everyone's favorite station. If somebody's favorite station plays a song they don't like, they can flip to Jack, and, by the time they're sick of Jack, their favorite station is back to sounding the way they expected.

Jack stations usually are not number one, but many of them have now survived 20 years. Some are better than others. But the large variety, I know, is part of the appear of Jack stations.

It was actually Race Taylor I was listening to. He's a friend, but that has little bearing on how long I listen to CBS-FM or whether I listen to classic hits while I work that day. If CBS-FM plays a song I don't like before he goes on-air or during his shift, I'll still change the station. If I'm a little tired and need harder music or am tired of the same songs, I'll listen to something else. He occasionally does a segment called "Kenny Logins," which I do pay attention to because I work in the IT field. It's usually something I already know, but I can message him more information for the next time he does the segment if it's something important, like cybersecurity. How much attention I pay to what he's saying depends more on how busy I am at work than anything else. Some days, I'm constantly busy while, others, the IT department gets out the Nerf guns. More than anything, I find him easy to listen to while working. He has that style and presentation that isn't distracting when I'm busy while still being entertaining when I'm not. I also don't have to worry about him saying anything offensive or jarring should anyone walk into my office.

I bring up Broadway Bill Lee because his style is compelling. He gets the listener to stop, listen, and even smile at what he says. Thankfully, there are still jocks like him that are employed today. I have not heard him live in a long time, but Big Joe Henry on New Jersey 101.5 is another example. And he breaks all the "PPM rules." He talks a lot. He banters with traffic reporters. He puts callers on the air. And yet he has a huge following. He's a weekender, yet he's the most identifiable person associated with his station.

 

[davideduardo]

Jack stations usually are not number one, but many of them have now survived 20 years. Some are better than others. But the large variety, I know, is part of the appear of Jack stations.

While the "Jack plays whatever he wants" seems to emphasize variety, it actually stresses the "we aren't a conventional radio station" attitude. The same comes from no "stupid DJs talking over the songs" and the kinda' snarky liners. It's radio for people who don't want to be conformists but who also don't want to step off the curb into heavy traffic.

I bring up Broadway Bill Lee because his style is compelling. He gets the listener to stop, listen, and even smile at what he says. Thankfully, there are still jocks like him that are employed today. I have not heard him live in a long time, but Big Joe Henry on New Jersey 101.5 is another example. And he breaks all the "PPM rules."

That's 'cause he is not in a PPM market except for Somerset. And he is on what is fundamentally as talk station. The other rated markets are Atlantic City, Morristown, Trenton, Monmouth, Sussex, Allentown which are all diary markets.

He talks a lot. He banters with traffic reporters. He puts callers on the air. And yet he has a huge following. He's a weekender, yet he's the most identifiable person associated with his station.

And his station is a talk station during weekdays, so it is natural that he chat and banter because that is what the station stands for: solid talk Monday to Friday and chatty, neighborly conversation on weekends. Recently he did a segment on the best place in Jersey to get a hot dog: as I said, chat and banter!

The most identifiable people on NJ 101.5 are the weekday talk hosts, and they have the highest ratings by far. That station is within the 100 highest billing FM stations in the country out of over 6,600 commercial FMs, not including translators.

 

[ScottBurns]

While the "Jack plays whatever he wants" seems to emphasize variety, it actually stresses the "we aren't a conventional radio station" attitude. The same comes from no "stupid DJs talking over the songs" and the kinda' snarky liners. It's radio for people who don't want to be conformists but who also don't want to step off the curb into heavy traffic.

That's 'cause he is not in a PPM market except for Somerset. And he is on what is fundamentally as talk station. The other rated markets are Atlantic City, Morristown, Trenton, Monmouth, Sussex, Allentown which are all diary markets.

And his station is a talk station during weekdays, so it is natural that he chat and banter because that is what the station stands for: solid talk Monday to Friday and chatty, neighborly conversation on weekends. Recently he did a segment on the best place in Jersey to get a hot dog: as I said, chat and banter!

The most identifiable people on NJ 101.5 are the weekday talk hosts, and they have the highest ratings by far. That station is within the 100 highest billing FM stations in the country out of over 6,600 commercial FMs, not including translators.

I read years back that Big Joe Henry's Saturday midday shift was the highest rated shift on the station. Perhaps that has changed. I am not from New Jersey, but the people I know there treat Big Joe like a local celebrity. I would respectfully guess that he's better known than the weekday hosts, but perhaps you have some data to back your assertion.

The weekends on NJ 101.5 have liners that promote the music. In fact, Big Joe's oft-repeated liner is "Weekdays we talk, weekends we rock!"

 

[CTListener]

I read years back that Big Joe Henry's Saturday midday shift was the highest rated shift on the station.

Probably had the highest share of radios in use during that time slot, but way behind weekday middays and drive times in actual listeners. I remember when country WKLB Boston had a country oldies show on Sunday mornings, 8 to noon, and the hosts used to boast that they had the highest rated program in Boston in that time slot. Great, until you realize just how few people are listening to any station during those hours. Why do you think so many stations use Sunday mornings to blow off their public service programming requirement?

 

[TheBigA]

No, it's a function of popularity. In the 60's there must have been 10 to 20 releases for every song a station actually added to the playlist. The quantity of new releases was enormous, complicated by the big labels continuing to release further cuts from each album after the "biggies" had run their course.

There were also more record labels back then. When people talk about radio consolidation, they forget that at the same time, the record labels consolidated, starting in the 1980s. The difference is that record labels continued to consolidate until there were only three majors, which is where we are now. That has a huge effect on the sound and variety of music on the radio.

 

[vw86]

Jack stations usually are not number one, but many of them have now survived 20 years. Some are better than others. But the large variety, I know, is part of the appear of Jack stations.

This will blow your mind. Some of the locally programmed Jack (and other Variety Hits) stations have a playlist not much bigger than KRTH. Many of them are spinning less than 500 songs.