Is mixshows important anymore
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Is mixshows important any more
- Thread starter Dj mr fresh
- Start date
For the most part, the Friday/Saturday night club mixshow/scene on the radio is done with. They still exist in major markets that have the budget. It worked for us. We would have a jock at a club doing a remote with cut ins while we had a live jock in the studio playing the mixshow.
The Saturday night show on the CHR station I programmed at the time disappeared almost 15 years ago. We had some syndicated request show shoved down our throats instead because "corporate wants more clearances". That was it. It never came back. The other part timers on the weekend disappeared soon after.
Very few stations are live and local on the weekends. Take a look at the lack of syndicated mix shows available now. It's because the demand disappeared. Yes, Hotmix and other shows are on many stations. It's far less than it used to be.
We had a local club dj that did a show for us Fridays in drive time. It was one of the first things to be cut in the budget. I was told that if I wanted a mix show on the station, I'd have to mix it myself. Local mixers were a pain because they never stuck with the playlist. I gave up on it.
The Saturday night show on the CHR station I programmed at the time disappeared almost 15 years ago. We had some syndicated request show shoved down our throats instead because "corporate wants more clearances". That was it. It never came back. The other part timers on the weekend disappeared soon after.
Very few stations are live and local on the weekends. Take a look at the lack of syndicated mix shows available now. It's because the demand disappeared. Yes, Hotmix and other shows are on many stations. It's far less than it used to be.
We had a local club dj that did a show for us Fridays in drive time. It was one of the first things to be cut in the budget. I was told that if I wanted a mix show on the station, I'd have to mix it myself. Local mixers were a pain because they never stuck with the playlist. I gave up on it.
Why did the demand disappear?
This conversation reminds me of the radio concert business. Back in the day, radio stations would broadcast live concerts. Some of them were canned. Some of them were simulcasts with TV. Some of them were live broadcasts from events like festivals. People in the Pittsburgh area will remember Jamboree In The Hills. It was put on by the local radio-TV combo in Wheeling WV. They broadcast the whole thing live. Not anymore.
Why? The demand disappeared.
I once asked someone about that. Part of it was the expense. But the other part was the experience. You go to a concert, and you have a few drinks, you hang out with your friends, and have a good time. When you remove that aspect, all you have is the music. That's often not enough,
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I remember commenting, years ago, that mixshows were going to have a finite shelf life. I am pleasantly surprised that I was proven wrong about how long that period would be, but I am definitely seeing a reduction in mixshows. As noted in a previous comment, the Rhythmic CHRs which were the primary affiliates of the syndicated programs have moved away from them and opted to use their regular format on weekend evenings (which is where those mixshows had their highest presence). That leaves only the Urban/Hip-Hop stations, and those have been dwindling the number over the past couple of years. Add to the equation that most of the remaining stations in the format are in larger markets, and you're not going to see the syndicated shows on the schedule ... more likely, it will be a local club DJ. And therein lies the next stumbling block: If the experience is a big part of it for the listener, it is more so for the DJ, who may no longer be willing to step away from the clubs for a more "sterile" experience in the studio.
So, to answer the OP's question: No, they are not, and we are rapidly approaching a point where you will post one of your "who's mixin' for the holidays" threads and not get any replies. Mixshows on the radio are more of a fad now (like disco was originally) and not a mainstream programming element. It's the constant evolution of the business, and I don't see anything on the horizon that would resurrect them.
It gets back to what I said in another thread: The future of radio is not in music. I'm sorry that's the case, because it's why I got into radio. But the future is in content radio companies own, and that's not music.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I definitely agree with you there, A ... as far as the major radio multimarket owners are concerned. And that is where they have to be headed.
I still see a future (for a while, anyway) for music on the radio, but only on independent local/regional station owners, who tend to have a lot less overhead than Connoisseur, Audacy, iHeart, and the rest. But, keeping this from going too far off-topic, those are not stations where mixshows are going to be part of the equation.
I still see a future (for a while, anyway) for music on the radio, but only on independent local/regional station owners, who tend to have a lot less overhead than Connoisseur, Audacy, iHeart, and the rest. But, keeping this from going too far off-topic, those are not stations where mixshows are going to be part of the equation.
Yes. In market #1. I’m sure Z100 still uses Hotmix as well. It’s great that those stations still use mixing, especially having a mixer on staff.
That is a very good point. Alex is on a noon shift, not on the weekend and not at night. It is not a dance party or something to “light up“ to. Each of Alex‘s mix segments is themed… he may mix based on a type of music, an era, a type of artist or some other subject. But each segment is original.
That makes show is always at the top in it day part and it has been that way for years and years and years.
I would go to the extent to say that, more than a mix show, it is a personality show that uses music to create moods.
The very popular Magic 92.5 XHRM San Diego still does the 5 O' Clock Boogie every weekday.
From their website:
It’s a party at 5 O’Clock, as DJ Hurricane Andrew gets in the mix for a full hour of your favorite Magic music, mixed beat-to-beat and back-to-back!
From their website:
It’s a party at 5 O’Clock, as DJ Hurricane Andrew gets in the mix for a full hour of your favorite Magic music, mixed beat-to-beat and back-to-back!
Also power 105.1 do mix weekends
Centreforce Radio out of London is pretty much entirely mixed live, 24/7, from a real studio:
Centreforce Radio 883 - Global Dance Music Radio Station
Centreforce 883 has grown to be one of the largest independent dance music radio stations globally broadcasting on DAB+, TuneIn Radio and 883TV.
www.centreforceradio.com
In weekday daytimes, there's generally a camera in the studio so listeners can watch the DJ mixing in real time. On Sundays they vary things a bit, it's more soul than dance. The format is live mixes with "shout outs" and listener mentions - the music will usually be interrupted a few times per track with the DJ reading out a list of people who have contacted the studio. There are a few very similar stations on the air in London but Centreforce is the big dog in the market.
We ran HotMix at our small market CHR/Hot AC on Saturday nights back in the early/mid 2000s for a while. This is back when we were live on weekends. We would run our regular logs with 2-3 specialty golds an hour from 7-10 and then at 10 we would start HotMix. The phones would always die out when HotMix started even though our Saturday night jock was still there doing live cut ins during the show.
One week as an experiment we didn't run it and kept the regular Saturday night logs rolling through midnight. The phones didn't have their usual 10:00 cutoff. Had we not abruptly flipped to a jockless Variety Hits station a few weeks after that, the plan was still to eliminate the mixes, save for a short HotMix cut our PD/PM drive host would use on Friday at 5pm for a 10-15 minute block.
One week as an experiment we didn't run it and kept the regular Saturday night logs rolling through midnight. The phones didn't have their usual 10:00 cutoff. Had we not abruptly flipped to a jockless Variety Hits station a few weeks after that, the plan was still to eliminate the mixes, save for a short HotMix cut our PD/PM drive host would use on Friday at 5pm for a 10-15 minute block.
Was HotMix a syndicated feature from the U.S.? One of my local stations in the UK used to run it on a regular basis back in the late 90s/early 2000s, I always assumed they produced them in-house! The ones they used to use were 10-15 minute mixes, they tended to run one daily just after 5pm.
Yeah, it's syndicated and uploads in segments just like a show like AT40 or Rick Dees.
The difference I remember is that I believed they provided five hours a week, but you could take however many hours (or even segments) you wanted at any time. There was no 6a-Mid Sat/Sun only restriction like we had with Casey Kasem, Bob Kingsley, Backtrax USA, etc.
We would air two hours on Saturday night + a single segment Friday at 5.
The difference I remember is that I believed they provided five hours a week, but you could take however many hours (or even segments) you wanted at any time. There was no 6a-Mid Sat/Sun only restriction like we had with Casey Kasem, Bob Kingsley, Backtrax USA, etc.
We would air two hours on Saturday night + a single segment Friday at 5.
Benztown offers it now. Looks like it's four hours (and maybe always was) with very few restrictions
benztown.com
BENZTOWN: HOT MIX RADIO SHOW
The best radio mix show featuring Top 40, Dance, Club, R&B, and Pop music hits from today's hottest artists and producers!
benztown.com
Yep. I enjoyed listening to live mix shows in no small part because as someone who (briefly) worked as a club DJ I enjoyed being surprised by a mix I'd never even thought would work. "Oh snap! That was incredible!"
For the regular non-DJ audience members it was about keeping them dancing. "Oh snap! I like this song, too!" Take away the dance floor crowd, and add in the fact that the mix is often "assembled" in a lap top rather than being played live, and it kinda loses its luster.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I'd like to add something to my initial comments, based on the further discussion.
Citing isolated mixshows and syndicated product is not really answering the OP's question. A quick comparison of the overall amount of mixshows even a few years ago to today is the telling of the truth. Even mi amigo David classifies the New York example as more of a themed personality-driven hour than a mixshow as we have always known it.
I suspect the OP has also noticed that mixshows have been dropping by the wayside over the years. And there's no real comparison of what Benztown is syndicating to the live mixers that dominated the genre not long ago.
Mixshows are declining in popularity. If they weren't they wouldn't be disappearing. A "full hour at 5:00" is a pale comparison to when Saturday nights were filled with them back-to-back.
This thread reads like a mass grasping at straws.
Citing isolated mixshows and syndicated product is not really answering the OP's question. A quick comparison of the overall amount of mixshows even a few years ago to today is the telling of the truth. Even mi amigo David classifies the New York example as more of a themed personality-driven hour than a mixshow as we have always known it.
I suspect the OP has also noticed that mixshows have been dropping by the wayside over the years. And there's no real comparison of what Benztown is syndicating to the live mixers that dominated the genre not long ago.
Mixshows are declining in popularity. If they weren't they wouldn't be disappearing. A "full hour at 5:00" is a pale comparison to when Saturday nights were filled with them back-to-back.
This thread reads like a mass grasping at straws.
Thanks for the link and info! What are the other similar London stations?Centreforce Radio out of London is pretty much entirely mixed live, 24/7, from a real studio:
Centreforce Radio 883 - Global Dance Music Radio Station
Centreforce 883 has grown to be one of the largest independent dance music radio stations globally broadcasting on DAB+, TuneIn Radio and 883TV.
In weekday daytimes, there's generally a camera in the studio so listeners can watch the DJ mixing in real time. On Sundays they vary things a bit, it's more soul than dance. The format is live mixes with "shout outs" and listener mentions - the music will usually be interrupted a few times per track with the DJ reading out a list of people who have contacted the studio. There are a few very similar stations on the air in London but Centreforce is the big dog in the market.